Eighth Anniversary

Eight years ago today we moved into our brand new home here in The Villages.

I blogged about the entire move:

• our February 2012 decision to leave West Des Moines, and begin purging our home of 22-plus years of accumulation - what an extremely painful process
• in March, put our home on the market
• in April, sell the house, and nearly all our furniture, including my 2000 Volkswagen Beetle
• saying good-bye to special friends
• make the the U-Haul drive from Iowa to Kansas, where we stayed with our daughter for a week, during which time I won Best of Show for my domestic machine-quilted "Snowflake Medallion" quilt, and the prize of a Bernina 440QE
• re-loading our belongings into a 17-foot U-Haul and driving 20 hours to Florida where our son, DIL, and grandson awaited us in our driveway to get the truck unloaded into the garage as quickly, before Tropical Storm Debby landed on us for five days! Having helped to sandbag and live through the 1993 Des Moines, Iowa floods, we were certain we'd just made a huge mistake!

It took us a while to understand Florida weather patterns which come from all directions, and accept that June/July are basically the rainy season. Still, we embrace the warm weather (don't miss snow, ice, or freezing temps even a bit) and love being able to go almost everywhere locally in our golf cart. 

Then, in spite of my knock-you-flat breast cancer diagnosis in February 2013 followed by the October 2013 diagnosis of severe peripheral artery disease (P.A.D.) in my legs, I've come through these conditions with appreciation for the skilled doctors and progressive medical technology. Both of us are more physically fit than ever, and other than Coronavirus changing our lives (everyone's lives!), we enjoy our favorite pastimes. Only being too-far from children and grand-children in Kansas and Texas makes me me second-guess moving here. 

From My She-Cave

You-all know what I think about spending time in my wonderful she-cave! I clock more hours in my sewing room than any other. Yay for a husband who cooks!

I'm really hesitant to show you the status of the improv quilt that's been on my design wall. I'm not at all satisfied with it. While I like the yellow X's and how they draw the eye around the quilt, the rest of it - particularly the center - looks like mush. It's now pieced together at 55" W X 53" L and definitely needs something more.  

I've auditioned several fabric colors, thinking to insert a huge X or other shape - triangle? - right through the middle of design. This Painter's Palette solid iris looks good, but I'm hesitant to take the next step.

In the past months I've made a few masks for friends and family, using the free pattern by Orange Dot Quilts. After my hair-stylist admired mine and asked for a black one like it, I made more. With Florida's cases of Coronavirus on the rise, quite honestly, I think we'll be wearing masks for months and months. The more masks we have to wash and wear, the easier it will be to have a clean one at the ready.

You can guess which three fabrics are mine. Yep, the tropical prints on the left. Hubs prefers this style mask (not smooth-fitting) and the 1/8"-wide elastic that he thinks is more comfortable than 1/4"-wide that I tried.

Last week, a long awaited parcel arrived from Riley Blake fabrics with 27 different prints/colors. These are a new collection called "Create," by Kristy Lea @quietplay in Australia. Bright colors and prints include hexagons, stripes, stars, diamonds, triangles, and bees with rainbow-colored wings! Fabrics will be available in the US in July; in Australia in August. 

Kristy invited me to be part of an upcoming blog hop, so I have until July 21 to complete my creation with fat eighths. I came up with a design using EQ8 and have begun cutting and sewing. More to come!

Interesting Tidbit

Though I'm not a rugby fan, Dan is. He records Australia and New Zealand matches and watches them at his leisure. He pointed out what the NRL (National Rugby League) has done in Australia, and I think it's genius! "Fan in the Stand" is an initiative at Westbank Stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. Since, due to Coronavirus no one is permitted to attend a match in the 30,000-seat stadium, for $22 a fan can have a life-sized picture of themselves seated in the stands! I took this photo of our TV screen when players in the foreground allowed a close-up of the stands. Isn't it a clever concept? A fan is positioned in every other seat in the lower deck, and randomly positioned in single, double, triple and quadruple groups, presumably social-distancing, in the upper decks. As well, matches include crowd noises and music during breaks. All for the sake of the sport, right?  Read about it and see more pictures here. 

Book Reviews

I apologize for the odd formatting here! I am using New Blogger, and am unable to get it to format with the book picture on the left, and the text on the right - as it appearing (properly) in the second book review. It simply won't work here! Very frustrating. Google/Blogger continues to do an excellent job of attempting to push me away from blogging. Another complaint is that pictures are uploading, but then cannot be found to insert into this post! All I can see is pages of blue question marks. Ergh. WordPress is looking better and better!

After last week's story about a Jane Austen book club, I decided to listen to a Jane Austen title: Emma. While I'm glad to have read such a classic, I can't say I was enthralled with the slow-moving plot. Maybe it's because I knew what to expect, based on seeing the movie. Otherwise, I would have been somewhat lost. Maybe you'll be surprised when I say that it was difficult to understand the archaic language, the formality of conversations, innuendos that escaped my understanding, and even the occasional unfamiliar vocabulary word. "Approbation" was such a word, repeated often enough for me to gather the meaning based on the context. I'm glad I read it, but it certainly wasn't a compelling escapist-type book. I guess I prefer contemporary books. 

Linda's score: 3.0/5.0

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris was the antidote to Emma. It's about a Depression-era newspaper photojournalist who begins to receive feature article assignments and recognition after taking a picture of two boys by a sign that advertises them for sale. Though the picture works to the journalist's advantage, the ramifications of the photo appearing in print haunt him. He becomes involved in finding two children who were sold - a compelling story that gives a glimpse into the hardships of life in those times and the challenges faced by those without resources or a voice. 

Linda's score: 4.2/5.0

Linda