Everyone's getting books! - NaBloPoMo Day 14

Unless I actually make and finish the wall hanging that's in my head for Suzie Q's apartment, every single person I might possibly give a Christmas present to will be getting a book. Possibly a movie, but a book or book related item is the far more likely gift. And why is this?

Because the bookstore loves its employees. That's right, they love us. And they want to give us the opportunity to save our money.
Or maybe they just want the opportunity for even more money - if they give us a nice, fat discount for Christmas, we're all likely to buy more of our gifts at the store, therefore bringing in money that would otherwise have gone elsewhere. So that discount might actually be business motivated.

...

Nah. They just love us. ^_^

GAMEDAY!!! - NaBloPomo Day 13

Work.

Play.

Football day.

That's pretty much all there is to say. ^_^
\m/

PS> The \m/ is a fantastic little text symbol for the Texas hand gesture. Hook 'em Horns!

Fabric Friday! - NaBloPoMo Day 12

Well I've been trying to find a picture of this fabric online so I could share my glee with you, but apparently it's been out in the world long enough to no longer anywhere to be found on the internet.

Anyway, glee! Our most local LQS added a discount on end of the bolt yardage, meaning I was finally able to let myself buy this gorgeous teal, purple, and gold Oriental floral that I've been eying probably about as long as I've even been going to that store. So for about three years. No doubt I will have pictures of it to show at some point in the future, but right now we just have my glee over its purchase.

Not to mention the fact that I found fantastic sashing and border fabrics for my Oriental Turning 20. Both of my Oriental quilts are ready to be laid out on the design wall! Yay!
^_^

Day of wha... - NaBloPoMo Day 11

So not much happened today. At all. There was some sleeping, some rather unsuccessful shopping for work shoes, and then a few hours of running around at work, but no chance to do anything I'd enjoy writing about.

Sooooooo......

Let's just end this with some cuteness eh? 

One Hundred and Twenty - NaBloPoMo Day 10

Different fabrics, that is. I've gotten everything cut, counted through them again, and as of right now, I'm pretty sure that's how many different Oriental fabrics are going into the quilt I'm starting for my cousin Katheryn.

It's this quilt here, Japanese Yen, from one of the books we picked up on our shop hopping over the summer.
It will be getting a better name, one that's not entirely redundant (no one else uses yen, silly book author), but the part about this particular quilt that currently amuses me is definitely the number of fabrics used in it.

The entire book is about making quilts from scraps of varying sizes, but in all honesty, I really don't have anywhere near that many scraps yet. So instead I went to my collection of Oriental fabrics, made mostly out of fat quarters, and cut a piece from almost every one.

Yep, almost. Hence my amusement. I cut from 120 different fabrics, and still have more that I didn't even touch for this project. Granted, a lot of them are quite close to being solids, and therefore wouldn't work as well in this quilt, but they're still gorgeous bits of cotton that I can't wait to use in other projects.

Time to get to half-square-triangle-ing so I can get things up on the design wall. ^_^

The Last Page - NaBloPoMo Day 9

Some people use their days off to do chores around the house, or maybe to run errands across town, but me? I chose to finish a book.

Technically I chose to finish two. =)
When I woke up, I stayed in bed and finished the Mercedes Lackey book I've been reading before going to sleep. I've read it before, which is what makes it perfect for night-time reading, but I could have sworn that it had a different ending.

Then I came downstairs and finished the book I have on loan from the store - Rick Riordan's newest The Lost Hero. And man, that was definitely a good read.
The Percy Jackson series put a smile on my face, first for its own storyline and second for the wonderful way it played with and utilized Greek mythology. It's a series that makes my inner Classics nerd smile. And this new book?
Even better. It not only answered one of the lingering questions I had from the first series (of 'Umm, where's the Roman mythology in all of this?'), it took that question and turned it into the focal point for an entire new series of books. It's a fabulous book in its own right, and the moment I read that last line, I wanted to dive into the next one.

Which won't be out till next fall. Boo.

But see, that's one of the differences between a good book and one that's just okay. The Mercedes Lackey book is kind of part of a series, but only kind of. Those other books establish a universe that's interesting, that makes you want to read the books again and again. This one takes place in that universe, but it doesn't take advantage of it, and in the end it just fizzles.

The Riordan book on the other hand? Makes me want to reread the entire first series, AND the Egyptian series he started last spring. It makes me want to go paw through my mythology books, relearning the myths used in the series. It makes me want to spend as much time in that world as possible, which to me is one of the hallmarks of a truly good book. ^_^

Macro Monday - NaBloPoMo Day 8

Today I'm going to start a new feature, which I'll try to stick to even after I finish this month's posting extravaganza - Macro Monday! Featuring entirely macro photos, nice lovely large close up photos. Today's selection is coming entirely from my own camera, although the subject matter varies across the spectrum.

 

 ^_^