End of Month Check

Participating in monthly fabric-tracking (counting only fabric that comes into my sewing room, and outgoing fabric that's made into something) has made me more aware of how much stashed and scrap-binned fabrics await use.

Being the last day of the month, it's time to be honest about what's come in, and what's gone out. 

In-coming: 3 yards of fabric needed for a bag lining (yet to be made), and to complete my Dancing With the Wall improv quilt. Since that improv quilt top isn't yet finished (picture below), it will be part of June's outgoing total.

Out-Going: Most of that 6.61 yards was 332 - 4"-square Unallocated blocks. As soon as the improv quilt is off the design wall, these blocks will go up, be arranged, and sewn together. 

Yay! More out-going fabric than incoming, for the third month in a row! 

In April I bought 2 yards of Painter's Palette Sachet-colored solid from Keepsake Quilting, to complete the improv quilt. However, when I saw the original Sachet color with the re-ordered color, the dye lots were different - see the "wrong" dye lot on the right in the photo below. So, I ordered 1 yard of Sachet from the business I'd first bought from - The Quilt Place (Orlando, FL).  That dye lot matches - see the new dye lot to to the left of the wrong one. Whew. 

I took apart and replaced obviously offending pieces, and am now moving toward a quilt top finish. Our Dancing With the Wall virtual group (workshop was April 15-16) is meeting again this Sunday for a recap of everyone's projects. I'm looking forward to it, and hope to share my completed quilt top, which will be about 60" X 70". I have a little way to go.

While waiting for the yard of Sachet to arrive, I made my third Zippy Crossbody Bag, a pattern by Sallie Tomato. I'd prepared all the parts and pieces for retreat, but didn't work on it. With my "kit" ready, it was easy to make at home.

The tropical print cork was an impulse buy - what could be more "flourishing palms"?! - from The Sewing Studio in Lady Lake, FL Since the shop also stocks Sallie Tomato zippers and hardware, it was a no-brainer to decide I needed to have it. 

My modifications to the Zippy Crossbody Bag pattern were to: 

1. cut all bag pieces 1" wider, to more easily accommodate my IPhone 14 in an outside zipper pocket.
2. add an interior zipper pocket 
3. add an exterior clear vinyl pocket for my community ID card

Book Recommendation

The Measure by Nikki Erlick is about a dystopian (an imagined state or society) world.

In one day, every individual in the world, age 22 and older, receives a small wooden box on their doorstep. No one knows, or can see on videotape, who has delivered them. But every person gets one. Inside is a piece of string. Each person's string is a different length. It takes a while for people to work out what it means, but it's proven to indicate: "How long will my life be?"

The story follows eight characters. Some have short strings; some have long strings; and some choose not to open their box. How does knowing how long one has to live alter how one lives the rest of their life? Will I make different choices than I would have if I hadn't known? It's definitely an intriguing concept, and one that (perhaps unsurprisingly) divides people, just as politics do - there are short-stringers and long stringers, and even the men running for president have different views.

I'd call this a thought-provoking work of fiction. 

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is a story about the legacy of the Padavanos women. Taking place in the Chicago area, the reader follows the lives of Rose and Charlie Padvanos, and their four daughters, Julia, Sylvie, and twins Emeline and Cecelia.

Self-driven to succeed, Julia attends Northwestern University where she meets the man who she shapes into her future husband, William. A quiet man, he's at Northwester because he earned a basketball scholarship. Playing basketball is only time he feels like himself. It's what got hm through lonely childhood. William is 6" 7" tall.

The story unfolds as the four Padavonas girls grow into adulthood. There's an unexpected pregnancy, a death, a departure, a divorce, a separation. Yet in spite of uncomfortable and awkward situations, love is a familial bond that can never be broken, even through a heart-breaking death. 

Hello Beautiful is long read (15 hours, 6 minutes) with a few slow sections, yet the topic is such that I wasn't surprised to learn it's an Oprah Book Club recommendation.

Linda's score: 4.1/5.0

Linda