Baby towels

 My ‘just one thing today’ was to finish these baby towels for great niece’s first baby. Terry cloth on the bolt is no longer available, the craft store’s website says they have it but you have to order it on line is it nice thick terry cloth or the thin stuff that bar rags are made from? So off to the big department stores…….fortunately I found some 30 x 60  bath towels on sale and found wash clothes that were almost the same color and a few fat quarters in the stash to use for binding. Now to find a box and get them in the mail. Just one more thing today—Ann—

Reading list #1 2026

1. No Strangers Here by Carlene O’Conner murder mystery takes place on the Dingle peninsula in Ireland a lot of twists and 27 year old secrets the heroine has mint green eyes like the ice cream.  The only mint green eyes I have seen are in a cat in a cat food commercial. The few individuals I have met with green eyes are best described as olive green.  
2. Home Again by Kristen Hannah I just about quit this book after the first chapter the main character was so self centered I didn’t want to read about him but the next day I read chapter 2 and the characters got more interesting. The main character needs a heart transplant mostly because of bad life choices, his cardiologist was his teenage sweetheart. Turned out to be a very good story. Published in 1996. 
3. The  View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani about a 30+ year old Italian/American woman with self esteem and family issues she inherits her uncles marble importing and construction business. She goes to Italy to learn more about the marble business and her family. A nice story. I have read other books by Adriana Trigiani that I thought were better.
4. The Medicine Woman of Galveston by Amanda Skendandore interesting story about a traveling medicine show in the late 1800’s. Main character is a woman physician who was at the top of her class but made a mistake. Everyone in the medicine show troupe has a past and the show master holds it over them. They decide to ‘winter’ in Galveston then the hurricane hits.  Near the end of the book the author uses the phrase “on accident” how could an editor miss that?!? It was a good story otherwise.
5. Julia by Heather Moore novel about Julia Child, her civilian service during WW2, she was too tall to enlist with WACs or WAVEs, then learning to cook and writing a cookbook. Good story of her life.
6. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese for book club I was expecting a story about renaissance art and marble that was not what the story was about, it was about doctors and nurses in Ethiopia by way of India then to America in the 1960’s and 70’s. A revolution was happening in Ethiopia I had no background knowledge of that. Was not a favorite book. 600+ pages too many
7. Light Changes Everything by Nancy E. Turner Arizona territory early 1900’s a young woman goes to art school in Illinois learns photography returns to Arizona. She read some of Jane Austen’s books and learns happiness is not a man with lots of money. Good story
8. The Children of Hamelin by Jannie Ireland a fantasy story, I usually don’t read much fantasy but this one intrigued me, it’s about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and the children who disappeared on Midsummer in 1284. Where did they go what if they reappeared in 1978? A modern day story in a psychiatric hospital, a young nurse her journalist fiancée and a retired cop. Fun story.
9. Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly by Marie Bostwick this book really spoke to me about a grandmother, Adele, who was an artist and quilter and her granddaughter, Esme, who wanted to be a writer but became an editor.  Esme is learning about Adele after she passes away. This book got me back in my sewing room so far I’ve just pulled out fabric for two more baby quilts but the ideas are swirling.
10. When the World Fell Silent by Donna Jones Alward about the munitions explosion in 1917 at Halifax, Nova Scotia the largest man made explosion prior to the atomic bomb in WW II.  It’s also a love story, a young nurse and a doctor. It was a good story but could have used Esme from previous book to edit, a lot of repetition and mundane details. I scanned over much of it.
11. The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel very good contemporary story a woman recently engaged to a nice enough guy but started having vivid dreams of her 12 years deceased husband. She is a music therapist working with children.  The dreams make her question her current life and fiancé. Very good story.
12. The World’s Fair Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini financial problems at Elm Creek Manor the roof needs repairs, the apple orchard is open to u- pick, the historic society wants to display Sylvia’s worlds fair quilt that she made with her sister in 1933. Sylvia is telling the 1933 story.  This story was interesting to me because my grandparents took the train from South Dakota to Chicago to go to the fair.  My grandmother kept a little notebook about the trip,  I wrote a blog to share with my cousins about my grandparents travels.  https://travelswithselmaandroy.blogspot.com/2021/10/1933-train-trip-to-chicago-for-worlds.html  if you are interested in reading about “The Century of Progress” 1933 World’s Fair.  My grandmother did not write about seeing the quilts, after reading this book I can’t believe she didn’t see the quilts because she made quilts in the 30’s, the picture above is one of hers.

Happy reading —Ann—

Bird in a tree

 As I was drinking my coffee and gazing out the window making my mental to do list for today (if it’s a mental list and I don’t follow through there is no guilt.)  There is a plastic bag that has been caught in the locust tree all winter I was hoping it blew free with the strong winds last night. No such luck, it looks stuck even harder. One corner of the bag is caught in the “v” of a branch making a head while the rest of the bag looks like it is sitting on another branch with the tail caught in another “v” there are two little flaps that look like legs and when a gust of wind hits it looks like a ptarmigan or a fat laying hen running as fast as it can possibly go. It made me chuckle and a photo was not going to work the bag is the same color as the sky and the camera was focusing on branches that were closer to me. Then a crow stopped to chat. Mental check list: a sketch and a blog post……what else was I thinking of doing today?  —Ann—

A little sewing

 I’ve only been working on this since Christmas it’s just a flannel nightgown.  Make the bodice pretty with fancy stitches and twin needle pin tucks and smocking on the sleeve rather than elastic. I haven’t smocked for so long I had to read the directions. Small goal this week sew in the sleeves and finish the hem.  I can do that —Ann—

Fun weekend

Fun weekend with the little girls however they tell me they are big girls!!  Always low tech with grandma baking cookies, drawing, painting, paper dolls, and playing outside because it was sunny and 50+ degrees that weekend.  We saw and heard lots of geese heading north and even saw one robin. Do the birds know something the weatherman doesn’t or are they going to be in for a surprise. The little girls were exhausted come supper time. And today we have 3 inches of fresh snow.  Can’t wait to go see them again.

My devices updated themselves and a new glitch in the system wouldn’t let me upload pics but darling daughter got me straightened out if I do things in exactly the right order…………I need to get productive again and post more frequently wish me luck to get in gear. —Ann—

 

On the needles

 

Happy Ground Hog Day

Happy end of January too many things have happened in January that were beyond my control. I hope February is a better month and the little ground hog if it even wants to come out of its hole has a hopeful forecast.  I’m healthy, hubby is healthy and kids are healthy.

New sweater was started with a hand dyed yarn from Mankato, Minnesota, 2 skeins of almost solid light blue is Dakota Skies and 2 skeins of blue, white, pink and yellow is called South Dakota Prairie, it looks like a winter landscape here when the shadows are long and blue.  I paired them with a light blue kid silk which is kid mohair spun with silk.  Just heavenly to knit and feel.

I thought I could knit the multi colored skeins then the solid blue…..and it looked like I ran out of yarn……so I ripped 10 inches of sweater and rewound the yarn with the kid silk rather than separate the 2 strands. Now I’m knitting a row of blue and a row of the multi colored yarn. The blue in the second skein of multi was grayer than the first, they looked different in the sweater. Now it’s blending like it belongs together.  I used the light blue for the ribbing on the neck and I will for the hem and button bands. The yarn paired with the kid silk feels so nice I’m glad I ripped so I could knit it again. Hoping February is better than January—Ann—