Friday Books: Lots of Excitement Over Books!

This is the second week in a row that I do not have a finished book to review! Scandalous!! I am reading two books that do not excite me. They are definitely not five-star books. I am determined to finish at least one of them, and will soon. Meanwhile, I found some other interesting articles about books that I will share with you.

First, I will tell you that, despite my having decided NOT to apply to be a book giver on World Book Night in 2014, I went ahead and applied at the very last minute. Last year I had a less-than-wonderful experience and just didn't feel excited about it this year. When a friend asked me a question about being a book giver, I went back to the World Book Night website and got excited. So I applied. This year, if they accept me, I plan to give away my books at a literacy center where new citizens of Minnesota are learning English, learning to read, and learning all about how to live in this very foreign land. I think they will be the perfect recipients and will enjoy getting a free book. I hope to connect with a teacher there, to make sure his/her class is just right for the book, and he/she can maybe even do a little prep work, explaining the program before I get there.

Now for the articles, here is one on the first-ever 3-D printed book cover! I suppose some day we will look back at this and laugh at how huge and heavy and awkward it is, not to mention expensive.

3-D book cover


The next article lists MORE wonderful-sounding books that the writer urges us to read. Oh, boy.. I need to live to be 300 years old to read everything I want to read, and that is just what has already been written, not counting what is to come between now and when I'm 300! What is a person to do?? I surely do love to read, but I love other things, too, and I can't read 24/7. Doing the best I can, as I know you are, also.

Yet another list of can't-miss books

Happy reading, everyone!

Tea Towel Challenge - Fabrics

I'm participating in the Tea Towel Challenge over at Sophie Junction. See the button in my sidebar.

Here's my towel. I got it on e-Bay. I liked it because I am of Scottish heritage, and in Scotland there is even a castle (in ruins) that carries my maiden name. I hope some day to see it in person.

Here are the fabrics I intend to use. My bag piper is so classy and refined.. I decided it would be good to shake him up a bit with some flashy, celebratory fabrics! Even I am wondering how this is going to turn out.

See other participants' towels and fabrics here.

Counting Pajamas

You may have noticed in my sidebar that I am counting pajamas this year. Why? At Christmas time our church supports a neighborhood service agency called Neighbors. They collect gifts for kids (birth to teen) to deliver to families in need. This goes on all year, but at Christmas time they make a special effort to make sure every child receives a new pair of pajamas, and a set of hat, scarf and mittens. Now is a GREAT time to shop for winter pajamas. They are marked way down. I got the above set for $4.50, originally priced at $15.

Neighbors has enough room, thanks to moving into a new building, so they can store Christmas things all year long and have them ready to go in December. So I am hoping to get pajamas to them through the year, as I find good sales or just feel motivated to purchase some. Sizes are from infant up to XXL. So I have a wide variety to choose from.

We'll see how many pajamas I can pull off in a year. Watch my count and see how it grows!

Merry Christmas, dear readers, just a few months early!

Catching Up with Myself

This is my attempt to catch up to photos of a variety of things I haven't yet shown you over the recent weeks. I got behind thanks to Christmas. Then MIL got sick, and we were all a bit distracted. She is doing MUCH better now, and from what I can tell is pretty much back to normal. Hopefully she'll be back home soon. She is "bored out of her gourd" sitting in the hospital.

Below you see the following: first is a table topper that I gave to Daughter for Christmas. You might have seen this before. I like the shape and size and found a new technique for making it, which is super easy. I have made several more like it, of various sizes, but they are not quilted yet.

The middle two pics are small quilt-beginnings I made from other people's blocks. I sent these beginnings to Tammy who will finish them off. She's a master at using people's half-created parts and turning them into beautiful quilts.

The last picture above is two house blocks I made for Beth over at Love Laugh Quilt blog. Once a year she collects house blocks and then shares them with two winners, plus makes a charity quilt from some of them. It's fun to see the neighborhood of houses she collects, and they all turn into such cute quilts. Last year I was a winner, and had a blast making the quilt. And Beth churned out a couple of really cute charity quilts.

Above: a quilt top I finished for Quilts Beyond Borders. And a beautiful sunset behind the St. Paul Cathedral, taken from the hospital while waiting for news of Mother-in-Law.

Above: a hat I finished recently; the woman in the background made the pom-pom for me. And our group completed three prayer shawls for our prayer shawl ministry at church.

Whew! I'm feeling better -- a little more caught up with myself.

Friday Books: Nothing Today but a Broken Heart

No book report today! I'm reading two books simultaneously and am about halfway through both of them. I don't like reading this way. It slows me down on both books! Hopefully I'll have something to report next week.

Meanwhile, I want to tell you a sad story. About three weeks ago a young mother was driving her children and some nieces home from a fun event. No one knows exactly what happened. She probably hit some ice; somehow she lost control. (It has been a bad ice season.) Her car spun around and ended up slamming into a truck. Three little children died. They were 11, 5, and 5. They were cousins: each of them was the daughter of one of three grown sisters. The driver lost a daughter, and so did her two sisters. The driver was badly hurt and has been in the hospital in ICU for three weeks, unable to speak and barely moving.

Here's where the story circles around to my family. While sitting in the ICU waiting room this last week, waiting for Mother-in-Law to recover from a stroke, we realized that the family sharing our space was the family from the above tragedy. They had been camped out in ICU for a long time; we could see that from the boxes of food, blankets, pillows, and other supplies they had with them.

We spoke to various of the survivors: two children, one of whom survived the accident, the husband of the injured driver, and the grandmother.

I cannot begin to imagine their pain. Their lives are forever altered. I literally hurt inside my chest, thinking about what they are going through. While we were there the young mother was transferred from ICU into a rehab hospital, so we no longer shared waiting room space with that family. I am glad we were able to speak with them and give them our condolences.

I know people all over the world are hurting from some terrible things. This family has touched my heart because I saw them up close. If you are a praying person, please pray for the M/P families as well as for other families around the world who are touched by tragedy, loss, fear, and pain. I believe we can help each other through prayer and hope.

Good News to Start the Year

Mother-in-Law is doing MUCH better! It's a miracle! She moved out of ICU into a regular hospital room and is off all her IVs, oxygen, and other tubes. She is eating real food, talking at a normal speed and is clear, alert, and memory appears to be intact. Wow! What a turn-around. And, to make everything even better, today is her 84th birthday!

I have been kind of distracted and not feeling the sewing mo-jo lately. To be honest, though, that's not so much because of MIL's hospitalization but because my sewing room is in turmoil so that I don't even feel comfortable working in there. Must do something about that very soon. I have had some fun working on knitting projects, however. And that is easy to do while sitting in a hospital waiting room. I finished this neck warmer which is soft and warm. I love it:

I can't get a picture to show the true beauty of this pink yarn. It is bright, soft and a tad variegated and so pretty!

A while back I finished this.. it was going to be a prayer shawl, but when I got it off the needle it curled so much. I suppose it needs to be blocked, which I think I know how to do, but am uncertain. Also, it is a lot smaller than I expected it to be. I ended up using it myself. It makes a great shoulder cover and is so warm. It really helps on these cold, below zero days we have been "enjoying" here in Minnesota.

Last, I finally got a haircut, which I like for the simple reason that I no longer have hair falling into my face. I hate hair in my face! Guess I'm a short-hair woman.

And that's my nice first days of 2014! Happy New Year to all my readers.

Low Volume Quilt - Done!

I finally finished my Low Volume Quilt and gave it to my niece for Christmas. Long ago she had asked for a quilt: "white and lacey." I wasn't sure how to do that, so I sat on that idea for several years. Then when the low volume idea started popping up in BlogLand, I knew what to do... this is made of whites and lights, obviously, with some lace added here and there. I got the top made quite a while ago and then finally quilted it this winter, just in time for our Christmas party.

She appears to like it. :-)

Update on MIL

Whew! It has been a tiring few days. MIL went into the hospital on Christmas night. She had a bleed in her brain: a small stroke. While they were testing and determining where the bleed was coming from, she slipped into a deep slumber and could not be awakened. It was very scary. The neurosurgeon was called in, and they decided to do a temporary shunt to relieve pressure in her brain. The surgery was done right away, and she responded well. She was temporarily on a respirator, and so they decided to put in a permanent shunt before taking her off the machine.. that surgery was a little more extensive and took longer, but again she responded well. She was able to be taken off the respirator. We were very happy to see her wake up and recognize us, speak, and respond correctly to questions.

Next step is evaluation and recommendations by the rehab team. She will probably stay in the hospital for another 3-4 days. Then on January 2nd we can celebrate her 84th birthday!

We are very happy and relieved that she appears to have come through these serious events. Thanks very much for your thoughts and prayers!

This is MIL a couple years ago at a birthday celebration for FIL. Silly hats were the fashion du jour.

Friday Books: a Five and a Three

1) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Roswell -- loved it! I give it five stars. This is the story of two kids in high school who meet by dint of "only seat left" on the school bus. They very gradually begin to be friendly, and the book takes the reader through the evolution of their friendship. It's hard to put this book down. It's very engaging, and the characters are real, believable, and lovable. (Some of the characters are not exactly easy to love, but the two main characters definitely are.)

2) Help Thanks Wow by Anne Lamott -- these are the three prayers she says will cover everything you need in your prayer life. She expands on the three prayers as they may happen in one's daily life. As always, she is honest about her own doubts and her own failures, as she sees them. She is very humble and yet inspiring. Despite that, I found this little book a tad boring and can only give it three stars.

LATER:
P.S. I just found out that there was big controversy over Eleanor & Park in a large school district in my state. OMG!! What are they thinking??!! It is such a beautiful book! Read about the controversy here, and Rowell's response to it. She responds with class. I'm ashamed it happened in my state.

My Mother-in-Law and My Son

My MIL is in the hospital with a potentially serious condition... doctors say it's not immediately life-threatening, but she has some heart and kidney concerns that complicate any treatments. We are all watching carefully for updates.

Here she is, pictured while leaving our family gathering last Sunday, with my Son's Santa hat strategically placed in the background:

I have not yet taken my turn at Hospital Sitting, as we are calling it. Family members get to sit and sit and sit while waiting for news which comes very slowly in dribbles. I'll probably show my face tomorrow (with my current knitting project).

Today I took Son back to airport for his return flight to the West Coast. It was hard to say good-bye, because I may not see him again for over a year. He is hoping to get an overseas job and be on his way there by February. I am so happy to see him excited and enthused about his future! He has struggled with some depression over past hurdles in his life, so happiness for him is way overdue. I have prayers for lots of happiness in his years to come.... but am feeling sad that he is far away and hopes to go even farther! Moms and Dads have it tough, sometimes, while we enjoy our kids' successes.

Here are my two kids in their last moments together for the next year or more:

Here is Hubby with our youngest Great-Nephew at our Christmas Party #3. I forgot to take along my camera and only had my cell phone which I find much more awkward and less satisfying for picture taking.

And circling back to my Mother-in-Law. She is one of my most regular blog readers, so if you feel like leaving her a cheery note, I'm sure that would be something she would like to read. I'll make sure she gets any note that is left for her. Her name is Shirley. Thanks to all for your kind thoughts and/or prayers.

Merriment All Day and All Night

Husband's family gathered at our house for Christmas Party #1: 23 people in all! We don't have a huge house, so it was a tight fit... but was cozy and fun and FULL of laughter. We had so much fun.

Party #2 was much quieter, with only six people in attendance, but very special and fun, too. Daughter and Son may not see each other for a while, depending on what happens with Son's job search in another country! He is happy and full of hope about his new prospects, therefore I am happy for him and squashing my sad feelings about him potentially living so far away. One day at a time, right?

One more Christmas party to go, then we can look ahead to the New Year and hope for Happiness and Good Health for all.

Oh, Happy Day!

Hooray! Son came home for Christmas!

We'll have a full house on Sunday.. could have up to 24 people here! Fun times ahead!

Friday Books: Slavery

good photo for this time of year...

This week's book is All Different Kinds of Free by Jessica McCann. Excellent story! The book is fiction based on a few true events. A court case, Prigg vs. State of Pennsylvania, really happened, and the name of the main character, Margaret Morgan, was the real woman whose life was greatly affected by the actions of Prigg and the ensuing court decisions.

My advice is to not read any summary/review that accompanies this book (except for this one, of course). It gives away too much. I hate it when the entire plot and any surprise therein is revealed in reviews. So I am not going to tell you many details except that it has to do with slavery in the 1830s, before the Civil War. There are heartbreaking events; awful things happen. You know that when you read a book on slavery. But it's not all bad, and the story really grabs you so that you may have trouble putting this one down.

Really good.. take a couple days off and read this book.

Successful Auction

Here are my two silent auction items at work, the smallest silent auction in the history of humankind:

But don't bash Small! It did well.. $15 for the blanket and onesie on the right, and $12 for the table topper on the right. That's $27 for a food shelf collection our office is doing. Not bad, eh?? Next year, if I get my act together, I can see if other people want to contribute, and we could do a bigger one! Fun!

Here's a hat I recently knitted. I'm starting a scarf to go with it, and hopefully some mittens, too. I got lots of this pretty yarn at a sale when a knitting store went out of business.

Here's our humble little tree. It's a fake one that I got at a garage sale for $10. I love bargains!

I Give In -- I'll Join the Tea Towel Challenge

Tea towel challenge!! I guess I'll try again. I did one over at Bumble Beans, Inc., and never finished, because I wasn't happy with what I created.

There's another one going.. here:
http://sophiejunction.blogspot.com/p/tea-towel-challenge-2014.html

I'll try again. I don't have a towel at hand and have no particular design in mind, so this will be a complete mystery and adventure. Stay tuned!

a restaurant in San Diego... totally unrelated to tea towels, as far as I know! Maybe they sell giraffe tea towels there. I better go check.

Spontaneous Auction

I had a couple of home-made items and wasn't sure what to do with them, so I decided to create a "silent auction" at work. They let us do fundraisers as a community-building activity. So I created a bidding sheet and set out two items. One I did not photograph.. it's a really cute baby blanket that I bought at our church bazaar, along with a onesie that I dyed.

The other item is this, a mini table topper:

Both items had bidders, and a couple of people were competing for one of the items.. I'm happy. The money will go into our current campaign for the local Food Shelf.

Friday Books: Me Before You

I read Me Before You by JoJo Moyes and loved it! Definitely 5 stars for this one. This was an excellent story. I loved the character, Louisa. She was a breath of fresh air, so unique and interesting! Will, a young man at the prime of his life, suffers a debilitating accident. At first I didn't understand why Will had not returned to work, but later I decided it was because of on-going health challenges and living with pretty much constant pain.

This is one of those stories that makes you question beliefs about a big issue (won't say what it is, because that would be a spoiler). Love and grief and questioning are so well portrayed in this book! It is going to stay on my mind for quite some time. I'm not happy about a decision that one of the characters makes in the end... but it was well covered from a couple of different perspectives that make the reader think deeply about the issue. Being a human being is very complicated.

Wish I could say more, but I don't want to include any spoilers here. This book was so good, I couldn't put it down; I stayed up late a couple of nights in order to keep reading and finish it.

Today, Dec. 13, would have been my dad's 98th birthday if he were still alive. Miss you and love you, Dad!

Already Revealing a Christmas Gift

This little doll is for my great-niece who is just under a year and a half old. I don't think she's going to be reading my blog and getting the surprise spoiled before Christmas. Haha! And my niece, her mother, is also too busy to read my blog, I'm quite sure. So I am showing you the little doll I found for great-niece.

She had an ugly tag on her chest, which I removed, and in the process I accidentally made a little slit in her 'skin' fabric. I sewed that up by hand and am calling it her appendectomy scar. But she wanted to wear a dress to cover the scar, so I made one.

The other part of this gift is a cute little sweater that I found for my great-niece when I was shopping in Paris, France! Ooh, la-la! I have never been able to say anything that exotic and fun before! (I even got it at 50% off.)

I believe I am all done Christmas shopping, and I'm even done mailing off all the packages I had to mail. Now I can bake some cookies. Yum!

I Feel Like Secret Santa

This is the story of collecting gifts for families in need. I am the coordinator (at church) of the donations to Food Shelf and other items that our local service agency requests for families. Lately it has been so much fun to be "in charge." I get to see all the goodness flowing from our church to people who need help.

The little tree contains gift requests ... red tags are for the family that we "adopt" and white tags are general gifts for families who do not get adopted; the agency we work through tries to fulfill their wishes and needs as much as possible. Only about half the families who apply to be adopted actually get adopted. There are not enough volunteers to serve all the needs.

the gifts assembled at the altar for a special blessing before they depart

We put them into my car; I felt like I was driving Santa's sleigh

Here they all are in my living room. I had to sort and assemble into groups for two different programs.

I was really impressed with the wonderful and generous gifts that people at my church provided.. lots of toys ranging from stuffed animals to craft and science kits to jewelry items for teens, electronic stuff, remote control cars, AND 23 sets of pajamas! Twenty-three kids will get to be warm and snuggly in bed because of all those pajamas.

Husband and I packed it all back into Santa's sleigh...

...and delivered it all to the agency today. The three boxes contain lots of wrapped gifts for the family we adopted -- three kids and two parents. Without our help, they would not have been able to afford gifts for their kids. Now their tree is going to be full and happy, and the kids will get what they want and need. Parents get a couple gifts, too, along with a grocery store gift card to provide a happy Christmas dinner.

I LOVE BEING INVOLVED IN THIS! It is so much fun. We don't know who we are helping, and we won't see their shining faces on Christmas morning, but we have shown them some love from strangers, and I feel blessed to be a part of it.