The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

Tess Collins is a servant who runs away and tries to get hired on to work on the Titanic. All positions are filled, but she is noticed by a famous dressmaker and is hired on as her maid. No spoiler here--we all know the Titanic went down. Tess and her new boss are rescued, and most of the story takes place in New York City during the few weeks immediately following their rescue. There were public hearings trying to find out what actually happened on the ship and during the rescue period following the sinking.

I liked the book, yet I had mixed feelings about it. I was drawn into it right away, and usually had a hard time putting it down. So the story was engaging. I liked the characters, and felt they were adequately drawn, but I wanted to know them better.

I guess that describes how I felt about the book. I liked it, but wished parts of it delved deeper. The book was 300 pages long. Perhaps to really dive into the story and flesh it out more would have required too much.

The book does make me wonder: what would I have done in that situation? Give up my life for someone else, or do anything possible to survive?

Baby Quilt

A friend of mine is having a baby in a few weeks. I grabbed a couple of charm packs  (Moda's A Breath of Avignon by American Jane Patterns Sandy Klop) and quickly put this together. It's not that big--36 inches by 38 inches--but it will be big enough for quite a while. Everything I used to make this came from my stash. 

Here it is, fresh out of the dryer. 

I like to make baby quilts that can and will be used. I tell the recipient: use it, or give it back to me and I'll give it to someone who will use it. It's washable, so it can be spilled on and spit up on. Now, I hope they will be careful and not run over it with their car, but I don't want it sitting up on a closet shelf either. 

Doesn't it look pretty on my new sewing table? 

Relief Society

In my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the women's organization is called the Relief Society. Today is the 172nd birthday of that organization. It is the largest women't organization in the world. I'm proud to be a member of the Relief Society.

I've been serving as the president of the Relief Society in my ward for the past few years. It's been a rich and rewarding experience and I'm thankful for all the wonderful women I've gotten to know and love. Each of these women rises to the many challenges in their lives and sets a fine example in every way to all the world. Opportunities for service abound and are fulfilled. I could go on forever, but I won't. Suffice it to say that Relief Society has enriched my life in innumerable ways.

If you would like to know more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, click here, and click here.
If you would like to know more about the Relief Society, click here.

Our presidency: Marilyn, Diane, Lori, Jennifer

Glimmer of Hope by Sarah M. Eden

This book was so dumb. I have very low standards when it comes to this kind of book, and it didn't even reach those low standards.

Just dumb. That's all. Luckily it only took me a couple of hours to read. I liked Seeking Persephone by this same author. I have a couple more of hers checked out from the library. Now there's not much of a rush to get to them. We'll see if I even read them.

Don't waste your time.

Katherine's Blessing Day

Our little baby is doing so well! To look at her you would never guess that she had open heart surgery at three days old. She is developmentally doing very well. She eats on her own--no more feeding tube--although the doctors wish she would eat a little bit more than she is. But she is fine. More than fine. Great. She is now 5 months old.

We went to Wendover early this month to be there for her baby blessing. Here are a few pictures:

Elizabeth and Rachel

Katherine

Katherine and Audrey

Matthew and Austin

Beth and Katherine

Diane, Ray, and Katherine

Joseph and Katherine

Joseph, Audrey, and Katherine

Katherine and Audrey

Additions and Improvements to My Sewing Room

I haven't completed any quilt projects lately. I'm a little bogged down by some intricate quilting I'm doing on a quilt for my daughter. I know I just have to power through, but sometimes I need to take a break.

Meanwhile I've done some other projects to help organize my sewing area. Last October I saw this post on Sister's Choice Quilts. Nicole inspired me, and I ordered some comic book boards from Amazon right away. Fast forward to February, and I finally reorganized my stash. My sister-in-law Orva came over and we put all my stash on comic book boards.  I pinned a note to each fabric with the length of the fabric piece written on it. The fat quarters and fat eighths are in a box on their own. My pre-cuts are also in their own box. Then my daughter Audrey worked her magic and organized it all in color order. I've really tried to use my stash over the last several years, and I feel like it's a much more manageable size now. Looks nice, doesn't it?

These bins (they have lids that are not shown here) are made by Iris, and I found them in packs of three at Costco. They are the perfect size, and they stack nicely.

My measly fat quarters (the row along the bottom) and fat eighths (the few on the top).

My precuts. Actually there is more in the bin now that I've continued to find a few things stashed here and there.

Can you tell I have a thing for red fabric? 

I also have a bin that has projects in it. That's my real goal: get all those projects done. 

This organization is all fine and good (actually wonderful), but the best thing that happened is Ray made me a new sewing table. A few months ago I got a new Bernina 710, which I adore. However, it did not fit in the nice sewing cabinet that I already owned. So we sold the cabinet with one of my older Berninas (my 180 artista) and Ray said he'd make me a table. 

Ray is an excellent craftsman. He's made me many beautiful items and pieces of furniture over the years so I knew that whatever he made would be wonderful. We had many hours of discussion over what I wanted, and how I wanted things to work. The table is so simple that it is deceiving. Much planning went into it to make sure everything was precisely where I wanted it, and would fit my new machine exactly. I ordered an insert from Dream World Northwest (makers of Sew Steady tables). They were wonderful to work with and the insert fits perfectly. 

Here are a few pictures of various stages of construction. The weather was terrible, and my family room downstairs was turned into a wood shop. Ray cleaned it all up, and it was worth the temporary dust and debris. 

 

 

The table measures 42 inches by 80 inches. It's the size of my dining room table with one of the leaves in. The legs are from IKEA, and are adjustable for height. 

I couldn't be happier!

Seattle Trip ~ February 2014

Here comes a ton of pictures, and a little bit of narration.

Ray and I went to Seattle for President's Day weekend. The King's Singers had a concert there, and we'll take any excuse we can to see Debby and Randy and the kids.

We arrived on Thursday, greeted by this happy boy. What a joy he is to be around! Jonathan came right to us--always so nice for grandparents who live far away.

Jonathan

Jonathan and Diane

Jonathan and Ray

We had dinner and played cards with our dear friends Scott and Karen that night--a delicious meal prepared by them. Silly me, I didn't get any pictures of us together, just a picture of my terrible Rook hand.

Friday was Valentine's Day (and incidentally our 34th wedding anniversary). In the morning Debby and I walked Madeleine to school and helped at her kindergarten Valentine's Day party.

Madeleine

Madeleine playing Valentine's Bingo

Madeleine and Debra

 We celebrated Valentine's Day with our other dear Seattle friends that evening. We went to Ivar's Restaurant in Mukilteo. It's right on the water, next to the ferry dock. We had a great time together. We miss these guys!

Diane and Marsha Porter

Diane, Marsha Porter, Tamara Badger, Gayle Mackenzie

Saturday was the big day. My sister Cheryl came over to watch the kids. Silly me again. I didn't get a picture with her, either.

We started the evening by going to dinner at Palisade restaurant. If you know Seattle, it's over on Magnolia, and it looks back across the water to the skyline. So pretty. Because it was Valentine's Day weekend, the restaurant was booked solid for the night. It's perhaps the best food we've had in Seattle over the years, and it's always a special treat to go there.

Randy and Debra

Ray and Diane

Right after we finished our entrees, while we were waiting for dessert, the power went out in the restaurant. It never came back on. A transformer had blown, and their back-up generator apparently needs to be replaced. It was early in the evening and I can't imagine what a nightmare it was for the rest of the evening, turning away all their customers with reservations (and basically nowhere else for them to go--every place like Palisade would be booked solid). Lucky for us, we'd eaten. Off we went to our concert.

Waiting for the power to come back on. Notice how dark the restaurant is.

Seattle skyline viewed from inside Palisade Restaurant.

We love the King's Singers. Ray discovered them in the late 70's when he was on his mission in Germany. Since then we've attended every concert they've held within 200 miles of our home (and twice now at concerts more than 800 miles from our home). This concert was great. And so much more fun because of the great company we had.

Our last day, just before heading to the airport. Diane is a fiend with puzzles. She also didn't want to have her picture taken. Or go with us to the airport. Oh well. Good thing she's so good to us otherwise!

Diane and Diane

Madeleine and Ray

Jonathan and Ray

Sadly, we had to return home. Our visits are always too short. I can't wait to go back.

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci

This is the next book in the King and Maxwell series. I have been enjoying these very much. The story pulls you in immediately, and it's high action from there on out.

Currently there is only one more book in the series, and I've requested it from the library.

I'll say it again: I'm sorry they cancelled the series on TV. I liked the writing, and I liked the actors. Oh well. It's very obvious to me that they don't go by my recommendations when they schedule shows for television. C'est la vie.

Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden

This book is categorized as a "proper romance". In other words, a very clean regency romance.

It was predictable (not always a bad thing) and fun. I read it in a day. Just what I needed at the time.

February Report

I won't say February's goals went up in flames, but I will say some of them took off in their own direction!

1. First Things First: still moving right along here. Doing okay, but there's always room for improvement in all these areas. I did slightly hurt my back last week, so exercise has been on a decline since then. I'm giving it a good rest, then hope to start back in next Monday.

2. Personal History: no writing has occurred yet, but I am still going great guns on photo and slide scanning. This may be a job that continues into the eternities. That makes for easy goal setting next year!

3. Temples: Draper Temple this month.

4. Home Projects:
Cleaning: February's goal was the Master Bedroom top to bottom. How about Master Bedroom here and there for the actual accomplishment? I did get rid of a couple of bags of clothes, and four or five bags of books. Instead of my room, major changes happened in my sewing room, so that took some of the time I would have used in my room. So I feel great about it all.
Projects: Flexibility is the name of the game here. My goal was to reorganize my dad's files. Didn't happen yet in reality, although terrific plans were made in my head. It is actually a good thing I didn't get started on it, because with some of my sewing room changes, I've had to rethink storing my dad's files. So now that planning is done, and I can get started on the files. So I'm hopeful that my March report will have this item crossed off its list.

For March: I'm hoping to do the Master Bath top to bottom, and my dad's files.