The Gunkle by Steven Rowley

Note - I am very thankful youngest persuaded me to use Goodreads. I like having my books listed by date and searchable. I like having the stats. I read 13 books in January 2025.

Clearly this was a book group assignment. It is not a book I would have picked on my own. 

And that is part of the purpose of book groups, finding new authors, widening reading experience. 

Also, so great to read a book and then discuss it with other people for at least an hour. 

I tried to read The Guncle, but bailed after a couple hours. This rarely happens. Usually if it is an assigned book, I finish.

I still went to the group meeting. I shared that I did not like the book and did not finish it. It is important to give feedback. It helps the librarian in choosing future books.

Absolutely did not read the sequel, The Guncle Abroad, either.

But please note - the rest of my reading group liked this book. They thought it was funny. And several of them read The Guncle Abroad too, and liked it.

Lioness

There are two seasons on Paramount Plus/CBS streaming platform. 

Third season rumored to be available sometime in 2025.

I did not expect to like this show, but I did. 

Very well cast. Complex, unique story line. 

The Lottie quilt

This quilt is for middle. She chose the pattern and the fabric. The backing will be solid bleached muslin.

It is a scrap quilt, made with blending fabric of different colors. I purchased the bleached white muslin. The other fabric is mostly from my collection and a friend’s collection. 

Many people have made this quilt and posted photos online. Googling “Lottie Quilt” and then choosing “images” will yield lots of photos. 

This is one of the posted pix and is our inspiration -

We purchased the digital pattern -

I made myself color key cards (one for each block) and a placement sheet to keep track of the pieces. 

I increased the size of the pieces. Mine are an even 4” unfinished, so I could use a 4” rotary square (above) to trim my sections. So I cut my fabric at 5”, paired and sewed diagonally, and then trimmed to 4”. (The instructions used 3.75”.)

Each quarter section of the block is a 9-patch -

We realized we only need 9 blocks, not 16, partially because I increased the block size, and partially the way middle makes her bed.

As this posts, I am still sewing.

Tomorrow is National Gift Card Day

 

The blue and white quilt

Finishing piecing the indigo and white quilt for my niece, I had a lot of the white print fabric remaining.

I also had a collection of blue fabric. This was not indigo, it was regular fabric.

I decided to make a second blue/white half square triangle quilt. My intention is to save this for my granddaughter who is currently 8 mos. 

I cut the fabric at 8.5”, paired, sewed diagonally, trimmed blocks to 7.5” using a 7.5” rotary square with a diagonal line through the center.

When I had made as many blocks as I could with the Chambray Sunrise Side collection, I dug through my fabric and found other blues (below) that blended well. I also purchased 8 additional white background prints.

I used every bit of the Chambray Sunrise Side collection in making this blue and white half square triangle quilt. 

There was one fabric that was tricky, it was the large floral on a white background. 

I used this floral fabric as a “dark” by carefully surrounding it with strongly contrasting fabric. The whites around it make it read as a dark. Yes, several of those pieces are solid white fabric. 

There is also light blue fabric with white dots, in this quilt, that I carefully surrounded with light fabric. It is visible in the last photo, below.

The indigo and white quilt

This quilt is currently at my long arm quilter’s. 

When it is finished, it is headed to the same niece who is getting the Grandmother’s Flower Garden. She picked the indigo/white fabric and also the half square triangle design. She knows the indigo quilt is coming. The Grandmother’s Flower Garden is a surprise.

This is the long arm stitch -

Indigo is a very specific fabric, usually made in South Africa. It has labels on the back, identifying it. It comes in small pieces, not on a bolt like regular yardage, in my experience.

All the blue fabric in the photos below is indigo. I paired it with (regular) solid white and white background prints.

I cut 8.5” squares, paired them, and used the diagonal sewing method that generates two half triangle squares from each pair. I trimmed these blocks to 7.5” using a 7.5” rotary square with a diagonal guide in the center. 

The grandmother’s flower garden

This Grandmother’s Flower Garden is hand pieced. They usually are because of the angles. 

I did not make this quilt top. I purchased it from my long arm quilter. It is an estate piece she acquired from a friend’s family when the quilter died.

If this type of quilt is new to you, here is a good explanation by someone who made one -

https://susies-scraps.com/2022/03/25/grandmothers-flower-garden-quilt-like-grandma-used-to-make/

I bought batting and backing. My long arm quilter used the Baptist Fan stitch pattern, which shows beautifully. 

Bonus, it holds all those hand stitched pieces down firmly. This quilt should wear well. The quilting is secure.

The floral fabric is quite old fashioned. It is perfect to represent the “garden”. I like that the colors blend beautifully and are rich. They are neither primary nor pastel. They hold their own. I love the uniform centers. I love the white background. I think this is a lovely quilt.

I came home, made the binding from the leftover backing, and sewed it on the quilt. It is currently at the binder. When it is finished, it is headed to my niece. 

2025 quilts

I posted a collection of quilt photos a few weeks ago - 

https://baby-steps-v.blogspot.com/2024/12/quilts-i-made-between-july-2023-and.html

Those quilts were made mostly one right after the other between July 2023 and January 2024. I made a baby quilt in May/June 2024 also, when our granddaughter was born.

I updated that quilt post to include the sizes, quilt patterns, and stitch patterns. 

I am currently working on another run of quilts. 

Note - I prewash/dry all fabric. I use 100% cotton Warm and Natural or Warm and White batting. My long arm quilter uses real thread on my quilts (not fish line).

My six winter 2025 quilts are - 

1. Niece’s Grandmother’s Flower Garden (at binder’s).

2. Niece’s Indigo/white half triangle square quilt (at long arm quilter’s). 

3. Granddaughter’s Blue/white half square triangle quilt (pieced and ready to go to long arm quilter).

4. Middle’s Lottie quilt (piecing).

5. Youngest’s best friend’s scrap quilt (made with the leftover 5” squares from Lottie)

6.  Granddaughter’s Scrap quilt (have fabric). 

Yes, six is an ambitious number of quilts for one winter. But that seems to be how I get things done. All these quilts are gifts for family members (and Youngest’s best friend).

My plan is to roll right from one to the next, and be done before gardening season starts in April/May.

Here are my tricks 

- I only do very simple quilts these days. 

- I pace myself, I work a little bit every day. I do not over do it.

- I work on one quilt at a time. I finish each quilt I start. 

- I have help. I have a long arm quilter and a binder. I have middle, my husband, my good with color friend.

- when I pick up a quilt from the long arm quilter, I hand her the next quilt. When I pick up a quilt from the binder, I hand her the next quilt. This is key! It gives me a schedule/deadline/sense of urgency.

Photo book

Yesterday’s post mentioned I purchased a small photo album to save holiday cards for our granddaughter.

These little photo cards are a snapshot of our immediate family’s year. It is a family tradition. These cards are distributed to our friends and family, long time friends of the kids, and some of DIL’s family.

I am adding to this tradition by making a photo book for granddaughter each year. The photo book will be an expanded version of the holiday cards. I am including information and photos about all seven of us. It will be a family photo book (not a baby book). 

I am gifting this family photo book at what might seem like an unusual time, Valentines Day.

February 14 deadline (each year) gives me plenty of time to construct and order the book reflecting January 1 - December 31 of the previous year. 

I can get the whole previous year in, including Christmas and New Years, by using Valentines Day as my gift date. 

The title of each book is the year. That helps simplify. The books will be very uniform.

The family photo book gives me a family tradition gift to send each year, on Valentine’s Day. 

This meaningful gift will help avoid gift clutter. It will probably be less expensive to send a custom photo book than buy nonsense and pay shipping. I will have it shipped directly. 

Having the deadline be tied to a holiday/gift should ensure it gets done once a year. A deadline is important. My deadline will be granddaughter’s family tradition.

Granddaughter was born late spring 2024. So yes, the 2024 book will be a partial year, for granddaughter’s pictures, but it will still be a very full book. There are activities for the other six of us, from the whole year. We had two baby showers prior to her birth. There are a lot of baby pictures. We all visited in 2024. There are six pets in the family. 

Saving holiday cards

We have a new granddaughter who was born late last spring. 

She lives very far from us with our oldest/DIL. 

We have all been to meet her. 

I look for little things I can do to feel connected to her. 

Sometimes this means sending something to them. 

I wrote about an annual Christmas ornament here - 

https://baby-steps-v.blogspot.com/2024/11/baby-gift-ideas-part-one.html

Sometimes it means keeping something here. 

Today’s post is about a tiny little collection I just started. I will give this collection to granddaughter at some point in the future. 

I design/order/mail family holiday cards each year. 

These cards go to our friends and family. They also go to many of our kids long time friends and our DIL’s key family members. 

I am saving one of our holiday cards for granddaughter each year, starting with 2024. 

I ordered a small photo album to facilitate this process.

I had granddaughter’s birth announcement, I added it to the album. On the years oldest/DIL send a holiday card, I will add those too. 

Our holiday cards, because they include all seven of us, plus pets, are a great little window into our history. 

I think it will be a great keepsake. And a nice tiny size.

Electric outlet shortage was a problem

We do not have enough outlets in our garage. It is just a fact. 

We have four outlets, with the standard two plugs each, on four different/opposite walls. That is not enough. 

The worst offender is the outlet by the work bench/window. Two plugs is not enough for the pumpkins or the Christmas wreaths nor chargers/tools.

At first I thought the outlets should have been installed with four plugs each, but then I realized even with eight, spacing would have been an issue. Many things in the garage have wide plugs. 

I realized what I needed, solving the window/work bench plug, was a power strip that mounted on the wall, with well spaced plugs. 

I found a great one - 

2025 books

Because of Christmas, the groups that normally meet the last week of the month, met the week before Christmas.  I had two groups that Wednesday and one that Thursday. I read all three books and attended all three meetings.

My first book group of 2025 has already met, the day after New Years. So I am right back in the swing.

I have all my meetings/books logged in my calendar for January - May 2025. Most of those books have been assigned. 

I have the meetings on my calendar June - December 2025, so I do not accidentally schedule something else on a book group day. I will add the books later, as they are assigned.

I am back to four groups a month, sometimes the calendar aligns and it is one meeting a week. Sometimes the calendar is odd and I have two groups meeting on the same Wednesday. If it is two groups on the same day, I read the books and go. It is important to attend regularly and support the groups.

I am very pleased to have found a network of library book groups that work for me. Groups encourage me to read a more diverse selection. And it is great to discuss books in person. Plus it is good socialization for me. 

I might have mentioned, I am also reading the books for Youngest’s book group 2025. There are 11 books, they have a party in December, so no December book assignment. All 11 assigned books are on my calendar, on the date her group meets.  

Her first assignment for 2025 was The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. This is the first book in a four book series. I read all four books between 12/19/2024 - 12/29/2924. And then I read Richard’s first book in his second series, We Solve Murders.

Note of a wonderful feature on Libby - I have checked availability on Libby for my January-March 2025 assigned book titles. I am on hold for several books. 

On Libby, if a hold becomes available too quickly, before I need it, youngest can put a specific future date in the system so I get the hold later, when I need it. Great computer magic. It is tricky to time holds so the dates are perfect, this feature makes it work.

Also it is very helpful to share a Libby account with youngest. If I have a problem, she fixes it. She works magic with the dates. She keeps an eye on what I am reading which generates discussion for both of us.

Reading the same book at the same time is not a problem because we each have separate Hoopla accounts. 

We also share an Audible account. Audible is smart enough that we can listen to the same book at the same time and the system keeps it separate.