Zoom Week

Isn't it odd that up until April I had never heard of Zoom, and now here in July, I'm counting all the Zoom activities in a week? I'll attend five Zoom sessions in eight days! How does that happen?

1. Saturday was: Sew-In with Central Florida MQG
2. Monday was: Central Florida MQG's regular meeting with Show and Tell
3. Tuesday was: my weekly afternoon spent with Big Cypress Quilters
4. Thursday is: "Sip and Sew" with South Florida MQG
5. Saturday is: South Florida MQG's regular meeting with speaker Amy Friend @duringquiettime 

Golly. Who could have guessed that life would make such an about-face, from in-person to on-line?!

Not only is it good to see friends on a Zoom call, but it's also nice to be able to sew while doing so. Because I have a portable MacBook, I set it on my quilting table beside my sewing machine and do whatever I want - sure to mute myself when I'm using my machine.

During the Central Florida MQG Sew-In, I pieced a couple more charming postage stamp blocks. These are 1-1/2" square patches from my never-ending basket of 1-1/2" squares (I started cutting this size in 2011), and 1-1/2" squares intentionally cut from solids in my stash. I've now made 63 of these 8-1/2" X 8-1/2" unfinished blocks. 

During our Big Cypress Quilter's weekly get-together (where a member presented how-to binding videos) I hand sewed down faced binding on the mini that granddaughter Celina and I made together for the Curated Quilt Youth Challenge. 

When the quilt arrived in the mail from Celina, it looked like this.

I added: burgundy hand-appliquéd pieces meant to represent a road and round-about; big stitch hand-quilting with five different thread colors; and faced binding. It measures 10-1/2" X 10-1/2" and has been submitted to Curated Quilts. We have our fingers crossed.

While attending the next two Zoom meetings, I have several project options, but English paper-piecing Prudence blocks is most likely. This in-progress block is cut from "Create" fabrics, Kristy Lea's @quietplay new fabric collection by Riley Blake. I do like to fussy cut fabrics when possible.

This past week it's been a treat to read these two books by Robin McKinley: Beauty and Rose Daughter. Interestingly, they're about the same thing, a retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast. However, Ms. McKinley wrote Beauty in 1993, and Rose Daughter in 1998. I'm not sure what the author meant to accomplish by writing two different stories about the relationship between Beauty and Beast. The stories are quite different.

Whether it's because I read Beauty first, or because Beauty seems more charming, I preferred Beauty to Rose Daughter. Beauty herself comes across with more goodness, as do her two sisters - Grace and Hope, and father who are all well-loved by friends. 

Rose Daughter sisters seem less  sweet. Their characters are as their names imply: Jeweltongue and Lionheart. The premise for both books is that Beauty must live with Beast in his castle, where she experiences enchantment and magic. While Beauty in Beauty spends her days with her horse, Greatheart; Beauty in Rose Daughter spends her days in the castle's glass greenhouse, reviving Beast's beloved roses. In one book, Beast turns into a handsome man; in the other book Beast stays a beast!  

In both stories, Beast asks Beauty every evening, "Will you marry me?"

Linda's scores: Beauty 4.0/5.0 - Rose Daughter 3.6/5.0

Linda