We're back! (And a pillowcase finish)

We've returned from our wonderful vacation to Maine, and gosh, all of my pictures look like postcards!

I think this is the first ever panoramic I've taken on my now four-year-old iPod touch.  Pretty sweet, huh?  I guess I'll get a smartphone eventually and take pics like these all the time.


The Scheplings had a wonderful time visiting their uncle, tia, and cousin.  It helps that grandma and grandpa came along, too! 


We visited several wonderful quilt shops while in Maine--everyone was so friendly, it was (almost) like being back home in the South. 


While in town one day, I picked up this fun little fat quarter bundle:

With all of its cute jungle animals, it was begging to be fussy cut.  While in Freeport, I picked up this pattern for a reading pillow:

I apologize for the lousy pattern photo, but I could not find a stock photo of the pattern anywhere online.  That's probably for good reason: simply put, the pattern is no good.  My first problem that it wasn't written for the U.S. Market, so I had to use my sewing experience and some common sense to grab the materials I thought I needed.  My second problem was the lack of diagrams or clear instructions.  I had to blindly cut the pieces (which were thankfully in inches) and figure out where they went after the fact, which makes color planning a little more difficult.  To be fair, the pattern explained quite a bit about English Paper Piecing, which I already do a fair bit of.


To save time, I glue basted the hexies for the front of the pillow:

I photograph layouts so I don't forget!

My two year old thinks the sloths are raccoons, and I think that's just adorable.  Here it is all stitched together:

Front panel completed:


I chose to topstitch the hexies to the front panel, rather than slipstitch by hand. 

This was the first project I finished from beginning to end on my new machine, who I have dubbed His Royal Highness, the Juke of Mulberry.  I'll be designing a custom decal to adhere to the bed of the machine. 

I'd like to add some additional lighting, but for now that lamp in the background will do.



And here it is, finished:

The patterns calls for a tie closure.  Without a diagram, I'm not entirely sure this is what it should look like, but it seems to make sense.  I think if I make this pattern in the future, I'll use a traditional envelope closure instead.

See?  I'm not the biggest fan of the pillow form peeking out from the back.  While the ties make the pattern fat quarter friendly, I almost always buy yardage anyway.

I love the little carrying handle.  I hope my nephew enjoys toting this around!

Okay, by the time I've actually finished this blog post, we've been back for like, two months!  We've actually gone on another short, though unplanned, little staycation since our proper vacation. 

If I can be a bit vulnerable here, I've really been struggling with being a good wife and mother lately, and I know that this is a direct consequence of my self-imposed distance from God lately.  If you're a fellow believer, pray with me, please?  This Proverbs 31 journey has its ups and downs, and I'm in a valley right now. 


I've got more to share, so hopefully I'll update y'all soon.  Linking with Sew Fresh Quilts and Finished or Not Friday.  Until then, God Bless.

Books I've read:

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Is it just me, or do all these books about delusional women make you feel a tad bit crazier than you already are? So this lady's husband is killed in a car wreck, and she immediately starts on this crazy trail of maybe-it-wasn't-just-an-accident. The question is, how crazy is she? This is another broken timeline book, and I can't seem to get enough of those. Great audiobook--well read by the actors.

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Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island by Regina Calcaterra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So sad! It's so depressing to think that children suffer the same fate even today, but I'm sure they do. This book hit a nerve because I'm part of "the system" that let these kids down, and likely lets hundreds, if not thousands, of our kids here down, too. On the flip side, this book reminded me to be grateful for the life I live now and the childhood that my parents were able to provide for me--one that was full of love, and devoid of all need. This book made me hug my children a little tighter.

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The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, this was the first, and likely the last book I read by this author. The setup sounds suspenseful--a flight attendant wakes up from her overnight layover next to a dead man! Wow! Let's find out whodunit! Immediately, she begins to make a series of enormously stupid decisions (not that her life was full of great decisions to start with) that are almost too stupid to bear as the reader. Then there's the other characters in the book--not very believable at all. Don't get me started about the ending. Like, what? What happened? How did we get from point A to point B? This book was supremely annoying to the utmost, but I liked it, didn't I? Don't read it.

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Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hmmm, what to say about this one? I'm writing this a full month removed from finishing the book, and I can't remember much about it--I guess that says a lot about this book. Personally, I like books with broken timelines, because it's a pretty simple way of adding suspense and mystery without having to go off of the deep end. That being said, this book both jumps around AND has an out-in-left-field ending. No, I didn't see it coming, but it wasn't the least bit satisfying of an end, either. It's no spoiler here to say that the narrator is in a coma and is trying to piece together the series of events that led to her state, and that in and of itself is an intriguing premise. Despite its strange ending, I'd recommend it as a quick fiction read.

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The Great Influenza[The Epic Story Of The Deadliest Plague In History] by John M. Barry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book took forever to listen to. That being said, it was jam-packed with the kind of information you'd expect, and then some. The problem I had with the "then some" facts was that it was stuff I already knew--recaps on the history of medicine, both in general, and specific to the U.S. Granted, I wouldn't have minded the history lesson if this is what I sought out, but I wanted to read about the 20th century pandemic, not 16th century medical textbooks. You finally get to this point about halfway through the book, and boy, is it fascinating stuff. I ended up wanting to read more about it, so in the end, not so bad of a book to read.

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The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery by Barbara K. Lipska
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked it alright. After reading Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, this seems like a mediocre follow-up. What makes this particular account stand out is the fact that author has dedicated her career to studying mental illness, only to succumb to it herself during cancer treatment. I grew a bit weary of hearing how physically fit the author and her family are--I get it--this is who you are, but no need to fat-shame the rest of us, you know? Despite its shortcomings, it still serves as a an inspirational account--mental illnesses can be cured, and you can live to write about it.

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Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between by Theresa Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, the title is pretty self explanatory--this book is written by a new nurse (after a career change from college professor!), and her experiences with all kinds of stuff you'd expect an RN to encounter in a hospital. I read this book to gain a little insight into what my little sister would be experiencing and feeling at her first RN job. Overall, it's okay, if you're interested in this kind of stuff. Otherwise, I don't think it was compelling enough to recommend generally.

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Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great read! It helps that the author is a journalist who can apparently tell a story. Her account is scary--this could, realistically, happen to anyone. This had my attention from page one, and I would recommend this to all of my friends, and not just nonfiction readers. After all, the truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.

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Galaxy Girls: 50 Amazing Stories of Women in Space by Libby Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a fabulous little book! I didn't realize I was picking up a children's book when this popped up on my recommended books list, but I'm glad I listened to it anyway. Of great breadth and little depth, it serves its purpose: to inspire little girls to reach for their dreams. Of course, I spent half of the book kicking myself for abandoning my own dream, but I would definitely recommend it for any young person who has yet to give up on theirs. It was a little difficult to follow along with in its audiobook form, so this is one I'd pick up in print.

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On our tabletop:

Azul by Plan B Games: What a nifty, beautiful game!

Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective by Asmodee: Still not tired of it.

Pandemic Legacy Season 2 by Z-Man Games: Simply obsessed.

The Rivals for Catan by Mayfair: Fun, but unsure how often we'll play it.

Unlock! The Formula by Asmodee: This was simply amazing.  There will be more of these in our future.

Exit the Game by Thames & Kosmos: This installment was harder than the others.  I think the format might be getting old for us. 

Carcassonne by Z-Man: An oldie but a goodie.