Before I get into the books that I listened to in November I want to answer a question that someone posted last month. Susan R. posted: I love reading your "reading lists" and have gotten some good books from you. Your mention of an excel spreadsheet for reading made me sit up and take notice. I never thought of doing that but it is a great idea. Would you mind posting what you keep track of and how? I find that lately I start to read a book and discover that I have read it in the past. I don't like to reread a book because the suspense in not there, if that makes sense. Would love to start a spreadsheet but not sure what would be the best format. Here's my simple spreadsheet that I started in Excel in 1995. Of course there are lots of free spreadsheet options out there, like Sheets in Google Docs. If I were starting this now I'd probably start it in Google Docs so I could have access to it anywhere. Of course I can also just store this document in Google Docs too. But the point is that my spreadsheet is really simple. I capture the title, author, book rating (1 - 10), narrator, narrator rating (1 - 4), comments and date finished. The nice thing about an electronic spreadsheet is the ability to sort on any field or search out names. I sorted on date to discover that my first entry was January 1995 and the book was Pulse by Edna Buchanan and I didn't like it much. The spreadsheet currently has 1221 entries and that's an average run rate of 53 books a year. I know that since I retired that I'm going through them much faster than when I was working. I do reference the spreadsheet often. If I think I found a new author I'll search the spreadsheet just to make sure. I'll also check the narrator to see if I've heard and rated them before. A bad narrator can really ruin a good book. When I finish a book I add it to the spreadsheet, review it on Audible and write the blog review before I start the next book. It's not all that much work and it's been really beneficial. It was a great month of reading! I loved every book that I read this month. One of them was, hands down, the most important book that I've read all year. Read on to see which one. Golden Prey By John Sandford, Narrated by Richard Ferrone I've been saving this one for a few months and decided that the week that I got sick was just the right time to treat myself to it. This is #27 in the Lucas Davenport series and you might expect that the character and storylines might get boring at this point in the series. But authors like John Sandford, Michael Connelly and Anne Perry know when it's time to send their characters on different adventures. John Sandford has moved Lucas away from Minnesota crimes by putting him in the US Marshall Service. He still lives and is based out of Minneapolis but he works wherever he needs to go on the next "hunting" expedition. This time he's searching for a group that robbed a drug cartel counting house and murdered several people, including a young girl. We are introduced to new investigation partners that I expect (and hope) we will see in the next novel. Richard Ferrone, in my opinion, is perfect for narrating Lucas' stories. A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett, Narrated by Simon Prebble Usually when you think of a Follett novel you expect about 30 hours of fine listening. This is an early novel (1995) and is shorter than most. But it's still a great story. This one opens in 1766 with Mack McAsh wanting to escape his life of slavery in a Scottish coal mine. Lizzie Hamlin is caught in an unhappy marriage to a spineless husband. Both want to escape. It may be one of his early works but it's still another great Follett historical novel. Mercer Girls by Libble Hawker, Narrated by Amy McFaddin A few years ago Chris and I took a vacation trip to Seattle and one of my favorite things was the underground tour at Pioneer Square. That is what piqued my interest in this book. In the 1860's the ratio of men to women in Seattle was about 10:1 and most of those women were "seamstresses", the common name for prostitutes. A man named Asa Mercer had an idea to bring "good" women from the East to Seattle to be wives. He specifically went to Lowell, MA to recruit the women because Lowell has been hit hard by the war and many of the mills had closed and women were unemployed. He hoped to bring 200 women but actually brought only about a dozen on his first trip. These women were knows as the Mercer Girls. This book introduces us to 3 fictional Mercer girls to explore what might have enticed young women to make that voyage and how they might have integrated into Seattle culture. It's an interesting story although the characters might have been developed a little too rigidly. The narrator was good but definitely better suited for romance novels. Her voice is good but too girly for my taste. At the end of the book the author provides some good information on some of the real Mercer girls and how she developed her characters. All in all, it was a good read. The Art of Invisibility by Kevin Mitnick, Narrated by Ray Porter Hands down, this is the most important book that I've read all year. It's so important that this is what my friends are getting for Christmas. (They probably aren't going to be particularly impressed but, hopefully, at least one of them will read it.) I recommend reading a paper version so you can bookmark things rather than listening and trying to take notes. Because this is a book that will result in action items. I know that most of us have given up on any concept of privacy on the internet but we do need to know just where and how we are exposed and some things we can do to mitigate the exposure. Kevin Mitnick was the worlds most famous hacker and I read his autobiography, Ghost In The Wires, a few years ago. He's really, really smart and also kind of a sanctimonious jerk but that doesn't negate the knowledge that he shares. In this book there is an overriding focus on actually being invisible on the internet which is something most of us aren't interested in at all. But we do need to know what data is tracked on our cars, smartphones, computer browsers, fitness trackers and appliances. Believe me, it's a LOT more than you think. With that knowledge he provides some reasonably easy things that we can each do to better protect ourselves and our families. Honestly, I believe that someone in every family should read this book and don't buy Alexa unless you read this book first! The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly, Narrated by Titus Welliver Harry Bosch #19. Harry is working part time at San Fernando PD on a series of rape cases that he's tied together. He's also doing private work on the side for a wealthy mogul who wants to know if he has an heir. Another great Bosch novel. Great storylines and characters. His half-brother Mickey Haller also makes an appearance. Hold Tight by Harlan Coben, Narrated by Scott Brick Years ago I read some of the early books in Coben's Myron Bolitar series. I didn't care for them but I had read that the stand-alone novels were better than the series. That was a good recommendation. It's ironic that I read this book so soon after reading "The Art of Invisibility" because this one is all about computer and internet privacy. There are a couple of storylines that, at first, seem completely unrelated ut everything ties together in the end. The main story is about the Baye family. Adam Baye's parents have put spy software on their son's computer because of his behavior since a high school friend committed suicide. There's another storyline where women are being abducted and tortured to death. It's a good story and held my interest throughout. I picked this one up in one of their sales and I think I'll try more Coben books again. Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret George, Narrated by Kate Reading I finished off the month with one of my favorite historical fiction writers, Margaret George. This is a fictional biography of Mary and therefore a story about Jesus. Thanksgiving week seemed the perfect time to start reading this book and I truly enjoyed it. If you are a theologian or academic you may hate this book but if you go into it understanding that it's historical FICTION I think you will enjoy the story. We know very little about the real Mary Magdalene and this book gives her a plausible story and personality. For people, like me, with very little religious education it's nice way to get some understanding of the story of Christianity. Thanks to a lot of football this weekend and last night, I can finally declare the ornament-making era over! This one is called Midnight Sun and, honestly, it was one of the most difficult. By difficult I meant that there was way too much gluing and too little pinning or thread work. This kit is still for sale if you want to make one for yourself! Before you buy one just know that this hanger will drive you nuts. It is pretty, though! Lots and lots of bling on this one! I started making these in 1992 and Midnight Sun is #123. I'll put up the trees this weekend to display them and will share lots of photos. I was very excited to start clearing this hobby away. I have worked on every one of the 123 ornament on this tray. It was really convenient. The very old Tupperware container was perfect for sorting beads and trims for each kit. That went in the garbage first! The tray is a great lap work surface so I'll keep it. Everything else was returned to it's proper spot in the sewing room. I kept that tray in a drawer in the TV room so it was easy to get out, work for a couple of hours and then put away. As I was cleaning out the drawer I found these ornaments. I totally forgot that I used to make these with leftover beads from the kits. I don't even remember how these were made but my friend Google helped me find kits of you are interested. I'm sure that you could find free instructions with a few minutes of searching. Now I have to find a home for these and I get to fill an empty drawer!
Thanks to everyone who entered the Giving Thanks giveaways! Here are the winners of each prize:
Day 1 - Waste Fabrics - Michelle Weatherson Day 2 - Big Scraps - Joanna Mack Day 3 - Glass plate - Peggy Davie Day 4 - Shibori fabrics - Marcy George Day 5 - Shibori books - Cynthia Lee Day 6 - Gift Certificate - Carol Deards! The fabric of the week this week is the Sepia Shades Pack and it's on sale 20% off through Sunday! Sepia is very popular for doing monochromatic portrait quilts. Shades Packs are dyed when ordered so there's no limit to what you can buy. If you order multiple quantities it comes as one cut. For example, order 2 quantities for 1/2 yard cuts. Orders received by Wednesday morning (EST) will be shipped December 4. Orders placed after Wednesday morning will be shipped December 11. New Reflections!Gradients Back in Stock!Need gifts?Before we get to the postcards here's your last reminder to enter all of the Giving Thanks drawings from last week! The winners will be announced Wednesday! The cold that I got Halloween has really lingered so I'm still operating at about 70% capacity. The cold turned into something else so now I'm on antibiotics and expect to feel great soon! I had plans to work on some other things last week but in the end decided to focus on my Christmas postcards. I could work on them in shifts whenever I had the energy. I finished up the second, and most involved, set. Here's my Tacky Town Christmas cards! These things were a ton of work but I got to use all of my blingy threads and geegaws. Here's how I made them. It all starts with this sunprinted fabric. As with the Stag cards, these were sun printed with a stencil. I'd tell you where to buy the stencil but I can't find it anywhere. Anyway, also as with the Stag cards, sunprinting was a complete waste of time. It would have been faster and just as effective to simply STENCIL with paint as the word "stencil" implies. I have a few stencils that work great for sun printing but mostly there's really no effective difference with stenciling vs sun printing. I fused these to the stiff interfacing and was ready to go! First a little outlining with metallic thread. For the windows and hearts I went around then 3 times to build up thread. Otherwise it just didn't show much. The outline of the building is done with Superior Glitter thread. It actually runs better than the metallic in my machine. Through making these cards I learned that my Brother Innov-is machine really doesn't care for the specialty threads. I feel a machine upgrade in my future. I really didn't have a plan for these. I either picked an element that I wanted to do or a thread that I wanted to play with and did that until I was tired of it and then moved to something else. Next I wanted to play with these cool metallic braids that I picked up at the Hampton Mancuso show last year. These are for bobbin work or couching. I put it in the bobbin and did the garland hanging from the buildings. I was getting tired of stitching by this point but decided that this building needed a little tree. Next up was foiling. I haven't done that in a long time! So during one of the football games I applied foiling glue to all of the parts that needed more tacky bling. 24 times.... A smart person who plans properly would have fused on the postcard backs before doing the foiling glue but that's not what I did. After the foil glue dried I applied foil to 2 doors, a roof line and a few windows. THEN I fused on the backs. I had to be careful not to get the iron too hot. I didn't want it to ruin the foiling. Then I edged them on the serger. This thread is Superior Halo. To be honest, I don't love this thread. I tried using it on the machine for bobbin work and it's just too fragile. I only have 2 spools (red and green) and it runs fine in the serger so I'll try to use it up on Christmas cards. over the next couple of years. But I wasn't done! More bling needed! Crystals were just the right finishing touch. My tree got a star, garland and doors got wreaths and some windows got lights. I edged some in green and some in red just so I cold use both colors. I have 24 of these cards ready to address and mail. These were a ton of work so they will go only to the people who I know will appreciate them.
I'm working on the third, and easiest, set now and I think they are going to turn out to be the crowd favorite!
Every day this week there will be a new giveaway but you don't have to check in on the blog during your holiday week. Each giveaway will be open through Tuesday of next week.
There are multiple opportunities to win each day: - every one gets 1 entry - newsletter subscribers get 1 extra entry - Facebook followers get 1 extra entry - Customers get 5 entries!
This is it, it's the last day of the giveaway and it's the biggest prize that I've ever had! The winner of today's drawing will receive a $50 gift certificate to use on anything in my shop!
Enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter box below. If the Rafflecopter box doesn't load, click on the link below to get the box to load.
Every day this week there will be a new giveaway but you don't have to check in on the blog during your holiday week. Each giveaway will be open through Tuesday of next week.
There are multiple opportunities to win each day: - every one gets 1 entry - newsletter subscribers get 1 extra entry - Facebook followers get 1 extra entry - Customers get 5 entries!
Yesterday's prize is a package of shibori fabrics but maybe you want to learn to make your own. I've learned all of my shibori techniques from books and these are 2 great ones for beginners. Both are out of print now and sell used for over $20 each. They will be a great addition to your dyeing library. Along with the books I'm including a few yards of white fabric to get you started!
Enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter box below. If the Rafflecopter box doesn't load, click on the link below to get the box to load.
Every day this week there will be a new giveaway but you don't have to check in on the blog during your holiday week. Each giveaway will be open through Tuesday of next week.
There are multiple opportunities to win each day: - every one gets 1 entry - newsletter subscribers get 1 extra entry - Facebook followers get 1 extra entry - Customers get 5 entries!
I love pole-wrapped Shibori fabrics. The textures are so unique and there's really no other way to get this effect. I make them for the shop and for each piece I make for the shop I add another piece, about a fat eighth in size, for myself. I've built up a nice box of beautiful shibori fabrics that I use in various projects. The biggest project was my Lura's Choice quilt. Here are 3 blocks from that quilt that feature some of my shibori fabrics.
Today's prize is a collection of shibori fabrics from my personal collection. These are all about a fat eighth each so you'll receive over a yard of fabric. Enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter box below. If the Rafflecopter box doesn't load, click on the link below to get the box to load.
Every day this week there will be a new giveaway but you don't have to check in on the blog during your holiday week. Each giveaway will be open through Tuesday of next week.
There are multiple opportunities to win each day: - every one gets 1 entry - newsletter subscribers get 1 extra entry - Facebook followers get 1 extra entry - Customers get 5 entries!
I love my fused glass hobby although I don't get to work with it as often as I'd like. When I practice glass fusing I produce a lot of things. I sell a few of them and give away a lot of them. This is the perfect season to share this piece with someone. I made this when I was working with layering stenciled glass powders and it's a technique that I want to explore more.
This plate is about 8" square, washable and totally food safe. Enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter box below. If the Rafflecopter box doesn't load, click on the link below to get the box to load.
Every day this week there will be a new giveaway but you don't have to check in on the blog during your holiday week. Each giveaway will be open through Tuesday of next week.
There are multiple opportunities to win each day: - every one gets 1 entry - newsletter subscribers get 1 extra entry - Facebook followers get 1 extra entry - Customers get 5 entries!
Usually in my giveaway weeks I have a couple of days of color-themed scrap bags. I don't have enough small scraps for that this time but I do have some very big scraps! These 3 fabrics equal several yards of fabrics. They are either left over hand dyed wide backings or bolt ends of backing fabric that have been dyed separately. Each one of these is at least 1/2 yard by 108". That's enough fabric for backings for small quilts or borders for a larger quilt.
Enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter box below. If the Rafflecopter box doesn't load, click on the link below to get the box to load. |
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In Bloglovin you need to search "Colorways By Vicki Welsh" to find the blog. About Vicki
I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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