Sister's Choice Quilts

My interests are quilting, reading, cooking, family, decorating, and matters of style. I post regular quilting tutorials and book reviews of current fiction.

Geting Caught Up

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I spent the weekend getting caught up on my sew-along projects, doing laundry, reading, and recovering from my vacation. The blocks above are from the Fatquarter Shop's Sewcialites sew-along. There have been four blocks so far. The purple one on the top left is not a block from the sew-along, rather one that I used instead of Week 4's block.  I did not care for this last week's block's asymmetry, so I changed things up. 

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This block is the latest Moda BlockHeads block "Strings" by Janet Clare. I haven't done string piecing for a while and found this really fun. The block above is four smaller block units, each sewn on a muslin foundation. The finished block is 8 inches. This sew-along has provided some very nice challenges and changes of pace for me.

The book I am reading is The Searcher, the newest from Tana French. It is set in western Ireland, which is fun for me since our son is an Irish citizen. I sorely missed our September trip to visit him this fall. The main character is an ex-cop from Chicago, who has moved to Ireland to start his life over. I am only 60 or so pages in, but I am enjoying it a lot so far.

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I have to share one last picture from our trip to Lake Tahoe. Eva is standing atop Donner Summit, with Donner Lake behind her. For school, she is about to start a book called Patty Reed's Doll, about a child in the ill-fated Donner Party. Little Patty had one toy, a wooden doll. When things got tough for the traveling party, her parents had to get rid of every extra item that was not essential to carry on their wagon. Patty was told to ditch her doll but secreted it in a pocket within her petticoats. Can you imagine what comfort that little companion provided a frightened child during that winter full of hardships and starvation? I am counting this as a field trip and adding the hours to our educational accounting for October!

I hope you all had an excellent weekend and continue to stay safe and healthy.

 

18 responses to “Geting Caught Up”

  1. I’m also read The Searcher. I’m about one third of the way. It got some bad reviews but I like it.

  2. I’m also read The Searcher. I’m about one third of the way. It got some bad reviews but I like it.

  3. I’m also read The Searcher. I’m about one third of the way. It got some bad reviews but I like it.

  4. Your block colors are so pretty together. Visiting Donner Summit will make the story so much more real for Eva! You should definitely count the time spent on the field trip as educational! Welcome home & have a good week! PS I notice Eva’s mask on her wrist–have you seen the colorful mask lanyards on Amazon? They look quite handy! 😷

  5. Your block colors are so pretty together. Visiting Donner Summit will make the story so much more real for Eva! You should definitely count the time spent on the field trip as educational! Welcome home & have a good week! PS I notice Eva’s mask on her wrist–have you seen the colorful mask lanyards on Amazon? They look quite handy! 😷

  6. Your block colors are so pretty together. Visiting Donner Summit will make the story so much more real for Eva! You should definitely count the time spent on the field trip as educational! Welcome home & have a good week! PS I notice Eva’s mask on her wrist–have you seen the colorful mask lanyards on Amazon? They look quite handy! 😷

  7. Have you read The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown? It’s about the Donner party. I found it fascinating. Having grown up in California, I’ve always been intrigued by the Donner party. He’s the same guy that wrote The Boys in the Boat. I bet you’d like both of those if you haven’t already read them.

  8. Have you read The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown? It’s about the Donner party. I found it fascinating. Having grown up in California, I’ve always been intrigued by the Donner party. He’s the same guy that wrote The Boys in the Boat. I bet you’d like both of those if you haven’t already read them.

  9. Have you read The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown? It’s about the Donner party. I found it fascinating. Having grown up in California, I’ve always been intrigued by the Donner party. He’s the same guy that wrote The Boys in the Boat. I bet you’d like both of those if you haven’t already read them.

  10. The blocks are beautiful! So glad you had a good trip. I can’t believe it is almost November but I really am looking forward to cooler weather.

  11. The blocks are beautiful! So glad you had a good trip. I can’t believe it is almost November but I really am looking forward to cooler weather.

  12. The blocks are beautiful! So glad you had a good trip. I can’t believe it is almost November but I really am looking forward to cooler weather.

  13. It sounds like you had a nice trip. I am so ready to go somewhere for a change of scenery. The blocks look great !

  14. It sounds like you had a nice trip. I am so ready to go somewhere for a change of scenery. The blocks look great !

  15. It sounds like you had a nice trip. I am so ready to go somewhere for a change of scenery. The blocks look great !