One Decade

Today, June 23, marks our tenth anniversary of living in The Villages, Florida. What we've both remarked about is: It feels like we've been here "a couple years." Each day passes slowly but the years are flying by. Can anyone explain that?

Interestingly, we moved into this house just as a tropical storm Debby began. With the help of our son and DIL, we'd just finished unloading the U-haul truck into the garage, and put down the garage door when rain started to pour, and lasted for three days! 

In years past, on this date I've shared pictures of how The Villages has grown and changed. My words will have to do. It's grown exponentially (82 square miles). When we moved into our brand new house in 2012, the population was about 82,000 and we were on the south end of town. Because of continued southward growth, we are now in the middle, with a population of roughly 140,000 people. Quilter-wise, we have more than 1,100 quilters who belong to 26 chapters of Quilting Guild of The Villages. 

I could go on about the current number of recreation centers, social clubs (more than 3,000); community swimming pools and golf courses (54, though we don't golf). If you're interested in more info, go here.

Quilting-wise, I've been determined to make changes to my design wall. I took action! First, I finished piecing, basting, and machine quilting my "Celebrate 30" challenge quilt for Quilting Guild of The Villages (QGOTV) "2023 Showcase of Quilts." 

I opted for ruler quilting using Sew Steady's Circle on Quilts Templates Set 1 to make several concentric circles designs. Here I am in action, on my Bernina 770QE: 12 seconds at triple speed! 

Since the template makes circles only up to 12" (1" spacing), I used a 1" Ruler Foot Echo Guide to make 13" and 14" circles. Just slip a circle (comes in three sizes) onto the ruler foot and then guide the edge of the transparent foot along the previous quilting line. 

After machine quilting, big stitch hand quilting commenced using size 8 Wonderfil brand Eleganza perle cotton. These four saturated colors - red, aqua, green, and yellow - are found in the QGOTV logo, as are flying geese. There's no aqua in this quilting yet because I had to order five more balls of Eleganza which I also need to keep going on my Kantha quilt. 

On my Kantha quilt, I finished hand stitching columns that are ¾" apart. Now I'm working on the in-between columns. 

At least the texture is beginning to show. So far I've stitched along the 75" length of the quilt 66 times. Sigh. Will I ever finish? 

This is my design wall. I took down two improv starts (folded and put them away in a bin) and pulled out two UFOs: 2 for 2. One UFO was no further along than cutting out 8½" X 8½" squares in a lot of different solid colors and a few sewn-together quartered circles. The other UFO was a stack of pieced 4½" X 4½" triangle-in-a-square blocks, made with a Bloc Loc ruler. 

Initially, looking at them put together was uninspiring. But after sleeping on it, I have an idea or two to play around with. The only thing I know for certain is that I'm going for large - like 64" X 72". Otherwise, this project is "let's-see-what-happens." {shrug}.

Book Recommendations

Rabbit Cake by Annie Harnett is what I'd call a quaint story.

It's about a family of four - parent/two daughters - who have just struggled through the unexpected death of the mom. The story, from the point of view of the youngest daughter, 11 year-old Elvis, focuses on mom who often baked rabbit cake using a cake tin to make a three-dimensional rabbit.

Each of them grieves in their own way: Elvis talks to her school counselor and comes up with different reasons her mom died; Dad has taken to wearing his wife's bathrobe and lipstick; Lizzie fights with her best friend, breaks her jaw and not only sleep-walks but begins sleep-eating. Elvis finds her place volunteering at a local zoo where she accumulates knowledge about the animals she cares for, and comes to terms with death. That's life in small town Freedom, Alabama. 

Linda's score: 3.9/5.0

Don't I love a Sally Hepworth book?! It's probably because I also enjoy accented narration, and so it is with The Good Sister that takes place in Australia. 

Rose and Fern Castle are fraternal twins - one blond; the other dark. Rose seems happily married, working in commercial decorating; Fern is single and working at a public library. From the get-go, you learn that Fern is "special," with a unique personality that makes her interpret and understand facial expressions and dialog as literal. It's revealing to get inside her head to follow her thoughts, and in some cases agree with what she says - though we'd never say such things ourselves!

A chance meeting outside the shower room at the library, changes Fern's routine. "Wally" becomes important to Fern just as Rose is insisting that Fern stay closer to Rose. Tension develops between the sisters and, prompted by Wally, Fern begins to question everything Rose has told her.

It's another story with secrets to be revealed - unexpected, and very engaging.  

Linda's score: 4.2/5.0

Like many friends (we were just talking about this in my Wednesday morning Zoom Bible study with Lutheran Church of Hope women) I am disinclined to watch the news. Lately I've been feeling the burden of praying for many people with concerns related to medical problems. I know that news-watching isn't uplifting. Yet when I saw this picture I took notice.

Balsora Baptist Church in Northern Texas suffered a devastating fire, yet the cross of Christ stands. Amen!

Linda