Sister's Choice Quilts

Top Twelve Books of 2021

2021 was an outstanding reading year for me. I read a total of 125 books! More important than that number, however, is the fact that out of those books, 23 of them earned 5 star ratings from me. Here are my stats:

33 books in Hardback
67 books on my Kindle
25 books on Audio

Here is a brief synopsis and links to the full reviews of my top 12 (because I couldn't stick to 10!).

1) The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Amor Towles is a genius and I will read anything he ever writes. This is a story of a group of boys who traverse the country on the Lincoln Highway in search of a fresh start. This was also Amazon's pick for Best Book of 2021. Read my Goodreads review here.

2) Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby. I listened to the audio version of this book, which was excellently narrated. Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee are two unlikely companions who pair together to avenge their sons' murders. Tough and gritty, but tender as well. This was one breathtaking story. Read my Goodreads review here.

3) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. This was another audiobook, where the narrator truly made the story come to life. This story made me laugh and cry and want to hug it when it was over. A lone astronaut wakes up from a coma to find himself on a spaceship on a mission to save our solar system and meets up with an ally beyond your wildest imagination. Read my Goodreads review here.

4) Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff. Two ten-year-old boys run away when they think they have murdered the abusive father of one of them. This story was both gripping and heartfelt. You will be holding your breath in fear for these kids, and cry with emotion at the end of the book. Read my Goodreads review here.

5) All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle. Another fabulous audiobook, with a terrific narrator. (I am beginning to see a pattern here...) If you enjoy books about elderly curmudgeons, you will love this one. 84-year-old widowed Hubert Bird talks on the phone every week with his daughter in Australia. She is worried about him being alone and he creates a lively account of his friends and social activities, all of which are made up. Then she tells him she is coming for a visit and he scrambles to make some "friends". Charming and poignant. Read my Goodreads review here.

6) The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. Set in Dublin in 1918 during the Spanish Flu epidemic. Julia Power is a nurse in a maternity ward tending to expectant mothers who have come down with the flu. All the action in this book takes place over three days in the confines of this small ward. This book was non-stop enthralling and very timely in terms of our current pandemic. Read my Goodreads review here. 

7) Monogamy by Sue Miller. A book about a marriage, family, happiness, grief, and disappointment. We follow Graham and Annie as they navigate their life together. This is a book that will make you experience a complex range of emotions. Can a lifetime of happiness be ruined by one betrayal? Highly recommend this one. Read my Goodreads review here.

8) When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain. Missing persons detective Anna Hart investigates a case of a missing teenager in Mendocino in the 1980s. This book is an atmospheric page-turning mystery but also delves deep into trauma theory, survival, and redemption. The novel weaves real crime stories into the fictional narrative in a very compelling way. Read my Goodreads review here.

9) The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. After the end of the Civil War, there were thousands of freed slaves who were desperate to find lost loved ones. This is the story of three very different young women on a quest of their own, who end up compiling a book of letters from former slaves who are hoping to find relatives from whom they have been separated. Very well researched historical fiction. Read my Goodreads review here. 

10) A Little Hope by Ethan Joella. This book has not received nearly enough praise and promotion, but I adored it. Over the course of a year, we follow the residents of a small Northeastern town. We observe many of the same events through the eyes of different individuals. The book is almost, but not quite, in a short story format, with all the chapters and personalities interconnected. It was sweet and tender and ultimately very hopeful. It made me cry, and that is almost a guarantee of a five-star rating from me! Here is my Goodreads review. 

11) A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson. Three different characters come together in a story of a crime, loss, grief, and redemption. Eight-year-old Clara is mourning her missing teenaged sister, her friend Mrs. Orchard next door has gone to the hospital and not returned, and Liam, a single disconnected divorced man moves into Mrs. Orchard's house. What do these three characters have in common? This book will find a place in your heart. Don't miss it. Read my Goodreads review here.

12) Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau. Shy, bookish fourteen-year-old Mary Jane gets a summer job as a nanny to the daughter of a Baltimore psychiatrist. To say the household is a chaotic mess is an understatement. Furthermore, the doctor has cleared his summer schedule to treat a famous rock star and his even more famous movie star wife. Both of whom move into his house. Mary Jane is exposed to many things outside her experience but handles it all with equanimity. This was a fun, fast-paced book. Mary Jane will earn a place in your heart as she straightens out these messed-up characters. Read my Goodreads review here. 

There you have it! Have you read any of these books? Do you have any recommendations you would like to share?

 

 

 

Facing Up To Your UFOs

There comes a time in each quilter's life when she needs to face up to the UFO situation. Are you organized? Do you even know what unfinished projects are hidden away in your sewing room? If you went back in time, how many years old are some of your abandoned projects? 2012 was the oldest one I found that I was still interested in. 

Pat Sloan had a YouTube video this week where she talked about UFOs and how to organize them. We tend to stash them away out of sight and ignore them for years on end. She urged us to confront them and make a list of our UFOs and make a plan on how to deal with them.  I highly recommend that you watch her video. I was inspired to get out a notebook and go have a good look at the project bins I have full of almost completed or half-finished quilt projects. 

Worse than the pile of unfinished projects was the list of future projects I had purchased fabric for and planned to make, but never even began the project. 

Pat was super realistic about her UFOs. She said you have to just face the fact that you may have lost interest in a project and no matter what, you will never be inspired to pick it up and complete it. In that case, donate it to a quilt guild or someone who might like to pick it up and complete it. If you are like me, you have a stack of finished tops you have never bothered to have quilted. (That is a post subject for another time). In the case that you have a finished top that you know you will never use, donate it to a group that quilts flimsies (unquilted tops) and gives them to charitable groups. Pat lists several organizations that do this sort of thing. If your local community has a quilt guild, they could be a great resource to you if you want to pass on some of your UFOs.

So I worked on my lists today, mostly from memory. I am sure there are more UFOs in my closets, but these are the ones that stuck in my mind that I'd actually like to complete. 2021 was the worst year I have ever had for starting projects and not seeing them through to a finish. I have a great excuse what with homeschooling my granddaughter during the week and caring for my dad on weekends, but still, it's a lot. I made three lists:

UFOs from 2021 that I'd like to complete in 2022

Older UFOs

Projects I bought fabric for but never started

So you see, I have my work cut out for me. It feels good to face up to these projects, however, and try to make a plan to prioritize them for finishing.

Do you have piles of UFOs? At what point do you say "Forget it, I am never going to finish that" or "Gosh, I still really like that fabric/project and want to finish it". Personally, I see nothing wrong with letting something go if it no longer brings you joy. I don't believe in drowning in guilt over wasted time and money. It may have been fun to work on those 600 half square triangles when you were making them, but now you have lost that loving feeling. Let it go. It's ok.

What do you think? What is your UFO situation?

 

A Winter's Day

I took this picture of Ozzie, thinking he looked like a sleeping rabbit, with his ears sticking up. Poor fellow, he had been to the dog groomer, and it took all the starch out of him. He has lost his hearing in the past year or so, and it makes me wonder if he perks his ears up in sleep in order to hear things he might otherwise miss.

This week after New Years has been a holiday week for Eva. She has been off school, but has spent some time with us. Today she dove into some of her Christmas craft activities, one of which was a clay activity. She spent quite some time constructing a little figurine of her recently departed dog Remy.

We are letting it dry and set up overnight, and with luck, she will be able to paint on his features today. She wants to give it to her daddy for his birthday later this month.

We made cupcakes and decorated them as our baking activity for the week. We had a few leftover Hershey's peppermint kisses in the pantry and she insisted on plopping them on some of the cupcakes.

We made pizza for dinner, which was delicious. I sauteed some shallots and mushrooms, sprinkled on some ham along with mozzarella and provolone cheese. This recipe calls for the pizza dough to be spread in a cast-iron skillet and baked in the oven. It turned out really good, but a bit too garlicky for my taste.

So, it was a quiet winter's day around here. I am thinking of my quilting goals for 2022, and know that I won't be making many full-sized quilts. I am very tempted by a sew along that Fat Quartershop is doing along with Lori Holt, called The Flea Market Quilt Along. It is scrappy and the colors are bright and cheerful. Here is a link to the announcement of the quilt along. Let me know what you think about it. It could be a fun year-long project. 

February Mug Rug of the Month

Happy New Year! I started the year out right by putting away most of our Christmas decorations and getting up into the sewing room. They say if you start the year as you plan to continue it, you have a chance of doing just that. Fingers crossed I will be doing more sewing this year.

So here is the February Mug Rug of the Month. I am so done with the octagonal shape I had been using since fall. I wanted to work with small pieces and used my Little Crumbler template by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. That template is great. You can make units as small as 1 1/2" and as large as 4". I went with 2" for my shapes. Four rows of ten units. 

The rectangular shape makes it so fast to machine sew the bindings! My January mug rug is in the picture below. Cute, but ugh, that shape was a pain to get right.

Every now and then, particularly in February, I get emails from readers wondering about the pattern I used for the heart runner in my blog header. If you are interested in how I made it, check out my post from February 5, 2018. 

I hope all of you had a terrific holiday. I have to say 2021 ended very nicely at my house. We had a fantastic visit with our son, and just hated to have him go home. He must have brought the Irish weather with him when he came to California because it rained practically the entire time he was home. He had a couple of nice days when he went into San Francisco and took photographs. I was happy that he could spend some time with my father as well. 

This week I will be attempting to ease back into a "normal" schedule!  We will see how that goes.  

Christmas Among the Stars Again BOM Progress

Amidst the holiday hubbub, I managed to get into the sewing room for an hour or so. If I don't keep up with the Christmas Among the Stars Again sew along I am going to get behind. This is one of two blocks for the second month of the sew-along.  I just paid for month four, so I need to step it up a bit. 

How many times have you signed up for a BOM year-long sew-along and lost steam after the first or second month? I swear I have at least three abandoned BOMs sitting in storage. Now that is a real waste. I regret abandoning two of them, one was in Fig Tree fabrics and the other was Bonnie and Camille. At some point, I do want to finish those up. The third one I ended up not caring for because the fabric was kind of ugly (to be honest). It was a Blackbird Designs collection that featured muted colors and had lots of prints in a baby diarrhea gold/brown that was just bad. That one can remain a UFO.

Are any of you participating in this Christmas Among the Stars Again sew-along? I looked on the Fat Quarter Shop website but did not see any finishing or backing kits for this sew-along. I hope they aren't sold out! There isn't much left of the Christmas Morning fabric collection that the BOM is using.

I am enjoying making the blocks and fondling the pretty fabric.  The quilt is Christmassy, but still kind of subtle. 

Next Christmas I will be so glad I made it!

Hope you are all doing great and that you are enjoying a relaxing week between Christmas and New Years.

 

Cooking Up a Storm

Hope your holiday celebrations have been as magnificent as mine have been! Since our son arrived home from Ireland, we have been cooking up a storm. All the dishes he has been craving, and some new experiments as well. On one of his first nights home, we made homemade pasta for linguine and clams. It was so delicious.

We made a rum cake, which was sensational. Wish I could show you a photo of that, but it is long gone. Here is a link to a similar recipe.  

For Christmas, of course there was prime rib roast and mashed potatoes and a fancy salad. Ahren and I did make a really yummy bread wreath that came out great. We had to jerry-rig a tube pan out of a cheesecake pan and a tin can in the center.

Here it is before rising and baking.

And here is the finished result. It was pretty amazing. The recipe is called Pull Apart Garlic Butter Wreath by Half Baked Harvest. It wasn't hard to make and in fact, we had a good laugh while we were cutting out the dough into all those squares. It makes tons, and I mean you could feed 12 people this thing!

It's been so wonderful to have our son home. I do not want to see him go home on Friday. We really have hardly left the house. Of course our weather is really acting up, so it is cozy to just stay in. His sister Sara has come over several times to visit and it's been great to see the two siblings together. And of course, Eva is having a blast with Uncle BroBo.

Happy holidays from our house to yours!

January Mug Rugs

Since I was excited about the idea of the Mug Rug of the Month Club, I got cracking on the January offering. I had a tub full of Primitive Gatherings Snowman Gatherings fabrics that are perfect for that month. I had a couple of false starts, but ended up with four mug rugs that are acceptable. 

I have to say, I am done with this octagonal shape. I find it impossible to have them turn out symmetrical and even, no matter how careful I am to sew and trim. And sewing on the binding is a colossal pain.  After this month, I am going back to rectangular designs.

If anyone has a great idea for cute patterns for mug rugs, let me know.

We are gearing up for our son to arrive from Ireland on Friday. I cannot express how excited we all are. We have been decorating, and baking, and cleaning the house to get ready for his visit. I know we are going to be busy over the next couple of weeks, but I'll sure try to post as often as I can!

Shine Bright Table Runner

This is a table runner I made last year but didn't get a chance to use until now. It is a pattern called Shine Bright by Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters. The pattern is for a lap quilt, but I adapted it to be a table runner. The pattern is jelly roll friendly, so if you have a Christmas collection jelly roll, it is an easy and fast project. In fact, you could make two or three runners from one jelly roll! The pdf version of this pattern is available for just $6 on the Kansas Troubles website.

It fits my coffee table perfectly and has the more subtle colors that work with my living room decor. I also like the fact that the center consists of plainer cream strips where you can place a centerpiece or candle.

The big countdown for my son's visit home has begun! He arrives on Friday from Dublin, Ireland. Fingers crossed that there are no hitches in his travel. I am so afraid there will be some COVID-related issue that will crop up at the last minute. He has to get a COVID test 24 hours prior to his departure, and he is all set up with an appointment. We just can't wait to see him. Two years is a long time to go without seeing your child. I am sure there are many of you who are experiencing the same thing. This will be a joyous holiday for many families who are being reunited.

Mug Rug of the Month Club

My workload has lessened a bit and I have been able to escape to the sewing room to whip up another mug rug or two. This is one that I gave to a friend who works from home. I really love giving these things to people who seem to really enjoy and appreciate them! She took a picture of it and sent it to me, saying she would not be telling her boss she was enjoying a glass of wine before she logged off for the day!

I told her I was going to start a mug-rug-of-the-month club for my nearest and dearest! Wouldn't that be a cool Christmas gift? You could make up a January mug rug in blue and white and gift it with a note saying the recipient would get a different one for every month, or at least every season/holiday. I'm already looking up Valentine's fabric collections!

Hope your week is going well.

Christmas Mug Rug

I managed to get two little holiday mug rugs made. One for my daughter Sara, and one for me. The one I kept came out kind of funny. All the colorful mittens ended up on one side of the piece! The one I gave to Sara has the print more uniformly distributed. 

That is something to keep in mind if you are working with patterned strips of fabric. Even though mine isn't very symmetrical looking, I am enjoying it. 

I have a friend who works from home, who really enjoys having a seasonal mug rug next to her computer to put her coffee or tea on. I need to steal an hour or so and see if I can make just one more!

The Christmas shopping is all in hand. Most of it has arrived, but there are still quite a few items we are waiting for delivery on. My husband and I even put a dent in the stocking stuffer situation today.  There is a cute shop near us that sells all kinds of spices, soup mixes, local honey etc. They are always a great resource for little somethings to tuck in adult children's stockings.

I feel that things are under control and that now it's time to sit back and enjoy the decorations! I do have a newly quilted Christmas runner that I am loving. I will share pics and details of that tomorrow. Hope your week got off to a terrific start!