Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Clusters are FUN and EASY!
Sunday, December 8, 2024
What is a Junk Journal and How Do You Make One?
One of my favorite - and super easy - videos is Shanouki Art's tutorial on using a granola bar box as the cover and lots of leftover scrapbook paper as the guts. No nonsense! It's only 10:22 long, easy to follow.....let's do it!
82. The Waiting by Michael Connelly
Adult Mystery
Finished 12/8/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.47
My rating: 5
Setting: LA and vicinity, contemporary
My comments: The Cold Case Unit in LA, headed by Renee Ballard - Connelly spent the 6th in the series about this LA police detective working on three major cases. They're all intricate and edge-of-your-seat fascinating. Renee and Harry have become very close friends, having similar thoughts, feeling, and reactions to many things. What was wonderfully great for me sas that Maddie Bosch is part of this book! (Why is her relationship with her father so strained? and almost secretive?) This was a really good one!
Goodreads synopsis: LAPD Detective Renée Ballard tracks a terrifying serial rapist whose trail has gone cold, with the help of the newest volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Unit: Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter.
Renée Ballard and the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit get a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago. The arrested man is only twenty-three, so the genetic link must be familial. It is his father who was the Pillowcase Rapist, responsible for a five-year reign of terror in the city of angels. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.
Meanwhile, Ballard’s badge, gun, and ID are stolen—a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career as a detective. She works the burglary alone, but her solo mission leads her into greater danger than she anticipates. She has no choice but to go outside the department for help, and that leads her to the door of Harry Bosch.
Finally, Ballard takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit. Bosch’s daughter Maddie wants to supplement her work as a patrol officer on the night beat by investigating cases with Ballard. But Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Page Ideas: Snazzing Up/Decorating Pages and Pockets
Kathleen Mower shows how she collages on plain pockets and snazzes up tucks and makes flips for just that little extra (and simple) "oomph". Video is here.
Thursday, November 28, 2024
CARD HOLDER Junk Journals
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Dangles for Your Junk Journal
Hectangnooga1 makes simple paper clip beads by wrapping construction paper around paper clips. She uses dollar story glittery nail polish to finish them up! That's them, above. Find the tutorial (only 2:35 long!!!) here.
Crafted by Christy wraps paper around paper clips to make dangly beads. She paints over them with a glossy finish and they look great! Here's her video.
The Creative Cove hides a paper clip (with its end sticking out) with paper/cluster, then attaches a dangle to the protruding clip. Clips onto the edge of any journal. Video's here.
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Tags, Tags, Tags... Bookmarks..... Tuck-Ins.....and Journaling Cards!
Sweet Bee Designs Co (2:20) shortie
I've got to make these three Christmas tags by Root Pursuit. Trees, square on square cluster, and hanging ornaments, quick and easy and very eye-catching. Video is not long.
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Used Postage Stamps as Ephemera in Junk Journals
Nina Ribena uses different methods to use and show off used postage stamps on ephemera. Here's the video. I particuarly like the way she's made a "masterboard" using same-sized stamps!
Friday, November 22, 2024
No-Sew Junk Journals
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Mass Making Ephemera for your Junk Journal
Using Paper Napkins in Your Junk Journal
Liz the Paper Project uses a glue stick to adhere napkins to book page envelopes and pockets. She puts nothing on top to decoupage so you can feel the texture of the napkin. Her YouTube video is here.
Creating Masterboards and What to Do with Them
Paper Outpost uses "ugly" scrapbook paper, covers it up with papers, then stencils and stamps on it to create a really cool masterboard/background! Check it out here.
My Favorite Junk Journalers
Creating Pockets for Junk Journals
Using Playing Cards in Junk Journals
One Page Wonders Using 12 x 12 Paper
You can do so much using a 12 x 12 piece of paper! Here's my first attempt, guided by #cathysgardenyoutubechannel. She's title it "One Page Wonder - Mini Journal - Journal Making":
Misc. Junk Journal Ideas
Junk Journaling - My Current Obsession
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Marigold Blanket with Larksfoot Crochet Stitch
Looks like a great pattern to try for my next Homeless Blanket!
I've saved the printed pattern on my home computer under "Patterns."
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
75. A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 10/9/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 2.5
Setting: NYC 1911 & 9/11
My comments: Not a huge fan of this book, for a couple of reasons. Told in two voices, one of a nurse, Clara, who survived the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 to "hide" on Ellis Island and a quilt shop fabric-lover, Taryn, who lost her husband on 9/11. The majority of the story is told by nurse Clara ... whom I didn't like. At all. Her inconsistent personality (she flip-flops between a mamby-pamby-scared-everything watcher-of-the-world to a brazen in-your-face do-gooder) drove me nuts. A minority of the story was told by Taryn, ten years after 9/11, still bruised and barely living, which was more powerful and believable. But not enough! And the connection of this scarf was feeble, to say the least. I didn't rate it lower because I enjoyed the history it shared and the 9/11 portion, but the 1911 lengthy section didn't work for me at all.
Goodreads synopsis: A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away....
September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries …and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her?
September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers …the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?
Homeless Blanket Project #33 - Groovy Gert
Tired of hand sewing, I started this blanket on a whim to use up some of my bits and pieces of leftover yarn in a mindless manner. I love the way the triple crochet/single crochet rows work up, I decided to crochet a set of variegated and then a set of solid. While working on it I decided it was REALLY ugly, but once all lain out it doesn't insult my eye the way I thought it might!
Saturday, October 5, 2024
74. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Adult RomCom
Finished 10/6/24
Goodreads rating: 4.14
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary LA (with some Houston)
My comments: I love Katherin Center's writing. And this novel about writers writing together is a winner for me! A completely clean romance with ups and downs and two funny, clever protagonists is a surefire hit. Highly recommend for a feel-good story with an HEA.
Goodreads synopsis: She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Homeless Blanket Project #32 - Finicky Freddy
Saturday, September 28, 2024
73. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
Adult spicy romance
Finished 9/28/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.67
My rating: 2
Setting: Contemporary Austin, TX
My comments: Bleh. Disappointing. Tried and tried to like the female protagonist, Rue, but we were only given snippets of her inner self, and many didn't come until later on in the book. Ice skating was a life changing event for both protagonists, and it should have been a bigger part of the book. Rue was fighting with her brother about a cottage left in a will, but why? Only because it was needed to move/change the plot a few times. Not well done. A disappointment from this author.
Goodreads synopsis: Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.
Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through - and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him.
Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business - one that plays for keeps.
September 2024 Handwork
Saturday, September 21, 2024
72. Storm Child by Michael Robotham
Adult Contemporary Mystery/Thriller
Finished 9/21/24
Goodreads rating: 4.26
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Nottingham, England, and the coast of Scotland
My comments: Back and forth between two points of view: Cyrus and Evie, detailing how Evie slowly gets her memories back and discovers what had happened to her, her sister, and her mother. The first half of the book takes place in their hometown of Nottingham, the second half in Scotland, where the fishing families that continue to be involved in the movement of illegal aliens into Great Britain are still hiding their participation from ten years before....as well as currently. Good story. Very well narrated.
Goodreads synopsis: The mystery of Evie Cormac’s background has followed her into adulthood. As a child, she was discovered hiding in a secret room where a man had been tortured to death. Many of her captors and abusers escaped justice, unseen but not forgotten. Now, on a hot summer’s day, the past drags Evie back as she watches the bodies of seventeen migrants wash up on a Lincolnshire beach.
There is only one survivor, a teenage boy, who tells police their small boat was deliberately rammed and sunk. Psychologist Cyrus Haven is recruited by the police to investigate the murders—but recognizes immediately that Evie has some link to the tragedy. By solving this crime, he could finally unlock the secrets of her past. But what dark forces will he set loose? And who will pay the price?
Saturday, August 31, 2024
August 2024 Handwork - Finished
New-this-month projects:
Ongoing projects:
Completed Projects:
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
On Hold at TPPL
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Indigo Hexie Flower Quilt
Once I got to Dede's and we went into Bay Quilts I got a brainstorm about how I want to finish my appliqued grandmother's flower garden quilt! This is what they had displayed:
Thursday, August 1, 2024
EE - Exuberant Ellsworth Afghan
This afghan, triple crocheted (with single crocheted rows between each triple) was used with the huge skein of dark charcoal that Heather got me at Christmas. However, I also used in in another afghan, so I didn't have enough. I tried finding more on the internet, but that color (sumac) is no longer being made and is out or stock everywhere. Luckily, on a whim, I went into Marden's in August (8 month later!) and they had ONE skein left. Can you believe that? Meant to be or what?
I used bigger small balls of leftover yarn than for the green magic knot blanket. This works up fast and fun, and I love the magic knot - so NO weaving in ends. Hope the knots don't come out!
124 sts. in each row
54 sets of tc/sc in length
Monday, July 29, 2024
Movie - Despicable Me 4
Saturday, July 27, 2024
67. The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 7/27/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.95
My rating: 4.5
Setting: 1888 Dakota Territory
My comments: Entrancing historical fiction based on true events where on January 12, 1888 an unforgiving blizzard belted the Dakota territory and killed many people, mainly kids that were walking home from school on the prairie. We follow a number of main characters for many years, finding the outcomes of all their lives. Good , but sad story.
Goodreads synopsis: The New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife reveals a little-known story of courage on the prairie: the freak blizzard that struck the Great Plains, threatening the lives of hundreds of immigrant homesteaders--especially their children.
The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a long cold spell, warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats--leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At just the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard struck without warning. Schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm?
Based on actual oral histories of survivors, the novel follows the stories of Raina and Gerda Olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers--one who becomes a hero of the storm, and one who finds herself ostracized in the aftermath. It's also the story of Anette Pedersen, a servant girl whose miraculous survival serves as a turning point in her life and touches the heart of Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman seeking redemption. It is Woodson and others like him who wrote the embellished news stories that lured immigrants across the sea to settle a pitiless land. Boosters needed immigrants to settle territories into states, and they didn't care what lies they told them to get them there--or whose land it originally was.
At its heart, this is a story of courage, of children forced to grow up too soon, tied to the land because of their parents' choices. It is a story of love taking root in the hard prairie ground, and of families being torn asunder by a ferocious storm that is little remembered today--because so many of its victims were immigrants to this country.