Something Old and Something New

June seems to be flying by even faster than May did, and I’m definitely having a difficult time keeping up with all that needs to be done at this time of year. Of course, getting sick doesn’t help with the energy levels, so I’m currently feeling extra drained. I’ve always told my family that they can tell if I’m truly sick when absolutely no stitching gets done and that’s the way it’s been around here the past little while.

I have spent some time in bed and that allowed me an indulgence in some new reading material from our local library. I had seen an online review of this older series of historical novels and asked the librarian if she would order them in for me. Well, what a treat this series has been so far – I guess there is a slight upside to being sick in bed.

First in the series

Second book in the series

Third in the series

I can’t recommend this series enough and suggest rushing out to your own local library to ask for them. The author, Nancy E. Turner, has done a wonderful job of depicting life in the late 1800’s especially through the eyes of her heroine, Sarah Prine, who I believe is based on her own grandmother’s life story. I strongly suggest beginning with the first novel,”These is My Words”, and work your way through in sequence as they do follow a timeline. I’ve finished reading the first book and I’m already halfway through the second, but I’ve got to admit that some of it is difficult reading due to the harshness of life back then. Not for the faint of heart!

In keeping with the turn of the century theme, I’m also showing you a recent project that I’ve just layered up to hand quilt. I had worked on some of these little pineapple blocks last fall and decided to make them into a table runner. Rather than leaving it as a rectangle, I got this hair-brained idea to taper the ends for a more interesting shape, but unfortunately I was then stalled as to how on earth I was going to tackle putting on a mitered border that would fit those weird angles. I was frustrated at just letting it sit there, intimidating me from afar, so I jumped in and just did it. I had a limited amount of the border fabric so that was an extra challenge but it’s on now, and I’m quite satisfied with the final look. I feel as though this is one of those projects that just deserves to be hand quilted, so this will be my summer travelling handwork project.

Pineapple Centerpiece

Until next time, happy stitching,

carol