November StoryGraph Chart / Books Finished

 

The ornament tradition, part three

 There are two grandmother’s influencing my ornament tradition with my granddaughter. One is a lesson of what not to do. The other is a lesson of what to do. 

The first is my paternal grandmother. 

She was a very talented needlework person who could make anything. Each year she made ornaments and gifted them to everyone she knew. Everyone, dozens and dozens. 

These were always very very cheap ornaments. None of these survived my childhood. At some point they were all pitched or donated. I do not have one. Probably no grandchild in the family has one. 

It is such a shame, she was such a talented person. With a different goal, her 11 grand kids could have had beautiful handmade ornaments to cherish.

The second is my husband’s mother, our children’s grandmother. She was not a talented needlework person, but she could do needlepoint.  

She gifted an ornament to each of our kids each year. Some of these were needlepoint made by her. Others were higher end ornaments handmade by others.  She only had three grandchildren, our three, she was not buying for dozens. 

Oldest and middle have Christmas trees. Their childhood ornaments are on their trees. (Youngest’s ornaments are still here.)

In oldest/DIL’s case, oldest’s childhood ornaments are the only warm/homemade ornaments they have. The rest of the ornaments are glass balls and the like.

Granddaughter’s ornaments added to their tree will be lovely and warm. I am careful to send ornaments that blend with the color/style of their tree. I am also careful to write on them, her name and the year.

The ornament tradition, part two

We were asked to stop feeding the birds one year.  I never went back to my bird feeders or baths.  In fact, I sold all my bird supplies. 

The problem? I had a $100 gift certificate to the bird store. I was gifted this certificate AFTER we stopped feeding the birds. 

Last year (November 2024) middle and I rounded up all our gift certificates and used them. It was a whole project. 

Last year (November 2024)  I went in the bird store to see if there was something else I could buy to utilize/eliminate that darned gift certificate. 

First, very good news, it was a $50 certificate, not $100, that helped a lot, it felt like less waste. 

And I found something very good to buy.

I bought three painted gourd ornaments, for granddaughter, with the $50 gift certificate. These are made from very small dried gourds, not huge ones. 

I am building a small stash of ornaments, collecting good ones as I see them.

The Santa ornament, above, was $25. The other two, above, were $16. All of these were nearly “free” to me, $57 plus tax, because I was using a $50 gift certificate. I started out with two ornaments, it was not enough, I added the third. 

I mailed the Santa ornament November 2025. 

November 2024, I also ordered a wooden name ornament from Uncommon Goods. I will probably send it 2026. 

I ordered it before I forgot/lost track of the link. I think these are clever, unusual. 

This one was pricey, at $47.03 including shipping. I was fine with that, because I paid a total of $7 for the  three gourd ornaments. It all balanced. 

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The ornament tradition, part one

I gifted an ornament to granddaughter last year. 

I plan to give one to her each year. 

The first one, from 2024, was wooden-ish and blends with their tree decorations. 

The first one was just under $18, including shipping.

All the people and pets from our immediate family, the year she was born, are on the ornament. We wrote her name, the year, “first Christmas” on the back.

Black Friday Fun Purchase

Some streaming platform services offer Black Friday deals. 

This is my annual opportunity to catch up with BritBox and have something extra over the holidays when the networks are showing reruns.

In 2024 I purchased two months of Discovery+ and BritBox for $2 each per month. These deals were commercial free thru Amazon Prime.

This week I was watching and grabbed two months of BritBox as soon as I saw the $2.99 ad. 

This year/2025, I purchased thru my Roku because it is easier to turn off the automatic renewal. 

I am watching for a second deal. 

This is a great gift idea!

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny (2023) with Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator) was an assigned book for one of my book groups. I found it on Libby. I was able to use the pace of 1.25. 

My notes on StoryGraph - I finished this book, audio format, and it is well written, it was just not very compelling for me. Someone with an interest in the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon and water economy out west might love it.

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

StoryGraph - 

#5 The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

I was on the Libby waiting list for the latest Thursday Murder Club Mystery #5 The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (2025) with Fiona Shaw (Narrator) for just a bit. 

I was in the middle of the Liane Moriarty’s 9 books when it became available. I delayed my place in line until I was ready. As soon as I took it off “suspend”, it became available to me in less than 24 hours.  

The best way to read these Thursday Murder Club Mystery books, in my opinion, is one right after the other. That is the way I read the first four in December of 2024, one right after the other. It took the first book for me to place all the characters. I just kept going while the characters were firm in my mind. There are a lot of characters.

Reading #5 a year later, it took me much longer to be interested in the plot, and I just wasn’t as attached to the characters. I eventually remembered everybody, it just didn’t draw me in the way the first four books did. So, I don’t know if this book was slightly less engaging than the first four or if it was just because I read it solo, a year later. I did not read any reviews, I am not sure if everyone else thought this book was just as good as the rest.

I borrowed this book on Libby and was able to use a pace of 1.25. That helped. 

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.

All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert

This is the Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love (2006).

Another of her books, All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (2025), was a recent book group selection on Happier with Gretchen Rubin (podcast). 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happier-with-gretchen-rubin/id969519520?i=1000732937704

I purchased the book on Audible, when the book club selection was announced, but then forgot all about it. 

The podcast discussion day came around and I remembered about the unread book. 

I debated and debated. In the end I listened to the podcast.

And then promptly returned the book.

Here one Moment by Liane Moriarty

Note - There are three authors listed at the bottom of this post, Liane Moriart and two of her sisters, who are also published authors.

With this book, Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty, I am finished with this author. I read nine of Liane Moriarty’s ten books.  

I remembered too much of the TV version of Apples Never Fall. So I decided to skip it. 

If she publishes more standalone novels, I will probably read those too.

This one, Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty, was terrific. I thought the storyline was unique. I had no idea where it was going. It wasn’t quite as long as some of the others, which I think helped keep it focused. It was about 16 hours.  At a 1.25 pace, I finished it in just under 13 hours, which was good. 

   

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

StoryGraph - 

Note - The Nicola Berry series is for children.

Jaclyn Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

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.

Nicola Moriarty is Liane Moriarty’s sister -

All the Japanese half square triangle blocks

This is where we are today. 

Middle measured the comforter currently on her Queen bed, she decided 13 blocks x 13 blocks was the size she wanted. The blocks are 8” x 8” finished.

She laid all the blocks out, keeping the darker section of each block toward the upper left. 

We labeled each row with blue painters tape, and I sewed the horizontal blocks together. I sewed them on the regular sewing machine and then serged them. 

She has to check it, carefully, and then I will sew the rows together and it will go to the longarm quilter.

Sewing the Japanese fabric into half triangle squares

The next month, I took the Japanese fabric back to the same bee group, middle went with me. We took a sewing machine and a serger. 

She paired the fabric and drew lines corner to corner on the lighter of each pair. 

I sewed, a generous 1/4”, on either side of the lines. 

She serged, letting the serger cut on the drawn line, to create one half square triangle block. 

Then she serged the other half to form the second block. 

I pressed all the blocks open.

We completed 3/4 of the blocks that day. 

Over the course of the following two weeks, I completed the remaining blocks. 

And then, using a 7.5” rotary square, I trimmed all the blocks, that took a week. I have to be careful of my thumbs. 

She laid the quilt blocks out on the kitchen table + two folding tables. 

Light Japanese fabric

In 2022, I ordered this bundle, below, from kallistiquilts on Etsy. I think I used all of it in the first neutral quilt. 

In early 2025, I recontacted the shop and asked for white/off white/light colored Japanese Fabric. There wasn’t any listed on her Etsy site. 

I needed to be able to cut 8.5” squares. And I wanted to prewash it. 

She very kindly went through the leftover ends from her past inventory looking for 9”-10” pieces that were light. It was on her attic. She did a big search for me. She mailed me a box. The photo below shows some of the fabric she sent. 

I needed more fabric. I hunted for American homespun that blended with the Japanese fabric. I found two great pieces at a regional outlet store. I found three more pieces at another warehouse store. 

At my my bee group, I serged the raw edges of all that Japanese fabric. It took me most of the day. I used a lint roller to tidy me, the chair, and the floor.

I took all that serged Japanese fabric home, washed/dried it, ironed it, and then cut into 8.5” squares. 

I saved all the extra ends for my good with color friend. She loves Japanese fabric for needle work. This was her pile -

More tomorrow.

The second neutral quilt, also known as the Japanese quilt

I made the first neutral quilt in 2022 for DIL. It is king size. 

It always amazes me how colorful that neutral quilt looks in a photo. 

Yes, I think the walls of that room might be purple. Oldest/DIL have been slowly repainting their house. The previous owners had every room painted in what might be labeled “Easter egg” colors.  They have not yet gotten to the upstairs. 

Most of the first neutral quilt (above) is regular quilter’s cotton fabric. But there is Japanese fabric as well.  

Middle wanted a neutral quilt of her own, but she wanted all Japanese fabric. And she had lighter and more neutral in mind. 

It took me months to collect the fabric. It is extremely hard to find white/off white/light Japanese fabric.

I went back to the Etsy shop where I had ordered the first set of Japanese fabric in 2022. 

More Tomorrow.

Shoe update

 Note - I can no longer contort in such a way that I can get to my feet. I have a doctor who cuts my toe nails. If something does not feel quite right, middle has to look carefully. 

My toe nail doctor told me I needed to switch my athletic shoes to a larger size and a different style. I did that, March 2025. 

Middle went with me to the shoe store. I bought 3 different styles to try. 

The Fuelcell black NB pair has now been relegated to the emergency bin in the back of my SUV. I find it very helpful to always have a pair of shoes and socks with me. If I get somewhere in sandals (or slippers) and need a closed pair of shoes, I am all set. 

I wear the blue ones on occasion. Particularly if I am going to be doing a lot of sitting. 

The white NB pair is the clear winner. I bought a second pair, black. 

These are very stable shoes with a wide base. They fit very well. The toe box is excellent for me. There is a good amount of room for my toes. 

Which leads me to the fact that the next to largest toe, on my left foot, had pain issues a number of weeks ago. Middle looked, there was a blister near the top. 

By this point I switched to mostly wearing my white pair and buying the identical shoe in black. 

Luckily, I did not realize that in addition to the  blistering, my nail was badly impacted. 

Luckily I had no idea that the nail had been damaged to the point that it was coming off and a new one was growing underneath. 

Last weekend I realized something was wrong. Middle looked, it was almost all the way disconnected, she eased it off. It did not hurt at all.

Had I known what was happening, all those weeks, it would have given me the utter creeps.