I have a new toy.   A Kindle reader and I LOVE IT!!  It is so light to hold and so easy to use.  Actually it is all Bonnie Hunter's fault that I bought it.  She kept posting about the free downloads and I just finally gave up and gave in and ordered one. lol  I've already downloaded a few books and the first one I chose to read I couldn't put down till I finished. 

I started reading  "Stealing Jake" by Pam Hillman around 4:00pm and finished around midnight.








Here's a description of the book..... 

When Livy O'Brien spies a young boy jostling a man walking along the boardwalk, she recognizes the act for what it is. After all, she used to be known as Light-fingered Livy. But that was before she put her past behind her and moved to the growing town of Chestnut, Illinois, where she's helping to run an orphanage. Now she'll do almost anything to protect the street kids like herself. Sheriff's deputy Jake Russell had no idea what he was in for when he ran into Livy--literally--while chasing down a pickpocket. With a rash of robberies and a growing number of street kids in town--as well as a loan on the family farm that needs to be paid off--Jake doesn't have time to pursue a girl. Still, he can't seem to get Livy out of his mind. He wants to get to know her better . . . but Livy isn't willing to trust any man, especially not a lawman.

  

I will definitely keep my eye on this author and grab her next book for sure.  This is her debut book and I really enjoyed her style of writing.  The story grabbed me from the very first page and kept me interested to the end.
A nice summer read.

Thanks for stopping by....

We're home from a wonderful 4th of July weekend with family.  Lots of laughing, eating, shopping, eating, laughing, a few fireworks, eating and more laughing and just having a blast.

The "girls" days consisted of a yummy lunch at Sandstone Gardens then hours of shopping. 

One day we spent a couple of hours driving through the path of the tornado.  

I was impressed with the amount of cleanup that has already taken place.

I learned that even among the devastation and the sadness there was inspiration everywhere.

I learned that this was a special place for the volunteers to come and sit a spell and rest.  

And leave a piece of themselves.

I learned that even where there were no signs of progress concerning debris removal...

There was an undeniable sign that life goes on.

I learned that the trees amid the destructive path was sending forth new growth where they had been stripped clean.

And I learned to not read the trees.

 Thanks for stopping by....

I just finished reading this book about a little boys story of his trip to Heaven and back.  He and his family live in Imperial, Nebraska and the story starts when Colton wasn't quite four years old.
Here is just a small exert from the back of the book....

When Colton Burpo made it through an emergency appendectomy, his family was overjoyed at his miraculous survival.  What they weren't expecting, though, was the story that emerged in the months that followed.... a story as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing their little boy's trip to heaven and back.  

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Good Monday morning!!  Yesterday I said that I'd show you the Red top that I have been working on for the Monochromatic Challenge.
On my other post I said that I was going to sash these pinwheel blocks.
Well....as usual ... I changed my mind and went back to EQ and decided to set them on point and add some Snowball blocks.  This pic is only showing 3 of 5 pinwheel blocks across and there will be 6 blocks down.  This will make the quilt much bigger without having to make more pinwheel blocks.  (I was running out of red scraps)  I'll also be adding red and white borders to finish it off.

So since it's Monday why don't you head on over to Patchwork Times and check out Judy's Design Wall and see what some of the other quilters have been up to.
Thanks for stopping by....

Just in case you were wondering....I'm still here.
I know I've said it before and I'll say it again..... I really can't believe that so much time has slipped away while I was doing a little sewing....
& .....a little playing in EQ trying to figure how I want to set the Red blocks together....
& .....a lot of computer time absorbing as much information about the Joplin tornado as I could find....
& .....a few naps here and there....
& .....and all in all just a whole lot of wasting time.  
But since I've done this song and dance before I'm not even going to pretend that I will not take so long between posts again.  hahaha
(You were right for sure Crispy) LOL

I did get my ironing board recovered the other day.  Oh Gosh...it was in terrible shape and I just kept putting it off until it had finally gotten so hard and brittle that it actually ripped in a couple of places and I couldn't stand it any more.
 I certainly think it was time don't you?



Don helped me flip the board and he did the stapling while I pulled the nice pretty blue fabric tight.

Much much nicer now!

I've been slowly working on the setting triangles for the Red quilt and tomorrow I'll post a pic of the top that I have sewn together so far.  

Have a great Sunday...Thanks for stopping by....

Yesterday just wasn't a day for sewing for me soooo I gave in and decided to settle back with my book.   I spent the rest of the afternoon and night finishing it

  

'An Echo In The Bone' is the 7th novel in the Outlander Series written by Diana Gabaldon.  "It continues the extraordinary story of the eighteenth-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his twentieth-century time-traveling wife, Claire Randall".

This is the first time I've ever started a series of novels and read each one in the order they were written.   I just hope I don't have to wait too long before she publishes the next one.  And there has to be a "next one" since she has left so many different story lines just hanging.
 .....What happened to Jem????
......and Roger???
......and oh my!!  what will Jamie do about John Grey??????
....and William???  My goodness that could be a whole other book!!

Oh I hate the waiting!!
Thanks for stopping by....

 It's been a long eight days since the tornado hit Joplin.  All of my family living in the area are all OK and safe.... and even though my granddaughters boyfriend lost his apartment... he was not there when it hit and he was safe.  I count the blessings.  

Our hearts are broken and we sob for the families who have lost loved ones.  And all we can do is pray and reach out to give what we can.
The physical devastation the wind left in it's wake is unbelievable.  
The emotional trauma that has left multitudes trying to find stable ground to stand on....is unbelievable.
The prayers and love that keeps pouring into Joplin is unbelievable!    
     And day by day.... minute by minute stable ground is being found and healing has begun.
Another day....
     
So for today I'm going to post a few quilting pictures....hoping this will be one more step toward finding my normal.

<<< This is a piece of the block I've chosen for May's
Monochromatic Challenge from Judy's blog. 

 >>>

The finished 8" block is called Jack in the Box by Bonnie Hunter.  I saw this pattern in the January/February issue of Quiltmaker magazine.
I'll be making 30 blocks and adding red sashing and a border to finish at 58" x 68".  A nice sized snuggle quilt.
 
Keep sending healing prayers for Joplin.
And hug your family tight.
Thanks for stopping by....

Goodness It's been chilly this week.  Most nights we've been running the furnace since it's been getting down in the 40s.  But it's supposed to warm up this weekend.  80 degrees will be welcomed.

I've been slowly plugging away on my "Red" piecing.     One unit is all sewn and now I'm working on the other unit that will combine with the angled piece that you see here.
That's a LOT of white squares added to the corners.  Something like 480 - 2 1/2" squares.

When I first started sewing the squares to the bricks I was pretty much eyeballing the best I could.  I was doing ok....but...
Then I remembered that I had a guide that I could put on my machine.
Sooooo I had to spend a bit of time tracking it down since I'd put it away "somewhere".

Finally found it and taped it down and away I went.  Now this is much easier.

The bed of my Janome is a tad bit small for the mat but I've managed to make it stay in place well enough.    I usually pencil mark the back of each of the squares when I sew this type of block....but with this pattern there were just too many to do that way.
  
Yea I'll use this guide again and save my pencil for writing.  HA!

And while I"m sewing I'm also adding another seam 3/8" away from the first one (per Bonnie's instructions) so when I cut off the waste triangles they're already seamed together.
<< TaDa
They just need a good pressing and then stored away for another project.

This pile doesn't EVEN begin to show how many of these little buggers there are.  Ironing these has pretty much been all I've done this week.  LOL

So I'm heading off to do some more sewing, cutting and pressing.  "See" you next week........
Thanks for stopping by....

I am amazed!  Where did the time go?  Surely it hasn't been that long since I've posted.
Maybe it was Blogger's fault.
Maybe it ate all of my posts.
Hahahaha
Yeah right!

Sooooo moving right along ..... This month's Monocromatic Challenge color is Red.
I love red.
And I love Bonnie Hunter and her scrappy system and patterns....so I decided to use one of her blocks and use up some of my red Fat Quarters along with assorted White on White.

Here's a pic of some of the fabrics as I was just getting started.

I've used my Go cutter and made short work of cutting the 2 1/2" squares and strips for the bricks.  I have started sewing some of the bricks but as usual I'm getting a late start and seems like so many other projects keep pulling me away.

Like lunch!  Going to fix me a salad.
I promise I won't wait so long to post again.
 
Thanks for stopping by....

Pondering is over and I've decided I really needed this to be a bit bigger so I added a dark brown border.
Better now!

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon trying to find some "Orange" fabric to start this months challenge.   No luck!
I don't like orange.
 I don't buy orange.
 Sooooo unless something really magnificent pops into my head about the one piece of orange striped fabric that I did find..... I guess I'm going to pass on this months challenge.

I think I'll pull out one of the UFO's  and see how much I can get done this month.   And next week I'm going to try to get hubby to add more shelves to the closet so I can have more space to organize my fabric.
Have a great weekend.  
Thanks for stopping by....