Crossroads Quilt

This 43" X 55" baby quilt, for the great-nephew/niece who's due in June, is done. It's my adaptation of a Crossroads Quilts I saw on Instagram. I used as many novelty and "I Spy" type prints in this as my dwindling kid-print stash allowed.

Crossroads Quilt, 43" X 55"

 

There are lotsa "things" to find in this quilt, so I expect it might be stimulating into toddlerhood. 

The quilt back is pieced with the largest novelty print "chunks" I could come up with. 

Because Crossroads is a pattern, and I haven't made a quilt from a pattern for a very long time, it seemed easy and relatively quick make. With an all-over snail trail quilting design that didn't need many stops and starts, and therefore thread-burying, I merrily free motion quilted on my Bernina 770QE.

Now I'll tuck the quilt away until I have baby details to record on a quilt label. 

Book Recommendations

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen was a difficult book to read. While I don't want to give it all away by telling you why, I have to say that the story is about losing, by murder, one's closest family members. 

The story begins typically enough with a mom, dad, and three kids - two of whom are twin brothers with personalities as different as night and day. When first listening, I felt like I was in a world that sounded very familiar - about kids interacting with friends, doing schoolwork, bickering among siblings, parents being taxi-drivers and disciplinarians. That was very relatable, reminding me of when my husband and I both worked and raised two teenaged children.

The story's beginning was almost boring, setting the scene for - missing that the intense behavioral response of one teen's friend led to an event that changed the mom's life. While I don't doubt that this is reality for some people, I found it depressing to read about.

Linda's score: 3.4/5.0 

Oh how I love a well-written book by a favorite author! I picked up The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths because Ms. Griffiths authored a favorite series I completed last year - "Ruth Galloway series," If you like a good who-done-it that takes place in Brighton, UK, then this is the book for you.

Claire is an English teacher in the English department of a moderately-sized school. She's divorced, and her 15 year-old daughter Georgie lives with her. Claire's friend, also an English teacher at the same school, is found stabbed to death, with a note quoting a line from a short story: "The Stranger" by R.M. Holland. What's happening in real life, and the story in the book are too similar, and scary. Claire happens to be writing a book about Holland, and therefore becomes more embroiled in the investigation than she wants.

I enjoy that Griffiths first relates what's happening from Claire's perspective, and later relates the same happenings from the perspective of the detective assigned to the case... and then Georgie's teenaged perspective is woven into the story. Add a little bit of "I bet he did it" and "I bet she did it" and you have an engaging tale that will keep you guessing until the end. 

Linda's score: 4.2/5.0

Most recently I've been listening to Lutheran Church of Hope podcasts from the every-Wednesday "Pastor Mike Drop" program. Hope is doing "The Whole Holy Bible in a Year," and the Wednesday reviews of the weekly readings by different Hope pastors are great! Go here if you'd like to check them out. 

At the moment, I'm deep into QuiltCon prep. Of course, I decided I needed to make a new shoulder bag to efficiently carry around everything I need! Now I'm trying to pull stuff together, leaving clothes-packing until the day before departure. Sounds about right, doesn't it? Linda