Favorite Things Friday--Kiss Noir

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of vampire fiction.  You won't find me reading the Twilight Series.  I even missed Anne Rice's highly acclaimed Interview with a Vampire (although after Kiss Noir I am considering remedying that situation).   That said, I am a fan of good fiction no matter what guise it takes.  So for Favorite Things Friday, I give you Kiss Noir. 

Robynn Clairday is an excellent and eclectic writer.  In the past, she has written more for the young adult audience, having two non-fiction books published with Scholastic, Tell Me This Isn't Happening and Expect the Unexpected.  Then later, the young adult fiction novel, Confessions of a Boyfriend Stealer with Delacorte. 

I became acquainted with Robynn's work when she contacted my mother, who was then teaching 4th grade, about working with her on the Tell Me This Isn't Happening project--actual embarrassing moments submitted by children.  The collaboration was very successful.  Robynn got great material for the book, and my mom was handed a wonderful teaching opportunity.  The first book was so successful, that Expect the Unexpected was born, and my mom and her class (the following year) again collaborated with Robynn.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when I found that Robynn's first foray into adult fiction, Kiss Noir, had been published.  Kiss Noir is steamily romantic, scary, and nerve-wrackingly thrilling.  Right now, the book is available as an e-book from BookStrand Publishing, but I've been hearing that it will be available in hard copy on down the line.

So what is your favorite thing this Friday?  Head on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas and join in the fun!

Is Camouflage A Color?

A month or two back, I made an addition to my Quilting Bucket List: making each of my cousins a quilt. I've taken great pains to try to keep my Bucket List at 12 projects or under. The purpose of the Bucket List is to prioritize the quilts I want to make before I die, so that means I can't put every quilt that catches my eye on it. However, by adding the Cousins Quilts to the list, I've broken my own rule as that puts the Quilting Bucket List at well over 12 projects. Perhaps some of the other quilts on the list will go to some of my cousins....? Who am I kidding? In all honestly that's not likely to happen. So it just means I'd better get my butt in gear.

To that end, I've been quizzing my cousins about their favorite colors. Some have proven to be more forthcoming than others. I'm not sure what's up with that.

My cousin, Aaron, wasn't at all shy when I asked him though. Right off the bat, favorite color: Camouflage. What? (Actually, in my mind it was more like WTF?) Is camouflage even a color? Okay, so I guess it was a one word answer for a list of colors.

I quizzed Aaron about other colors that I thought might go along with the basic camouflage color scheme.  Navy?  I got an unhappy face for an answer.

Then, Aaron, sweetie that he is (but don't tell him I said that) says, "Even if you make me a pink quilt, I'll use it; but just not in front of the guys."  I had to laugh.  I also assured him that I wouldn't make him a pink quilt.

Thinking of combat pants and tents, I started perusing the online shops for camouflage colored quilting fabric.  I didn't have much luck.  Most of the fabric I found was indeed the heavy denim one would use for making pants.  It wasn't until my first trip to our local Wal-mart here in Newton that I found quilting camouflage fabric.  I bought four yards.

Monday Miscellaneous

Painting:

I'm afraid dear readers that you're doomed to listen to me whine about painting in the same vein that we listened to Mrs. P. of Quilting in My Pyjamas whine about kitchen renovations.  And so it begins.

We had four days in the house before our furniture arrived, and we didn't pass the time idly.  No, we began painting immediately.  Decided we had just enough time to prime and paint behind where the fridge and washer & dryer would go.  Here is a picture of that work:

Then our walls sat like that for three and a half weeks.  Today we finally got back to it.  Got the remainder of the laundry room primed today.  The previous owners did something a bit odd; they painted the door with flat paint instead of semi-gloss.  You can see how grubby it is near the knob.  We'll be using semi-gloss.

In priming, I realized that part of the issue with the paint job in the house is not just the color, but that these shades seem to suck the light out of the room.  It may also be because they used a flat paint, as opposed to the satin paint we are using.  Not sure.  Just know I'm tired of walking around and feeling like it's dark in every room.  (Really, I'm not crazy.)

Joined A Gym:

On Saturday, my mom and I joined a gym for the first time in our lives.  We know the Kansas winter will preclude any outdoor activities like walking much of the time.  In Nevada, we could almost always go out and walk at some part of the day.  But I'm excited about having access to the weight machines.  I've got creaky knees--which I'd like to blame on old age, but I've had them since my late 20's.  My uncle, the physical therapist, told me what he would recommend to strengthen the knees, and the exercises really require weight machines.  We've got our orientation appointment tomorrow afternoon at 3PM.

Latest Book Read:

Undue Influence by Steve Martini
Genre:  Mystery/Courtroom Drama

This is the 2nd book I've read by this author.  Steve Martini has written a series of books featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani.  The basic formula is that the attorney must solve the mystery in order to defend his client.  Good mysteries with a twist.  The courtroom action is intriguing because it demonstrates how the same set of circumstantial evidence can be viewed logically in two or more ways.  Also a little unsettling for the same reason since it must play out in real life in a similar way.

I hope you all have wonderful days in the week ahead.

The Photo Tour of Newton, Kansas with my Awesome Family

Since moving to Newton, my mom and I have been delighted with how quaint and well-preserved downtown Newton is.  It's wonderful to walk Main Street and peer into the shops housed in these turn of the century buildings.  Imagine our delight when we found that my cousin, Lori, and her husband, Eric, were equally intrigued.  When they came to visit from Texas over the Thanksgiving holiday, we put a photo tour of downtown Newton at the top of the agenda.  It follows below, starting with an introduction to my dear cousin, Lori.

First stop, the train depot.  My grandfather remembers being shipped out from this depot during World War II.  Amtrack still uses the building today.

(Train depot, Newton, KS)

(My grandparents, ages 88 and 87)

Notice the fine detailing on this Railroad Building and Loan building featured below.  It was not only important to put up a good building, but also to make it pretty.  In my opinion, we could use a little of this on our modern buildings today.  Obviously, it is no longer used for Railroad Building and Loan.  Instead, it is home to a  variety of offices, including the Chamber of Commerce.

(the side of the Railroad Building and Loan building)

Along the way, our photographer told us to "Go to that that corner and loiter".  So this is our rendition of loitering.  Mostly, we were laughing.

(Michelle, Suzanne--my mom--Lori)

This bay window is another example of the pretty architecture to be found along Main Street.

You can see the window on the building in the background of the picture below.  We were lucky, because since it was Sunday and the shops were closed, we pretty much had the street to ourselves.  We took advantage of the table and chairs left outside by the restaurant.  Oh and by the way, I am smiling at the cameraman, but I realize it looks more like I'm having a seizure.



What would a photo tour be without a picture of the local quilt shop, Charlotte's Sew Natural?  The photographer got a bit arty with this shot.

The next two photographs are pictures of the First Methodist Church, also located on Main Street.  Once again, the architecture is a work of art.

This Baptist Church below can be found just a block off Main Street.

There are a lot of quaint towns in Kansas, but I've never seen one so well-preserved (although I don't pretend to have done a thorough search on the subject).  In our wanderings we did find an explanation that contributes to the fact that these wonderful, old buildings still exist.  In 1880, there was a terrible fire in downtown Newton, and many of the buildings on Main Street were burned to the ground.  After that, the city passed an ordinance requiring all buildings on Main Street between Second Street and Seventh to be made of stone or brick.  I have no doubt that has contributed to the longevity of these buildings.

Our photographer has a sense of humor.  Do we really look like we're up to no good?

So let me introduce our photographer, my sensationally fun cousin-in-law, Eric:

Favorite Things Friday--The Juki Sewing Machine

This week's Favorite Things Friday is dedicated to our Juki sewing machine.  She and I have had a long dry spell these past few months, but this week we were able to become reacquainted again.

We bought the Juki for one simple reason, we needed a machine that would enable us to learn to do free motion quilting.  We didn't need it to do fancy stitches, embroider, or sing The Star Spangled Banner.  The Juki does only straight stitching.  It doesn't even do a zig-zag.  The machine is built like a tank.  All metal parts.  It just feels solid.  It has a 9" harp and is considered to be a mid-arm.  I can tell you, the extra harp space makes a big difference when trying to work on a quilt of any size.

When we began looking at sewing machines--and there are a lot of wonderful machines on the market--we kept coming across machines that would do way more than we wanted them to, and their prices reflected that as well.  My mom and I debated a long time.  After all, when buying a machine of this caliber (as opposed to the $200 machines at Wal-mart), you want to be sure you've got it right.  That first test drive after we unpacked the Juki told us that we'd made the right decision.  I've been on the free motion quilting band wagon ever since.

So head on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas, and join in the Favorite Things Friday fun.  Everyone is welcome to play.

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Hmmm.  I just noticed that this is my 100th post.  Who would have thought when I started this blog back in February I'd have this much to say?