Happy Mother's Day

To all my friends, followers and readers, to all of you who are mothers and to your mothers.. Happy Mother's Day! Bouquets to you all!!! 

I had good intentions of posting this first thing this morning. However, things didn't quite work out that way. You see, today was my Ladies Choir Concert... I went to bed later than usual last night (which is always quite late anyway) and I could NOT get to sleep. I was rehearsing in my head, going over words, words, words... I'm sure it was after 3a.m. when I finally drifted off.... I didn't hear another thing until I heard hubby say "Are you getting up today?" I responded "Yes...What time is it?" and he replied "Noon". Well I came out of that bed pretty quick... I was supposed to be at the church at 1:15... Needless to say, I did not have time to do a post this morning...
Yes I got there in time, with a  bowl of porridge in my tummy to sustain me until suppertime. The concert went well I think.. one of our better Spring ones, I'd say...

I do hope you all have enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day....

Love and Peace,
Linda

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." ~ Lin Yutang

The Gift of Music...

Mother's Day weekend! The days and weeks are flying by! Although we have had some wonderful sunny warm weather lately, it looks like the weekend is going to be wet and cool. So if your plans for a lovely outdoor activity tomorrow have been foiled by the wet forecast - why not attend the Fredericton Ladies Choir Spring Concert? Treat yourself to some wonderful music- what a lovely gift to give yourself. You deserve it! We have been working hard to bring you a varied selection of music- we will sing in English, French, Latin, Hebrew and Mi'kmaq. From Ave Maria to show tunes, from folk songs to some humour - we'll have it all. A beautiful song written by well known Cape Breton artist Allister MacGillivray is my favourite, and the Mi'kmaq Honour Song is guaranteed to send shivers up your spine... Why not join us for a special afternoon? The concert begins at 3pm (doors open at 2:15) at St. Dunstans Church, corner of Brunswick and Regent Streets. There will be tickets at the door, $15.00 each. Come and enjoy the gift of MUSIC. It doesn't get any better....
(Please forgive me for the shameless plug...)

Peace,
Linda 

"Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us." ~ Martin Luther

Another Book Finish.

My latest "book finish" is The Dovekeepers, it had been on my list for quite a while. This is my first time reading Alice Hoffman, but it won't be my last. (I'm beginning to think I will never live long enough to read all the books I wish to... the list just keeps growing...)
A story of faith and human spirit, over five years in the writing, The Dovekeepers is Hoffman's most ambitious novel, and as the book jacket states: It is her "masterpiece". Indeed.  It is set in ancient Israel, and begins in 70 C.E. when 900 Jews held out for months against the Roman army on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert overlooking the Dead Sea. According to the ancient historian Josephus, only two women and five children survived the slaughter. Based on this tragic event, The Dovekeepers is the story of four extraordinary women who find themselves together on Masada.
It is a fairly long story, allowing for good character development and much history; it's not a quick read for 10 minutes here and there. You will want to set aside some good blocks of time so you can really "get into it". Hoffman seamlessly weaves together the characters, their historical setting and the emotions of anger, joy, sorrow, and love as she writes in great detail so that you feel you are there, experiencing each of their personal journies. Secrets, pain, distrust, cruelty, sex, loyalty, friendship, magic, tragedies and triumphs - it's all there, along with richly detailed history. This story will touch you, it will stay with you, and you will be left wanting more....  5 stars from me.

Have you read others by Alice Hoffman? What would you recommend?

Peace,
Linda

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." ~ Charles W. Eliot

Fun with Bonnie Hunter

Imagine my delight when I found out in late-March that I had gotten in to a Bonnie Hunter class with the Pine Tree Quilters' Guild of Maine. I have been a "floater member" for a number of years and attend their annual State  show almost every summer, but this would be my first time attending a class open to all members of the state guild. I did not expect to get in, thinking there would be a huge response, but had my fingers crossed. I was pleasantly surprised to get in, and to find out that the class was not totally full. Mind you, 36 ladies seemed like enough!
If you are not familiar with Bonnie Hunter, she is a well known scrap quilter who lives in North Carolina, and travels and teaches extensively- I don't know where she gets all her energy! She is also an incredible blogger at Quiltville's Quips and Snips, posting two or three times most days! She writes a column on using up scraps for Quiltmaker magazine, designing a new scrappy block for each issue, and she offers several Mystery Quilts each year to her readers.

Recently she has added international travel tours for quilters - not long ago she took a very lucky group of quilters to Bali, this summer she's off to Ireland, and then an Alaskan cruise. She has written four books...need I go on? You get the message- this is one busy and energetic lady! I guess I was hoping that if I spent a day in her close proximity, some of her energy might rub off on me!! Well.. not sure that happened, but I did have fun!  


The class was held in Bangor, a three hour drive for me, assuming no lineup at the border (which there wasn't). I left on Thursday morning so I could have a little "retail therapy" time before Friday's class. I was coming down with a cold earlier in the week and I had the worst runny nose ever, so I was popping cold meds all day long, in hopes of getting it "stopped up" so I wouldn't be sniffling and snuffing all through the class. Well.. it worked.. but obviously I was a bit overdosed on Pseudophedrine because at bedtime I was buzzed and did not sleep  one  minute  all   night    long. NOT  ONE  MINUTE!  Despite the lovely hotel room, the king sized bed.. not ONE minute. Needless to say I was not my normal peppy self on Friday... But regardless, it was a fun day. (By the way, do my local readers know about hotelcoupons.com? Find them online or stop at the Houlton Tourist Bureau - right at Houlton exit, and pick up the booklet. GREAT savings on hotel rates in New England - I stayed at the Marriott for more than 60% off the normal rate!)
The quilt is called Jamestown Landing and  the blocks are built from two very simple units- string-pieced

Bonnie Hunter of ME, Bonnie Hunter of NC and Bonnie #3

squares and half square triangles. Nothing too taxing!! lol  So I was looking forward to a nice relaxing day of sewing. It was fun to meet Bonnie and hear her "take" on making scrap quilts. She is definitely the queen of scrappiness! As I said there were 36 of us in a large room, and it was interesting to walk around and see everyone else's "scrap stash" - it boggles my mind to see so many fabrics that I've never seen before! I have a sizeable stash, and visit a lot of quilt shops in the run of a year, so I see quite a wide range of fabrics- but it always amazes me to see so many different fabrics! And isn't it good that we all have different taste?
Of course I didn't know anyone else in the class, but did have a nice chat with the two lovely ladies from Lewiston-Auburn who sat across from me. There was another Bonnie Hunter (from Maine) in the class! and a third Bonnie, so we decided there should be a photo taken of the three Bonnie's! Here they are above.

I managed to get fifteen string pieced blocks done and enough HST's to make two star blocks, one dark and one light star. Only 153 more string blocks and 28 more stars to go!! lol  Sadly I am going to have to put this project aside for a while as I have others that need more immediate attention- like my Guild Challenge which is due in two weeks (yikes!) But I can see this one will be as much fun as my Talkin' Turkey quilt was, so I'll be anxious to return to it when I can.



Bonnie always tells her students if they have made a quilt from one of her free designs, books or mysteries, to bring it along to class for Show and Tell so naturally I had to take my red Talkin' Turkey to show her. She was happy to see it and gave me a "well done" pat on the back. ( a little praise from the teacher always feels good...) Here we are posing in front of it...
And thanks to Stephanie Thibodeau from Lewiston-Auburn for sending me the photo below right. Stephanie sat across from me and was kind enough to take a few photos for me.

One of the things I enjoy most about following Bonnie's blog is that she posts photos/slide shows from all her classes on the road (I really don't know where she finds the time and energy!) Here are the posts from the class I took- this one shows some of the work as she walked around the classroom during the day. And this one features the Show and Tell that students brought to her two classes. Both classes she taught (Jamestown Landing and Smith Mountain Morning) are from her most recent book String Fling.
Thanks Bonnie! It was lots of fun to meet you and take the Jamestown Landing class!

Piece!
Linda

"We all have dreams. But  in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort." ~ Jesse Owens

May already?!!

I cannot believe a whole week has passed since I last posted. No doubt you're wondering where I am! Well I'm right here.. just very busy. This past week was dear daughter's last one in Toronto. Her internship went very well and she thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. She learned a great deal and felt it was very worthwhile, in fact she would have liked to stay longer.. Other than getting "turned around" (that sounds better than "lost") a few times on the TTC, it seems her month in the big city went off without a hitch... She took this shot of the CN Tower one day this past week as she was enjoying a few minutes of R &R in the sun before heading to work for one of her last evening shifts.
I encouraged her to see as much of the city as she could on her days off and on the days when she was working 4pm till midnight; one thing she did was see a taping of the Marilyn Denis Show. She had a front row seat and enjoyed the show, the guests, the freebies given to the audience, and just watching the whole process of the show production. She got to meet Marilyn after, and as you can see, took advantage of a photo op too!
 She flew home last night, did laundry, enjoyed one good sleep in her own bed, packed up again today and moved off to Moncton where she will work for the summer.  Another exciting chapter begins...
Sooo, it's been a busy week for me, getting more of her things stowed away (it's not easy to "absorb" a whole apartment's worth of stuff again...). some things sorted and organized for her to take with her, etc. Then I was preparing for my class with Bonnie Hunter in Maine on Friday. Had lots of cutting to do in preparation.. I managed to pick up a cold somewhere, so a few days of sniffling and snuffling didn't help matters any... but here we are at the end of the weekend and this is all behind us now. I did a little more work outside today, things are popping up in all my perennial beds, but we really need some rain (never thought I'd be saying that after all the rainy days we had in April...)
Next I'll tell you about my class with Bonnie Hunter....

Peace,
Linda

"Time is your only enemy, it disappears very quickly and never gives you a second chance." ~ Steve Douglas

A little chuckle for you...

I have lots of friends who send me emails with jokes, stories or other things to make me laugh (God bless 'em.. keep them coming, folks!) Sometimes they are just too good to not pass on, so today, I'm doing just that....here's your daily chuckle, thanks to my friends Jack and Sheila...


In case you needed further proof that the human race is doomed through stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods....

On the bottom of McCain's Tiramisu dessert:  Do not turn upside down.  (Well, duhhh.. a bit late, don'cha think?)

On Planter's Peanuts:  Warning - Contains nuts.   (talk about a news flash!)

On Shopper's Drug children's cough medicine:  Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medicine. (We could do a lot to reduce the number of construction accidents if we could just get those five year olds with head colds off those bulldozers...)

On President's Choice Bread Pudding: Product will be hot after heating.  (And you thought..??) 

On a Sears hairdryer: Do not use while sleeping.  (But that's the only time I have to work on my hair...)

On a bag of Fritos: You could be a Winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside. (Would this be the Shoplifter Special??)

On a package of Dial soap: Directions: Use like regular soap. (And that would be.....?)

On Swanson frozen dinners: Serving Suggestion: Defrost. (But it's just a suggestion, folks!)

On packaging for a Black and Decker iron: Do not iron clothes on body. (But wouldn't that save me a lot of time?)

On Nytol Sleep Aid: Warning: May cause drowsiness.  (And I'm taking this because...?)

On most packages of Christmas lights: For indoor or outdoor use only. (As opposed to what?)

On a Japanese food processor:  Not to be used for the other use. (Ummmm, can someone help me out here?)

On a Westjet package of nuts: Open packet, eat nuts. (Step 3 - Say what?)

On a child's Superman costume: Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly. (I don't blame the company, I blame the parents for this one.)

On a Canadian Tire chainsaw: Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals.  (OMG, was there a lot of this happening somewhere??)

That's it folks. Your chuckle for the day.  They walk among us..........

Peace and laughter....

Linda 

"A day without laughter is a day wasted."  ~ Charlie Chaplin

I think...just maybe.. spring has arrived!

We finally have a stretch of warmer sunny weather ahead of us- for the next 7 days, apparently! I hope the forecast IS true, sure would be nice... I spent some time this afternoon cleaning leaf mulch off  three beds - only one left to go. It's encouraging to see all my perennials poking up. My crocuses are starting to fade, the chionodoxa are still looking great, and the daffodils are just starting to bloom.













I get great pleasure from seeing the cheery colors of spring's blooms... It's so nice to see COLOR after the long winter...

Do you have "spring things" blossoming in your garden?

All of these photos were taken this afternoon.










I tried a new recipe for supper tonight. I get tired of making the same ole things week after week, do you? A good friend gave me The Looneyspoons Collection cookbook for Christmas so I tried another recipe from it- "Salmon and Garfunkel" aka Creamy Salmon and Corn Chowder with Dill. I thought it was yummy...(hubby was not quite as enthusiastic.) Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it.  Again, recipe credit goes to The Looneyspoons Collection by Janet and Greta Podleski.

"Salmon and Garfunkel"  (Creamy Salmon and Corn Chowder with Dill)

1 Tblsp. olive oil or butter
1 cup sliced leeks (white part only) or onions
3/4 cup each chopped celery and diced red pepper
1 tsp. minced fresh garlic
1 tsp. each dried thyme and dried tarragon
3 Tblsp. flour
3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can (14oz.) no salt added cream style corn
1/2 cup light cream
12 oz. boneless skinless salmon fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
2 Tblsp. minced fresh dill (I used dried dill - to taste)
1 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. each lemon zest and Dijon mustard

Add olive oil or butter to large pot, over medium heat. Add leeks or onions, celery, peppers, and  garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add thyme and tarragon, cook 30 seconds more.
Add flour and mix well until vegetables are coated. Add chicken broth. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Soup will thicken slightly. Add creamed corn and cream. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in salmon, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until salmon is cooked through, about 5-6 minutes, depending on size of pieces.
Remove soup from heat, stir in dill, lemon juice, zest, and mustard. Serve immediately.

I was a little short on red pepper so added some carrots, and I omitted the Dijon. Otherwise followed it exactly, and I thought it was a great quick and easy meal for Friday night, when I often don't feel like making a big meal... I served it with a big soft dinner roll.. had intentions of a salad as well but that didn't happen...

Peace,
Linda

Fish, to taste right, must swim three times -in water, in butter and in wine.  ~ Polish proverb

Spring IS coming....

I think Spring is finally on its way! Yesterday I hauled off some of the leaf mulch on a few of my perennial beds. These darling little blue Chionodoxa were blooming despite the cover. I had to pull it off gently so as not to pull their heads off! I guess all spring bulbs are pretty hardy- they must be to survive the continuing below-freezing temps at night. Even though we're finally seeing some warm days, it's still pretty chilly overnight.... But it is encouraging to be seeing some spring color. I took these shots of the crocuses in the late afternoon - I love the backlit effect.







I have made a little more progress on my Challenge piece. The borders are all on, and the decision on the appliqué has been made - as much as I wanted to try some wool work, I decided I didn't want to invest the money it was going to take to get all the colors I wanted, and then have a bunch of wool left over... So hand appliqué (with cottons!) it is! I am going to machine quilt the piece first, and then add the appliqué. That will prevent a whole lot of stopping and starting with the quilting. In my head this is a good idea. If some of you wonderful hand-appliqué people out there know that this is NOT a good idea, please let me know (and why). Otherwise, it's full speed ahead this week!
I got out and got a good start on my canvassing for the Cancer Society this evening. That feels good- another thing partly crossed off the list.. Tomorrow a number of our Guild members are off to visit the Sussex Guild for the day - we have been paired with them as a "sister Guild". I can't wait to see what they have in store for us! I'm sure it will be a fun day! Our Choir Spring concert is coming up soon- I'll be studying my music in the car tomorrow... It's somehow not quite as easy to memorize now as it used to be.

Peace,
Linda

"It takes courage to be crocus-minded. God, I would rather wait till June, like wise roses, when the hazards of winter are safely behind, and I am expected and everything is ready for roses. But crocuses? Highly irregular. Knifing through hard frozen ground and snow, sticking their necks out. because they believe in Spring and have something personal and emphatic to say about it."  ~ Jo Sorley

Another Kearsley novel

It seems I'm not accomplishing a great lot these days, with "other" things going on, but I do love to relax before going to sleep with a good book. So - another one is done: The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley. This is the same (Canadian) author who wrote The Winter Sea which I reviewed here and liked so much. For the first half of the book, I was thinking I didn't like The Rose Garden as well as The Winter Sea, but very shortly thereafter, things picked up and it became harder and harder to put it down and turn out the bedside light. Once again, Kearsley takes us "across the pond"to the UK- this one is set in Cornwall. Her writing is magical- she seamlessly weaves the past and present together as easily as the main character Eva slips back and forth between present day Cornwall and that of 1714. When Eva's sister Katrina dies, she leaves California and returns to Cornwall where they spent the summers of their childhood, to scatter Katrina's ashes, returning her to "where she really belonged." "But Eva must also confront the ghosts from her own past, as well as those from a time long before her own. For the house where she so often stayed as a child is home not only to her old friends the Halletts, but also to the people who lived there during the eighteenth century. When Eva finally accepts that she is able to slip between the centuries and see and talk to the inhabitants from hundreds of years ago, she soon finds herself falling for Daniel Butler, a man who lived- and died- long before she herself was born. Eva begins to question her place in the present, and in laying her sister to rest, comes to realize that she too must decide where she really belongs, choosing between the life she knows and the past she feels so drawn towards." ~ from the book jacket.
If I tell you much more about the story, I'd have to issue a "spoiler alert", so suffice it to say, if you like historical fiction, or romance, or "time travel", and if you enjoy reading Diana Gabaldon or Mary Stuart, I'm sure you'll become a Kearsley fan too, as I now am. She has such a way with words, the romance is subtle, never trashy, her characters come to life and you feel as if you are right there with them.... I can't wait for her new novel, The Firebird, sequel to The Winter Sea, due out very soon.

Peace,
Linda

Bookworms will rule the world.. as soon as we read one more chapter.

Spring - Where are You?

Well, things are slowly moving along.. My father-in-law went home today after a week in a respite bed at Windsor Court. I think he is somewhat stronger, and certainly benefited from the nutritious meals and the social interaction. There are still some issues to be dealt with, but he is making tiny steps forward... Getting old is definitely NOT for the faint of heart!
Our family room carpeting has finally been installed, and the new roller shade is up. Next on the agenda is to get the window valance done... I think the room looks larger... Yay!
Spring is slow to show herself.. We have had a few days of sun, but this afternoon is overcast and dreary again. I have daffodils up and budded, but I think we need some warmer days before they will bloom. The few crocuses I have left (the squirrels have been "re-designing" my spring bulb garden for a few years now, scattering them where they think they look best- I found a few blooming by the compost today...) are bravely blooming despite the cool weather, but I can see them shivering.. lol It seems, this year,  that spring is taking forever.. We have had snow this month, and rain, and temps that just feel too cold.. come on spring! Hurry up!! I'm getting reallllly anxious to be outside digging in the garden...
Laura is almost halfway through her internship at the Globe and Mail. Monday's events in Boston, terrible and scary as they were, made for an exciting day for DD, who was on the national newsdesk. It ended up being a 12+ hour day for her. Things were a little crazy for the rest of that day as the team of journalists stayed on top of what was happening, updating the website and preparing stories for the next day's paper. Laura worked on three of the articles, one of them front page! And it was a proud moment for me to see her name on two stories in A section of our Atlantic Globe and Mail the next morning. Tomorrow is her last day as a reporter, the final two weeks she will work as a Web Editor.  She is loving the whole experience... and I'm a proud Mamabird!
My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Boston and the family and friends of the late Rita MacNeil.

Peace,
Linda

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." ~ Hal Borland

Out of the Box Challenge

It's time to show you my progress so far on my Guild Challenge piece, lest you think I should put my machine up for sale. There hasn't been much time for sewing lately but I did get this together this week. The challenge is for us to do something that's out of our normal comfort zone, to challenge
ourselves with a new technique or whatever... to stretch ourselves skill-wise. So I chose two "personal challenges". First was to do something with orange. I hate strongly dislike orange. All my quilting buddies know that I do not "do" orange. If we are doing a swap or exchange, or blocks for each other, they all know - no orange for Linda. So I figured it would be good
for me to force myself to do something tasetful with a color I find very DIStasteful. (I don't even eat oranges, but that's another story..) So I have pieced this base with many orange and black 

half square triangles. Like red, I discovered orange does not photograph that well. This photo is not a true representation of what I have (some here look a little too red)... so you'll just have to trust me on this one . There is a good variety of oranges- bright and dull oranges, yellowy oranges, rusty oranges, red-oranges, gold-oranges, coppery oranges.. okay, you get the picture- for a person who doesn't sew with orange, I found a darned good selection in my stash without having to buy any. (I did solicit a few from my friend Susan D - thanks darlin'). This square presently measures 24"- it will be a bit larger as there are two borders still to go on.
My second challenge is to add some appliqué. My first intention was to do some wool appliqué, but now I'm having second thoughts. I might try some hand appliqué with cottons instead. (I have never hand appliquéd, so don't be expecting great things!!) Still not 100% sure.. so you'll have to stay tuned to find out... What are you working on?

Peace,
Linda

If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.

That SWEET taste of spring

It's Friday evening and another week has passed.. where do the days disappear to? I honestly don't know- they just seem to evaporate... Things are still a bit "upset" here. My father-in-law had his surgery, spent another week in hospital and now is in a facility for a week of respite care to convalesce before going home. We hope he will gain some strength back.. getting old is not for sissies, that's for sure!
Our family room re-do is still a work in progress. Our carpet installation is scheduled for next Tuesday - it will be so nice to have that done. Still waiting for the roller shade for the window.
I have made good progress on my Guild Challenge piece; the top is all together (it's a small piece). I'll show you a photo tomorrow. I had thought I would keep it under wraps, but what the heck? Why not? The easy part is done, what I'm adding to it next will be the challenge...

We DO love our maple trees!

I have not done much photography lately.. (I'm probably getting rusty...) I have signed up for a Digital Photography course to learn about all the "features" on my camera which I know nothing about.. I was not happy when I found out I was the first to register for the class. I am really HOPING enough people sign up for it to run.. I tried to take this class last summer, but there were not enough students. SO if you live in my area, and are interested in learning more about your DSLR, get in touch and I'll give you the info. It's only for 4 weeks, 2 hours per evening, once a week, at UNB.
I will share a few photos with you that I took 2 weekends ago when DD was home. We visited Dumfries Maples, a local maple syrup producer.  I was disappointed that their evaporator was not running as that was what I really wanted to photograph... but I guess they were so busy with their pancake breakfasts and making maple taffy on the snow, they didn't have the time (or staff?) to run the evaporator as well...
So my pics aren't too exciting, unless you have never been to a Sugar Bush. It was a sunny day (which we've had too few of lately) and it felt great to get out in the fresh air and see that sap a drippin'... Dumfries Maples collects sap by both the "old fashioned" method of cans hung under spiles on the trees and the more modern method of trees being "online" with plastic pipeline.

I chuckle when I hear folks complain about the price of maple syrup - they obviously have NO idea of how much work syrup-making is. It is labor intensive and time consuming, not to mention the fact that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make ONE gallon of syrup. Once the sap is collected, it must pass through the evaporator which boils it down: water evaporates off, leaving that concentrated sweet golden syrup. Yummmy... But there is  a fine art to GOOD syrup... My Dad was a syrup producer, so I am familiar with the process... At Dumfries Maples, the collected sap is brought to the sugarhouse where a Reverse Osmosis machine is used to remove over half the water and raise the sap sugar content to over 7%. This concentrated sap is then gravity fed into the wood-fired evaporator, where it is boiled to produce the syrup. With their system at full capacity, their evaporator will process over 800 liters of sap per hour, yielding 20 liters of syrup per hour. Here is a Youtube video (NOT from Dumfries Maples) which explains the process of evaporation - from sap to syrup!




If you have never visited a Sugar Shack, you don't know what you're missing... It's a "Spring Thing"!!

Peace,
Linda

Ahhh, the sweet taste of spring...

Another finish and a new start...

Another book read and crossed off my list. Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland is the story of Louise de la Vallière (known as "Petite") who becomes the mistress of the Sun King,  Louis XIV, in his younger years. This is the first of Gulland's books I have read, but it won't be the last; I have now added her well-known and internationally successful  Josephine B. trilogy (the story of Josephine Bonaparte) to my list.
If I had to determine the genre of this book, I suppose it is first historical fiction, but it is also a story of love and passion - the story of young Petite who falls hopelessly in love with Louis XIV. Petite rises from the lower ranks of French aristocracy, and becomes a lady-in-waiting in the French Court. Her passion for horses and two "chance happenings" bring she and Louis together. Before long they give in to their desires and become lovers. Petite soon realizes that, as Louis says, "all is not what it seems" in the French Court. Can their love endure the challenges of lies, deception, betrayal, evil and sorrow ? Petite is more in love with Louis the man, than Louis the King... Can she hold on to him as their love begins to unravel?
Gulland has developed her characters so skillfully; it is easy to feel the intense emotions that grip the characters. Many fascinating details of life in the time period, and in the French court, are evidence of the author's dedication to meticulous research. I love a story written with attention to detail.. this one fills the bill.
Mistress of the Sun  also gives a look at the beginnings of turning the country hunting château of Versaie into the grand Palace of Versailles, although not in much detail. To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker goes into much more detail on that, and it's on my "Read Soon" list. I visited Versailles many years ago, I'd love to go again... I'm quite sure I'd appreciate it a bit more now... and I'd certainly take a LOT more photos...

Last batch of Half Square Triangles, made with Thangles

I have started working on my Guild Challenge project, which must be finished for our May meeting. We are supposed to do something "Out of the Box", meaning out of our comfort zone, something we don't normally do. So I have chosen to work with a color I rarely use, and a technique which is quite popular these days, but I have never done it (well actually, I did try it once but never finished the piece.... so I'm giving it another try.) I don't really want to reveal what I'm doing, but I'll give you little updates and perhaps some sneak peeks... First step- 80 HST's made, all scrappy. Tomorrow, more cutting and some strip piecing, then I hope to make some headway on piecing the top together, or at least get it all laid out. I hope other members are doing this challenge - it's always fun to view them all and see what others have done to "push" themselves. I haven't heard many people talking about it - let's hope there is good participation  - maybe everyone is keeping their project under wraps like I am...?
While cutting fabric today, I came across something I had never seen before- on the selvage of a recently purchased VIP cotton were the words "License is required for any use beyond individual consumption." Have you ever seen that on fabric before? It was a first for me...

Peace,
Linda

"And though she be but little, she is fierce." ~ Shakespeare