Don't give up....ever???

I may have mentioned this book already in the last week. It's called Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. It's a long book. 17 hours in audiobook form. The previous one I read by the same author is Nine Perfect Strangers.

Liane writes character novels. There is no plot per se. The two that I've read(ing) revolve around a very specific event and how the people involved, react to that event. The time frame of the story moves into the past and the present.

They are almost too wieldy as books and subject matter to handle. And the most infuriating thing especially in Truly Madly Guilty is that IT happened at a BBQ, but what was IT???  It wasn't until well over half way through the book that you discover what IT was. I was reading reviews on the book. Oh boy - the reviews were bad. Too long, much too long to get to IT.

I was about 20% into the book at that point and I wasn't sure whether to continue or stop reading. I decided to keep reading. And I'm glad that I did. IT was - well, I'm not going to tell you or even give you a hint. But I'm going to read the book until the end.

Her style is very different from anything I've ever read, but it's so character based and her characters are totally real!!!  Their thoughts (their real thoughts) often come through because of the situation. And the best part - if you listen to the audiobooks, an Aussie reads them with a delightful accent that adds so much to the characters. Liane is an Australian and the books take place in Australia, so it only makes sense that an Australian reads them.

That's one of the reasons why I love audiobooks - if the person reading is good, then the book gets that much more value - of course, I could "make up" those accents myself if I were reading the book.

I do have one small suggestion - while reading all that preamble is OK, there is a lot of stuff that we really don't need to know and doesn't really add anything to the story. So make them shorter!!!

I'm at 62% of reading through the book. I might even finish it today! Let's just say that I'm glad I did NOT pay attention to the reviews. I almost gave it up!

I see she has 8 books on the best seller list. OH god - I might have to read them all. Seriously, they deal with things that could happen, how peoples lives are changed, why they are who they are, and how they react. And it's all so damn real. But they are LONG!!! Get a comfortable pair of headphones and listen to them on audiobook.

So in the quilting world, the same thing applies. Don't listen to others who say, you could give that away or stop there and make the quilt that big. I usually don't listen to people in that department.

One of my UFOs for this year is my Gingerbread Joy quilt by Susan Garman. It's big, there's a ton of handwork and well, I started it years ago. I was pretty much up to date as it was run as a block of the month as a local store - long since closed. The store closed and I abandoned the project. I've been working on it every Monday sewing since the beginning of the year. This is the current status.

There are twelve 12" pieced blocks in the quilt. I'm happy to report that all twelve are DONE.

12" pieced blocks

There are fourteen 6" pieced blocks. I'm happy to report that all fourteen of those are done as well. I finished the last large and small blocks yesterday.

One of the 6" pieced blocks

There are some embroidered strips. All of those are done. I see that they are not trimmed so I may undertake that in the next day or so.

Hand embroidered strips are done - just need to be trimmed

There are twelve 12" heavily appliqued blocks in the quilt. Nine of the blocks are completely done.

3/4 of the appliqued blocks are done!

The hand applique on this block is done. But I feet that the yellow is a bit hard to see on that background so I'm going to stitch a stem stitch around the edges of the yellow with one strand of chocolate brown embroidery floss. I forgot to do that this past Monday. So technically not too much work to complete that block.

Block is almost done

This is the current block that I'm stitching. That's all I did this past Monday and I was there for over 6 hours. My stitching is so awesome that I double stitched one side of a stem that I didn't realize was already stitched in place. How silly of me!!!!!

Current block that I'm stitching

Here's the back of the block so you can see that I'm about halfway through the stitching. It's very time consuming but I'm OK with that. There's zero rush to get this done. I love to listen to the ladies chat while I do this boring work. I could do it at home when I'm listening to the audiobook, but I'm usually sewing so no time to sit and listen at home.

The back of the current block

 One more Monday and this block might be done or very close. That leaves ONE block that hasn't really been started. I have to do all the prep - the freezer paper shapes have been made. I might do the prep or some of the prep this coming week, just to do something different and then I can stop carrying the applique prep tools with me!!!

Once that project is completed and I've got borders and backing fabric all lined up for it, then I get to move onto a hand embroidery project that is also on the UFO list. I might just get those two done this year!! That would be totally awesome!

I have to say that as far as finishing things go this year, I'm not getting much completed. I'm getting lots done, but not completed. That's OK. Nothing is being started that isn't getting completed, so I'm OK with that.

Before I go, I have to share with you how I read magazines these days. I have the magazine and my iPad beside me. The current magazines often reference something on the internet and if I want to look it up, there's no time like the present to do that! I still rip pages out for some stuff that I want to keep. The rest? In the recycling bin.

Made some good progress on one paperwork item that I really want off my back. Hopefully, that will be finished today.

On that note, I'm out of here!

Have a super day and stay dry!!!

Ciao!!