August 2024 Handwork - Finished

New-this-month projects:

Indigo Hexie Flower Quilt

23 appliqued onto indigo

4 pinned on, ready to applique

10 flowers ready for pinning

42 hexies complete

(total flowers:  37, total hexies: 299)

Ongoing projects:

Cotton Dishcloths

knit 6 fairly good-sized dishcloths in Calfifornia, need to sew in ends.

Grey Hexie Quilt

20 rows (x28) all sewn together = 560

1 row ready to add = 28

36 triples, 19 doubles, 32 single hexies waiting

766 hexies total

Completed Projects:  

None in August, but plenty of headway on hexie projects!

On Hold at TPPL

 

All as of 8/27/2024

Atkins - Don't Let the Devil Ride   #6 on 3   (2)

Center - The Rom-Commers    #44 on 10    (4.4)

Hazelwood - Not In Love   #20 on 15    (1.3)

Johnson - Death at Morning House    #24 on 5    (4.5)

King - 11/22/63    #16 on 5     (3.2)

Mandanna - The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches    #59 on 6    (9.8)

Mayne - Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder   #14 on 2    (7)

Miller - Norma Dean's Little Library of Banned Books   #2 on 5   (2.5)

Moore - The God of the Woods   #118 on 20     (5..9)

Picoult - By Any Other Name    #131 on 15     (8.5)

Poston - The Dead Romantics   #21 on 3    (7)

Robotham - Storm Child   #2 on 2    (1)

Sullivan - The Cliffs    #46 on 8    (5.7)

Next to get to me should be:

     Robotham, Hazelwood, Atkins, Miller, King

71. The Burning by Linda Castillo

#16 Kate Burkholder

listened on Libby

320 pgs.

2024
Adult murder mystery/police procedural
Finished 8/21/24
Goodreads rating: 4.30
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Amish country Ohio

My comments: This was a good one, although Kate was assaulted and quite badly injured numerous times and got out of it quite well each time, which is sort of hard to believe.  I guess she's more like superwoman than I had originally thought.  And in this one, the original murder was particularly grizzly in that a guy, admittedly a really, really bad guy, was burned at the stake.  It tickles me that Castillo can come up with so many plots that are quite varied from each other, as was this one.

Goodreads synopsis:  Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a gruesome murder that reveals a little-known chapter of early Amish history in this new installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo.

Newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is awakened by an urgent midnight call summoning her to a suspicious fire in the woods. When she arrives at the scene, she discovers a charred body. According to the coroner, the deceased, an Amish man named Milan Swanz, was chained to a stake and burned alive. It is an appalling and eerily symbolic crime against an upstanding husband and father.

Kate knows all too well that the Amish prefer to handle their problems without interference from the outside world, and no one will speak about the murdered man. From what she’s able to piece together, Swanz led a deeply tr30oubled life and had recently been excommunicated. But if that’s the case, why are the Amish so reluctant to talk about him? Are they protecting the memory of one of their own? Or are they afraid of something they dare not share?

When her own brother is implicated in the case, Kate finds herself not only at odds with the Amish, the world of which she was once a part, but also the English community and her counterparts in law enforcement. The investigation takes a violent turn when Kate’s life is threatened by a mysterious stranger.

To uncover the truth about the death of Milan Swanz, Kate must dive deep into the Anabaptist culture, peering into all the dark corners of its history, only to uncover a secret legacy that shatters everything she thought she knew about the Amish themselves―and her own roots.

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:

I instantly fell in love.

And I even want to slow stitch it!

So I started collecting indigo-colored quarter yard strips for my backgrounds.  Dede had six or seven scraps, and I purchased a handful more while I was in California, because OF COURSE we went to a quilt shop or two!

  I'll start with an 8-inch square, then cut it down to 7.5 or maybe even 7 inches unfinished after I've appliqued on my single-row hexie flower.

As of today, I've got 18 finished!

The new Ott Light I bought REALLY helps.  Appliqueing with thread as the same color of the flower worked best. It's so much fun and going really fast.

9/28/24

39 squares appliqued as of today

70. Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik

listened on Libby

419 pgs.

2022
Adult SciFi
Finished 8/11/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.03
My rating: 4
Setting: Far outer space, who knows when....

My comments: This is a very good sci-fi set in far outer space with lots of worm holes to go through, lol.  Humans have recently enced a war with similarly bodied extraterrestrials, though these counterparts have absurd telepathic capabilities and are very difficult to outmaneuver.  There is an element of romance throught, and I'm nout sure if I 100% liked that - the mystery and challenge seemed enough without it.

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2022)

Octavia Zarola would do anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy. When Torran offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.

With so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal.

But when they uncover a deeper plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war. With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her, or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield. And this time, she’s put her heart on the line.

The critically acclaimed author of Polaris Rising takes readers on an exciting journey with the start of her brand-new series about a female bounty hunter and the man who is her sworn enemy.

69. Funny Story by Emily Henry

listened on Libby

395 pgs.

2024
Adult romance
Finished 8/4/2024
Goodreads rating:  4.23
My rating: 4.25
Setting:  Contemporary

My comments: A definite meet cute story that was quite enjoyable and ... well, cute...

     When Daphne is jilted the night of her fiancé's bachelor party, she is pretty devastated, as you'd expect.  That he jilted her to be with his best friend, a girls he's known since childhood, particularly upset her.  And having no place to go, she ended up moving in with the also-jilted boyfriend of the so-called best friend.  And it goes on from there.  Daphne is a children's librarian and loves her job, but has a lot of hangups.  Miles, her new roommate, also has a lot of hangups.  And they seem to fit together just like two pieces of a perfect puzzle.  He's too good to be true, actually.  With a cast of bizarre characters that are a lot of fun and a narrator who is one of my favorites, I totally enjoyed listening to this book.

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Winner for Readers' Favorite Romance (2024), Winner for Readers' Favorite Audiobook (2024)

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?

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!

Finished blanket:
124 sts. in each row
54 sets of tc/sc in length

Finished 9/29/24

68. The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

listened on Libby

336 pgs.

2023
Adult Magical Realism/Fantasy
Finished 7/30/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.20
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Upper East Side of NYC

My comments: A girl who now lives in her beloved aunt's apartment on the upper east side of NYC, one day walks into it and discovers that she's gone back in time exactly seven years...and meets the young man who lived there seven years ago.  Very interesting, keeps your attention.

Goodreads synopsis:  Nominee for Readers' Favorite Romance (2023)

An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

Movie - Despicable Me 4

PG (1:34)

Wide release 7/3/2024

Viewed 7/29/2024 with Tristan at the Carlisle Theater

IMBd:  6.3/10

RT Critic:  56  Audience:  88

Critic's Consensus:  Fast paced and teeming with slapstick gags, Despicable Me 4 is as overstuffed as a piñata but full of enough candy to give audiences an enjoyable sugar rush.

Cag:   4/Liked it a lot 

My comments:  I wasn't looking forward to it (animated!) but Tristan said he'd like to go, and I'm taking every opportunity to spend time with this now-14-year-old!  It ended up being a very good movie that I liked a lot.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Gru welcomes a new member to the family, Gru Jr., who's intent on tormenting his dad. However, their peaceful existence soon comes crashing down when criminal mastermind Maxime Le Mal escapes from prison and vows revenge against Gru.

67. The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

listened on Libby

355 pgs.

2021
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.

66. Priscilla, Princess of the Park by Pat LaMarche

#1 Priscilla series
read on Kindle (not available on Audio)
111 pgs.

2020
Middle Grades Realistic Fiction
Finished 7/27/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.88
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Carlisle, PA

My comments: Illustrated by Bonnie Tweedy Shaw!

Goodreads synopsis:  An endearing novel about five young children, a charismatic compassionate woman, and the perils of homelessness. As the children fall madly in love with Priscilla, they begin to wonder about the story of their mentor. The children's homes are filled with everyday drama and excitement. Priscilla teaches life lessons that help them cope and find joy - as well as a sense of community.

65. The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

listened on Audible

320 pgs.

2024
Middle Grades CRF

Finished 7/20/24
Goodreads rating: 4.55
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary American city

My comments: Hank is 11 and his baby sister, Boo, is almost 3.  Their mom has an alcohol problem, a major one, and one day she doesn't come home.  After a week goes by and they're totally out of money, Hank has to figure out what to do.  Watching all the problems of a boy who works very hard to be good and kind as well as the thought-processes he goes through are the highlights of this book.  I feel like a lot happens that is rosier than would actually happen in real life - especially with the child welfare system - but it's nice to have a feel-good story with lots of positive people.

Goodreads synopsis:  When eleven-year-old Hank’s mom doesn’t come home, he takes care of his toddler sister, Boo, like he always does. But it’s been a week now. They are out of food and mom has never stayed away this long… Hank knows he needs help, so he and Boo seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact.

But asking for help has consequences. It means social workers, and a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he's been trying to keep secret. And if they can't find his mom soon, Hank and Boo may end up in different foster homes--he could lose everything.

Gennifer Choldenko has written a heart-wrenching, healing, and ultimately hopeful story about how complicated family can be. About how you can love someone, even when you can’t rely on them. And about the transformative power of second chances.

64. Starling House by Alix E Harrow

listened on Libby

320 pgs.

2023
Adult Gothic mystery
Finished 7/15/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.81
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Kentucky

My comments: I didn't take notes and as I go to write this many months later, I can't remember the nitty gritty, but I do remember that this was an interesting read.

Goodreads synopsis:  A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

63. A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

listened on Libby

357 pgs.

2022
Genre/Level
Finished 7/14/24
Goodreads rating: 3.99
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Louisiana

My comments: For me, I think, it's hard to enjoy a story when you don't like or understand the protagonist.  To do really brave things without consequences for the final outcome, then refuse to do simple things that would be quite easy ... well, I don't get it.  Not too many surprises although it seemed to take forever for the final eents that pull the entire story together.  It was aggravating for me to hear Chloe go on and on and on and around and around in circles.  What a twit.  

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller (2022), Nominee for Best Debut Novel (2022)

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.

Skywriting -- a poem by Laura Purdie Salas

 What a great poem for two voices!