Still the Usual

Still Quilting
Quilting has been my main gig this week, as I continue working on my English paper-pieced Linda Nova (Tula Nova) quilt. I had put off working on it because I was completely burned out after quilting my temperature quilt.

However, the process for quilting has been enjoyable and immensely satisfying.

After stabilizing the overall quilt with walking foot quilting at intervals, I then worked from the center outward, using rulers to create straight-line and arc sections that I filled-in with free motion quilting.

A couple days ago I completed quilting the center medallion.

Outside the medallion, on the background fabric, I used rulers to quilt lines that mimic the medallion shape.

In the space between the lines, I free motion quilted circles. After drawing a 2" circle around an acrylic ring using a purple, air-erasable ink marker, I quilted the circles. 

Three different sewing machine feet have been used for quilting.

I plan to finish the background with free motion-quilted swirl hooks.

Still Worshipping
I am grateful I can worship online each Sunday, with Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Iowa. Pastor Mike's Sunday message came from John 4:7-24, about the Samaritan woman at the well.  He focused on worship - not where we are when we worship, but who we're worshipping. I always appreciate the humor he also brings into his messages. I highly recommend watching.

Still Admiring
On Memorial Day, one of the bands that performs on our three "squares" (the squares are all closed), presented a show from the garage of a house on our street. More than 70 people attended. We kept social distance and watched/listened from a neighboring driveway. Returning home, our Bismarck palm looked especially beautiful with the waning sun shining across the fronds. Just lovely. That Bismarck has become my daily morning view during prayer time.

Still Reading

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman was another great read! For the first time in a long while, I found myself looking forward to exercising and quilting so I could pop in my AirPods and keep listening!

Erin and Mark are a happy couple living in the UK. Their lives are idyllic until Mark's work situation changes. Determined to look to the future, they move forward with their wedding, spending a glorious honeymoon in Bora Bora, leisurely snorkeling and boating. Their lives are changed when they find "something in the water" - an innocuous-looking black bag. Locked. Returning home to pick up their normal lives, they find themselves plotting, and  embroiled in something more sinister than they can imagine. Erin is determining their steps. The resolution to their problems is unexpected, and hair-raising. I'm telling you... this is a must-read.

Linda's score: 4.7/5.0

You Are Not Alone by Greer Henricks and Sarah Pekkanen was great! I previously read The Wife Between Us by these two authors who have perfected the art of collaborative writing. I gave them high scores for that book too.

Shay Miller is a young woman sharing an apartment with a male friend and his girlfriend in New York City. Feeling like a third wheel, and having lost her job, she feels alone and unsure about her future. When she witnesses a subway incident, her life abruptly changes. While attempting to deal with the impact of what she's witnessed, she coincidentally makes new friends, finds a new apartment, and gets a new job. Coincidence? Maybe life isn't as wonderful as Shay imagines.

Linda's score: 4.7/5.0

Still Smiling
I leave you with this picture from the Miami New Times. The Jacobs family from Georgia stayed at an Air BnB in South Miami and found this alligator in their pool... on an alligator-shaped float.

There's a word for this... not ironic; not coincidence. Obvious? Linda