End of May

The end of May finds me feeling really good about my fabric use! I'm crediting going on a quilt retreat with motivating me to cut up lots of fabric - stash and scraps - to make quilt blocks and quilt tops:

• Bonnie Lass - a quilt top
• Sunny - 20 blocks made
• Plus/Arithmetic - finished quilt
• Like Totally - Seattle MQG BOM
• and 42 bindings for the modern potholder quilt, Pot Luck

So it's with a big whoop that I share my May fabric usage: 11.37 yards! I didn't buy anything. 

Here's the Bonnie Lass quilt top I finished last week after settling on an orange Christina Cameli print called "Moongate" for the setting triangles. 

The top is 61" X 71" and goes into the "needs a backing" pile.

Now I'm quilting again. 

I was asked to sandwich and quilt a top made by Selina Selinaquilts for a veteran who will travel to Washington DC in October on an Honor Flight.

All the quilting is ruler work. I'll pass it along for someone else to bind.

Now I've begun to quilt my Minimalist (Not) quilt. Should that be its name?! Maybe Minimalist (Ha!).

I've begun with with walking foot quilting to stabilize the whole thing. Next I'll focus on different sections to add ruler work and free motion quilting, strategically leaving open spaces for big stitch hand quilting.

Always inclined to have a variety of projects to work on, I'm alternating quilting by machine with hand stitching to join potholder quilt blocks. I'm about halfway done putting together the top which has involved puzzling - working out which blocks to join, and which units to inset into other parts. 

Book Recommendations

I Cheerfully Refuse by Lief Enger is about what happens to Rainy in a dystopian society, sometime in the not-too-distant future. He's a gifted bass player, and totally in love with his vibrant, engaging wife, Lark. She has invited a young man needing help, to live in their attic apartment until he gets on his feet. What no one expects is the trouble he unintentionally brings to the couple. 

Now on the run in an almost-restored sailboat called "Flower," Rainy learns that Lake Superior, it's unpredictable storms, islands and bays, along with people who are after him, make his life unsettled and desperate. Along the way, he meets unsavory people, often with their own ulterior motives. Rainy also unknowingly takes on a stow-away, a young girl who also wants to escape. They forge a bond that finds them both suffering through the experience of capture.

I found it difficult to get into this story, but as usual, once I reached chapter four or so, it became more engaging. The I Cheerfully Refuse title comes from a book referenced in the story, written by the fictitious and reclusive Molly Thorne, a favorite author of Rainy's wife, Lark.  

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

She's Not Sorry by Mary Kubica is another good thriller, this time about Meghan, an ICU nurse, and her 16 year-old daughter Sienna who live alone in a downtown Chicago apartment. Meghan walks a mile to/from the hospital where one of the patients in her care is a woman, Caitlin, who jumped from a pedestrian bridge in an apparent attempted suicide. Walking to her apartment at night, Meghan knows she's taking a risk, as many attacks on women have been happening in her neighborhood.

Meghan comes to know the woman's parents, and also learns what a terrible person Caitlin is. With so many things to be afraid of, Meghan's not sure who has sent her a message, who is following her, who she should believe, and who she should fear.

I liked trying to figure out who the She was, in the title. Linda's score: 4.2/5.0    

In all, this month I listened to, reviewed, and scored 11 audiobooks. In rank order they are:

The Lost Bookshop	Woods	Evie	4.3
God Spare the Girls	McKinney	Kelsey	4.3
Darling Girls	Hepworth	Sally	4.2
The Vacancy in Room 10	Glass	Seraphina Nova	4.2
Time After Time	Lane	Karly	4.2
All the Dangerous Things	Willingham	Stacy	4.2
She’s Not Sorry	Kubica	Mary	4.2
Bewilderment	Powers	Richard	4.1
Sipsworth	Van Booy	Simon	4.0
I Cheerfully Refuse	Enger	Lief	4.0
Expiration Dates	Serle	Rebecca	3.7

I hope you find a couple titles to add to your June reading list. Linda