The Bibliophile Files - 12/31/17

When nobody complained that I didn't post Bibliophile Files during the great no-internet-debacle at the beginning of December, I decided to post this at the end of the year for a more accurate count. What I didn't consider is that my January post is going to be pretty lean but it's too late now...

I finished my year by reading 97  98 books!! Not bad when I worried the first half of the year that I was behind schedule to finish my goal of 90 books. (Updated at 5:30 today with another finish!)

On the other hand, I didn't finish my reading challenge for the year. It wasn't lengthy with just 26 book but the topics to pick were no where near my norms. And lets be honest - I didn't try super hard to finish the challenge. It's 80% finished so I'll just finish it in early 2018 and call it "good enough for who it's for".

FINISHED
     The Absent One - This is the second book in the Department Q series. I had read the first book but apparently hadn't been enthralled enough to add it to my "book binder" for future reading options. The series has now been added to the binder as I really enjoyed this book.
     A Fountain Filled With Blood - another new series about a lady minister who had been in the military. The series is set in my favorite Adirondack Mountains.
     Of Beast & Beauty - a new take on an old favorite: Beauty and the Beast
     Camino Island
     In a Dry Season
     A Long Way Home - I read the book after watching the movie "Lion". Fantastic true story about a "lost" child in India who is adopted by an Aussie family and then searches for his roots. Movies are never quite the same as the book but I think these 2 compliment each other quite nicely.
     Pillars of the Earth - At first I cursed the person who recommended this book (audiobook is 32 CDs!!) but then I was so into it that I ordered the second book in the series to find it's 36 CDs. Thankfully a new book only appears in this series every 10 years or so.
     Blue Screen
     Haunted
     Burn
     Seduced
     #1 Ladies Detective Agency
     Dead Wrong

IN PROGRESS
     On my home stereo - Breaking Silence
     On my iPhone - The Cuban Affair


And now it's your turn! What did you read in the last month? Was there one book that stuck out for you this year? Something that you wished you had gotten to but didn't? Any suggestions for books or a 2018 Reading Challenge would be great to share as well. Don't forget anything counts for your BF Report - a novel, a magazine, a quilt pattern or a cereal box!

Feline Friday - 12/29/17

You may recall that the week between Santy Claws and New Year's Day has Momma working at home in the evenings to prepare town tax bills for work. 

I generally try to help her by sitting on a box of the bills to hold them in place but this year I have a bit of a tummy bug so I'm kinda laying low. 

Really low - like on the floor heater vent.
Don't worry tho - I'm still snoopervising cuz Momma is only 3 steps away.

Sometimes it's more fun to sit in the Window Box and have Momma tuck me in.
She's good to me like that!

Happy New Year's and we'll see all y'all next year!!!

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Wednesday Weather Report #32 - 12/27/17

12 bowl cozies

For Christmas this year, I made everyone (including myself!!!!) one of the now popular bowl cozies in fabric to match a hobby or preference of each person.

Dad's first thought was that maybe it was an individualized yarmulka with the Wendy's key tag as a Minnie Pearl decoration. Only family...

Christmas Day was run run run: shovel the drive to get out and then run to Mom & Dad's. I was about to run home for a shower before off to the next party when we had an MVA thanks to the icky weather so that meant a run for the ambulance. Then it was actually off to my brother's house.

We had an excellent dinner and fun exchanging gifts.

The drive home was pretty harrowing. It was snowing about 3"/hour and at some point the DOT had pulled the plows off the roads for their safety. Hello? What about the schmucks driving through 6" of snow and there were no tracks to follow???!!!

The 20 minute drive home took about 35 minutes, which I guess isn't too bad. The photo above was taken at 10:08 Monday night. I had been home about 3 minutes when don't you know - it stopped snowing.

I again shoveled out again Tuesday morning. It looks like we got about 15" total. It's currently sunny and blue skies but the lake effect storm warning continue through this evening.

Even Zorro admits that he might have dreamed a little too hard for a White Christmas but he was happy to be snuggled in his Window Box watching Birdie Vision. You'll notice the snow piled on top of the birdfeeder again and hopefully you can spot at least one of the 3 goldfinches in the feeder.

As far as my temperature hexies...I've nearly completed stitching last week's rosette but I have done nothing this week other than pull new dark purples to add some variety. I am pretty sure that tomorrow I'll be pulling out a brand new color!!!

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Feline Friday - 12/22/17

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Wednesday Weather Report #31 - 12/20/17

Did you miss me this week? It's been crazy! Friday was shopping day in the city. Saturday and part of Sunday were busy sewing gifts and cutting for the latest Ringo clue. The rest of the week has been work and parties.

My boss wore his new tie yesterday so I'll take that as a thumbs up! The fabric is kale which is as close to lettuce as I could find. One of his side businesses is to grow leaf lettuce in a 'high tunnel' - he then sells it in a road side stand and to several local restaurants.

Lemme just tell you the directions for this tie pattern were the worst that I have ever seen. At some point I just started winging it because they were so bad. Ugh.

I've cut all I need to make half the Ringo bits for this week. Those piles aren't exactly the same height. I hope I counted them correctly...

I've even sewed a little but that's mostly delayed until after I'm finished getting ready for Christmas.
If you hope over to Bonnie's linky party you can see who else is working on the same mystery.

It also snowed a little on Saturday. Wink.
What was that? You can't quite tell how much snow from that picture?

Is this better? Yipp. It snowed a little...

Zorro came outside to snoopervise while I cleaned up the driveway after a neighbor surprised me by plowing most of it while I walked to the post office :)

He is not a happy camper when it's cold and snowy but he was happy to be tucked in after his morning escapade.

And yet with all the hustle and bustle (I've survived 5 of 8 parties so far this week) I have been a little remiss in working on my weather rosette. I'm sure all y'all can understand how a girl can get behind...

16 - 16 - 25 - 25 - 22 - 39 - 45F

Yes those temps are correct. And my yard?

We are back to this. Boo! So much for my White Christmas...

An InLinkz Link-up

PS - For anyone new joining today, say from Bonnie's Linky party, my Wednesday Weather Report Linky is a place for anyone also making a weather related EPP quilt to link up. Each of the participants has created a colored thermometer and picked a time each day to check the temperature. Depending on the temp we make a hexie in the appropriate color and add it to the rosette. My "week" is Wednesday to Tuesday but everyone has put their spin on the project. If you are also a hexie-ologist, we would love to have you join in the fun!!

Feline Friday - 12/15/17

Ooh baby it's cold outside!

It's a little too hot when the heat machine is running.

But it's perfect after the heat machine has stopped.

Hmm...maybe my sissy did have a good idea about these heat grates...

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Wednesday Weather Reports #29 and #30

As all y'all will recall (say that 10x fast!!) ... I didn't have internet at work last week which put a terrible stop to my lunch time blogging.

Last week's weather report was pretty warm for December. But don't worry - we are making up for it today when I'll be welcoming a new color to the family! You'll see next week...

last week's report / #29
40 - 48 - 45 - 43 - 48 - 46 - 48F

#30
34 - 31 - 32 - 35 - 28 - 26 - 23F

Now that was more like December...!!!

How is your weather so far this year? Normal? Warmer or Cooler?

Don't forget, HeLP is this Sunday!

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Quilty weekend

Woohoo!! I've got internet back at work - it was 3 of the longest days possible without internet radio to fill the silence. Zorro even got a fan letter that he was missed on Feline Friday. He was pretty chuffed.

Anyway - I spent every spare moment this weekend cutting and stitching. I had a blast to work on something for ME, even tho the need to work on gifts kept nagging me.

I spent Friday evening cutting fabric - first I wanted to cut the neutral and coral strips needed to make Bonnie's Mystery Clue #3. Then I cut the strips needed to make Straits of Mackinac, another Bonnie pattern. I've been collecting turquoise fabrics for some time to make Mackinac and it worked out great that the mystery is also using turquoise. I'll be thinking of a different name for my quilt but I'm not inspired yet...


Saturday I took all my strips to guild sit-n-sew to subcut for Clue #3 and for Mackinac. I probably would have made a little more progress on cutting if I had double checked my drawing. I cut the neutrals for the tri part of the tri-recs. I wasted a lot of fabric recutting them into the recs part. Live & learn!

I was also texting with a friend who was saying something to the effect of hoping to not lose track while cutting up to a high number. I've shared this before but I'll share it again...

If I were actually counting - this would be 140 pieces.

I use antique thimbles to count what I've cut. a thimble on it's side is 5 and standing up is 10. A button is 100. It's easy for me and I get to enjoy the vintage/antique thimbles, most of which don't even fit my pinky finger.

I did a little grocery shopping after guild and then spent the evening on the couch working on hexies. I watched Spare Parts. I love true movies!

Sunday morning was housework and then a work related Christmas party but I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening back in the quilt lab.

First I had to finish pressing Clue #2.

Then I had to sew and press Clue #3. Don't forget to check out the linky party today!!!

Am I the only person with a callus from ironing? I've had the callus on my hand for a while and never thought about it but with all the ironing with my (heavy on purpose) iron it was irritating the callous. Who knew...

I've got quite a little pile of bits for the mystery quilt so far. I'm excited for clue #4 but I really need to work on some gifts this week.

In the meantime I'll keep plugging away at my Mackinac blocks...lots of pressing to do...

No internet = no blogging

The internet at my office isn’t working so I won’t be able to blog until I can figure out what the problem is.

My real struggle today is that I work (mostly) alone and listen to the radio online. It’s very, very, very quiet today ☹️

Design Wall Monday - 12/4/17

It was another busy weekend (I know you've never heard that before on my blog) some of it a total waste of time and some rather useful.

Friday started with a doctor's appointment - the doc was 45 minutes late and I was the first patient. Totally annoying. I made a quick run to the closest Joann's (45 mins away) for some wrapnzap to make soup bowl cozies as gifts and then back home to continue sewing for Saturday's Bazaar.

I really needed a "higher" display piece to the middle but I'll remember for next time

Despite lots of advertising to the students/parents and a nice mix of crafts and vendors there were very few shoppers. The weather was nice and I don't know of any other local events so I'm not sure where everyone was. Let's just say that the high table fee (PTA fundraiser) and the required raffle donation put me in the hole. I think this bazaar has potential thanks to the space and variety but I don't think I'll be joining next year. Bummer. On the positive side, I've got lots of inventory for my spring work conference!

On another positive side, I had 5 hours to stitch! These are for a set of 4 placemats I've been planning for ages.

Yesterday was spent with a little time on each of a lot of projects. It was divine.

I cut and stitched a few jewel hearts.

I cut out the parts needed to make half of Bonnie's mystery clue #2. Check out her linky party HERE.

There was a bunch more cutting and little clean up projects here and there that didn't warrant pictures or that I couldn't take pictures of for secret reasons. HOHOHO.

I will share 2 more pictures from my walk this morning.

Taken from the end of my driveway.
It's a little hazy and the sunrise was just lighting the sky.
Too bad you can't see the Christmas lights on the firehall at the end of the street
Maybe you can see the church steeple on the right - love those hourly bells

Love crossing this little creek twice on my walks.
The temp drops about 5-10 degrees when you cross the bridges.

Happy Monday!

Feline Friday - 12/1/17

It's December! It's December! It's December!
That mean's Santy Paws will be here soon!

Hi Momma - come give me a hug.

Oh wait - dirty spot...It's hard work keeping this white fur clean...

Never mind - changed my mind.

Wanna play instead?

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Wednesday Weather #28, Clue #1 and a new project

Have you ever been in a blogging slump that you just can't drag yourself out of? While I worked at my fall seasonal job during my lunches I restricted my blogging to the bare bones. That job is 99.9% over but I haven't found my mojo just yet. I'll skip all the excuses and just say that here's a little catch up and hopefully that mojo will show up over the weekend...

46 - 40 - 35 - 46 - 40 - 33 - 53F

This is my missing rosette from last week. I had thought that the top right hexie would be another dark green, making a neat design for the colors but Mother Nature surprised me.

34 - 32 - 52 - 52 - 34 - 40 - 60F

And this was this week's weather. That yellow was a total surprise but let me tell you it was a great day for decorating our office building with a slight breeze and gorgeous clear blue skies.

I've added the sashing to 2 or three of these blue rosettes for Mickey's On The Road project. It dawned on me that I may not want to make the quilt as big as Mickey's so I'm trying to sash up all the finished blue rosettes so I can lay them out and see what I really have so far. I've got 2 more to add grey sashing and 3 or 4 to add white. It's a slow going process but great for watching DVDs. I'm currently watching Wayward Pines Season 1. It's got M. Night Shyamalan's name all over it. Love that guy.

I'm sure no one (Janet!?) is surprised to hear that I've started a new project and I "mustache" you if you like it??!!? LOL. Have you seen the new Brimfield Block papers from paperpieces.com? I was on a FART with Lisa last Friday and we just couldn't get over this Santa fabric so I pulled a couple FQs and just fell in love with this. I have yet to stitch this, saving it for after the bazaar I am doing this weekend. Actually, I always take a hexie project to work on at bazaars so maybe this will be the one...

And last, but not least, I did my Bonnie Mystery Clue #1 blocks last weekend. I'm am currently making half the needed blocks until I see the final layout and then I can decide exactly how many bits I need for a smaller quilt.

For anyone joining today from Bonnie's Mystery linky party - I host a weekly Wednesday Weather Report linky for anyone working on a weather quilt. We would love to have you join in our project - let me know if you would like details or check out this link.

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Feline Friday - 11/24/17

Momma says she can tell the weather has changed:

#3 - I've been cuddling with Momma in bed at night. I even slept on her lap this morning while she stitched some hexies. She didn't even move when her DVD ended.

#2 - It takes me several tries before I convince myself to go outside in the mornings. It's cold out there when my precious tootsies step on that white stuff...

#1 - Momma says I only use the crows nest in the tower that GrandPoppa made me when it's cold.

Momma's so smart!
Winter has arrived and it looks like it's going to stay...

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Wednesday Weather Report #27 - 11/22/17

Oh. My. God. I just, like 2 seconds ago, remembered that I didn't take a picture of my temperature rosette this morning. I sooooooooo need this four day weekend to happen like now. Anyone want to tell my boss we should close early today? There won't be any customers! They're all on vacation. I'll be donating blood after work so it's for a good cause if I get to leave earlier. Anyone? Anyone?

I'll share both rosettes next week. I promise!

That bottom left fabric was part of the FART but not for the
mystery - the dark green is for my temp quilt.

I'm ready for Friday's release of clue #1 for Bonnie's annual mystery quilt after going on a recent FART. When I mix these with my stash I should have a decent variety. I'm going to do the same as I did last year - make half of the required bits for each clue and when she reveals the final design make what else I need to fill out a a smaller quilt.

I'm slowly making progress on my jewel hearts. I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to cut more from my donated scraps.

Happy Thanksgiving from Z and me!

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FART = fabric acquisition road trip

HeLP for Hexie-aholics and Feline Friday - 11/17/17

Hello! Hello! It's one of those rare days where HeLP and Feline Friday fall on the same day!! Welcome to hexie-ologists and Z Fan Club members alike.

Momma has been very busy sewing things for a church bazaar tomorrow. One of the things she was making this week was catnip toys. Can you believe she was working on them while I was outside? What if I had wanted some 'nip?? Luckily she gave me the tray and the bowl to lick out when she finally finished. Well, it was that or I was going to help myself and she knew it...

Yo duuuuude - that was some crazy good 'nip!

Do all y'all remember when the Squeakster did a PSA on using 'nip? I didn't until after the fact either...

Wanna see Momma's design wall when she's been around 'nip? 

Isn't it craycray busy? She claims it's cuz her brain works faster than her fingers. Seems like an excuse to me.

I think she wants me to tell you that the important part of today's picture is the progress on the temp quilt. She passed the half way mark a couple days ago. Did a little happy dance and everything. 

Ok now, my feline lovin' hexie-ologist friends - time to link up your favorite feline (well, other than me of course) and your latest hexie project. Extra 'nip for you if there is a feline in your hexie photo!

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Weekly Wednesday Weather Report #26 - 11/15/17

Do you realize that today marks the half way point for this little project? I can't believe it either!
Is it too early to start planning next year's temperature quilt??!!

I am soooo in love with this week's colors. Not only did we welcome dark purple to the family (and our first snow!!) but I just love green and purple together. The blues were a nice contrast.

I would like to think we will be spending more time in blue and purple (it is the middle of November after all and just 40 days to Christmas) but we are expecting 40s and rain this week. The "big" storm next week is still up for debate...

44 - 47 - 20 - 29 - 38 - 40 - 39F

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