Books

So I haven't blogged in a really long time, over a year, on this blog.  I had pictures of things I wanted to post but never got a round to it.  I am trying to get back into it.

Today, though, I want to talk about some recent books I have read.

I have read the Matched Trilogoy by Ally Condie over the last year or so.  I love that series of books.  The first one sucked me right in.  I read both the first and second books within days.  The third one took me a little longer to get into than the first one but was still very compeling.

I also read Agenda 21 by Glenn Beck.  That disturbed me as much as 1984 did when I read it in High School.  Gosh, I hope we never get to that point.  At one time I thought nothing like 1984 could ever happen but I am seeing it more and more every time we vote in people that pass laws that slowly take away our freedoms.  Unfortunately there are evil people that exist and no matter how many laws we have it will never stop all the evil.  That is all I am going to say about that.

And I am always reading books by my favorite current author, Brandon Sanderson.  I have read The Way of the Kings twice.  Love that and can't wait for the next one to come out.  I check his website out every few days to see if he has made an progress on that one yet.  He has been finishing up Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series but now that is done I hope that he finishes that one soon. I have read several other books by him.  The Alloy of the Law, The Emperors Soul, and  Legion (I hope he explores that one with more books.)  My favorite two books from him so far are Elantris and The Way of the Kings but I enjoy all his books.

I have also started three middle school book series (I read them first and then if I like them read them to my children)  The Shadow Children, The Missing, and the Seven Towers.  All excellent.

I have a huge list of books I have read or am reading or will read so I will post so more about books later on.

Baby boy outfit

 I think this turned out really good.  The shirt it white with Noah Ark print.  I still need to hand sew the collar in the inside.  The jeans and hat are out of a slightly stretch denim.  This took longer to make than I thought but it was fun.

 I love my new sewing machine.  My buttonholes look flawless and it even sews on the buttons and saves me so much time.  There is a small pocket on the left side. 

On the jeans I foregoed the snap buttons since I always find it easier to pull them up and down and I hate putting in snap tape.  I think I made this whole outfit for $10 or less.  I haveplenty of fabric to mae a few other pieces, at least out of the denim.

Baby blankets

I have finished two baby blankets for our baby due in October.

 This one is two pieces of flannel sewn together.  I also quilted around the blocks to keep the flannel from shifting in washes. 

This one is crocheted.  The varigated is called ocean and then the solid is aqua.  It is mostly shells and puffs.  It was fairly easy and has a little cape and bootie that goes with it that I am still working on.

Mini Hamburgers

We had our Ward Fish Fry on July 8th.  Everyone was asked to bring a dessert.  A few days earlier I bought a magazine from my favorite cooking magazine "Taste of Home" called "Fun Food."  I found this really cute idea.  I don't like standing for long periods so this was something I could do sitting down.  You need vanilla wafers, mini chocolate cookies (I used mint like it suggested,) coconut, red and green food coloring and white frosting.  You tint 1/4 cup frosting red and put that on half of the vanilla wafers.  Tint coconut green and then sprinkle on red frosting.  Place chocolate cookie on top.  Frost remaining vanilla wafers with white frosting and place on top.  The recipe said it would make 40, I got 36 since I ran out of red frosting.  They turned out cute, were really good, and were all ate up at the party.

Painting

Another thing the kids enjoy doing is painting.  I got Timmy a little wooden airplane and Sheila a picture frame and they went to town.

Notebooks

I bought a bunch of craft ideas for the kids to do over the summer.  I got these foam notebooks and foam stickers and the kids made their own notebooks.  I made Kimberly's for her and since her full name wouldn't fit I used Kim but we do not call her that usually.

Dolphin Quilt Phase 1

I bought some material when Ray and I first got married to make us a quilt for our bed.  Well, I finished some of the piecing but then when other projects came up I put it away and nearly forgot about it.  Last winter I was going through all my material and purging some of it when I came across it.  I needed more material for the border, especially since I decided to make it a king incase we ever got a king size bed.  Luckily, Walmart still carried some of the material I needed.  Just a few weeks ago I finished the quilt top.

I have now finished sandwiching the layers and trimming  them to size.  Unfortunately I was trying to machine quilt the bulky thing on my machine and the backing and batting slid and it was so uneven.  I now have to unpick all I have machine stitched.  I decided I will finish the binding and then do the hand stitching and then the machine stitching last.  I have put it away again because I am making Timmy, my son, a quilt and need to get it tied before I am too big to get on the floor and do it.  (I have that one about half of the quilt top done currently and work on it daily.)    Once I finish that one I will take this one out again and if I don't have it ready for the fair this year it should be for next year although I would like to have this one done so we can start using it.  My other quilt I made for us when we got married is wearing out and we need a new one.