Christmas Quilts All Around

 I have been itching to post about these quilts for a few months now. I made four of them. One for each of my children's families. I bought the kits a couple of years ago and got the centers done. Then they sat around until I had time to put on the five (!!) borders. Part of the problem is that my children are in and out of my house a lot, and I had to keep these hidden. Nothing gets past my girls in the quilt room.

I gave them on Thanksgiving, so they can enjoy them during the Christmas season this year.  The quilt fabric tells a nativity story The Great I Am. That's what is in the squares between the tree squares.  One option for the panel is to make it into a book. I chose to make the quilt. Like I said, four of them.

I've made a decision not to make four identical quilts again. It's too hard to stay excited about the quilt through that many versions. (Although I like them all now that they've been done for a while). Of course, that resolution will probably last as long as my resolution not to make another Christmas quilt because I already have so many. Hopefully no one will notice the new Christmas Quilt kit sitting in my sewing room that I bought a couple of weeks ago, nor the seven Christmas quilt patterns in my stash. Plus, really, all you have to do to make a quilt Christmassy is to choose Christmas fabrics to make it with.

Pattern: The Great "I Am" by Henry Glass & Co.
Size: 60 X 60
Fabric designed by Leanne Anderson of The Whole Country Caboodle for Henry Glass & Co.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

Someone recommended this book recently. I can't remember if I read about it on another blog (I think so), or if someone recommended it on Goodreads, but I requested it from the library and it came right away.

I had a large stack of books to get to, and was going to return this one without reading it. I picked it up to glance through it and was instantly absorbed. It only took an afternoon to read and I loved it.

Turtle is sent to live with her aunt in Florida, and this book tells of her adventures there. It takes place during the depression, but is not at all depressing.

Jennifer Holm also wrote the Boston Jane series (which I also enjoyed).

Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Okay, I really liked this book. It's the sequel to Very Valentine. I was ambivalent about parts of Very Valentine, but ended up liking it as a whole. So I requested the sequel from my library.

This was a fun book, and the story moved right along for me. I would strongly suggest reading Very Valentine first, because I think this one might feel like it had some gaps otherwise. You are much more invested in all the characters in this book from the beginning because you already know them from the first book.

The Valentine books are a trilogy, and I've requested the third book from the library.

A Spoonful of Sugar a Nanny's Story by Brenda Ashford

I found this book very interesting. It was chosen for one of my book groups, and once again this is why I love being in book groups. I read books I might not ever hear about otherwise.

Brenda Ashford was a British nanny, trained at the Norland College. Norland was known for its high quality, very well trained nannies. This is her story. She began her training in 1939, just before the outbreak of WWII. Brenda was a nanny for over 62 years, for over 100 children.

I liked learning about this piece of life I have never experienced.

Car Seat Cover

I also made this cute car seat cover for Katherine's car seat. Audrey bought the fabric and buttons, and found the pattern through Pinterest. I'm sorry, I don't have the reference for the pattern. It was very simple and I whipped it up in no time. It's great to have, especially for Katherine because it really protects her from people getting too close (although she rarely goes out in public - too dangerous, germ-wise, this time of year).

Katherine's Quilt

I finished Katherine's just before they left to go home to Wendover. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 

Pattern: forget-me-not by pixie girl quilts
Size: approx 42 X 56
Fabric by Jackie Clark for Benartex

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King

This book is the second in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. I liked it as well or better than the first book.

I've requested the next book from the library already. I really like this series.

W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton

The latest in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series. Like I said about the last one: these later books are much more like her early books. There were a few from around O to S (not sure exactly which ones) that lost their pizzazz.

I liked it. I'm looking forward to the next one. Only a few left!