The World According to Maiden Fair

I’ve have enough winter to last me forever and again. And we missed at least too of the really bad storms that the east coast got. we’ve had a very cold December with a lot of snow - not a lot of snow all at once just a lot of snow 2 to 4 inches every 2 or 3 days gives you a lot of snow and a lot of mess. Then right after New Years it warmed up and all melted off and I thought “Wonderful!! We are going to have one of the crazy winters when it doesn’t snow any more - its just sort of cold but brown and I can deal with that!!” WRONG!! We got another inch and a half - and a minor warm up and then another half an inch. Then all of a sudden they were talking Blizzard warnings for Tuesday afternoon. Now wait a minute - I’m able to drive out of here - I have made plans - you can’t have a blizzard - It’s only Sunday - you don’t predict things that far ahead - besides that’s groundhog day and we have to hear what he has to say - right!!

Well they didn’t wait for the prognostications of the groundhog - they predicted the Blizzard - and although the groundhog predicted an early spring - we got a blizzard - the worst one ever for our area - certainly the worst since 1979 when we had 2 blizzards (smaller ones) back to back. This one was actually three storms - a small storm out of the W/NW that hit about noon on Tuesday, followed closely by the biggy from the four corners (S/SW) pulling up the Gulf moisture - then the Arctic blast with the high winds of 40 to 65 MPH with blew all the snow everywhere in high drifts and buried roads, windows, people and cars. The only safe place to be was in a warm building. We stayed home. We did not lose power although we did lose our cable and our internet. I figure that was a small price to pay to be safe and warm and dry and fed. We had gone out Tuesday morning and restocked the perishables like milk and meat and cheese and eggs so we were good for several days.

We managed to get the driveway blown out on Thursday - Him with the snow blower and me with the hoe to break up the drifts. The girls came over the weekend and cleared a pathway up the steps to the door so we can now get out the front door - getting out through the back yard I think will have to wait until spring.

The grandchildren have named this storm the Snocapalapse of 2011!! Pictures Will follow soon

I know it’s been a long time since I posted any books I’ve read so I’ll just post the last couple of months:

December 2010 Book List
Stirring Up Strife by Jennifer Stanley
Merry, Merry Ghost by Carolyn Hart
Murder in Bishop Hill by Sara Hoskinson Frommer
Holly Blue by Susan Wittig Albert
Mrs Jeffries and the Yuletide Weddings by Emily Brightwell
The Killer Plot by Ellery Adams
Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krantz

January 2011 Book List
Death of a Gossip by M.C Beacon
Murder of a Sweet old Lady by Denise Swanson
The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert
Temptation and Surrender by Stephanie Laurens
The New Year Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams
Where There’s a Witch by Madelyn Alt

There are some old favorites on the list, Emily Brightwell, Jayne Ann Krantz, Susan Wittig Albert (I’ve Read all her Books), Jennifer Chiaverini, Carolyn Hart, Madelyn Alt, And Sara Hoskinson Frommer - This one was Especially Fun as it was in Bishop Hill and I’ve been there many times - it’s a great place to visit. New authors are Jennifer Stanley, Ellery Adams, Denise Swanson and Riley Adams - I’ve reserved a second book for each so that is a good sign ladies ** Smile**

Well, maybe it is Indian Summer - but today is the most gorgeous day we’ve had in Months!! It wasn’t humid, it wasn’t horridly hot, it was really perfect - hopefully tomorrow will be nice for our family get together, but I’m taking what I can get here. We went out to the fall festival in town today. It’s a little tiny town with a little festival - but it is fun to go and check out the craft tents and watch the people and listen to the music and eat a little of whatever they are offering. And the very best part is that I could WALK it this year. We haven’t gone - or even considered going - in several years because of my knee - well it was wonderful to be able to walk. I am grateful for the gift of walking and believe me when I say that I will never take that ability for granted again.

My book list for August is:
Even CatSitters Get the Blues by Blaze Clement
Eggs Benedict Arnold by Laura Child
Norma Rose and The Root of all Evil by Norma Tadlock Johnson
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
Black Hills by Nora Roberts

I know it’s not the normal length - got no idea why as I certainly had the time to read. The only new to me author on the list is Rhoda Janzen and her “Mennonite in a Little Black Dress” and yes I loved the book. It was funny, it hit home more than I wanted it to, and she had some really good and meaningful things to say that seemed pointed straight at me. As for the other books, I love Blaze Clement and her Pet Sitter books - they are great. Anything by Laura Child I love and “Black Hills” was a great story. And of course Norma Rose - you have to love her even when you want to shake her - LOL.

I promised you quilt pictures so here are two of the quilts I completed this summer - I have two more but they aren’t bound yet so I’ll save them for another day.

This quilt is done with English Paper Piecing shaped as hexagons. The same shape to make a Grandmother’s flower garden - the quilt I swore I would never make another one. Well this was easier with the paper Piecing. The decorations are antique and art buttons and strung beads. It is actually a wall hanging for the wall in my hallway.

This quilt started out as a block of the month, but I didn’t like the way it was supposed to go together, so I tossed the star blocks in the corner for about 4 years. The pumpkin center is my own design and is appliqued by machine. This is a table topper for - hopefully my dining room table this fall.

All quilting on both quilts is done by hand.

Have you ever had one of those days when everything seemed to go wrong, you couldn’t find anything, everything upset you, and all you really wanted to do was go back to bed and pull the covers over your head. Well let me tell you I’ve had one of THOSE summers. I am making a wolf quilt for my granddaughter - and I ran out of material before I finished the squares - and of course the local quilt stores don’t have any left. Hours later I found the material - and 3 different online shops in 3 different states from Vermont to Washington. I finally got all the material in, but I had to clear the table to stretch and sandwich a quilt so I could quilt it. After that was done something else grabbed my attention and when I finally got back to the wolf quilt, I couldn’t find the last piece of fabric that had come in. I spent 4 hours searching for it - finally found it - where else but on the stack of shop hop fabric I have in the sewing room.

I had the pieces to my second doll house ready to put the frame together and I can’t find one small section of the wall the makes the window hole. I had it along with the other two - all glued and clamped - now I have the clamps and the boards that I clamped it to, but I do not have the piece of wall. I’ve emptied every trash bin, sorted through every drawer, every box, every basket, crate and carton in the work rooms along with everything in the rest of the basement and have still come up with nothing. I’m going to continue to work on the house and just pray that eventually the piece shows up.

You know those rubber circles you use in the kitchen to enhance your grip so you can open jars? Well, I found little ones you use for pulling the needle through the quilt layers. They came 3 to a package. I was so excited because they actually work. Then one day I was down to 2 of them - one had disappeared. Then I was down to 1 and I couldn’t find the others anywhere. I finally found one stuck beside the seat of my favorite chair so I felt a bit more confident that I wouldn’t be without this handy little tool. Well in the mean time - I’ve cleaned the living room, cleared off my table, washed windows and swept - still not finding the third little gripper. Then yesterday I was sitting in my favorite chair with my lap full of quilt and I looked over and there is the third little gripper, clinging to the side of a little box my granddaughter had given me. Now how could I have missed that in all the cleaning!! I know it wasn’t there before.

Now my question today is - - Where do all these little things go - my yard of material, my little gripper, the piece of wood, the thimble, the screwdriver, the measuring spoon, the keys and all the other little things that go missing - and then suddenly appear - right where you have already looked at least a hundred times!! I don’t know but I sure would like to find out so I could locate these things with a lot less hassle and frustration - and certainly a lot less headache!

Well, I broke over and redid my blog. I am pleased that I managed to get everything redone and looking new and different - I really was getting tired of the old look. I know I have been very remiss this summer and I have no excuses except for I’ve been at home most of the time because it is so hot and humid outside so nothing exciting is going on. Have been working on a lot of quilts and do have some pictures I will post later in the week.

Hope you have had a good summer. I’m not really ready for the summer to draw to a close, but maybe with the cooler and dryer weather I will be able to get out and do something fun and interesting.

I did get a bit of reading done this summer - so I will go ahead and post the back books here.

March 2010 Book List
On Fire by Carla Neggers
Death Walked in by Carolyn Hart
Seven Sisters by Earlene Fowler
Oolong Death by Laura Child
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The Darkness of Foxglove Corners by Dorothy Bodoin
Murder in C Major by Sara Hoskinson Frommer
Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett

April 2010 Book List
Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers
Dial Om for Murder by Dianne Killion
What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
Pane of Death by Sarah Atwell
The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick
Summer on Blossom Street by Debbi Macomber
Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement
Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter

May 2010 Book List
Donna Rose and the Slug War by Norma Tadlock Johnson
The Quilter’s Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini
Mourning in Miniature by Margaret Grace
By Hook or by Crook by Betty Hechtman
Thistle and Twigg by Mary Saums
The Secret Duke by Jo Beverly
Sucker Punch by Sammi Carter
The Black Widow Agency by Felicia Donovan
For the Love of Pete by Sherryl Woods
Tiny Little Teeth by Aaron Elkins

June 2010 Book List
Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews
Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund by Blaize Clement
Buried in Quilts by Sara Hoskinson Frommer
The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt
Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne
Quilter’s Kitchen by Jennifer Chiaverini
Thai Die by Monica Ferris

July 2010 Book List
Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle
Arkansas Traveler by Earlene Fowler
The Diva Paints the Town by Krista Davis
The Chocolate Lover’s Club by Carole Matthews
Death With an Ocean View by Nora Charles
A Charmed Death by Madelyn Alt

Several new to me authors like Madelyn Alt, Nora Charles, Kate Carlisle, Felicia Donovan, Norma Tadlock Johnson, Sara Hoskinson Frommer, Laurie Brown, Blaize Clement, Alexandra Potter, Peter Tremayne, and Carole Matthews. I enjoyed all the books I read, some more than others of course - and if I didn’t enjoy it, I probably didn’t finish it. I’m funny that way - I won’t keep reading a book I don’t enjoy just because I started it and I therefore have to finish it.

It’s been a long hard cold icy winter - I’ve been ready for Spring since November 1st - I really wanted a do-over for last year it was so horrible - but we only pass this way once - so I get a new chance every morning. But last Saturday morning I saw my first robin this Spring and if filled my heart with hope - March 6th is pretty early for my feathered friends to make their return north, but they usually know what they’re doing - so I’m taking it as a sign.

I took his picture anyway - in my backyard - to actually prove he was there, big as life with his audacious red chest!! There have been other signs of spring since I saw my robin on Saturday - warm days - melted snow - buds on my Maple trees - Thunder storms - and floods. I do think Spring has arrived!

Shy girl took a sewing class to make herself a pillowcase - it turned out really well and she is so very proud of it. Her little sister asked if she could have one too, so we went to the fabric store and she picked out her material so I could make her one.

While we were there they had to pick out material to make one for Grampa - I haven’t done it yet - but I did make two for me - as I use two pillows at night I thought it would be nice if they matched.

My February book list is:

The Christmas Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Lithium Murders by Camille Minichino
Bound by Dreams by Christina Skye
Circle of Quilters By Jennifer Chiaverini
The Red Lily by Nora Roberts
The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

All were great reads - I love Jennifer Chiaverini’s Stories of Elm Creek Quilts and Camille Minichino’s Physics heroine is one of my favorites. And what can I say about Elizabeth Peters - I love her books - I’ve read them all to date and it was so much fun to catch up with Vicky Bliss and John!!

Another sure sign of Spring is I landed in the doctor’s office yesterday with bronchitis. Hopefully I caught it early enough that it won’t slow me down too much, but I’m going to take it easy today - rest - and do nothing!! Have a great day and I’ll catch you later.

Well it is February 3rd - the day after groundhog day and the prognostication is for 6 more weeks of winter!! It was dark and dreary and snowing yesterday, but that little old groundhog managed to see his shadow - did someone use a flashlight to show him the way?? I didn’t get to go to Quilter’s Guild yesterday because of the snow - no we didn’t get a foot - we only got about an inch - but when you are terrified of falling because of knee surgery - well you don’t go where there might be icy or slippery walking - and lets face it - no one is going to pay to have a parking lot plowed for less than 3 inches of snow. So hopefully we will make in it March and maybe by then I will have a completed project to share.

My current project is a mystery quilt from the inspector’s club group - it’s supposed to be a Valentine Wall hanging but I will probably not complete it by Valentine’s day but I do have two sets of blocks finished.

These are Single Irish Chain Blocks


These are applique Heart blocks

There is one more set of blocks due in this week, and then the assembly and quilting - so hopefully it will be done by the March Quilt meeting.

I did much better with my reading in January - there wasn’t much else to do, and I was off the pain meds so I could actually remember what I was reading!!

Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz
Mistaken Identity by Lisa Scottoline
Knitting Bones by Monica Ferris
Dead Men Don’t Crochet by Betty Hechtman
Mariner’s Compass by Earlene Fowler
Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton
The Secret Wedding by Jo Beverley
Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews
Died in the Wool by Rett MacPherson

I enjoyed all the reads - most of them were by old favorite authors. “Mariner’s Compass” stands out this month because it was so different from the previous books in the series - delving into a family mystery instead of a crime - excellent story. Of course “Died in the Wool” is another great fun story in the life of Torie O’Shea and “Cockatiels at Seven” is just a lot of fun. The new author that I read for the first time was Lisa Scottoline - she wrote an intriguing story that truly kept the pages turning and the what if possibilities and if only scenarios filling your mind.

Today I need to finish up the Little Princess Calendars - I know I’m late but I do have a valid excuse - you can’t make competent decisions on pain meds and you can’t type either!! Hubby is taking me to the mall to walk. Speaking of the mall - our’s is half empty - I don’t ever remember seeing so many empty or uselessly filled storefronts in my life - not even when things were so bad around here in the mid 1980’s. Whole wings of the mall are totally devoid of stores, there are stores with going out of business sales, and many are filled with tax preparation places so they will be empty in a couple of months - and I mean how many cell phone stores do you really need in the mall - 10 seems a little bit excessive to me. And when there is no place to buy a hamburger and fries in an American mall things have really gone beyond the pale!!

Did you know that last Monday - January 25th has been declared the most depressing day of the year. I suppose that is due to the fact that it is usually so cold - it’s been a month since Christmas (which to me can be an extremely depressing time) and there is still two months of this yuckie weather to go - and also all the bills from the plastic that everyone spent at Christmas are finally coming in and they are wondering how in the world they are going to get the money to pay even the minimum payment. I got out of all of that this year with the surgery to my knee - but I’m not sure I would do it again at this time of year. Of course this time of year was not my first choice for this one, but that was a story for an earlier entry!!

As to my knee - it is getting better - slowly - although the doctor’s and therapists think I’m doing amazingly well, I want to run and walk a couple of miles and hike my favorite trails - of course I can’t do any of that in the dead of winter with the snow piled high and the ice covering everything. Hubby won’t even let me drive anywhere that might have snow and ice covered parking lots - which actually is fine with me - the last thing I need is to slip and fall on the ice at this stage of the game. So I can drive - to church where the lot is clear - a couple of restaurants where the lot is clear and otherwise he takes me and drops me at the door. Even at the mall - where I need to go to walk - the parking lot is a mess. I never realized before how badly the lots are plowed and how little care these people seem to have for the safety of their customers.

Shy Shy girl and I are redecorating our Seasonal Corner in the hallway. I’m making a Valentine Wall hanging but it is not done yet so she “painted” a picture with glue and sand - and we hung it up yesterday.

It is Punxsutawney Phil awakening at sunrise on February 2nd to determine if we have an early spring or six more weeks of this dismal winter. She had a great time with the picture and hope you enjoy her creativity.

Well, the last time I wrote anything in the blog - I was preparing for my knee surgery, the Christmas Elves had come and decorated the house, and I had no idea what was in store for me. Well - I’m 5 weeks out of surgery and I have little memory of the time inbetween. You know I discovered that Percocet is one nasty drug. Yes it took away the pain and I was able to to the Physical Therapy - but I remember very little of the time I was on it - and the time it took to get out of my system. I’m not all the way back - there is still a lot of stiffness in my knee and some residual ache in the bone - and if I don’t sleep at night it makes it much worse. But I’m determined to get better - I have places to go and things to do and I’m tired of having to say I can’t do it!!

Hubby redid my computer for a Christmas Gift. I have no idea what is in it - my grandson the computer guru ordered the parts and hubby the guru’s second in command put it together - of course it took my son - the guru’s third in command to threaten to come over and do it for him to get it done - but it’s done. I still have some programs and drivers that have to be downloaded as it’s running Window’s 7 and some of the older stuff is not compatible - I’ll get it all sorted out soon.

Needless to say I didn’t get a lot read in December - I’m not even sure this is a complete list as I can’t seem to remember which book I had with me at the hospital - it might have been one of these, but I don’t think so.

Mrs. Miracle by Debie Macomber
The Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert
Malice in Miniature by Margaret Grace

Hopefully I will be back soon to keep you posted on my doings - by the way the Christmas Elves did appear again and took down and put away the Christmas Decorations - they were very nice Christmas Elves - I think we’ll go out to lunch one day soon.

Since I am having my knee surgery done tomorrow and I will be very busy with exercises and physical therapy, I had decided to forgo the Christmas decorations - the tree, the nativity scene, the tinsel and all of it. Anyway, my granddaughters visited Friday and spent the night. Yesterday, they came - together - and said they wanted to put up the Christmas tree - and they did!! They dragged out the tree (it’s artificial but in pieces) Grampa helped them get it together and provided “elevator” service for Belle to put the angel on top. With Grampa’s help they got the lights on. Then they dragged up the boxes of decorations and proceeded to put them on the tree. We forgot the tree skirt so an old sheet had to do. We put the Nativity scene under the tree this year, something I haven’t done since I was a kid and my brother got his train set which went under the tree. Shy girl took it upon herself to put the tinsel strands on the tree. If she had her way the entire tree would be a lump of garland and you wouldn’t see the ornaments at all. Then she redid the little seasonal table we have at the end of the hallway and put up the mini tree and the snowmen candles and hung the santa quilt that I just finished - actually it’s now quite finished, but I don’t have what I need to do that, so it can be completed later.

Santa Quilt completed 11/2009 - pattern came from a PSP graphic I had designed.

So Anyway I am ready for Christmas - thanks to two little Christmas elves named Belle and Shy and they certainly made their Grandma smile yesterday.

Today it is snowing - I guess December has arrived - it seems like the day I have plans for a party - a lunch out - or something fun in early December - it snows!! Oh well, get it out of the way this week and maybe I’ll be able to get to the hospital and get my knee fixed and get home before it snows again!!

Thanksgiving was a great time this year. On Thursday my brother and his family drove up from Kentucky to visit. They stayed with my other brother, but we went over and spent the day with them. Then on Saturday I cooked a turkey and had my kids and grandkids and my son’s girlfriend and her kids over for the day - 13 people I think. It really went well, the food was great and we all had a very good time. I guess my daughter is planning on having Christmas as I will be unable to do it this year. I haven’t even done any shopping or put up a decoration. I don’t know if I will. My surgery is scheduled for Monday and I have much I want to complete before then. We have to get the house de-cluttered - put away the throw rugs and get things cleaned up off the floor and moved away as I will be on a walker for a week or two and I really don’t want to trip and fall. I also want to get my son’s drapes at least mostly finished before Monday, and a couple of projects cut and organized so I can work on them while I recover.

I did finish a quilted wall hanging - a pumpkin - in October - I’m really pleased with the way he turned out. He’s hanging on the wall at the end of the hallway - guess I should take him down and put him away for this year, but I don’t have anything else to hang up. I suppose I could hang the santa face, but I’m not real happy with it - but I suppose it’d better than a bare wall - right.

Pumpkin wall hanging

I’ve also gone back to working on my miniature doll house - 1/12 scale. I really enjoy working on it - although it did sit in a corner for a long while because I couldn’t get what I needed to finish the living room floor - now I’ve decided I don’t like that floor anyway and found something I like better - so I’m working on it again. Pictures of the doll house are to be found HERE.

It’s also long past time I posted November’s reading list:

Where the Heart Leads by Stephanie Laurens
Betrayals by Carla Neggers
Rotten to the Core by Sheila Connolly
Dove in the Window by Earlene Fowler
The Grub and Stakers House a Haunt by Alisa Craig
Death Swatch by Laura Childs
Air Tight Case by Beverly Conner
The Sugar Camp Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

I have really been enjoying Earlene Fowler’s series with Bennie Harper and Dove in the window was one of the best yet. Of course Jennifer Chieverini’s Elm Creek books are always wonderful and Sugar Camp Quilt with all of it’s history was no exception. Air Tight Case by Beverly Conner was an intriguing mystery in two different centuries and I always enjoy a mystery romp with Alisa Craig.