Unbelievably Easy Tissue Holders

Thanks so much, Ronda Winstead!

Find her YouTube Video HERE

I bet they take LESS THAN five minutes to make!

2020 UFOs - If Only!

Okay, it's been a super tough year, mentally and physically, and I've been depressed.  Granted, I've read 130 books vs. 80 or so in the previous years, but laying in my bed THINKING about all my wonderful projects is not optimal.  I've got to get off my duff -- and I know I'll be in a better frame of mind working in my sewing room.

First, I've got to clean and organize.

Then I have to re-evaluate.  I've got so many more projects stated in the last year, so I have to pull everything out and take a gander.

Here's my new list of projects without looking (I know this will change in the next few days):

QUILTING

1.  Kaffe Fassett quilt for Ashley

2.  Cacophony quilt

3.  Dede's picnic quilt

4.  Pink rag quilt for Charley

5.  Josh & Julie's wedding quilt

6.  My yellow rag quilt

7.  Cowboy book wall hanging

8.  Prairie point pillow

9.  Rainbow wrap stole

10.  Kokopelli bag

11.  Blue Mystery quilt

12.  Suzy's window-style wall hanging

13.  Houses Mosaic

14.  Ella's Grandmother's Flower Garden

Jelly Roll rug

KNITTING

1.  Pink entrelac scarf

2.  Lt. grn/blue neckwarmer

3.  Bright mustard scarf

4.  Linen-stitch scarf

5.  Beige sweater

6.  4-color (yellow/orange/red) shawl

7.  Fingerless mitts - 2018 started

8.  Knitter's Day Out diamond scarf

9.  Fingerless Mitts - 2019 Knitters' Day Out class

10.  Soft, ribbed Catarina scarf

STITCHING

1.  Crazy Quilt wall hanging

2.  White Mittens centerpiece

3.  Halloween woolie piece

4.  Santa (half Moon Handwerks) woolie piece

5.  Molly Pitcher cross stitch

6.  My first Sashiko project

ONGOING HEXIES

Status on 1/1/20

Ella's Grandmother's Flower Garden

Christmas Hexie Quilt

Third Row Hexie Quilt

B & W Hexie Quilt

Orphan Gray Hexie Quilt

Big Hexie Scrap Quilt

The Hinky Pink - Megan McDonald

Illustrated by Brian Floca
Published 2008
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Pumpkin

Similes and metaphors: "Her stitches were straight as a new set of teeth. Her French knots were perfect roses. Her lace, why it was as wispy as any spider web in the kingdom." Alliteration and elipses: "If only she could embroider silk and satin, touch velvet and voile..." Great vocabulary: "Holy ratatouille!" "Poodle curls as plain as pennoni." Great verbs: loomed, creaked, snatched, peered,

This is a terrific folk tale, based on another but twisted and turned and recreated by Megan McDonald. There are a couple of places that I thought there was something missing, even going so far as to see if two pages were stuck together. Other than that, it was good storytelling. She might have even gone a little overboard with the figurative language, so this would be a great teaching tool for many reasongs.

Anabel, a young seamstress who dreams of creating and stitchin a ball gown, is called to the home of a princess and given one week to do so. They give her a beautiful tower room in which to live and sew, but she finds she cannot sleep. Something is pinching her and stealing her covers all night long. She ingeniously figures out how to solve this problem just before it's too late and she'll not finish the beautiful gown she's making. But, as we know will happen, all comes out perfectly, tra la!

Lots of text, very cute illustrations, good story. This works together well. I'd love to read it to kids and ask them to watch for places that it needs a few more details to get from one point to the next! Transitions, organization.....

First Line/s: 'Back when mirrors could talk and princes were frogs, there lived a girl in Old Italy named Anabel. Alas, not Anabella."

The Princess Gown - Linda Leopold Strauss

Illustrated by Malene Reynolds Laugesen
2008
Rating: 4 (I was surprised by my reaction)
Endpapers: Bright pink (Ashley would love it)

The multi-generation, many-siblinged Abraham family is putting the final touches on a gorgeous wedding gown. It's not just any wedding gown - it's one that will be presented as a possiblity to the princess. If chosen (from many), the Abrahams will become official embroiderers to the princess, and they'll be saved from the poorhouse. But a tiny soil is found, one that they are unable to remove. They change it into a very small emboidered squirrel - the princess' favorite - which ultimately helps them wint the competition.

I thought this story would be a complete fairy tale (well, it was, in a way), but it was based on a family's true story during the reign of Queen Victoria in England. (And there were sixteen Abraham children, with all of them putting a stitch into the final product.) Sure, it's a little corny, but it's told in a lovely way, and the illustratons are great - within a box that takes up 3/4 of the double-page spread, with the text in the other quarter. Great vocabulary, snazzy verbs, with a few surprises here and there - a totally satisfying read.