{Yarn Along} The Birds

Wanna guess what this is? The chart and color of the yarn might give you a bit of a clue.  (Looking at my Ravelry Queue would be cheating!)  

What is is is a fun little challenge. I'm not sure if the intended recipient will like it or not, but if it keeps my fingers busy for a couple of evenings and uses up some stash yarn, I'll call it a success.

For years, I've wanted to read The Birds by Daphne du Maurier.  I finally found it in a collection of her short stories and I'm just stunned. The short story is far creepier than the Hitchcock movie. I waited until the night before the book was due back at the library and only had time to read the one story, but I'll be checking it out again as soon as I get a chance to see if her other stories are as much fun.

I'm not as sure about The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E. B. Hudspeth. The cover describes it as "two extraordinary books in one," which it is. The first part is the story of Doctor Spencer Black and the second part is a fabulous set of illustrations. According to the fictitious Doctor Black, mythological creatures were actually real, the ancestors of modern man.  If you've ever wondered how the muscles and skeletal systems of mermaids and minotaurs would fit together, you'll find plenty of answers here. I wish the first portion had been longer. As a convincing biography of an imaginary man it works, but I'd love to have read it as a fleshed out novel.

Hollow City, the sequel to Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children picked up exactly where the first book left off, so it took me a while to remember what was going on and why I'd loved the first book so much. The magic wasn't nearly as strong in this one, although I did wind up too concerned about those bees again.

For more fun projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 

Meet Tina!

I wanted to make a baby-quilt-sized version of that mug rug I made a few weeks back, the one that was just like  Marilyn but with different color placement. The only thing stopping me was fabric selection. Then Mary Ellen sent me a box of fabric for the baby quilts and in it was the perfect tone-on-tone pink yardage.


So here's Tina! She's backed with a pink stripe and bound with a light pink polka-dot. Just snowball and nine-patch blocks set on point, a couple of hours of piecing and another hour of basting and quilting...but it's cute. I think some mommy at the birthing center will enjoy it.

This post is linked to I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

big, then little, then big again...

First, I made Marilyn. Then I made the itty-bitty-crazy version of Marilyn, but I changed the color placement. Now I'm making a baby quilt size version of that version... 

It's more stress-relief quilting. No picking fabrics, no making decisions, just doing a repeat of what I've already done and listening to the comforting sounds of the sewing machine.

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Utilitatian

I finished a project this week, a handknit cover for a leg cast, but I'm not taking pictures of it.

It's ugly. The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in a less-than-wonderful color left over from Christmas ornaments. There's a band of ribbing in the middle of the foot because it started out as a toe cover and kept falling off, so I picked up stitches and added a heel and cuff. (I'm calling that a design element!) And instead of weaving in the ends, I knotted them and cut the yarn close to the knots so that there are little poky tails.

Despite all of that, I'm happy with it. It keeps toes warm and protected. It fits, despite the fact that there's no pattern I can find online for a full foot leg cast cover and I made the whole thing up on the fly, adding shaping to the top of the foot to compensate for the wonky shape of the cast. (You know how you can kind of try on a toe up sock with the dpns still in place if you're careful? You can't do that trick with a cast. We tried.)

I've thought about knitting a better version and maybe written up the instructions for how I made it, but the one I already made is doing the job. Maybe I'll wait a few days and see how much it actually gets used.

What about you? Have your made projects that are useful but not worthy of being showed off?

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 2 1/2 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 40 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 38  yards

Yarn Used this Week: 150 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 675 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 1500 yards
Net Added for 2013: 825 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

Scarf Style 2

I may not wear them often, but I love knitting shawls, especially intricate lace ones. My theory is that as long as I stick with reasonably priced yarn and patterns, the entertainment value is worth it. And sometimes I do remember to throw one around my shoulders.

I spent a lot of time drooling over the designs in the first Scarf Style book, which came out at about the same time as I figured out how to knit more than basic stockinette. Scarf Style 2 is even more drool-worthy, with a wide variety of styles and techniques. Even after I eliminated all of the color work shawls as possibilities, I found plenty of patterns I can see myself knitting. (And who knows -- I may overcome my fear of stranded knitting one of these days!)

The Winter Garden Wrap is my absolute favorite. It's a more-or-less rectangular shawl that starts with a square doily in the back and grows out from there.

The Cable-y Cowl is more of an "I've got the yarn for that!" project. It looks cozy and warm and the texture of those cables intrigues me.

And then there's Ilme's Autumn Triangle. I've never met a lace triangle shawl I didn't like, especially if they combine different lace patterns. 

The scarves are all shown from different angles, so you can see what they're going to look like without searching for Ravelry project photos. The symbols are located on the same page as the chart, or on the adjacent page -- and on charts that take up more than one page, they're listed on both pages, which will make knitting the more complex projects a whole lot easier.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {4/25/14}

Did you see the heart quilt that Kate linked last week? I really like this one, especially the "not-really-matchstick" quilting in the hearts. 

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.

Restraint

These pictures have been on my camera for weeks now, waiting for me to do something with them. 

I think window shopping is best done in antique stores. It's rare for me to find something that absolutely has to come home with me. And when I do find one of those things, it's usually either out of my budget or I don't have room for it in our house.

Can you guess what made my heart go pitty-pat in  this display? It's not the sewing machine. 

But there's no place for an old television in my life, even if it is that neat looking.

If I tried hard enough, I'm sure I could find a place for an adorable toy sewing machine. But only if it works. I don't think this one did.

I've got exactly the place for that cabinet...

And for this bedroom set...

The detail on that fireplace is absolutely amazing and, compared to the prices I saw at the dollhouse shop a couple of months back, these pieces were actually affordable. But part of me is more excited to try out some of those tutorials I keep pinning.

{Yarn Along} Look Behind You

I've taken a break from my fun new pair of socks to knit a cast  cover. And I'm only showing you the corner of the heel because this whole project is....um....filled with interesting design elements.  I can't find a pattern for what Hubby has in mind, so I'm making it up as I go along.

The book, Look Behind You by Sibel Hodge, is much more enjoyable than the knitting. Chloe Benson wakes to find herself locked in an underground chamber with no memory of how she got there. She breaks free and makes her way through the woods to the road where a driver sees her and calls for help. And that's when things start to get even more frightening. Instead of searching for her abductor, Chloe's husband and the authorities insist that the whole experience was a hallucination, that she's had another reaction to her medication.  I didn't absolutely love the ending, but it was a fun ride getting there. Chloe is a likable, resourceful heroine.

For more fun knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis.

 

The publisher provided me with a review copy.

Melted Ice Cream Bread

When I first saw something on a homemaking blog about melted ice cream bread, I was confused. Why on God's green earth would you spend money on perfectly good ice cream if your only intention was to melt it to make weird bread? Aren't there enough wonderful quick bread recipes out there?

Then my boys were watching the show None of the Above, where the host sets up an experiment and you're supposed to choose the result from a list of possibilities. Then they explain the science behind what happened. My boys have watched so many episodes of Mythbusters that they can usually guess the answer, but I'm the only one who knew what would happen if you mixed flour and melted ice cream and put it in the microwave.

It works the way it does because ice cream contains everything that's in bread except for the flour. At least that's how my nine-year-old explained it to me. So we headed for the grocery store to buy the cheapest brand of ice cream I could find and some self rising flour, then checked the Internet for recipes.

We wound up using 3 cups of melted strawberry ice cream and 1 1/2 cups of flour and baking it at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. The instructions I was following said 30 minutes, but I left it in until a sharp knife came out clean. Ice cream bread should follow the same rules as banana bread, right?

It worked. Sort of. I really wouldn't recommend it as more than a fun science project for the kids because it didn't taste all that good and there are so many really good quick bread recipes out there to try. According to the articles I read online, you should use the best quality ice cream that you can find, with the fewest artificial ingredients. I think I'll just bake my next loaf of quick bread from scratch!

I'm linking up to Mom's Library, WFMW,

Stash Report & Surgery Update

Honestly, I'm at a loss for words right now. My posts for the past few days (and a few that are for next week and beyond) were written in advance, before I knew what was in store for us...now that Hubby's surgery is over and we're back home and I'm still reeling a bit at the thought of what's still ahead. Thanks to everyone who said prayers for our little family.

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 2 1/2 yards
Added this Week: 10 1/2 yards
Added Year to Date: 40 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 38  yards

Yarn Used this Week: 400 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 525 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 300 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 1500 yards
Net Added for 2013: 975 yards

That fabric I was going to pick up once it was on sale? It's for Labyrinth Walk, a quilt which I think my boys will really like. And if they don't like it, I think it's pretty neat myself. I also picked up a skein of yarn that  I didn't realize I was going to need for that project I bought yarn for last week. Here's hoping for a peaceful recovery and some time to work on quilting and knitting!

I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

Civil War Legacies II

I love little quilts. I love the look of reproduction fabrics. Most of what's in my stash is "close enough" instead of actual reproductions, but it works for me. Civil War Legacies II: 17 Small Quilt Patterns for Reproduction Fabrics by Carol Hopkins is right up my alley. The quilts look do-able and just challenging enough to be fun.

Gettysburg Sun is my absolute favorite quilt from the book. I'd be making it right now if I had the time.

And I love the setting for Baskets for Betsy. Did I mention that the quilts are little? Those are 4" basket blocks. 

I'm intrigued by the block used in Thorns and Roses. 

There are some simpler quilts, too, but those aren't the ones that make my heart go pitty-pat. You can find lots more images from the book at the Martingale website. 

Disclosure -- the publisher provided me with an electronic ARC. 

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {4/18/14}

I made a quick start on a new two-color baby quilt this week. Another hour and I should be able to get the snowball blocks pieced and the top assembled. 

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.

Green Envy

My Green Envy socks, which I started at the beginning of the year, are done!

I've had more comments and questions about this yarn than any yarn I've ever worked with. The colors are gorgeous. It's been wonderful to knit with. And it's box store sock yarn, Heart & Sole (from the same folks who bring us Red Heart Super Saver!)  When I first fell in love with sock knitting, it seemed like all of the really pretty colors were expensive hand-dyes. Knitpicks has always had drool-worthy colors, but I love that I bought a skein of this yarn along with my groceries!

As soon as I had the last stitch bound off, I cast on a new pair with a different colorway of the same yarn.

I'm linking this post to Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, Freedom Fridays, Inspired Friday. and Friday Favs.

{Yarn Along} Until You're Mine

What I love most about this new sock is that it's not green. I love green, I have tons of green yarn and fabric in my stash, but I really needed a change. Except for the color, these socks are identical. It's the same brand of yarn, the same needles, the same number of stitches -- but these are knitting up so much FASTER!

This is three evenings of knitting and one of those evenings didn't start until after midnight. Maybe I knit faster when I'm stressed....

With two stepsons, a husband working away from home, her own busy job, and a new baby on the way, Claudia Morgan-Brown needs outside help. Zoe seems to be the perfect choice, an experienced nanny with fantastic references. But there's something about her that makes Claudia just a little uncomfortable.

Until You're Mine by Samatha Hayes alternates chapters between Claudia, Zoe, and Lorraine, a police officer investigating a series of brutal attacks on pregnant women. Claudia and Zoe's chapters are in first-person; Lorraine's are in third-person. Sometimes it's not clear who is telling the story and I wound up guessing whether it was Zoe or Claudia based on whose "turn" it should have been, at least until a specific detail gave it away.

I enjoyed the book, but after the first few chapters I got tired of the way that Zoe's chapters made it so clear that she was hiding something. I saw a few of the twists coming, but others took me by complete surprise.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. And be sure to come back tomorrow to enter the giveaway!

Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with an electronic ARC.

Dollhouses

I have a dollhouse. (Actually, I've got two -- one in the attic and one up in my sewing room with yarn stuffed into the empty rooms.) I've always had vague plans to get the fancy one set up again one of these days, either when my kids are older or when I think of an inaccessible place to put it. It's been low on my list of priorities. 

Then Joanna Campbell Slan started making dollhouse furniture and posting about it on her Facebook page. Which led to a Pinterest search for dollhouse tutorials. Which led to a birthday trip to Dot's Dollhouse on the coast and much drooling and even more Pinterest searches after we got home. I'm now following about a dozen different blogs about making miniatures and pestering Teenage Daughter about polymer clay techniques. 

I can't remember when or how I got interested in dollhouses. But I think that might be the culprit:

I walk by this thing every single week, but I stopped actually seeing it a long time ago. When I was little though, a trip to the library was not complete without looking at the contents of every room.

I love that parlor. My dollhouse needs a vacuum cleaner. And a clock like the one on the mantel. 

Taking pictures through glass is not one of my skills, but you get the idea, right?  I don't know when or if I'll get around to making any of these tutorials that I keep pinning (here if you want to see what I'm obsessing over), but it's sure fun to look and daydream!

A Little Something New

I've got lots of things to get done over the next few days, none of them to do with quilts, but I took an hour before bed Saturday night and decided to just start cutting and see if I could get the pieces ready for a two color baby quilt. Those strips and squares didn't take long to cut, so I sewed the strips together and pressed them open and cut them into segments....and by the time my hour was done I had all of the nine-patch blocks done. 

Another little chunk of time and I'll have the snowball blocks done and be ready to assemble the top. As busy as things are right now, I need to remember that quilting and knitting calm me down and that stealing bits of time to catch my breath is a good idea.

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Counting Down

Surgery scares me. Anesthesia terrifies me. In this case it's unavoidable, and once it's done my husband will finally start to heal, but that doesn't make it any less stressful.

Now that we've met with the surgeon and got it scheduled, I'm counting the days until it's done, stocking up on groceries and shampoo, getting things in order before this latest round of getting our lives turned upside down....which meant buying some yarn for a big project I want to cast on. (I'm also planning to buy fabric for a quilt, but not until that sale starts next week.)  

Knitting will help. I'm putting together patterns and yarn for waiting room knitting.  The plan is to have something very complicated (to keep my mind off of things) and something very simple (in case I can't keep my mind off of things.)

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 2 1/2 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 30 yards
Net Added for 2013: 27 1/2  yards

Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 125 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 1000 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 1200 yards
Net Added for 2013: 1075 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

A Giant Squid to Knit...

It started when I saw a giant knit squid on Ravelry. Then I followed the links to the book and saw the pinata.... and I knew I was going to have to get my hands on a copy of  Huge & Huggable Mochimochi: 20 Supersized Patterns for Big Knitted Friends. 

Because how can you not need to knit a giant squid and a loopy pinata?! 

I also might need to knit Roland the pill bug.

There are a ton of other patterns that I have no urge to knit, like the giant tube of toothpaste and enormous pencil. But the squid and the pinata are more than enough for me to justify buying the book. (The  copy I've got in my hands right now is from the library.)

{Let's Make Baby Quilts!} 4/11/14

Do you have groups of fabric set aside for baby quilts? A few years back, I was sorting through my scrap bags and pulled together the fabrics that finally became the pink bird quilt and this week's new quilt top.  I think the idea was that they'd go together quickly next time I planned a baby quilt binge and tried to do ten quilts in ten days or something else equally silly, but it's been a long time since I managed one of those. The bags with the fabric got buried and forgotten until I unearthed them again while cleaning. And that's okay, because at this point in time a couple of kitted up baby quilts were exactly what I needed. 

This one is very loosely based on the Flexi Strip Baby Quilt tutorial that I linked to last week. I knew that I was going to use every last bit of that animal print and I didn't want to cut it into narrower strips and lose any of the critters, so I squared up the piece I had and built the rest of the quilt around it.

Looking back, I can see about a dozen different ways I could have done this and I might wish I'd chosen one of the different options, but I'm going to quilt it and bind it and give it away and not fuss over what might have been. It's cute this way. And one of the things I love about the baby quilts is that I don't have to obsess over every last decision because the quilts aren't going to live with me.

There are a lot of the solids left over and they just happen to go nicely with a backing fabric I've got in my stash, so now I know what my next baby quilt is going to be. Don't you just love watching the possibilities open up as you finish projects and figure out what's left to work with?

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.

Wild With Leaves

I made this block for the Leafs Me Happy blog hop and then I didn't know what to do with it so I tucked it into a project box with some other little projects that I was in no hurry to finish. At this point, I have no clue what the original plan was, or if I even had an original plan.

I think what I did works, with lots and lots of itty bitty swirly quilting around the embroidery.  I've never quilted an embroidered piece before, but if I'm ever going to finish Hocuspocusville, I'd better start figuring out how I want to do it.

This project never made it onto my UFO list, because it was more of an orphan block. How big does a project be before you consider it a UFO? In case you missed the post earlier this week, I'm giving away a copy of A Roux of Revenge, a fun cozy mystery. Check out the guest post by Connie Archer to enter.

I'm linking this post to Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, Freedom Fridays, Inspired Friday. and Friday Favs.

{Guest Post} Connie Archer, author of A Roux of Revenge

Today, I'm happy to have a guest post by Connie Archer, author of the Soup Lover's series of mysteries. I've also got a copy of the book to give away, so make sure you read all the way to the bottom to find out how to enter!

When a band of travelers arrives in the village of Snowflake, Vermont and a dead stranger is found by the side of the road, the past returns with a vengeance.  Long kept secrets will be revealed, lost loves will be found and the lives of many in the village will be irrevocably altered. 

Special thanks to Michelle’s Romantic Tangle for hosting this stop on my blog tour for A Roux of Revenge, the third book in the soup lover’s mystery series. 

It’s Halloween and Lucky Jamieson, the owner of the By the Spoonful Soup Shop, is looking forward to the holiday and the Harvest Festival that Snowflake, Vermont is hosting.  But an old crime is about to cast a long shadow over the village.  Nate Edgerton, Snowflake’s Chief of Police, is called to the scene of a wreck where he discovers a dead man.  His instincts tell him this was no accident – he has a murder on his hands. 

The Festival has brought many strangers to the town – too many for Nate’s liking.  One of them has been watching and following Janie, a young waitress at the Spoonful.  She’s terrified of the sinister presence.  When Janie decides to do a little snooping of her own, she gets much more than she bargained for -- her very life may be in jeopardy. 

I have never made a quilt, but I imagine it’s very much like writing a book.  It must be a matter of visualizing the main design and all the steps it will take to get there, and all the pieces and stitches that will have to be made along the way.  The quilter must be able to “see” the finished product in his or her mind, choose the colors, plan the layout and arrive at the final pattern she (or he) wishes to create. 

The structure of a book, the plot and pacing, is much the same.  A writer needs to know where he or she is going and what sort of story they wish to create.  Just as the choice of fabric pieces and colors set the mood of a quilt, so too do the the characters and their dilemmas set the feeling tone of a story. 

I’m a very visual person and a planner.  I like to outline.  I like to know where I’m going, how long it will take to get there, and what other story lines will come into play as the timeline progresses.  I use colored pieces of paper, sticky notes, in yellow and orange and green, however many colors I need.  I spread them across a large table.  The main plot and its chronology are in one color, the interweaving of story lines that will effect or support the main plot in another, and then a third or a fourth or more for clues to be interspersed or tangents to the main story line.  When I’m finished, my table is covered with sticky notes in various colors, much like a quilt.  By then, it’s very clear to me how I’ll proceed and what order is necessary.  That’s when I breathe a sigh of relief. 

I have a roadmap.  I transpose all those sticky notes into a detailed chronological outline that covers several pages.  Is it carved in stone?  No.  It can still be flexible.  I can take little detours and still manage to come back to the main pattern and not get lost.  When my book is finished several months later I don’t have a beautiful quilt, but hopefully I’ll have a book my readers will not want to put down.

You can get to know the residents of Snowflake, Vermont in any of the books, but I know you’ll really enjoy reading about their adventures in A Roux of Revenge. 

Author’s Note:  All the beautiful quilts shown in this post are on display at the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont. 

Connie Archer is the author of A Spoonful of Murder, A Broth of Betrayal, and just released, A Roux of Revenge.

You can visit Connie at www.conniearchermysteries.com

Facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries

Twitter:  @SnowflakeVT

Want a chance to win a copy of A Roux of Revenge? Just leave a comment on this post before midnight PST on April 15,  letting us know what your favorite kind of soup is. (I'll admit it -- I'm getting desperate for new dinner ideas!)

Edited to add: 

The winner is TerryH, who wrote:

Turkey(or chicken)corn chowder recipe I got from my PT lady. It is wonderful. A good mystery is
always welcome. Thanks for the chance.

{Yarn Along} still avoiding my heels

My plan was to finish the second heel on the Croc Socks so that I could talk about that this week, but I spent my heel knitting time piecing a new baby quilt top, and I don't regret that one bit. That heel will still be here whenever I get around to it.

I did spend a few hours working on the ribbing of the second Green Envy sock. You can't see much of a difference, especially since this is a repeat of last week's picture.

I'm doing my Yarn Along post for this week a day early because tomorrow I have a guest post by Connie Archer, author of A Roux of Revenge. There's a giveaway, too!

A Roux of Revenge is the third book in the Soup Lover's mystery series. I haven't read the first two, but it was easy to jump in with this one. While I could tell that there's a lot of backstory with the characters, and it wasn't all spelled out in the book, I wasn't too lost to enjoy the mystery.

Here's the book's description from Amazon --

Snowflake, Vermont, is known for its skiing in winter—and its soup all year round, thanks to Lucky Jamieson’s By the Spoonful. Autumn brings golden leaves, pumpkin rice soup, the annual Harvest Festival…and murder.

Lucky’s soup shop is busier than usual this October, with groups of itinerant travelers in town to work the Harvest Festival. One newcomer seems to take a particular interest in Lucky’s young waitress, Janie, spying on her from across the street. Is the stranger stalking Janie?

After an unidentified man is found murdered in a van by the side of the road, simmering suspicions about the travelers are brought to a boil. But when Janie is put in harm’s way, Lucky must join forces with the travelers to turn up the heat on a killer…

The atmosphere is wonderful and the soups, even the beet one, sound so good I want to try the included recipes.  There's a full cast of characters and a satisfying, suspenseful mystery. I definitely plan on reading the earlier books in the series.


For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. And be sure to come back tomorrow to enter the giveaway!



Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with an electronic ARC.