WIP and a New Sewing Space and Books on the Shelf

I finished this quilt top four years ago before we moved. This January I took it to the long arm quilter along with others, knowing I was not going to get all my tops hand quilted in this lifetime.

I made the quilt with three shirts that had belonged to my father-in-law, Herman Bekofske. It is a simple star pattern which I have made before.

I found a photo of Herman in one of the shirts which I scanned and printed onto fabric for the label.

We moved my sewing area into the finished basement. We will upgrade the unfinished area, beginning with improved electric upgrades. 

 I bought a new seweing table, too.

And have one design wall up. I have another moveable one but I needed a bigger piece of flannel.

Meanwhile, we are working on the sitting area on the other side. We bought two chairs at a warehouse sale from local retailer Leon & Lulu.

I am making a quilt with the Kathy Schmitz embroidery patterns from her book Stitches from the Harvest. I paired the patterns with a fat quarter fabric pack that I liked, Born Wild by Anna Davis.

And still enjoying making hexie flowers...while finally watching Downton Abbey!

Our local library had a mini-sale and a friend made these fantastic bookmarks which the library sold for $1.

I found some music-related books, a paperback copy of Etta and Otto and Russell and James, a biography of Nellie Bly's life, and the Three Tenors CD.

 I purchased a signed edition of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy by Anne Rioux Boyd.

On my NetGalley TBR pile are these books:

Wasn't That a Time by Jesse Jarnow about the Weavers
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne who wrote The Heart's Invisible Furies
Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg is a follow up to The Story of Arthur Truluv
Unhold Land by Lavie Tidhar; I read his Central Station last year.
Surrendering my Ordination by J. Philip Wogaman, a United Methodist pastor

From Edelweiss I have:
Learning to See by Elsie Hooper, historical fiction about photographer Dorothea Langue
The Splendid Sampler 2 by Pat Sloan; read about The Splendid Sampler 1 here
Red & White Quilts from That Patchwork Place

And on Kindle I am reading:

A Beautiful Place to Die, short stories by Samuel Bigglesworth
Death in Paris by Emilia Bernhard, a cozy mystery
and looking over
A Divided Life by Robert Cecil about a British spy

Plus...I am still working on Doris Kearns Godwin's The Bully Pulpit and Militant Spirit on John Quincy Adams. Still.

Books next to my bed include:
The Splintering of the American Mind by William Eggerton
Ahab's Return by Jeffry Ford
Killer of the Flower Moon by David Grann, a gift from a Goodreads friend

And in the mail are coming:
Fly Girls by Keith O'Brien from LibraryThing giveaways
Laurentine Divide by Sarah Stonich from Bookish First

I just finished:
Wanamaker's Temple by Nicole C. Kirk
Guilty Thing a Life of Thomas De Quincy by Frances Wilson

And for book club, I am reading Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, whose The Good People I read last year.

Scheduled Fall book reviews include:

Rush: The Forgotten Founding Father by Stephen Fried
Adrift, a true story of a shipwreck, by Brian Murphy
Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris
Frank & Al  about FDR and Al Smith by Terry Golway
The Ancient Nine a mystery by Ian Smith
Hard Cider, Michigan-based fiction by Barbara Stark-Nemon
Transcription, a WWII set spy novel, by Kate Atkinson
Virgil Wander, a sweet story set on Lake Superior by Leif Enger
The Flame by Leonard Cohen, the book he was preparing when he died
A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl by Jean Thompson, about three generations of women
The Library Book by Susan Orlean, whose book on Rin Tin Tin I read
The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel by Charles J. Shields is on John Williams, author of Stoner
Lessons from Lucy by Dave Barry
The Rain Watcher by Tatiana De Rosnay, whose biography of Daphne Du Maurier, Manderley Forever, I read
White Darkness by David Grann is about Henry Worsley's Antarctic expeditions

I have completed 138 books so far this year.

And for fun I have been sharing selections from my vintage sheet music collection!