With my sewing machine set up in the living room, I got a lot of sewing done. This week I’ve gotten a lot of sewing done too while watching the Olympics. One project I can’t show until it’s intended recipient receives it. I started the project a year ago and then got distracted with school. Having nearly finished this quilt, I’ve been perusing the sewing blogs and flickr photos looking at quilts. It makes me long for the day when I can afford to buy fat quarters bundles. I’ve had so much fun with this quilt and I can’t wait to show it off.

I also finished a skirt and made a top on Sunday.

Pattern for red top is Simplicity 4589. Skirt is the basic a-line pattern from Sew What Skirts.

My first attempt of the top I used muslin and cut the size that corresponded to my waist and hip measurements on the package. The bust turned out huge and I ended up taking it in about five inches around the bust but leaving the hips their original size. I cut the red top out for the smaller size in the bust and waist and then cut the hips to the larger size. It turned out perfectly. I’m planning on cutting out another top this week so I can finish it and I’ve already started another skirt which I hope to finish before school starts on August 25.

Bryan, friends and school have kept me busy this past week. Wednesday I baked bread and learned all about what it means to have a very warm and humid kitchen. The end result bread was fabulous and was so airy. I have more bread in the works this morning.

Sunday we went blueberry picking for the third time this summer. We came home with just over seven pounds. We’ve slowly been freezing some of them to have for later. Last year we had blueberries until December. My breakfast bowl has been so filled with berries over the last few weeks between the blueberries we’ve picked and the berries from our friends’ backyard. Now our little garden in back is becoming fruitful with bell and jalapeño peppers, along with our amazingly huge plant of basil.

With my two classes this summer I’ve been reading a lot. Every summer, I sign up for the adult summer reading program at the local public library. I also keep a list on the fridge of the books I’ve read and “reward” myself with cute stickers I’ve had for years. (To decorate all of those letters that I was supposedly going to write all of these years.) This weekend I passed a goal that I didn’t think was possible for summer. Granted I started my summer reading as soon as school ended, but still I’ve read more than 25 books since May 3. This doesn’t even count the picture books that I’ve read for my Children’s Non-Fiction class. In summers past, I’ve been proud of 16 books over the summer but this will be hard to surpass next summer. So what are these books I’ve read, well here they are:
(one star = read for Adult Popular Literature, two stars = read for Children’s Non-Fiction)
* Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
What Happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles
* Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
** Laika by Nick Abadzis
* Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
* Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
* Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
** Little People and a Lost World by Linda Goldenberg
* Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
** Code Talkers by Joseph Bruchac
** Indian School by Michael Cooper
** 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret Bruchac
* Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
* Be Still My Vampire Heart by Kerrelyn Sparks
** Bearing Witness: Stories of the Holocaust selected by Hazel Rochman and Darlene Z. McCampbell
** Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman
** Maus II: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
* Forbidden Pleasures by Bertrice Small (I was surprised how explicit this romance novel was)
** Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson
** Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of an American Legend by Scott Reynolds Nelson
* Mojave Crossing by Louis L’Amour
** What’s Going on Down There? by Karen Gravelle
** The Period Book by Karen Gravelle
** Kampung Boy by Lat
** Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

For my sanity, a couple of them I’ve listened to as audio books so that I can get off the couch and do a little sewing. Only two more weeks of class and 11 more books to go. Then I can start reading for pleasure again, which seems sort of strange to say since so much of the reading I’ve done this summer has been pleasurable reading. On my list for after-school reading - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, Bonk by Mary Roach, The Host by Stephenie Meyer and I’m literally drawing a blank on what else is on my list. I only have three weeks off before school starts in last August but I plan on getting more done than just reading. There’s a quilt the desperately needs to be finished and I have some fabric for tops that I’d like to get made before it gets too chilly to wear sleeveless tops.

We’ll definitely miss her silly ways. How she used to paw the edge of the couch before jumping up. Drooling as she kneaded anything. You could always tell where Chloe had been laying because there were little drool spots. Her obsession with chewing on plastic bags. And what I’ll miss the most is her mewing at night with her orange mouse and then putting it by our bedroom door so we’d find it first thing in the morning.

She came to live with George and me almost 11 years ago. They instantly loved each other and became the best of friends. I could always count on Chloe to make me smile, even when George was driving me crazy. She mothered George and he loved every minute of it, even when it turned in to a major kitty cat fight. When I watched Days of Our Lives, I could always count on Chloe to be sitting by my side within the first five minutes of the show. I gave her the nickname of “my soap-cat.” We created so many songs to go with her nickname “Kwo-cat” over the five years Bryan and I have lived together and it’s hard not having her to sing them to. Our house is so empty now and my heart has a great big hole in it. Both of my baby kitties are gone. We know they are together forever now.

How cool is that?

My Adult Popular Literature is an online class and I’ve been reading science fiction, fantasy, romance and non-fiction books for that class. I’m in the middle of a romance novel now called Be Still My Vampire Heart. It’s really been a fun read and one that I didn’t expect to like. I still have to read three mysteries and a western.

This weekend I was working on a book talk that I have to do for Adult Pop Lit. I’m doing it on one of my favorite books, Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It’s been two years and after reading over 90 books since then I needed a bit of a refresher. I’m not one to reread books but I reread Prep to refresh my memory and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I read it. As one of my friends said yesterday, “The cover really doesn’t do it justice.” If you like coming-of-age stories and haven’t heard of Prep, I highly recommend it.

My other class is Information Books for Children. It’s basically Children’s Non-Fiction but since there are fairy tales, poetry, plays and literature cataloged in the Dewey numbers with the “non-fiction” in a library, information books fits the books better. We’ve read some great and not-so-great books for the class. The point isn’t to read all wonderful books because we need to learn about the not-so-great books out there too. My instructor is wonderful, she’s the same instructor I had for my Children’s Lit class last fall that I loved.

The last several weeks have been a whirlwind. June has also not been a friendly month for the Lee kitties. My parents lost their second cat, Lucy, last week. She hadn’t been doing well since her friend Milly died on the first of June. My parents were out of town and Lucy was boarding at the vet. She’d been having trouble breathing on Tuesday and just slipped away later in the day. At least she went peacefully and knew she was loved, she was definitely a spoiled cat. My mom made sure of that.

This past weekend, Bryan and I decided to make it a three day weekend to celebrate his birthday and both took Friday off. Friday, we just relaxed and got a lot of reading done. We’d planned to go to Springfield, Illinois but the threat of bad thunderstorms made us rethink our plans. Saturday, we did one of our favorite things - blueberry picking! There is nothing quite as scrumptious as fresh, handpicked blueberries. We thought we’d pick just enough to get us through a week since we’ll probably go back this Friday. We had not idea we’d picked almost five pounds. So we gave some to our friend L and her husband to enjoy since we know they won’t be able to get out there for a while. Then Sunday, L brought us some black raspberries from her garden to add to the berry delightfulness in our house. Even Chloe seems to like the fresh berries, though she can’t eat them. She gets so excited when we open the container of berries. You’d think we had kitty cat food stashed way in those bags by the way she acts.

Bryan also spent part of the weekend getting his Etsy shop and new blog set up.

Once I get some photos of my sewing I’ll post them. I hope everyone is having a good summer.

pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann from The Knitting Workshop
yarn: Berocco Cotton 100 in 9208 (Lavender) from stash
needles: size 7 bamboo
started: April 30, 2008
finished: May 9, 2008

This morning, I finally planted a few plants we bought at the farmer’s market last weekend. With the roofers around for several days, I wasn’t about to go out and try to pot anything for fear of being hurt by falling shingles. I fear we may have lost one of our cilantro plants but the gerbera daisies and peppers are still doing well. The lettuce came already potted so it was just a matter of hanging it up in the back. I was excited to see that the mint I planted last year is doing quite well. Ooh, mint tea!

By popular request here is a photo of the treasures that I brought home from my grandfather’s house - buttons, a darning egg (which I know will come in handy) and the library cards. There are so many more things in boxes that my mom has stored away. When she scans the photo of my grandparents, I may post it. It’s absolutely priceless. For now you’ll just have to settle for a photo of me that I had never seen before.

I think it’s my new favorite photo of myself.

Our family has lost another kitty family member. Milly, my first cat, who has lived with my parents the sixteen years I’ve been away from home was put to sleep on Sunday. She had been dealing with kidney failure for a while. Her seventeen and a half years were lived to their fullest. I know my parents will miss her dearly and will miss her sneakiness at the dinner table. Chloe sends her love to my mom and Lucy, the remaining kitty in my parents’ house.

The yarn looks beautiful, it’s Rowan Classic Yarns - Wool Tweed in Shetland (953). The swatch was also a great lesson in steeking, I’ve never done a steek before so I figured this was a great time to practice. It actually turned out quite well and I’m feeling pretty confident about my steeking abilities for the full sweater. It’s truly not as scary as I thought it might be. I’ve cut so many knitted pieces to lengthen or shorten them that the cutting part doesn’t scare me quite as much as it probably should.

Last week, Bryan and I traveled out to western Kansas to help my mother clean out my grandfather’s house. It was definitely an experience. My grandparents never threw away bills, receipts, tax returns or credit card statements. We found them going back to the 1950s. It was really amazing because it was all put away and out of sight. Every time we thought we were finished with a room, we’d find one more drawer that needed to be cleaned out. Nothing could be just thrown away because there were literally photographs tucked away everywhere. We found some real treasures in the house - a photo of my grandparents locked in a kissing embrace before they were married that looks like an art photo you’d buy, a darning egg, many buttons, old library cards from the 1950s and 60s (a treasure for a librarian), family photos we didn’t even know existed, a few Singer Featherweight machines and so much more. It was a real experience to clean out someone’s house. My mom needed to get the house cleaned out because she wanted to put it on the market, it sold while we were there.

During our travels, about 12 hours in the car each way, I started the Saddle Shoulder Aran Cardigan for Bryan. It’s coming along well and I’m definitely keeping track of the cable pattern better than I did in swatch.

I’m finished with school for the semester! It felt like the semester that would never end a few weeks ago, but I turned in my final paper (exam) on Wednesday, a day early. I’ve been home sick for the last seven days with a nasty virus (cold-like symptoms) so I’ve have a lot of time to read, watch Ugly Betty on DVD and knit. Another Baby Surprise Jacket is three rows from being finished. (Photos soon)

This summer I’m taking an Adult Popular Literature class and figured I’d start doing some reading for the class before everything kicks into full gear in June. In four days, I plowed through Devil in the White City, an amazing book. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. I seriously could have stayed up all night to read it but knew that I needed my sleep.

Of course, after I finished Devil in the White City I got a bit distracted. For one of my final papers this semester, I had to evaluate a medium that was geared to children or teens. I chose to evaluate the show Gossip Girl with no idea how addictive the show could be. It’s sort of an updated Beverly Hills, 90210 mixed in with Sex & the City. In all of my research, which included watching several episodes of the show and reading quite a few articles on the show, I totally got sucked in. Yesterday, I checked out a fair amount of books for my Adult Popular Lit class and a Gossip Girl book just happened to end up in my stack of books. How odd! I’ve since finished the book and am thinking I’ve found yet another guilty pleasure. They aren’t books I would recommend to younger teens and they’re books I would be hesitant to recommend to fifteen-year-olds but if they are fans of the show, then I probably would recommend them. I can definitely see why many parents are not happy about these books and the show - the amount of underage drinking is more than I think most adults want any kids engaging in, although I’m sure a lot of teens are drinking anyway.

(I learned this semester that when school gets a bit insane that washcloths are the perfect project - from February until this past Monday I knit a total of seven washcloths. Above are just three of them that I knit for my sister.)