New Blog for Books

I've started a new blog, 'Betty's Book Nook', that I intend to devote to books I've read, want to read, am currently reading or plan to put in my TBR pile at some point, elists dealing with books, author's blogs and web sites, NaNo, Script Frenzy, writing classes online .... whatever. I've been posting more about books lately anyway on this site and feeling guilty about using what I consider my quilting blog to talk more about books than quilting. Not sure what I'm gonna be doing with this blog other than posting pictures of my current projects - should I ever get off my derriere and actually work on some. I'd like to talk about other quilting blogs, quilting elists, EQ projects and dreams, and so on. We'll see how it works out. I like writing about just about anything. Writing helps me think, and sometimes it even actually it helps me get out of that emotional abyss I fall into so often. Sometimes I can actually manage to get a tad more accomplished. Not a lot, mind you, but anything is an improvement on those downer days.

I made some Happy Blocks for the Heartstrings online group. They feature novelty fabric squares surrounded by colorful sashing. I'm hoping to finally take pictures of the ones I made for Heartstrings and get them in the mail tomorrow if at all possible. I think my final count was 45 blocks for Heartstrings.

While I was cutting novelty fabric for the Heartstrings Happy Blocks, I found I had enough of two different fabrics to make two complete Happy Block quilts I can make and donate locally. One uses a fabric with brightly colored doggies and kitties and the other uses two complementary Mary Engelbreit fabrics. They are both going to be so cute and colorful. I'm using three solid fabrics to frame the doggie/kitty squares and two colors for the Mary Engelbreit fabric. I used EQ6 to create layouts so my brain doesn't get too befuddled trying to remember how to sew the rows together without putting all the oranges together! I'll use one of the solids for a border and another solid for the binding on each quilt. I'm probably going to use fleece for the backings since that is easier for me.

Another medieval mystery

Through the DorothyL mystery discussion list I learned of a new medieval mystery series by Priscilla Royal and was thrilled to find that my library had the first book in her series, Wine of Violence. It is set in 1270 at the small priory of Tyndal, a double monastery with both women and men, on the East Anglian coast. A young noblewoman, Eleanor of Wynethorpe, has just been appointed the new prioress. Tension is inherent in this situation simply because of the change of leadership in such a large establishment as a double monastery. But to make matters worse, Eleanor's appointment was a political and the nun who had been expected to be named prioress was demoted. The day after she begins her duties, a monk is brutally murdered and she is faced with solving the murder. As she is talking with the men's prior and his assitants about this murder, a new priest, Brother Thomas, arrives. We learn that he has been sent by a powerful but unnamed church figure to poke about secretly in the monastery's finances and report back. Something is awry and Brother Thomas is charged with finding out what that is. In addition to his spy mission, Brother Thomas also has other difficulties to overcome. He was forced to become a priest and enter monastic orders rather than face death by burning for a brief homosexual affair when he was younger. As it turns out, he is a very intelligent and astute man who is a great deal of help to Eleanor not only in the solving of the murder, but also in helping her work through some of the "personnel" problems that had arisen in the monastery. And to make matters more interesting, Eleanor is strongly attracted to Brother Thomas. So both are fighting several battles at once. Complex, yes, but Priscilla Royal handles it beautifully and I will most certainly be reading the other novels in her series.

I didn't do much sewing yesterday and none at all today. I woke up with a horrific headache which has only abated enough to allow me to get online and type this entry. My eyes feel like they are about to bug out of my head, though. I took a decongestant a while ago and am feeling a tad better.

Yesterday I cut out the green squares and a few more of the muslin squares for my next memory quilt and was hoping to sew some of the strips of shirt fabric onto the muslin today. But I'm not sure I should handle sharp objects right now. We'll see. I would like to get a couple of more squares made.

Here's a link to a picture of a string quilt made by the pattern I've decided to us:
http://www.quilttownusa.com/Quilt_Gallery/stringpiecedgallery.htm
My inspiration is the one by Virgnia Jones (the third one down on the right hand side) that uses half square triangles of strings and solids. Mine won't be as colorful as hers, but I think it will be very dramatic. I've got a really nice medium to dark forest green leaf fabric that I'm using as the solid. I'm using 8" finished squares and am thinking of using sashing and cornerstones to set them apart, but haven't decided on that yet. I thought the light fabric with the green leaves that I used in Janice's quilt would be nice as sashing with a yellow for the cornerstones. I'm hoping to do a mock-up of the quilt in my EQ6 so I can sort of "see" whether that idea will work or not.

Time to go start supper. Yesterday I cooked boneless pork chops in a tomato sauce with petite diced tomatoes and Italian seasonings. It was delicious. We had some of the sauce leftover, so I saved it because it was too delicious to toss out and tomato-based sauces only get better as their flavors sit and blend. I'm thinking I'll braise some chicken for tonight's supper and make some rice. I love rice or potatoes with a tomato based sauce over them. Yum! Low-cal and delicious at the same time.