Thread/Lint catcher for my sergers

 I have two sergers, one with black thread, the other white thread. 

If you are not familiar, a serger seals the raw edges of fabric so it does not fray. 

There is a very sharp blade that cuts the fabric even as it sews. This creates a real mess. 

Previously I had a paper bag taped to the table to catch the threads and cut off fabric bits. This did not work well, I ended up with a lap full of lint. 

In November, serging the raw edges of the Japanese quilt, there was a huge quantity of lint. I had to vacuum myself. My black pants were covered. 

I found this, it works like a charm -

It is not attached. The weight of the serger holds it in place. So it is easily portable to a sewing bee or retreat. 

Joy to the World

 I made this quilt in September of 1999. 

So it is 26 years old. 

(My quilt racks are built into the molding in my kitchen, hall, entry way. I have six large quilts on display all the time.)

I think the snowman quilt still looks very fresh. Unlike most old bridesmaid dresses, it has stood the test of time and still looks contemporary, in my opinion. 

My good with color quilting friend thinks I taught this as a class. 

I do not remember. 

She was able to borrow the book from a friend of hers so I could photograph the front and back. I paged through it, the designers did well, many other patterns also stand the test of time. It is a cute book. 

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2011) with Ann Goldstein (Translator), and Hillary Huber (Narrator)

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2011) with Ann Goldstein (Translator), and Hillary Huber (Narrator) was a book group assignment. 

My Brilliant Friend is the first of four books in a series:

My Brilliant Friend (2011) 13 hours

The Story of a New Name (2012) 19 hours

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2013) 17 hours

The Story of the Lost Child (2014) 18 hours

13+19+17+18=67 hours

I am able to listen at a pace of 1.25, which will reduce the total hours to 53.6. As this posts, I am just finishing the third book.

I think of this series as four volumes of the same book. I think these were written nearly as a continuous book, which would have been VERY LONG, so it was divided into four parts. 

When I finally *settled into/liked the first one, for me, it meant rolling right through all of them while the characters were straight in my head. I can’t picture just reading one of these books. It would be like reading 1/4 of a book you liked. 

*I had a tough time getting going. I listened to the first two hours, of the first book, which was the assigned one. I was not engaged. It was going to be a struggle. I just got off to a bad start. I took a break and caught up on my podcasts, then I started over at the beginning of the first book. The second time, I was fine, I really liked the book, so I started through the rest of the volumes. 

These books were translated from Italian to English. It is the best translation I think I have ever read, one would never know they were translated. The translator deserves as much praise as the author. Good translation is an art.

These are considered Historical Fiction. I have no complaints about these four books and the category of historical fiction. Normally I complain a lot about the genre of historical fiction. In this case, I do not. 

My assumption is - the names and some of details have been changed just enough to shroud the real people. It amuses me to consider the author might have been male. That would be quite the twist.

The author uses a pseudonym. The author is a mystery -

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

StoryGraph - 

The covers are beautiful. 

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.

Podcasts yes, books no

No books so far this month, I have been having a great time catching up on my podcasts. 

I was very behind on everything, especially Pop Culture Happy Hour. 

I reupped my plus membership (PCHH) so I get the bonus episodes and no sponsor ads. 

I follow four podcasts - 

I deleted many obsolete podcasts a while back, I kept two. 

Reeding Between the Lines sporadically publishes. 

Every once in a very very long while (years between episodes) Young House Love publishes. The last time was 2023. The time before that was 2021. There is always hope.

Sharyn Dorfman

 Does that name ring a bell, but you just can’t place it? 

Google it. If you were an Oprah fan, you will recognize the circumstances immediately.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hoarder-oprah-show_n_4005719/amp

I have no idea what’s happened over the last decade, but I think about Mrs Dorfman on a fairly regular basis. 

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. 

.

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 -