Sister's Choice Quilts

Good Book, Good Movie

My husband and I attended the movie "Where the Crawdads Sing" yesterday at our local movie theater. And you know what?  It was pretty great.  I have to say, the movie version was 95% true to the book version, which is rare. The main thing I noticed was that the movie was perfectly cast. Almost every character in the movie was exactly the way I had imagined them while I was reading the book. 

This is a story where you have to suspend rational belief. An eight-year-old child, abandoned in a North Carolina marsh, lives on her own with no parental support or supervision. And thrives into young adulthood?  On her own? Seriously? And Romulus and Remus were raised by wolves? Ok then, I'm in.

Nevertheless, the movie was really good. If you haven't read the book, you will enjoy it, and if you HAVE read the book, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well the director kept to the plot. The hardback version of the book is only $12.39 on Amazon, so it's a good deal if you want to read the book before seeing the movie.

Here is a link to the movie trailer, if you haven't seen it. 

Did you have a good weekend? Summer is drawing to a close here. School starts on Aug. 17, so our days at the pool are numbered. This week I hope to put away all the July/red, white, and blue decor and bring out the late summer/early fall stuff. Mostly things with a sunflower motif. My husband's birthday is next weekend, so I ned to plan a fun dinner menu and come up with a good gift idea.  What's up with you? Have you seen any good movies? Read any good books? Share in the comments!

 

Whirlwind Weekend

What a productive and fun weekend we had! We squeezed in a fun visit with family, some great shopping, and then I even had a day to do some sewing.

The blocks above are part of the Piecing the Past Peace and Healing Sew Along. I think they are perfect blocks for a diagonal quilt setting, which is what I have been planning for them. In all the years I have been sewing, I have never made a Tree of Life block! I don't think I'd want to make a whole quilt of them, but it is fun to have one in a sampler quilt.

I brought Eva along with me to visit my father and sister (who is out visiting from Wisconsin). We stopped at Target on the way and she picked out some cute new outfits. She is modeling a romper suit below. I don't think I have ever had a romper. It is definitely a look that soon-to-be eleven-year-old Eva can pull off. She looked adorable and it was so nice to show her off to my relatives.

Eva and I stopped at a Panera for lunch on the way home. Eva was in heaven with their mac and cheese, but to tell you the truth, I was extremely disappointed, with the food, the presentation, and especially the high price. I had a half a turkey sandwich and an iced tea. Eva had a bowl of mac and cheese, a skimpy yogurt, and a strawberry lemonade. The bill came to just under $25. I think that is ridiculous! The tiny portions were plopped on very large plates which made the small amount look even more minuscule. I used to enjoy Panera, but I doubt I will go there again.

Eva is clowning around for the photo, but she did say the mac and cheese was good. Oh, but it was our second try because the first one was served in a dirty bowl and had to be sent back! Yikes.

Hope you had a great three-day weekend (in the US). Ours was pretty quiet, but we did go see the new Downton Abbey movie and it was excellent! We thoroughly enjoyed it. There might have been a few sniffles at the end.

 

 

Getting Things Done

The school year is winding down with a bang rather than a whimper. Eva was in a school play over the weekend, which was jolly good fun. "The Enchanted Bookshop". She had two roles, Little Red Riding Hood and The Lady in Red. You can see her singing her little heart out on the right in the photo above.

By Sunday, I was absolutely exhausted, done in, good for nothing. All I wanted to do was sit in my chaise lounge with my book, and even then I nodded off. Before I was down for the count I did make a bat block for my Midnight Moon Quilt Along project. Designer April Rosenthal put out a free 8 1/2" bat block as a special bonus last Friday. Since I am making 6 1/2" blocks, it didn't work for me, but I loved the idea of adding a bat block in.

I found a downloadable pattern on Etsy.com for $6, and you can see in the photo above, that it turned out really cute.

It did have just a few pieces. lol

Now, I have to go lie down again.  Hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend.

 

Vacation Week and Easter

The family spent last week down in Palm Desert, having a wonderful time in the sun. Our daughter Sara and granddaughter Eva came with us. Besides celebrating Spring Break, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary. 53 years! We escaped a nasty cold spell at home and enjoyed temperatures in the 70s and 80s. There was a bad freeze in our county which affected the new growth on the grapevines, which will mean our harvest this year won't amount to much. Pretty tragic, actually.

We had a wonderful Easter brunch at a local winery my son in law is associated with. Several families with young children were invited and it was such fun to watch the kids do the Easter egg hunt. Eva and her best friend Addie mostly gave oversight to the event and made sure the little kids got their fair share of eggs. We had such great weather. It was a lovely perfect day sandwiched between rain on Saturday and more rain predicted for this week.

Some happy mail arrived while I was on vacation. You will never guess my plan for it! I have started starching and will share more later.

I'll leave you with a cute picture of Eva by the pool at our vacation resort.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter.

 

 

Cheerful Rocks

Before I tell you about our cheerful rocks, I'd like to share my latest Moda BlockHeads block, #17, by Betsy Chutchian.  She calls it Crossroads.  I changed it up a little ( of course I did) and am very happy with the play of red and white prints.  I made my block 8 1/2".  There it is on the design wall with its sisters.

So, about our rocks.  About two weeks ago, Eva and I started noticing something interesting on our morning walks.  Every now and then we would discover a painted rock with an inspirational word written on it, tucked under a shrub along the sidewalk.  Some had flowers or other designs painted on, some had a word such as "Kindness" or "Love" or "Smile" on it.  We found them enchanting and tried to be observant to spot as many of them as we could.

When I read the latest online neighborhood newsletter, I discovered that these painted rocks are a thing.  People are trying to cheer each other up and leave these pretty little things along popular walkways for folks to see.  One person suggested picking one up and keeping it, and replacing it with another one.  But one man said his wife spends hours painting her rocks and doesn't want them taken.  I get it.  We plan to just add to the scenery and not remove any.

What you see in my photo is Stage One of our Cheerful Rock Endeavor.  We got the base coat on and let it dry and tomorrow we will add our flower (or other decoration) and our cheerful word of choice.  Isn't this a fun idea?  I will show you our finished rocks before we leave them for others to discover on their daily walks.  My girl and I plan to spread a little kindness and cheer!

Eva has a plan for where she wants to leave hers.  When we walk, we sometimes pass a house with a wrought iron fence.  Occasionally, there is a young girl, maybe five or six, peering through the bars.  She always calls out "Hi!" and looks so wistful for a playmate.  Eva wants to tuck her rock into their front flowerbed like an Easter egg in the hope the girl will find it.

A Short Interruption

My regular posting may be interrupted this week while my husband and I are visiting our favorite desert hang out down in Palm Desert.  That is the view from one side of our balcony.  We have such a good time watching the golfers on the 17th hole.  I am sure they have no idea how entertaining they are.

I cannot tell you how fabulous the warmth of the sun feels.  The weather where I live has been in the 50s for weeks and I am so enjoying the high 70s in southern California.  I know 50s probably sound pretty good to those of you in colder climates, but this California girl likes it a lot warmer!

Hope you are all having a great week.

Great Get Away

This little trip up to the mountains has been the best getaway.  We have had some wonderful weather, some great hikes, and some really lovely time together.  It was such a good idea to bring Ozzie along with us, as his enjoyment of the outings has given us a lot of joy as well.

It has been a lot more exercise than he apparently is used to, and he is spending a good deal of time recovering from the activity.

On the last day of our trip, we relaxed.  I did some hand sewing, my husband did some computer work, and as you can see, Ozzie continued his nap.

I attached the binding to a couple of small table quilts, and have finished two books and started a third.  The fall color has been so enjoyable.  Did you know ferns change color with the seasons as well as trees do?  Isn't that a pretty sight?

I hope you will all have a good weekend.  Looking forward to sharing some book reviews with you next week.

 

The Adventure Continues

Ozzie is, if anything, more excited than ever to have been included in this fun road trip up to Lake Tahoe.  He can't believe his good luck in experiencing all the wonderful smells and seeing all the new sights.

I can't even believe I took this picture, it turned out so well.  We were walking around at Sugar Pine Park and discovered this little lake that feeds into Lake Tahoe (you can see the big lake in the background).  It was such a beautiful sight, framed by the large pine trees.  Look at the reflection of those trees...

We hiked around Taylor Creek, which is a dog-friendly place, and were mesmerized by the quiet beauty of the marshlands.  The salmon were running, which was a pretty amazing sight as well.  Can you see them swarming away under the water?  Now that was a sight.

The fall color is so pretty.  This is definitely the best time of year to be in Lake Tahoe, in my opinion.  You skiers will disagree with me, but I love the cool weather, the gorgeous color, the ease of driving around and the lack of crowds!

Ozzie had to be dragged down to the Lake.  He saw all that water and wasn't having anything to do with it.  I carried him down to the water's edge to show him it was all good, but he was pretty reluctant.  He finally explored it a bit, but whenever a teensy little wave came up onto the sand he was done.  Right now he is asleep on the couch and looks down for the count.  A good measure of the day.

 

 

On the Road Again

We managed to survive the massive power outage, which did not last the predicted five days.  Only 24 hours (for my town at least) as it turned out.  It was extremely inconvenient--I had to throw out two refrigerator/freezers full of food and my kitchen fridge leaked and damaged my hardwood floors.  A lot of people are up in arms with Pacific Gas and Electric, claiming they exaggerated the danger to a few by shutting off power to 800,000 citizens.  At least no fires started during the period of the outages.  I don't know if the decision to cut off the power was right or wrong, but I have seen the devastation that huge fires cause and my inconvenience is a small matter by comparison.

And for those of you who read my blog who do not live in the US, Pacific Gas & Electric is a State agency, not a Federal one, and hence has no oversight over arms control or immigration policy.

My husband and I have hit the road and are up in the mountains at beautiful Lake Tahoe.  To his complete and utter amazement, we brought Ozzie with us.  He looked out the window the two and a half hours it took us to drive up there and has been deliriously happy smelling all the alpine scents since we arrived.

This is the view from our balcony.  The weather is quite chilly (50s during the day and high 20s at night), so we warmed up this morning with Honey Orange Lavender Lattes and Avocado Toast.

I'll keep you posted this week as to our activities.  I brought along three books and some hand sewing and hope to keep busy in between making crockpot meals and taking long walks.

 

Bookshops of London

Londoners certainly appreciate their bookstores.  I have a number of favorites which I always try to visit when I can.  Daunt Books is in Marylebone, a fancy London neighborhood.  When you go in, it is like entering a church.  Doesn't the light from that back window set off the shelves of books?

My number one favorite bookstore experience may be Foyles.  When I enter I literally hear angels singing.

All the bookstores we went to were heavily promoting Margaret Atwood's latest book "The Testaments", the sequel to "A Handmaid's Tale". 

Just look at this special edition of Jane Eyre.  

Next up was Waterstones, which was really into The Handmaid's Tale.  It gives me an idea for an easy Halloween costume...

This amazing shop, Hatchards, has been in business since the late 1700s.

We have been taking the Underground everywhere and were discussing between ourselves how interesting it would be to find a book about its history and creation.  What do you know?  Hatchards had one.  It must weigh ten pounds though, so it will not be coming home with me.

If I lived in London, I do not think I would have a dull moment.