Quilt Projects in Progress & a Vintage and New Singer Sewing Box

My quilting has been on near total hiatus while my poor fingertips recovered from all the abuse of needle and fabric during the winter weather. But now I am up and back at finishing my applique projects.

The Peter Pan quilt, inspired by the Riley Blake fabric Neverland, is also nearing completion. I used some of Marie Cheever Whiteside Newton's vintage applique patterns. I have another outer border of pieced blocks to do--just adding them to the sides of what I have to make the quilt wider. The corner blocks in the border will have embroidery with quotes from Barrie's original book.

There are two blocks left to applique on my yellow rose sampler and then I have to add embroidery on the last six blocks.

I will set the blocks together, perhaps with sashing in the background fabric, and add borders made with the yellow fabric in the matching drapes. Still determining that part!

This week Karen Smiley Morrison visited the weekly quilt group to show her new vintage find--a Singer sewing box from the 1980s.

 The sides fold down...

 ...and it has a place for everything! The box came filled with thread and supplies.

It turned out that our quilt group member Alex has the brand new version of this sewing box!

Works in Progress and Books On the Table

I received two new review books in the mail today. From Blogging for Books, my choice was Patriot Number One American Dreams in Chinatown by Lauren Hilgers. A Goodreads friend's review prompted my interest in this book about a family of Chinese immigrants.

I won Gayle Forman's I Have Lost My Way from Bookish. I read an excerpt and wrote an impression review to enter to win. This will be my first read by this author.

I used a discount coupon from Simon and Schuster to purchase Janesville by Amy Goldstein. It is a study of the effect on the community after the closing of a GM plant.

I am reading too many books right now:

• An American Quilt by Rachel May, the secret history behind a hexagon 1830s quilt from Edelweiss
• Fun scrap quilt patterns in Oh, Scrap by Lissa Alexander, from Edelweiss
• Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride, the story of transgender rights, from NetGalley
• Gateway to the Moon by Mary Morris, about a family's forgotten Jewish diaspora roots dating to the 16th c, from NetGalley
• Erica Robuck's satire #Hockeystrong, a Kindle purchase
• A new translation of The Canterbury Tales, a Goodreads win
• High Noon in Hollywood by Warren Adler, an ebook from the publisher

On my TBR NetGalley shelf:

• Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
• The River by Starlight by Ellen Notbohm
• Our Homesick Songs by Emma Hooper whose 2015 novel Etta and Otto and Russell and James was a favorite of mine
• The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H. Winthrop
• Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt
• Limelight by Amy Poeppel

And lots of reviews are scheduled for the coming months:

• First Ladies of the Republic by Jeanne E. Abrams considers how the early president's wives created their role
• Laura & Emma by Kate Greathead--a funny comedy of manners novel on mothers and daughters
• The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman--I loved this book about the world of art 
• The Italian Party by Christina Lynch--American newlyweds with secrets, set in 1950s Italy
• Whistler's Mother delves into the personal life of the woman behind the iconic painting
• Southern Quilts by Mary Kerr explores the rich heritage of Southern quiltings
• Maria in the Moon by Louise Beech
• The Opposite of Hate by Sally Kohn--a probing look at why we hate and how to overcome it
• After Anna by Lisa Scottoline, an engaging courtroom drama
• West by Carys Davies, a lyrical historical fiction novel
• The Right To Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloudier--fighting to preserve the Inuit culture
• Journeys: An American Story, 73 essays on the immigrant experience 
• The amazing civil rights leader Pauli Murray's autobiography
• Circe by Madeline Miller--the Greek myths are revisited in a mesmerizing novel

I made new yellow curtains for the bedroom, so of course, I need to make a matching quilt. The curtain fabric is a rose print in yellow and gray. I decided to make a rose sampler applique quilt in the same colors. Here are the blocks I have finished already.

What are you working on? What books are on your table?