My Classics Reading Challenge: A Secret Sisterhood & Literary Friendships

I won a finished copy of A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf  by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney from The Holiday Cheer Contest sponsored by Bookreporter.com.

I love the book's focus on women writers supporting each other in their craft. The 'big names' in the subtitle are quite familiar, but other than Harriet Beecher Stowe and perhaps Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth Gaskell, not all their 'literary' friends are well known.

Jane Austen was friends with Anne Sharp, an aspiring playwright reduced to being a governess, hired by Jane's brother Edward. Charlotte Bronte's school friend Mary Taylor encouraged her to study on the continent, altering her life (for better or worse). In her later life she was friended by Elizabeth Gaskell, who wroter her first biography. George Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe corresponded over many years, although their relationship had its ups and downs. As did the friendship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield.

At university I was privileged to be in an amazing honors course on Jane Austen in which we read everything she wrote, including her juvinilia and letters. A few years back I read Charlotte Bronte and Her Family by Rebbecca Fraser and read most of the works by the Bronte sisters. (Including some of the poetry.) I have read Gaskell's Mary Barton and North and South,  George Eliot's Adam Bede, and Virginia Woolf's novels To The Lighthouse, The Waves, Mrs. Dalloway and also A Room of Her Own. Back in my teenage years I read Harriet Beecher Stowes's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

A Secret Sisterhood made me realize I needed to fill in the 'gaps' especially concerning Eliot. Last year one of my book clubs read Stowe and I sadly could not fit it into my reading. And since I have wanted to read more of the classics this seemed like a great idea.

So, my 2018 reading challenge is to read A Secret Sisterhood along with novels by the authors discussed.

I ran over to Barnes and Noble and (with my membership card) purchased their $4 paperback editions. I can make notes in them without feeling bad. I opted for Eliot's Daniel Deronda over Middlemarch just because it looked a tad thinner. I picked up Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Woolf's Night and Day. I ordered Mansfield's Selected Stories. I downloaded Mary Taylor's The First Duty of Women from the Internet. I will reread Austen's Sense and Sensibility only because I have reread it least of all her works. (And it is pretty short.)

I don't have a schedule in mind. How fast I get through this project will depend on how many galley books I find I 'need' to read!

I still need to make the Bronte sisters quilt I have in my head. All the fabrics are waiting for me to get started.

My 2017 Quilt Projects

2017 was a year of making quilt tops. I finished a few small projects, quilted on my Austen Album quilt, but mostly I did a lot of applique and created a lot of UFOs.

My big achievement was completing the 1857 Album quilt, a pattern offered by Gay Boomers of Sentimental Stitches.

Completed projects were small wall hangings. I completed several 2015 Row By Rows.

This row was from The Pincushion in Imlay City, MI

This row was from Waterford, MI. 

I bought this Jane Sassaman pattern and fabric when she spoke at a local quilt guild.

I just made a printed panel into a wall hanging for my son. He received the panel from a friend at Christmas.

 Of course, it features a Shiba Inu!

I repaired several quilts, including the first quilt I ever made. I replaced worn areas.

And I did extensive repairs to a quilt made by my grandfather's Aunt Carrie Ramer Bobb, which belongs to my Aunt Pat. I appliqued hundreds of 1" squares over fabric that had decayed and resewed seam after seam.

 

I made a number of mug rugs.

After finding some fantastic Neverland fabric I bought Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton's Story Book pattern of Peter Pan. I have been working on those blocks. I will next add embroidery.

And I am back to working on my Great Gatsby Story Book quilt. I am embroidering the completed blocks now. The designs are based on 1924 fashion illustrations.

I made Icicle Days from Bunny Hill using fabrics I won.

 I made two versions of this Big Block Quilt, one for me and one for our son.

 

 I loved this quilt when I saw it. 

 I tried projects from several of the quilt books I reviewed. Below is an embroidery from Stitches From the Harvest.

 And Distinctive Dresdens had me trying my hand at several blocks.

  

I only was able to do a few blocks of a Christmas quilt sew along.

 

And I finally made the vintage sheet quilt. I have had the vintage sheets for years.

This coming year I am going to break down and hire a machine quilter. I have too many quilt tops languishing in the closet!

More 2017 Books Reviewed: Quilt Books and Children's Books

Today I am listing books I reviewed in 2017 for quilters and children. To read any of the reviews use the Search bar found on the right column of my blog and enter the book title.

Children's Books

I love Moondance Press's book series created to introduce classic literature and poetry to young children.

Read-Aloud Classics are written for preschoolers. A classic books is presented in a way appropriate to the interests of the child.

Around the World in 80 Days: A Young Child's Introduction to the Classics
by Charles Nurnberg, Joe Rhatigan, Rosemary Woods (Illustrations)

Read-Aloud Classics: Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie, Victoria Tentler-Krylov (Illustrated by), Charles Nurnberg, Joe Rhatigan

Read-Aloud Classics: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain, Glenn Harrington (Illustrated by), Charles Nurnberg

Poetry for Kids are written for an older age group, grages 3 to 8. Each volume includes poems, a biography, and notes for parents and teachers.

Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman (Poetry for Kids)
by Walt Whitman, Karen Karbiener (Editor), Kate Evans (Illustrations)

Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost
Robert Frost, Jay Parini (Edited by), Michael Paraskevas (Illustrated by)
Series: Poetry for Kids

Quilt Books

Some marvelous books came out this year! My review ebooks are temporary, and I ended up purchasing several of these books for my permanent collection.

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I received the Mandela Coloring book from Dover publications to review. I'm back coloring again!

So for Christmas my husband bought me new colored pencils and two more coloring books.

Quilters will be familiar with the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. I received a coloring book based on the block patterns along with a butterfly coloring book. Here is one of the pages I colored.