Reading slump continues

I am able to listen to audio books (and podcasts) in my SUV, but that is all. 

I no longer use my ear buds and listen as I sew or walk or do things around the house. 

This means I get thru an average of two books a month, and keep up with my podcasts. 

In 2025, I think I read/listened to 148 books. 

This year I have done 11 audio books so far, with at least one not finished. 

I spent part of the year listening to Dateline and 48 hours and 2020 while I sewed. For the last couple months it has been the archives of Law and Order.

The story of the dryer

In May/June, we went thru the washer saga. 

In August, the dryer died. The local repair shop came out and diagnosed the blower and two thermostats needed replaced. I called GE again.

This time they gave me the parts at cost (shipped directly to me) and reimbursed me up to $250 for labor. 

Labor was less than $250. 

Dryer is working again after almost a month of the second round of appliances not lasting nonsense.

It was extremely hard when the washer was non operational. 

It was not a big deal to have the dryer not working. 

I think I only had to run things over to middle’s dryer twice. One time it was a quilt back that needed to shrink. One time it was a load of capris that I did not want wrinkly.

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

My husband and I both started this book for one of my book groups. 

We both attended the meeting. There were three of us present - librarian, myself, husband. 

He was the only one who finished the book. 

The librarian got half way and then skimmed. 

I got half way and stopped. 

The writing was very good, it was just a storyline that kept getting sadder. There was no upside.

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

This was for one of my two remaining book groups.

I enjoyed it, everyone did.

Room clean out

In April or May, expecting all the kids home for a week in June, youngest and I talked about her old bedroom. It was still quite full. 

She went through it, packing what she wanted to take. The week she was here, we took a very full load to the resale shop. 

My husband has a second full load packed in the SUV as we speak, I am dropping that off to the resale shop this morning. 

And then we are mostly left with paper. So much paper. I plan to take that to a shredding service tomorrow. 

The room will then be clear of everything but furniture for the first time in several decades. 

The upstairs beds will be made and then covered with dust covers. All that linen is already washed.

When everyone is headed home, the next time, we will have very little prep. And that makes a huge difference. 

Their June visit we had an enormous amount of prep including cleaning out the three car garage. When there is that much prep, honestly, one questions whether or not the company is worth it. 

Having the upstairs cleaned out, greatly decluttered, makes a big difference in how it looks and how easy it is to clean. 

20th anniversary

July 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of this blog. 

My husband and I have now been married for 40 years. 

The kids are 36, 32, 28 this year. 

How time flies. 

The story of the washer

As it turns out, the new washer, which died a month ago, was purchased in December of 2024. So it is 1.5 years old. And the full warrantee expired December 2025, 6 months ago.

The local repair main arrived, Friday, after a three week wait, and said it was the electronic/computer board. He did not have one in stock. He sent me to his sales/service store. 

At the store, Friday afternoon, they printed off all the detailed info on my washer and had me call GE customer service. 

Customer service was very nice and had someone at my house, with the correct parts, Monday morning, no charge.

Meanwhile, middle has washed all the linen and other odds and ends from her siblings and niece’s week long visit. Big help.

It was a little tough

For the first time in ages, all our kids were home at the same time, plus granddaughter’s first visit here, for a full week. 

Of course my washing machine died just before they arrived and there was a three week wait for a repairman. 

This is tradition, other years we have had air conditioner, stove, and one year the dishwasher die as various company was set to arrive. It is a thing.

Three weeks without a washer is a long time. My personal solution was to have middle wash a couple loads and then I simply bought more clothes to tide me over.

Prepping for this visit sent me down a much needed decluttering rabbit hole of resurgence. 

The room granddaughter (age 2) slept in had become a depository of cast off furniture. We got rid of 75% of it only keeping a chair, bed, nightstand, and the metal cabinet where we store photos.

Youngest had a long list of preplanned work. She did it all - cleaned out her old room, replaced our PC monitor, sorted all the extra cords, formatted an excel list of quilt groups. She also put in a grocery order for herself and did most of her own cooking which simplified the vegetarian issue.

I had just settled into the routine when the week was up and they all vanished again. 

But the decluttering continues. In the last two weeks I have taken about 6 SUV loads to the resale shop, and sold a ton off my front porch via Facebook Marketplace.

I bailed - Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Once upon a time I could have listened to this book, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard  looking up interesting facts as I went. Now, not so much. Not even the car, captive, helped. 

I bailed after an hour, tried to listen to the review on SuperSummary and bailed again. 

As it worked out, I could not attend the book group  anyway, so it did not really matter. 

Side note - 

AUTHOR	Candice Millard
NARRATOR	Paul Michael

This is the second time this has happened recently. The authors voice did not match the narrator. The last time it was a male author and a female reader. It bugged everyone in my book group who read in audio format. This book it was a female author and a male narrator. This creates a mental discord that my book group members just never get over, it prevents one from settling into the book. 

Island of the Sea Women by Lisa See

Island of the Sea Women by Lisa See (2019).

Yes, two books based on Korea in a row. I listed to both these books on our Audible account.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee in May, Island of the Sea Women in June.

Both of these were book group assignments, two different groups.

I liked both these books a lot. Extremely well written. They were both unusual books, the story lines and characters were not every day.

As I mentioned previously, I had no idea what a tough time Korea had with Japan. With this book, I realized Korea had a tough time with itself and everybody. 

I am still only listening in the car, so my pace is slower. But I am reading consistently.

Lisa See has a long list of books, both series and standalone:

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lisa-see/

My husband mentioned another Korean based book he read a year or so ago, I found a summary -

“In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park is a truly empowering memoir. Park's courageous story will leave you on the edge of your seat, deeply invested in her journey, and cheering her on as she triumphs over unimaginable challenges. Let's talk about those challenges: starvation, rape, human trafficking, freezing temperatures, betrayals, beatings. She fled North Korea with her mother when her father was imprisoned, hoping to find a place ofvrefuge and saftey. She was only thirteen. Their goal was to reach freedom and reunite with their loved ones. One of the most compelling memoirs I've ever read.“

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

 I am a bit out of my reading slump, but still only able to listen to audio books while driving. So my pace on each book is very slow. 

One of my groups assigned Pachinko in May. I listened, but did not attend the meeting, because I had not yet finished, and knew there would be spoilers.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (2017)

Sandra Oh (Narrator), 

Min Jin Lee (Narrator)

I enjoyed this book. I realized part way thru that I understood very little about Japan and Korea, prior to WWII. I did not stop to research, I just enjoyed the novel. 

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Free Food  for Millionaires	(2007)
Pachinko	(2017)
American Hagwon	(2026)

Publication Order of Disorder Collection Books

The Best Girls (2019)

Curving spines the other way

 I am on my phone each morning doing NYT puzzles in bed. I realized this morning that it is a great opportunity to bend my spine the other direction. 

We spend so much time hunching forward, there is not much backward bending in our daily routines. 

So starting today, my phone time, in the wee hours of the morning, is on my belly, up on my elbows like a toddler. 

I started PT yesterday, proactive, for my posture. Some of the positions are passive stretching, others are active movements. 

My spine is still flexible, it moves full range. At some point people hunching forward loose their strength and flexibility and are stuck forward. It is important to take action early.

Pass it on, where they bring a shovel and a lot of buckets, continues

I had 30-40 short purple irises in one of the backyard beds, where most do not bloom. I think not enough sun. (I have the same plants in a front bed that bloom just fine).

I also had 25 or so, white bee balm, that had crossed the line of their half of the bed. 

And I had two clematis starts in the wrong place. 

I messaged one of the woman who was here for Grape Hyacinths a few weeks ago. She has been here previously, she is a good digger. 

She and her husband came Sunday night and dug.  

I pointed and chatted. 

This is a lovely solution. They get free plants. I get free weeding. 

Oh, happy day

Friday morning I had just decided I was staying home for the day, with just a tinge of a sore throat, when I found Season 25 of Law and Order. 

That is 18 episodes neatly stacked on my Peacock streaming service, a very happy find. 

I had just finished two seasons of The Traitors, which I love:

- The Traitors UK with Claudia Winkleman, Season 4.

- The Traitors with Alan Cumming, Season 4. 

And then discovered Claudia has a UK celebrity version too. I actually was familiar with one of the people! I just started in this season. 

The Voice season has finished and is ready to watch next. 

And Top Chef (and Last Chance Kitchen) is running now. I will wait, until the season finishes, to watch it. 

I haven’t even really looked to see if there is anything new/undiscovered. 

Rotating thru the streaming services

It took me just a minute to think of the term - streaming services - I think that’s right to describe HULU, Peacock, BritBox, etc. 

I pick those up, one at a time, for just a month, and catch up on some of my favorite shows. I subscribe to them about 6 mos apart. I love to let whole seasons build up, so I make the most of my $. 

Right now it is HULU, loving the latest seasons of Traitors (UK and US). And I think Top Chef is running now. I will wait to start it until the season is at the very end. 

I am also watching Padma’s Culinary Cup on CBS, not really a fan. 

Double bay of the garage

I think the last time we did a garage clean out was 2023. The last time we did a BIG garage clean out was several years before that. 

Saturday and Sunday, we cleaned out the double bay of the garage. This was sorting and scrubbing. 

Everything came off the shoe rack, it was pulled away from the wall. The rack was scrubbed, the floor and wall were scrubbed. We took everything out of the cupboards, scrubbed, sorted what went back in them. We worked our way around the parameter, sorting and scrubbing. We did a lot of rearranging. 

Both vehicles always fit in the garage, so the middle was empty, it is just the parameter that collects.

We had a big recycling bin, two large garbage cans, two big boxes for donations, a table set up for sorting. 

The dogs were with us Sunday, we kept the big garage door closed, propped the door to the house open, so they had options. 

The back of my SUV is now filled to the brim with donations headed to the local charity shop when it opens at 10am. 

And next weekend, the single bay of the garage calls. 

Pass it on

I give away hundreds of plants each year. Hundreds. 

The alternative is throwing them away. 

If you have established flower beds with plants that spread, excess plants become an issue. 

I have a lot of plants that spread to fill their area, but do not jump the boundaries. A good example is native Black Eyed Susan’s. I have a very large bed of them, they stay in their place. 

My biggest jumpers are Red Huskers, Clematis and Goose Neck Loose Strife. Oh my goodness do those plant starts travel. 

I am the only person I know with self sowing clematis. It travels far and wide, it self starts on three sides of our yard (front yard, back yard, west yard). I sometimes put in a trellis and leave it. Other times I move it. Sunday I started giving it away. 

The gardeners who answer my notes on Facebook Marketplace and come dig, are truly thankful. They take away buckets and buckets of plant starts. Some days it is all free. Sometimes it is a total of $1. Every once in a while it is $1 each for big stuff. 

Once in a while someone will be here for one thing and ask for a start from something else. They are often astounded with what I have. 

This past Sunday one of the husbands wanted one daffodil. I sent him home with three bulbs. I also sent them home with five jonquils bulbs. And they had their buckets of Grape Hyacinth bulbs. 

This is a year I will be giving away lots of Jonquil bulbs. I think my last big front yard jonquil divide was about ten years ago. They need thinned again. 

Last year we did a back yard jonquil divide and planted two full beds with them, I gave none away. 

From the looks of the front yard, I will be giving away hundreds as soon as they die back and loose their green. 

My Grape Hyacinth project was a success

I had one neighbor and three couples from Facebook Marketplace dig Grape Hyacinths on Sunday. 

They cleared the whole area that was bugging me. 

They also dug Jonquils and Red Huskers and one clematis that were in the wrong spots. 

My husband helped all of them. 

So that was the manpower of eight people focusing on clearing out one area that was too cluttered. 

Monday morning another lady is coming to clear out another area that is too cluttered with Grape Hyacinths. 

This is a win-win. I charged them a total of $1 each and they all took many buckets of healthy plants home. I get massive gardening help. 

My gardening summer is off to a great start. 

And so the summer begins

I have 7 people coming today for plant starts. 

I have Red Huskers that have come up in the wrong place, as usual. 

And I have decided to eliminate a line of Grape Hyacinths to make weeding easier. 

So, I posted them on Facebook and my phone started blowing up immediately. 

Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel, another book I did not read -

Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel was another book assigned by another one of my book groups. Again, I got about two hours in and stopped. The writing was just too immature/unskilled/dumb for me. It wasn’t the plot, it was the writing. I like a good YA book, if it is well written. This, to my knowledge, was not intended to be YA and in my opinion, it was not well written. 

My reading slump continues.

The second odd quilt story

Still no photos, just the story.

Second story - I ran into an old pattern of mine, in person, at one of my long armers a few weeks ago.

I now know it is a quilt I designed in the 1990’s. 

I used to teach at a local shop who carried my patterns. The shop owner often made kits with my patterns.

So someone who bought the 1990’s kit, with my pattern, at the local quilt shop, finally finished it and sent it to the quilters in 2026. And I just happened to be there to see it. 

But when I saw it, I did not realize it was one of my patterns, made from the kit fabric, identical to mine. It just looked vaguely familiar, but I did not realize why.

It took my daughter for me to realize how I knew the quilt. 

I told her I saw a quilt at the long-armer’s shop, described it, and she knew it.  The original quilt, same fabrics as the kit, happened to be hanging in my daughter’s hall that same day. 

This quilt was well labeled with the date. And it also still had the second paper label from when my pattern was released and that quilt traveled to many shops for a couple years with the distributor. 

I have many well traveled quilts. 

The first odd quilt story

No photos, sorry, for some reason I can’t seem to post photos on my blog. 

I am having multiple out of body experiences with quilts this month. It is a bit crazy how things come full circle.

Here is the first story - 

A quilt I made in 1997 with Japanese fabrics recently found its way back to me. 

A friend found and returned it. It was the second of a pair. I still have the first. One of my daughters (middle) is now thrilled to have the second. 

Normally all my older quilts are well labeled, but this pair was not. In the process of trying to date and get labels made for both quilts, I found the original pattern (purchased, not my design) which luckily was dated. 

And that led me to the seller of the original pattern, who does not have copies of any of her old patterns. I mailed the original back to her. I had two more of her patterns and mailed those originals too. She was thrilled. In fact, I think she is republishing the quilt pattern. 

I also did not keep any of my old quilt patterns. They pop up from time to time on eBay and Etsy and we buy them back.

A book I did not read - Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan was assigned by one of my book groups. I got two hours in on audio and stopped. I attempted to listen to a recap of the book on SuperSummary, so I could attend the meeting and participate, but could not do that either. I did not go to the meeting.

My reading slump continues. 

Quilting retreat

I went to a quilting retreat this weekend with one of  my daughters. 

I went solo last year and stayed the weekend. I also went to a retreat by myself in January and stayed the weekend. If I am by myself I stay. 

This year, with daughter to drive, we came home each night and ended a day early. She did all the driving. 

So, she took Friday off and we arrived just as the weekend started at 10am Friday. 

About 5pm Friday, I hit my limit and was very tired. We headed for home. We arrived home 1 hour and 15 minutes later. We then had our whole evenings, as if it were a slightly late work night. 

We arrived at 9am Saturday, just as most people were getting going. We were there in time for the 9:30am group photo. 

We shopped briefly at three places Saturday morning. If I had been by myself, the shopping would have been much quicker, but that was okay. 

We took all our own food, so we were actually at the event (in the room) much more than most other people who both shopped and ate at restaurants. 

I got very tired, again about 5pm Saturday, we packed up and headed for home. 

My husband packed both dogs in daughter’s car, on our driveway, and headed to her house. Daughter and I met him at her house, she unloaded her stuff, husband got in my car with me and we headed home. He then unpacked my stuff. 

We did not go back Sunday, people start packing and leaving for home about noon, the event is cleaned up and over by 3pm. I find Sundays at a retreat awkward. 

This worked well for us, we plan to do it this way again next spring. 

For the January 2027 retreat, I am finding a buddy or two to go with me. I am going a day early so all my driving and unloading is Thursday. I am taking my own food. And I plan to come home early Sunday while I feel good to drive. 

Scrap jail mentality

 I have been quilting for decades. 

I have never kept my fabric scraps. I have a bag going at all times. My larger/useable trimmings go in the bag. When the bag is full, I give it away. 

When I start a project, my good with color quilting friend often calls dibs on specific fabric. So she not only gets the scraps, but she gets the larger leftovers too.

Other quilters have commented on this habit of mine, over the years, because it is unusual, most quilters have lots of scraps. In fact people write extensively over how they store and save their scraps. Again, not me, I rehome all scraps.

A unique recent comment caught my attention. 

I was at a sewing bee, and we were talking about my not keeping fabric scraps, and one of the quilters said she just recently realized she is a slave to her scraps. 

When most people say that they are talking about sorting and storing their scraps, that’s a big topic.

But that is not what she meant. She was talking about being creatively restricted by her scraps. Most projects she sews are all about using up the scraps. She is not really designing or planning her quilts, she is just using up what is on hand. 

Do I make scrap quilts? Yes, I love them. But mine are not made with literal scraps. I plan and collect fabric to have a scrappy look, without using actual scraps. 

Slightly stinky fabric

Anyone collecting vintage fabric might be interested in my recent experiment. 

I have asthma, so I have always washed all my fabric to remove all the chemicals and to allow it to shrink before I cut it. I was also sewing/quilting in the 60’s-90’s when dyes were not always color safe, a topic for another day, which reinforced my pre-washing habit.

Here’s my experiment with slightly musty fabric:

I washed with liquid Tide and white vinegar, smell still there.

I rewashed with liquid Tide and baking soda, smell still there.

I rewashed with liquid Tide and powdered Oxiclean, smell totally removed. 

I used the combination of liquid Tide and powdered Oxiclean, dissolved in very hot water, for the rest of my vintage fabric loads, it worked like a charm - on the first try - every time.

Note - I dissolve the powdered Oxiclean in very hot water (in an old gallon milk jug that I can shake), before adding it to the warm water in the washing machine, then I add the fabric. 

I did not put any fabric in the dryer until I was sure every trace of the smell was gone. The dryer would have heat set the smell.

Washing older fabric in Oxiclean is now my standard procedure. Fabric from the free table at the guild, fabric from a resale shop, fabric from an estate sale, fabric gifted to me, all gets washed in Oxiclean before it gets added to my own fabric.

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (2001) was a book group assignment from last week. I finished listening to it about a mile from our meeting place, close one. 

I thought this book was excellent. I really enjoyed the writing style. 

I put holds on all her novels for my mother who is reading again.

I have added a bio, at the end of this post, from Geraldine Brooks’ website. 

    

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

“Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney, attending Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney. She worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years as a feature writer with a special interest in environmental issues.

“In 1982 she won the Greg Shackleton Australian News Correspondents scholarship to the journalism master’s program at Columbia University in New York City. Later she worked forThe Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. In 1990, with her husband Tony Horwitz, she won the Overseas Press Club Award for best coverage of the Gulf War. The following year they received a citation for excellence for their series, “War and Peace.”  In 2006 she was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University. She returned to Harvard as a Visiting Lecturer in 2021.

“She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March. Her novels People of the Book, Caleb’s Crossing, The Secret Chord and Horse all were New York Times Bestsellers. Her first novel, Year of Wonders is an an international bestseller, translated into more than 25 languages and currently optioned for a limited series by Olivia Coleman’s production company. She is also the author of the nonfiction works Nine Parts of Desire, Foreign Correspondence and The Idea of Home. Her latest book, Memorial Days, was published January 24 in Australia, and February 4 in the United States.

“Brooks married fellow journalist and author Tony Horwitz in Tourette-sur-Loup France in 1984 and were together until his sudden death in 2019.  They have two sons, Nathaniel and Bizu, She now lives with a dog named Bear and a mare named Valentine by an old mill pond on Martha’s Vineyard and spends as much time as she can in Australia.  In 2016, she was named an Officer in the Order of Australia.“

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

After the never ending Warmth of Other Suns, I chose to skip 

James by Percival Everett

Horse by Geraldine Brooks.

I went to both book discussions, but I did not read either book. 

Next up was Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward which was assigned for one of my groups meeting this past week. 

I read it, all in one go. It was about 8 hours, I was able to crank the speed up to 1.40 with no chipmunks. I zipped thru it.

I enjoyed it. Extremely well written, engaging, and unique. Would recommend for a February book club read. 

But I am quite ready to let Black History month go at this point in time. It has been a rough one. 

    

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

The Warmth of Other Suns The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

Normally the assigned books from my groups motivate me to read, but a draggy book caused me to turn from audio books to TV for company. 

We moved a small TV into my sewing room, right next to my sewing machine. I listened to 2020, Dateline, or 48 hours, streaming 24/7 on the live Roku option, while I sewed. I did this for weeks. 

What started this book slump?

The Warmth of Other Suns

The Epic Story of America's

Great Migration

Audiobook • 22h 40m

Several people in my book groups said

- “why didn’t you just stop reading this book?”

- “do you feel like you have to finish every book you start”

- “if it is a bad book, just stop reading”

Here’s the thing - it was a good book. It was well written, it was important, I think it will be considered a classic in the future. 

But it was not compelling. It did not draw me in. The only place I wanted to listen to it was in the car. When there was nothing to distract me, when I was a captive audience, I listened to it just fine.

It took me weeks to finish it, but I did finish it. 

Ironically it sent the librarian who assigned it into a book slump too. 

    

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (2019) was an assigned book for Youngest’s book group.  I was the last of the three of us to read it. 

I think this book has gotten high praise from a lot of readers. I found it irritating. 

I thought the writing was somewhat immature for the first 3/4 of the book. I was annoyed by the ending. 

It had the potential to be a great book, with a unique concept, it needed a better writer or a more aggressive editor, in my opinion. 

Do not read one thing about this book, if you are interested in reading it, just read it cold. Any reviews will inadvertently be spoilers.

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Update on the Pickle Dish

Yesterday’s post was on my Pickle Dish Experience.

 Still working on my personal Pickle Dish quilt -

It took quite a while to decide on the layout and the cornerstone fabric colors. 

Pickle dish

I had never made a Pickle Dish nor a Double Wedding Ring quilt years ago when I was prolific.

The last few years, quilting again, I thought my quilting life was better focused on simple quilts. 

I volunteered to help with a paper pieced Pickle Dish Raffle Quilt this past fall. We started sewing in December. 

I felt intimidated. I had not paper pieced in nearly 20 years. My hands are not what they were. 

The other ladies working on the quilt were also a little scared. That helped a lot. I was not the weakest link.

My share was 32 pickle wedges. I paced myself at two a day. It was extremely slow going at first. I watched a couple videos and perfected my technique. I absolutely got better and faster. I got in a groove.

When I finished my assigned wedges, I moved on to making a pickle dish of my own. 

These are my fabric/colors -

Here (below) is an example of the assembled blocks on a Pickle Dish Quilt. Note, my darks and lights are reversed from the illustrations below. I am not yet sure of my corner stone/square fabric. 

StoryGraph

  

Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold Schechter

One of my book groups read Devil in the White City by Erik Larson in 2025. The non-fiction book is about a serial killer during the era of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. 

During the discussion on that book, a member mentioned another serial killer from the same era, quite close to Chicago. 

“Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men is a non-fiction true crime book by Harold Schechter, first published on April 1, 2018, by Little A. It explores the chilling case of Belle Gunness, a Norwegian-American serial killer who operated in La Porte, Indiana, in the early 20th century.”

So we read that book too, as a group, January 2026. 

First, this book is hard to find. The library only had three copies. I got mine on Audible. One person bought a paperback, another did e-book. The e-book had links to photos and videos which she really enjoyed.

I lead this discussion. The regular librarian had a schedule conflict. The substitute librarian had just read The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown and it impacted her greatly. She could not take a serial killer book after the Donner Party story. So I lead. 

This is an Indiana True-Crime story. It was gruesome. Except for the librarian we all enjoyed it and it was a great discussion.

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

Harold Schechter

Audiobook edition

 8h 55m • audio • 2018 

nonfiction biography historytrue crime dark mysteriousslow-paced

3.75

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/harold-schechter/

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December StoryGraph

December was a little crazy, book wise. 

I ended up listening to two sets of books. 

First I did the My Brilliant Friend series by Elena Ferrante with Ann Goldstein (Translator), Hillary Huber (Narrator). This was four volumes telling the complete story. 

Then I did The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower, which is eight volumes following Emma M. Lion. 

Both were quite good, recommend. 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower

As this posts, I am finishing the third volume of this excellent series. 

The first two volumes are surprisingly (confusingly) short, then the books expand to a regular length. 

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

StoryGraph - 

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.