Lady Fall, Pumpkin Pie Complete, and Book Reviews to Come

Lady Fall

When Lady Fall makes her debut,

Jack Frost in adoration

Tints trees and vines with every hue,

Adorns the whole creation.

Bids ripened nuts fall down to earth,

Gives grapes an added flavor,

Bids welcoming fires illume the hearth, And all to win her favor.

from A Year With the Fairies, Anna M. Scott, 1914

It is Autumn, once my favorite season of the year due to the glorious colors of the changing leaves.
At my age, it is a bittersweet reminder of the coming winter, with all its hazards that keep me inside. I haven't been sewing much. I'd rather be near the window listening to the birds and seeing the daylight and feeling the cooling air. I can spend my time under artificial light later when the skies are cloudy and dark.

*****

I finished my Pumpkin Pie quilt and it adorns the living room wall. It is from Bunny Hill and such a cute pattern!

My walking foot is defunct. I was not happy sewing on the borders and binding without one. I know better, but was lazy and didn't take my time. And I didn't quilt the polka-dot border either. I may go back later and take it apart and fix it. I should have ironed it, as already it creased from sitting folded on a chair for a few days.

I am lazy because yesterday my husband underwent his second cataract surgery; both were successful and he can see again. I am still recovering, lol, unused to being on the road at 7:30 am to drive in rush hour traffic. It's been many a long year since I had to do that. And my Suki wakes me up every night about midnight. Our apple trees produced hundreds of apples again this year, and all the critters in the neighborhood come to feed. Suki knows they are out there and needs to check things out.

*****

I have been reading and reviewing like crazy. I asked, and received, loads of ARCs. Coming up are:

September

Seven Women and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Mataxes

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

October

A Place We Knew Well by Susan Carol McCarthy

The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks by Tracey Goessel

Wilkie Collins by Peter Ackroyd

The Rilke of Ruth Speirs

The Magic of Beverly Sills by Nancy Guy

Corrupted by Lisa Scottoline

The Year of Lear by James Shapiro

Brand Luther by Andrew Pettegree

November

The Remarkable Rise of Eliza Jumel by Margaret Oppenheimer

The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild

The Last Words of the Holy Ghost by Matt Cashion

Hear My Sad Story by Richard Polenberg

White Eskimo by Stephen R. Brown

PLUS, still on my shelf to read, most to be published early next year, are:

• Lady Bird and Lyndon by Betty Caroli
• My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Stout (author of Olivia Kitteridge)
• The Longest Night by Andrea Williams
• A Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin
• From Stray Dog to WWI Hero by Grant Hayter-Menzies
• Brooklyn by Colm Toibin 
• Radioactive! By Winifred Conklin
• All of Us and Everything by Bridgit Asher

AND, I am still reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Kathleen Boos for the new library book club.

NOT TO MENTION...I have Japanese Contemporary Quilts and Quilters sitting next to me! That review should be up in the next few days as well. AND, I took advantage of C&T's big sale and bought four quilt books, and there is the one I got at Grand Rapids AQS..

It's gong to be quite a fall.