It's Hot and Trees Don't Grow Like That

Today is supposed to be even hotter than yesterday...and it's the weekend so cooling off at the river isn't the best option. (On Thursday night I got splattered by the three beer cans that a woman opened and threw in my direction because she'd decided her husband had had enough. The way I look at it, I've got the option of heading home and avoiding the low level domestic disputes and colorful language. Before we moved down here, I got to listen to it all outside my living room windows.)

Since it's not a weekday, I'm sitting insider under the ceiling fans and stitching on my barn. 

I'd been avoiding the tree because the branches twist in so many different directions I thought the pattern would be hard to follow. The more of it I stitched, the more I kept realizing that trees do not grow that way. So I stitched the main branches and filled in the rest of it the way I think a real tree would look.

Did I mention that this project has miles of back-stitching? And that I love it?

Reyna Shawl

The pattern for Reyna describes it as the perfect answer to that single skein of variegated sock yarn that's been sitting in your stash for months.  In my case it was two damaged skeins that had been improperly stored for a decade and this pattern really was the solution I'd been waiting for. 

Isn't it pretty? 

 Pattern: Reyna

Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll 

I came so close to throwing away this yarn so many times. It was dusty and had breaks in it and even I thought it was beyond salvaging, but this light little piece of lace makes me glad I didn't give in and do what was reasonable.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {7/13/18}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{I've Been Reading} Baby Teeth

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

This domestic thriller seriously creeped me out. Something is wrong with seven-year-old Hannah and her mother, Suzette, is the only one who realizes how bad it really is. The little girl wants things her own way and will do anything to make that happen. She refuses to speak, unless her mother is the only one there to hear her, and is amazingly gifted when it comes to manipulating the adults around her.  I expected this one to twist in a different direction than it ultimately did, but wasn't at all disappointed.



Deja Moo by Kirsten Weiss

The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum is a fun mystery series and this third book doesn't disappoint. Maddie has completely embraced her role as the owner of the paranormal museum but she can't work up any enthusiasm for the thirty foot tall straw Christmas cow. It competes with her own business and the thing is burned down almost every year...and this time arson isn't the only thing to go wrong.  One of the committee members who was out that night to guard the cow is murdered and her mother is a suspect.  There's also the panic growing around Maddie's newest display of cursed cowbells. She can't tell people that they aren't cursed, which would be bad for the museum, but everyone in town is hearing bells and fearing that death is near. There's a fourth book coming out next spring and I'll definitely be watching for that one.

Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies. All opinions are my own.