Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Stitch from Stash Report February

Well...I really feel like this was a lost month. I barely picked up a needle at all, except to work on some round robins, which were really not my stash, but someone else's. I know that there are still a few days left to the month, but realistically, I don't think I will be stitching. I am totally wrapped up in another new-to-me cozy mystery series and I have been reading through them like crazy. I am on number five and have two more to go.
So my measly (is that a word?) report is as follows: no money spent; no new starts from stash and no working on WIPs. :(  I didn't even remember to take advantage of the Market Splurge, although I did see a couple of designs that I really want to get...maybe next month...we'll see.
Anyway, I look forward to reading everyone's reports. I'm sure you all have smokin' needles and lots of market stash to share pics of.
Till next time...thanks for stopping by to visit!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Thawing out & turtle trotting

We are finally starting to thaw out here in the Pacific Northwest. I've been pretty much housebound since Thursday afternoon when my wonderful hubby picked me up from work. You have to understand that we do not usually have storms like this, so when we do, all hell breaks loose! We actually closed the library for three days. I can't remember that ever happening before. It's supposed to get warmer today and things should melt (I hope). The highways aren't bad but all the side streets are still pretty horrible. I hope someone comes to plow around the library before we are set to open at 10.

Anyway, I should have got lots of stitching done, but I didn't. I ended up reading instead and watching the Olympics (and napping...I am still trying to get over this nasty bug that attacked early last week). So my turtle trot post is basically the same as my stitch from stash post (a few posts down)...the three pieces I have stitched on are Gilded Cage, Shades of Autumn and the Abigail Gould Sampler,  but I haven't got any further than those photos show. Hopefully there will be lots more progress before next month!

For now I have to make some sense of the mess outside. Thanks for taking the time to visit!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Reading Challenge Update

One month down...eleven to go! For January's challenge, we were to read a book that was written in the year we were born. I chose Agatha Christie's A Murder Is Announced.  I love to read mysteries, and I am sure that I have read some of Christie's mysteries in the past...I know I have seen the movies!...but I forgot how really much I like them. She is very descriptive and the details just move the story along. The characters are interesting, and so are the plots, with little twists and turns everywhere. And I did not figure out the ending in advance!

For February, the challenge is to read a book that we have read about on a reading/book blog. I checked out Powell's Books blog (Powell's is a wonderful bookstore here in Portland), and decided to read Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. I've heard some good things about this one, so I think I will enjoy it.

We have just officially launched this challenge at the library. I hope we get lots of people to participate. You can like our library's page on Facebook...Oregon City Public Library

Last night, we hosted an author program at the library. Well, we actually held it in a church across the street because there was more room there. The authors were Gregory Nokes and Phillip Margolin. Gregory Nokes has written a non-fiction book called Breaking Chains about a slavery case in Oregon in the 1850's. Phil Margolin has just released a fictional account of the same case called Worthy Brown's Daughter.  It was really interesting to hear about the story from both perspectives.

I also discovered a new cozy series by Laura Bradford this week...well, it's not a new series (in fact, I think they were issued under different titles at one point), but it's new to me. It is the Jenkins & Burns mystery series, and the first is called Deadly Readings. I loved these characters so much that I got all four on my kindle and just plowed right through them (now, of course, I am anxious for the next one!) But something I found out was that Laura Bradford also writes as Elizabeth Lynn Casey, and her Southern Sewing Circle mysteries are another of my favorites! It made me wonder how many of my other favorite cozy writers may actually be the same person! I will have to look into that some more!

Anyway, I was reading so much this week that I didn't do any stitching, so hopefully I will catch up on that tomorrow watching the game!

Thanks for visiting!