Carey Family

Scott and Sue Family

Read It Again, Sam 2015 wrap-up

by Leave a Comment

Play it SamRead It Again, Sam 2015

I usually reread some books during the year just for fun and often the rereading comes as listening to the audio of a book I’ve already read and enjoyed. So I decided to just go ahead and not feel guilty about my rereads by joining the challenge this year hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block. I’m signed up for “Feeling Nostalgic: 8 books“, which I completed in the first quarter of the year. I decided to just keep going, but now that I’ve re-read 30 books, I’ve decided to call this challenge for the year. Because apparently I’m really “Living in the Past”.

 

Déjà vu: Reread 4 books
Feeling Nostalgic: Reread 8 books
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Reread 12 books
Living in the Past: Reread 16+ books

My list of books:

1. The Saddlemaker’s Wife, Earlene Fowler
2. The Dead in their Vaulted Arches, (Flavia de Luce #6) Alan Bradley
3. The Road to Cardinal Valley, Earlene Fowler
4. Sinner, Maggie Stiefvater
5. Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1), Marissa Meyer
6. At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon
7. Insurgent (Divergent #2), Veronica Roth
8. Allegiant (Divergent #3), Veronica Roth
Challenge complete
9. A Light in the Window (Mitford #2), Jan Karon
10. These High, Green Hills (Mitford #3), Jan Karon
11. Out to Canaan (Mitford #4), Jan Karon
12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
13. A New Song (Mitford #5), Jan Karon
14. A Common Life: The Wedding Story (Mitford #6), Jan Karon
15. In This Mountain (Mitford #7), Jan Karon
16. The House at Riverton, Kate Morton
17. On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder
18. By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder
19. Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
20. These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
21. Light from Heaven (Mitford #8), Jan Karon
22. Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2), Marissa Meyer
23. Home to Holly Springs (Father Tim #1), Jan Karon
24. In the Company of Others (Father Tim #2), Jan Karon
25. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
26. Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (#3), J.K. Rowling
27. Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3), Marissa Meyer
28. Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (#4), J.K. Rowling
29. A Test of Wills (Ian Rutledge #1), Charles Todd
30. Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (#5), J.K. Rowling

Sue’s new studio

by 5 Comments

 

For several years, my creative space has been in a basement room and I have never liked being in the basement. I need light and space! Even though our boys are grown men and haven’t really lived in our home for more than a couple months at a time since 2007 & 2009 respectively, we have kept their bedrooms intact so they had a place to return that was their own. But over the last couple years, I have been eyeing those upstairs bedrooms with increasing envy and due to several life changes for all of us, Scott finally agreed to let me have one as my new studio. It was Mark’s bedroom for several years, then was the home of his recording studio, Mountain Beach House Studio. It underwent a complete transformation to become a recording studio, and when he found a great space a few blocks from his apartment in his city of residence, he moved all the equipment out and it became a guest bedroom. But I set up a folding table and ironing board and it became my  quilt space for several months with my paper crafts still in the basement along with all my fabric and supplies. But earlier this year the decision was made to make it my studio and the transformation began! [Read more…] about Sue’s new studio

Color Coded 2015 wrap-up

by 1 Comment

Color Coded 2015

2015 The Color Coded Reading Challenge

This is my third year for this fun-filled and colorful challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block. Thankfully, she’s altered the rules a little this year by allowing the cover to count if it is mostly the color. I had a tough time finding Brown books in my TBR pile last year, and I did again this year as well, so I went with a brown cover. Another reading challenge finished up for the year!

*Read nine books in the following categories with the color in the title or on the cover

1. A book with “Blue” or any shade of Blue: Touch Blue, Cynthia Lord
2. A book with “Red” or any shade of Red:  The Road to Cardinal Valley, Earlene Fowler
3. A book with “Yellow” or any shade of Yellow: These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. A book with “Green” or any shade of Green: These High, Green Hills (Mitford #3), Jan Karon
5. A book with “Brown” or any shade of Brown: Four Souls, Louise Erdrich
6. A book with “Black” or any shade of Black: Black Dove, White Raven, Elizabeth Wein
7. A book with “White” or any shade of White: Snow White Red-Handed, Maia Chance
8. A book with any other color: The Orchid House, Lucinda Riley
9. A book with a word that implies color: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, Candice Millard

Ode to the 1930’s-blocks #12 & #13

by Leave a Comment

OK, I said I was trying to catch up on our progress, remember? So mid-summer we got these blocks done. Block #12 is 9″x9″, called Spools and we did it in the same color scheme as the pattern. We looked at it and said “no prob, we’ve made spool blocks before”. Then we looked at the pattern and realized that the four sides around the center squares aren’t pieced with a rectangle and triangles at each side but are all one piece. Yikes! The pattern instructions say to use a Y-seam construction, but not how to do it. Gulp! We’ve never done Y-seams. Besides the first reason that ShaRee likes the sampler and wanted to make it, one of the reasons for doing this quilt is to learn new skills. So we headed to the “university” of YouTube where all tutorial knowledge resides to find out how to make Y-seams. [Read more…] about Ode to the 1930’s-blocks #12 & #13

What’s In a Name? 2015 wrap-up

by Leave a Comment

challenge_2015wian_zpsafb42579

What’s In a Name? 2015

I’ve been a part of this challenge since 2009, so it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t join this fun challenge. It has changed hosts over the years and is being hosted again by The Worm Hole. I have more than one book for each category and have gone above and beyond the requirements. I could go on to the end of the year adding books, but I’m calling it for 2015 so I can see some challenges finished and not have to do all my wrap-up posts in December. Here are the books I read for this challenge: [Read more…] about What’s In a Name? 2015 wrap-up