Makin'

Hubs has been watching lots of football, which doesn't interest me, so I've been having good times in my sewing room. Every day. 

For those of you who speculated about how well I'd do at last Tuesdays jelly roll race with Big Cypress Quilters, I came in second place. I don't know how long it took me to make this top, but the winner made hers in 51 minutes. 

quilt top 45" X 65"

We determined afterward that my quilt top, at 45" X 65" is larger than the others, likely due to it being made from a jelly roll that came from Australia. Though the colors are not "me," the fabrics include nice reminders of the differences between Australia and the US, and evoke fond memories of time spent there.

I came across this pattern when following Art Gallery Fabrics on Instagram. This is a Swing Fabric Basket and is meant to be a little "travel basket" for notions and supplies, when going from one stitching spot to another. 

I filled mine with the size 8 Eleganza perle cotton threads I'm using to add big stitch quilting to my MQG Artisan Fabric challenge quilt. 

I followed this Sewing Times YouTube video tutorial to make it. 

Book Recommendation

Today's book recommendation deserves some explanation. 

I selected The Monsters We Make by Kali White because the synopsis intrigued me - a fictional story, written by an Iowan, based on facts that happened where I used to live in West Des Moines, Iowa. Literally. On the same block. 

In September 1982, a Des Moines Register newspaper boy, picking up his early Sunday morning newspapers to bundle for delivery, went missing. At that time, we lived in an eastside Des Moines suburb, but I vividly remember seeing the boy's mother on that night's news, making a plea for information about him.

In 1989 we moved to West Des Moines, not knowing until after moving in, that the last place the paper boy had been seen was on the corner behind our house. Though in 1982, the lot where our house stood was vacant.

For nearly 23 years we lived in this house. The second light pole on the left was where he was last seen folding Sunday newspapers. His red wagon and newspapers were left behind.

So, it was particularly interesting to read the book's opening chapters describing that Sunday morning in 1982. I can vividly imagine the early morning dusk, and his route.

The remainder of the book focuses on the second newspaper delivery boy who went missing in August 1984. No traces of either boy have ever been found.

In The Monsters We Make, the names of these boys have been changed, but circumstances around them have not. Many things actually happened with the parents, search, police, etc. For example, the disappearance of these boys marks the first time milk cartons were used to publicizing missing children - thank you, Anderson-Erickson Dairy. 

The story's focus is on two children of a single mother who lives on Des Moines' southside, and a troubled police officer who handled the first disappearance in West Des Moines, and then accepted a new job/promotion to a detective position in Des Moines where he found himself assigned to the second missing newspaper boy case. 

While the story is dark, it exposes the hidden aspects of the term "pedophile, " - a new term at the time -  that has now become common, and brings attention to the trusting nature of Midwesterners, and innocence that can be lost.

Naturally, I appreciated this book because of its familiarity and reminders, and because it was extremely well-written. 

Linda's score: 4.2/5.0

Linda