Finally Finished

I started this quilt back in January and it lay on the back of our couch almost finished for 3 months. All I had left was one column of stippling and the binding. I really hate binding though so I wasn't all that motivated to finish. But I finally sat down and made myself do it and now I have a finished and usable quilt!

Sorry the photos are a bit blurry. You can still get the picture.

My next quilting goal is to do a non-stiplling quilting pattern. If anyone knows how and wants to give me advice I would love it!

Books of 2012

I was looking through my goodreads account today and decided to figure out exactly what I have read in 2012. The total list contains 35 books so I decided to divide it up into 3 list. Here's the first installment of my 2012 book list. I have rated each book 1-5 stars and written what I remember about the book off the top of my head. I had to jog my memory for one or two books but for the most part this is just what I remember. I figure that what you remember about a book 5 months later can tell you something about the book.



1. The Kitchen House (*****) - great book about a young irish girl who goes to live on a plantation prior to the civil war. Loved it ! 

2. Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter (****) - A southern girl from Memphis moves up to Vermont with her husband and two daughters to buy an inn. When the cheating husband leaves her to run the inn herself good friends come to the rescue. Good southern literature

3. Yankee Doodle Dixie (***) - The sequel to Whistlin' Dixie, Yankee Doodle Dixie follows the main character back to Memphis. I was disappointed with this book 

4. The Lost Wife (****) - Girl living in prague falls in love and marry's guy right before he and his family escape Nazi invasion. Girl decides to stay with family. Amazing descriptions of the families life in a ghetto outside of prague. Wonderful ending.

5. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt (*****) - I would give this book 6 stars if I could. Think secret life of bees. CeeCee Honeycutt goes to live with her southern, sweet tea drinking, fun loving aunt in 1950's Savannah Georgia after her looney mother gets hit by a truck and her always absent father decides he can't take care of her. Wonderful southern literature that will just make you smile.






6. The Soldier's Wife (****) - Young woman with two young children lives on the Island of Guernsey during world war II. Her husband is off fighting in the war when the Germans invade the island. The house next door becomes home to German Soldiers, a love story ensues. Definitely recommend.







7. The Friday Night Knitting Club (***) - I liked this book for the most part. A single mom started a knitting shop and business when, alone in NYC, she had her daughter. Now, something like 10 years later, she has a thriving business and a growing daughter. Every Friday night the Friday Night Knitting Club convenes to share in one another's lives. Pretty good but terrible ending. Apparently there's a sequel but I haven't brought myself to read it yet.







8. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen (*****) - Another good southern lit book. Small town girl in Tennessee (?) mountains makes it her goal to leave the small town, escape the life that generations of her family have lived, preaching and growing tomatoes. Loved this book.










9. Born Under a Lucky Moon (****) - This book was pretty good. The main character's family is eccentric to say the least so she has made it her goal to keep her new life working for a movie making company (I may have made that up...) separate from her family. A trip back home lets you see into a crazy, weird and very loving family that could the girl spends too much energy trying to hide.






10. How High the Moon (****) - The main character, a girl named Teaspoon, lives with her mother's old boyfriend after her mom dumped her there to go try to make it as an actress. Teaspoon is a spunky tomboy who speaks her mind and "lacks manners." Very good book. (I tried to read another of her books by couldn't get into it...)

Still to come:

Water For Elephants

Drowning Ruth

Blessings

When We Were Strangers

Sarah's Key

The Art of Mending

Violets of March

The Silent Governess

The Apothecary's Daughter

These is my Words

Sarah's Quilt

Safe Haven

Gap Creek

The Land Girls

The Dry Grass of August

Improper Life of Bezillia Grove

On Agate Hill

The Dirty Life

The BFG

The Witches

Matilda

Letters of a Woman Homesteader

The House at Tyneford