Monday Miscellaneous

Quilters Know How to Spoil Other Quilters:

And spoil me, P. from The Way I Sew It did!   I was the lucky recipient of one of her adorable little clutches.  We've all been admiring the pictures of her clutches, but seeing first hand all the work and care she put into these, well it's just darn impressive.

See, even the inside has such nice detailing.  I love the musical print she used for the inside (I don't know if she remembers, but I happened to send her this one--how cool is that?).  And it's got pockets for carrying your driver's license and credit cards.





Since the purse I use isn't much larger than this it will be easy for me to make the switch.  The clutch is so pretty, I almost hate to use it, but then I've had people say that about quilts, and I really want my quilts to be used, so I'll be using this clutch.

And pillowcases!

I love the way she made the edging on each one from a different fabric.  Such a delightful bit of whimsy. 

Lighting:

In the sewing room, it's so important to have the light right.  We've been struggling with that.  The house came with these light fixtures.  They're pretty, but the frosted glass cuts out more light than one would expect.  The fixture holds two bulbs.  We tried changing the two bulbs to brighter bulbs.  Not good enough.  We tried changing them to CFLs called "Daylight".  It's bright, but weird.  Kind of like the light you would expect standing next to a blue O class star.  Made me feel creepy.

Then we decided to change out the light fixtures.  There are two in the sewing room and we managed to get one done.  This arrangement is much better:  3 bulbs, uncovered, and we can point them any direction we'd like.  It was our first time changing out a light fixture, and I must admit to feeling a bit of accomplishment.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand:

Every once in awhile I get it into my head to read a novel considered classic instead of my usual mystery or sci-fi genres.  Apparently Ayn Rand has somewhat of a following.  People either really like her work or really hate it.  Their opinions seem to be based on some philosophy she is supposedly promoting through her novels.  Eric, my cousin, and I had neither one read any Ayn Rand, and so he bought The Fountainhead, read it and passed it along to me.

I've made it only slightly past halfway and have put it down.  It's looking very unlikely that I will resume reading it.  I can't tell you how rare that is.  First off, if she's promoting any particular philosophy I don't see it.  I'm still at a loss about all the hullabaloo surrounding that issue.  I'd say it was because I haven't finished the book, but Eric has, and he doesn't see it either.  My reason for discontinuing the book is that I simply despise all the main characters.  I've found that I really don't care what happens to them.

Now, what I'm wondering is have any of you read it?  What are your thoughts on this book?

Redecorating the Blog:

Following in the footsteps of others, I've redecorated my blog.  Honestly, I'm not sure I'm pleased with it.  It seems a bit loud and busy to me.  However, I'm also a person who takes awhile to get used to change, so this often clouds my opinion.  We'll see if this remains or not.