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2026 My Reader’s Block sign-ups

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It’s time to think about new reading challenges. It wouldn’t be a reading year without doing this one for the 13th year. My goal for Mount TBR this year is Mt. Vancouver: 36 books.

The Virtual Mount TBR Challenge is only for books I do not own. They may be borrowed from the library, a friend, found on a free e-book site, or anywhere else that allows me to temporarily “checkout” the book.
My goal is White Plume Mountain: Read 48 books from my Virtual TBR/Wish List/Library.

I participated in Bev’s Calendar of Crime challenge last year for the first time & had fun, so here we go again. Twelve books, one representing each month, are required for a complete challenge. To claim a book, it must fit one of the categories for the month you wish to fulfill. Unless otherwise specified, the category is fulfilled within the actual story. So I’ll be looking through my mysteries to find monthly mystery fun.

RSC2025-December progress

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You may recognize this RSC2024 project of mine. It’s FPP with Lori Holt’s Wonky Hearts papers. I used a rainbow layer cake I had, then finally used the hoarded layer cake of Tula Pink Fairy Dust that I was saving for “the perfect project”. The flimsy hung around in the closet & finally got quilted earlier this year using the matching Fairy Dust wide backing which is the same pattern blown up. So cute! Then it hung around in the closet for a few more months when I pulled it out this month & sewed down the binding.

I finally eked out a little time with my sewing machine yesterday, so I cut & started sewing the snowman tabletopper I bought supplies for in the summer. You know, so it would be done in plenty of time for January. (eye roll) Maybe you will see it finished soon. Between Christmas & New Year’s I’m going to finalize my RSC2026 plan. I’ve been noodling around some ideas & need to make decisions for the new year!

2025 My Reader’s Block wrap-ups

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I hadn’t done the Color Coded challenge for a while & decided I wanted to play again this year. It took me all year to get my “colorful” titles done, but here’s my line-up.

Blue– Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
Red– A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce #3) by Alan Bradley
Yellow-The Golden Tresses of the Dead (Flavia de Luce, #10) by Alan Bradley
Green– Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink
Brown– What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust (Flavia de Luce, #11) by Alan Bradley
Black– The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19) by Louise Penny
White– White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton
Any other color (Purple, Orange, Silver, Pink, etc).– The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag (Flavia de Luce #2) by Alan Bradley (purple cover)
A word/image that implies color (Rainbow, Polka-dot, Plaid, Shadow, Paint, Ink, etc).– A Tarnished Canvas (Lady Darby Mystery, #13) by Anna Lee Huber

My goal for Mount TBR this year was Mt. Vancouver: 36 books. I kept getting distracted by new books & library books, so my TBR progress slowed. With a dedicated push in December, I made my goal & moved some books out!

The Virtual Mount TBR Challenge is only for books I do not own. They may be borrowed from the library, a friend, found on a free e-book site, or anywhere else that allows me to temporarily “checkout” the book.
My goal was to repeat White Plume Mountain: Read 48 books from my Virtual TBR/Wish List/Library. Because of all the library reading above, I made my goal.

I participated in Bev’s Calendar of Crime challenge for the first time this year & it was fun. Twelve books, one representing each month, are required for a complete challenge & I did it.

Jan– A Late Frost (Orchard Mystery #11) by Sheila Connolly
Feb– Forget Me Never (China Bayles #29) by Susan Wittig Albert
March– The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (Flavia de Luce, #6) by Alan Bradley 
April– Speaking from Among the Bones (Flavia de Luce, #5) by Alan Bradley 
May– The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1) by Tony Hillerman
June– Rock with Wings (Leaphorn & Chee, #20) by Anne Hillerman
July– A Thief of Time (Leaphorn & Chee, #8) by Tony Hillerman
August– Where Dead Men Meet by Mark Mills
Sept– Talking God (Leaphorn & Chee, #9) by Tony Hillerman
Oct– Nipped in the Bud (Orchard Mystery #12) by Sheila Connolly
Nov– Between a Flock and a Hard Place (Meg Langslow, #35) by Donna Andrews
Dec– I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce, #4) by Alan Bradley

RSC2025-December wk. 2

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Hooray! I got the borders on “County Fair”, so the second of my 8 RSC2025 projects is now assembled. Next year I am scaling down my project count.

I got the binding hand-sewed down on Bonnie Hunter’s L&E challenge from last year called “County Clare”. So many little pieces, but I’m glad to have it finished & love the secondary circle pattern of green squares.

I made some Black & White framed blocks for the new block drive at Many Hands Many Hearts. If you want to make some, too, get all the details here. She wants blocks with black on white & some with white on black frames. I opened my black on white box, cut some strips & started sewing. This is what happened. Maybe next month, I’ll open my white on black box & make a few more? Who knows?

Finally, I was able to dove-tail & accomplish two goals with this top finish. I made these blocks for RSC2024 & 2025, so it becomes my 12th WIP for the year & I made my goal of finishing 12 tops begun before 2025. Plus, it becomes my 3rd RSC2025 top put together. So yay! This will be going to Cynthia at Many Hands Many Hearts & hopefully a teen will like it.

RSC2025-December is here

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I had hoped to get “County Fair” to the end this week, but alas, it was not to be. I simply ran out of time & energy. Mostly because there’s a LOT of sashing in this. All those pieces between every block took a while to assemble. I got the stop border sides on last night before giving up. So the top borders & then the white? low volume? wider borders will go on & it will be done.

Not sure what is next, but hopefully I can get one more WIP done to meet my goal of 12 for the year. We’ll see. I’m sick now with a stupid virus, so sewing will slow down because my brain doesn’t want to work. Brain fog!

Hope your RSC2025 assembling is moving faster than mine!