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52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge

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Since it’s the end of June, I managed this reading challenge in 26 weeks! Here are the categories & books I read for this very fun challenge. I only had to find a few titles, as most of them were read in the normal course of my reading.

  1. Set in a school: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
  2. Featuring the legal profession: The Mitford Trial (A Mitford Murders Mystery #4), Jessica Fellowes
  3. A dual timeline: The Gown, Jennifer Robson
  4. An author that is deceased: With the Old Breed, E.B. Sledge
  5. Published by Penguin: What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr #1), C.S. Harris
  6. A character with the same name as a male family member: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
  7. An author with only 1 published book: Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
  8. A book in the 900’s of the Dewey Decimal System: The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War, H.W. Brands
  9. Set in a Mediterranean country: Above the Bay of Angels, Rhys Bowen
  10. Related to the word “fire”: Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
  11. Book with discussion questions inside: The Other Windsor Girl: A Novel of Love, Royalty, Whiskey, & Cigarettes, Georgie Blalock
  12. Title starting with the letter “D”: Death Masks (The Dresden Files, #5), Jim Butcher
  13. Includes an exotic animal: The Song of the Lion (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito #21), Anne Hillerman
  14. Written by an author over 65 (when published): The Tamarack Murders (Sheriff Bo Tully #5), Patrick F. McManus
  15. A book mentioned in another book: Kim, Rudyard Kipling
  16. Set before the 17th Century: The Lost Queen, Signe Pike
  17. A character “on the run”: The Huckleberry Murders (Sheriff Bo Tully #4), Patrick F. McManus
  18. Author with a 9-letter last name: Louisiana’s Way Home, Kate DiCamillo
  19. Book with a deckled edge: Uncommon Type, Tom Hanks
  20. Made into a TV series: The Queen’s Gambit, Walter Tevis
  21. Book by Kristin Hannah: The Four Winds
  22. A family saga: When You Trap a Tiger, Tae Keller
  23. An ending that surprises you: A False Mirror (Inspector Ian Rutledge #9), Charles Todd
  24. A book you think they should read in schools: One Year in Coal Harbor, by Polly Horvath
  25. A book with multiple character POV: The Stranger Diaries (Harbinder Kaur #1), Elly Griffiths
  26. An author of color: New Kid, Jerry Craft
  27. First chapter ends on an odd page number: The D.A. Calls it Murder, Erle Stanley Gardner
  28. Includes a historical event you know little about: Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country, C.J. Box
  29. Featuring the environment: The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon, Kevin Fedarko
  30. Watch out for dragons!: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
  31. Shares a similar title to another book: Lord of the Wings (Meg Langslow #19), Donna Andrews
  32. A selfish character: Half Moon Street (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt #20), Anne Perry
  33. Featuring adoption: Pine Island Home, Polly Horvath
  34. A book you’d rate 5 stars: Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
  35. Set in a country that starts with the letter “S”: The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists (Detective Varg, #0.8), Alexander McCall Smith
  36. A nameless narrator: The Tale Teller (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito #23), Anne Hillerman
  37. An educational read: The Final Storm (World War II: 1939-1945, #4), Jeff Shaara
  38. Recommended on BookBub: King of Scars (King of Scars #1), Leigh Bardugo
  39. An alternate history novel: Pirate King (Mary Russell, #11), Laurie R. King
  40. Found via #bookstagram: Storm Front (Dresden Files #1), Jim Butcher
  41. An endorsement by a famous author on the cover: The Postscript Murders (Harbinder Kaur #2), Elly Griffiths
  42. An epistolary: TBH, This Is So Awkward (TBH, #1), Lisa Greenwald
  43. A character with a pet cat: The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway #8), Elly Griffiths
  44. Includes a garden: The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
  45. A coming of age novel: We Are Not Free, Traci Chee
  46. Winner of the National Book Award-any year: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, Timothy Egan
  47. A character with a disability: Fish in a Tree, Lynda Mullaly Hunt
  48. A cover with woman who is facing away: Lady Clementine, Marie Benedict
  49. A flavour in the title: The Peppermint Tea Chronicles (44 Scotland Street #13), Alexander McCall Smith
  50. A shoe on the cover: The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday (Isabel Dalhousie #5), Alexander McCall Smith
  51. Published in 2021: The Consequences of Fear (Maisie Dobbs #16), Jacqueline Winspear
  52. Re-do one of the previous 51 categories from this 2021 challenge (A book you’d rate 5 stars): The Language of Bees (Mary Russell #9), Laurie R. King

RSC2021-purple blocks done

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SoScrappy

Got another finish. “See the Beauty” is a really old WIP. It’s Me & My Sisters fabric & one of their patterns that I cut out in maybe 2010. I tripped over it in my closet storage while looking for another project & realized it would be perfect for a gift quilt I need for Christmas. So I pulled it out & sewed it up. When I bought it, I thought it would be a challenging quilt, but now it sewed it up in two afternoons! Perspective & experience. The quilting is so cute with that pink thread!

I finished up my purple blocks for my various RSC2021 projects this week. I usually make them, take a photo, then tuck them away in their box. But this week I decided to just keep collecting them on my design wall & enjoy all the purple goodness. So this is a conglomeration. In the upper left are the Chaser blocks from the Scrap Mixology pattern by Cynthia Brunz. I’ve been working on these as a 2020 & 2021 project so I have 9 blue to make, then start putting them together.

I have my plus blocks below, and 4 resized Cozy Stars from the Pat Sloan QAL called Cozy Things. The tall column is the purple column for the Brickyard quilt inspired by Julie of Me and My Quilts. The chevron is actually a row put sideways to fit on my wall & is the purple for the zig-zag quilt from Diann at Little Penguin Quilts. The blocks on the right are the full & half blocks for “Hip to be Square” from “Splash of Color” by Jackie Kunkel. Only orange left until I start putting this quilt together. So lots of progress going on.

The only project not making much progress are the Nearly LeMoyne blocks by Bonnie Hunter. I chose a set of fabrics that aren’t really working for RSC so I haven’t made any for a couple months. I have enough going on that I think that project is going to be set aside & dealt with sometime in the future. I’m trying to finish up some old WIP’s so I will feel better turning this into a new WIP. Not sure why that works exactly, but it does. It’s quilter’s logic: work on what you want at the time!

RSC2021-June is purple

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SoScrappy

I recently was given 2 boxes of fabric from a friend who was tasked with finding a good home for it. She received it from an older woman who was moving to assisted living & couldn’t use it anymore. It included these “sand” fabrics, so I included some random “sea” charm squares from my stash to make 11 charity blocks for the Covered in Love May/June block drive. I’ve been wanting to participate in these block drives but just haven’t gotten around to it, so this donation gave me the motivation & now they have been sent.

These are the 12 purple blocks needed for the King-size Irish Chain quilt using the tutorial from Melissa Corry. This is a Christmas gift so I tackled these first this month. With the orange blocks left to make, then all the sashing & sewing the rows together, I may not be able to wait until orange becomes the color of the month. Rainbow scrap quilts have needs!

These friendship star blocks are low-stress & with all the other things going on this week, they were easy to do & feel like I’d accomplished a goal. Thanks to Deb A. for the inspiration, & more purple in the coming week.

What’s in a Name? 2021 wrap-up

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It’s only May and I’ve finished up another year of What’s in a Name? hosted by Carolina Book Nook. I’ve participated in this challenge for several years & it’s one of my favorites. As always, it was fun to find books that meet the challenge. Here are my reads for this year:

RSC2021-more red in May

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SoScrappy

I have a finish to begin this post. Got the binding sewn last night for this wedding quilt for next month. I got a kit on sale a while ago from Maker Valley & have been saving it for the perfect occasion. The kit was nice because she has wilder low volumes than I do in my stash, so it made for more interest. I made another of these for a wedding last year with a blue heart. They are fun to sew & turn out so cute.

Each month I’m making 4 of these resized Cozy Stars from the Pat Sloan QAL called Cozy Things. Then at the end of the year, I’ll decide how to put them together. After digging through my reds and not finding as many lights as I anticipated, one of these didn’t end up with as much contrast as I would have liked. But it’s only one in a whole quilt, so it will be fine. Still loving these little pinwheels.

Ta-da! The red row for the super fun zig-zag quilt from Diann at Little Penguin Quilts. I smile each month when I finish this row. I want to start sewing rows together, but am holding back until I have them all done & lay them out because I’m not convinced I’m going to do them in spectrum order.

I’m still working on the checkerboard blocks I started last year and needed 5 more reds. I’m using the Scrap Mixology pattern called Chaser by Cynthia Brunz. With last year’s work & this year’s “fill-in to finish” blocks, I’ve only got a few more in two colors left to have a whole quilt. Yay!

“Hip to be Square” needs 6 red blocks & only 1 half block for the edges. The pattern comes from “Splash of Color” by Jackie Kunkel. I cut out the entire quilt in January & made kits of each color; my project box only has orange & purple left. Hopefully those colors are coming soon or I may need to sew ahead!

I don’t have any reds in my kit for the Nearly LeMoyne blocks so this finishes up all my RSC2021 projects in red. With several days left in the month, I can tackle lots of other projects.