Sew Sampler Review

Subscription boxes have been a huge hit lately, and my favorite quilting store Fat Quarter Shop has started a new subscription box called Sew Sampler. I received my first box on Friday.

Love the colors of the box.

All of the yummy contents in one spot

My daughter has already claimed this little charm pack for me to make a quilt with for her

Some really cool magnetic screwdrivers, they say there for the sewing machine but have not tried them out yet. Best part is they say although magnetic they are computer safe.

These little scissors came at a perfect time, I seem to have lost my little gold scissors that I use for cross stitching.

Not to sure what I will do with this patter but it is super cute and has three different sizes to it.

I always love a good ruler, this one is 2.5 x 6.5 perfect for making little squares.

This is my favorite thing in the doc for some reason, being in the Military we move a lot, I am going to save this for our next duty station. 

Overall I would rate this box excellent, I think I would use most if not all the things in this box, I might give the strawberry pattern to my quilt guild for someone else to make. 

100 Layouts Challenge

I belong to a scrapbooking group called Scrap Happy one of the members of the group said she challenged her self to do 100 Layouts before she could by any new supplies minus adhesive and white yardstick. I decided to join her and added pop dots to my list of things I was allowed to purchase because I love dimension and my supply is running a little low.

I am only counting layouts that help get rid of my stash, not project life cards that I print off of my computer.

Today I completed two layouts both from when we were pass holders and both when my mom came to visit us in May of 2014.

The first layout is about our dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. The stickers are from simple stories and the papers are a mix of old papers. The words on all of the photos are part of the project mouse line at The-Lilypad. I took some time looking through all of their word art and added them to the pictures before printing them out. The sketch idea for the layout is from Scrapbook Generation whom where most of my sketches come from. 

My second layout is a from my Husband and I's dinner with star wars characters. Once again the layout sketch is from Scrapbook generation. All but the yellow paper was pulled from my stash of odds and ends papers. I downloaded the Star Jedi font and cut it with my silhouette I did the yellow first and realized that it did not stand out enough on the red so I created a white outline and loved the result

Bonus Layout:

One quick bonus layout from my four year old. I give her my phone and let her take whatever pictures she would like. I print them at home and then let her take paper from my scrap stash and cut however she wants and then glue it down. It is also a homework project because she is working on her letter writing/letter sound recognition. 

Sewing Room Floor

Today I am sharing a project that I have had the top completed and quilted for a few years and had no desire to finish. Well I am participating in a Finish-along this quarter and I put this quilt as something to finish.

Story behind this quilt:

I spotted this quilt on the wall at janni lou creations during one of my shop hop visits to Oregon. The quilt on the wall was beautiful, and they did not have any more quilt kits left. So I bought the pattern and during the shop hop go all of the beautiful batiks to make the quilt. I started making the quilt in July of 2014 and when I finished it I took it to Grandma to quilt it (and fix my y seams). Eventually on another trip to Oregon I got it back and then promptly tucked it into a closet, because I had no desire to bury all the threads from Grandma quilting. After having the same quilt on my bed for close to two years I decided it was time to put a new quilt on the bed. I pulled out this quilt and used my christmas gift certificate to order the binding. Once the binding material arrived on friday I promptly made binding and stitched it down, then spent the rest of the weekend hand sewing the binding. I love this quilt even more now that it is done. 

Q2 2016 Quilt Along

So now that I am on terminal leave from the Army I have more time to do things like quilt :). It has only been three weeks since I started terminal leave and I am still trying to get into the grove of things like dropping my daughter off at school and getting my homework done.

Since I have so much more free time then I did before I am going to participate in the Q2 2016 finish-a-long. I have four projects that I am proposing to finish this quarter.

PROJECT 1

Clara's big girl bed quilt

My daughter is moving from a toddler bed to a twin bed this summer. I was looking through my stash and found these cute fairies that I got as part of a kit when I went to the Houston Quilt Show. Well the kit was not big enough to turn into a queen bed so Clara and I went through my stats and found a bunch of batiks that we thought were pretty. I added them to the fairy blocks and designed a quilt from there.

Project 2

A dress for Clara

Like most little girls mine love my little pony, so I bought her some fabric to make a my little pony dress. Having a little girl who is all legs and arms and super skinny I have found that making her dresses is the way to go.

Project 3

Trip home quilt

My grandma finished quilting me this almost a year ago, all I have left to do is bury threads and add a binding. All of the fabrics and pattern were picked when I went shop hopping with my grandma on a trip home.

Protect 4 

Letters home

Ever have a project you just want done because it drives you crazy? That is this one. I just want this quilt done and out of the way!

Around the World update

So I have been reading just a little bit a lot. I have finished five books since I last published a blog :).

- The Rosie project - Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
I thought the book was good someone else said its Sheldon cooper looking for a wife. I have to agree. I loved how Don grew as a person throughout the book.



- Die Again -  Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli is on the case of a big game hunter found dead in his apartment, alone with the body of a beautiful white snow leopard he had recently been commissioned to procure and stuff for a high-profile museum in the area. 

Medical examiner Maura Isles connects the case to a number of seemingly unrelated deaths where the victims have all been found hanging upside down, the hallmark of a leopard's kill. 

Rizzoli follows the puzzling trail of clues all the way to Botswana, where she uncovers the unsolved mystery of a deadly camping safari six years prior. When she realizes the two cases are connected, Rizzoli must track down the sole survivor of the tragic trip to discover who - or what - is behind these gruesome deaths.

I love a good mystery that makes me guess who the killer is. Tess Gerritsen kept me guessing until the very last minute.

- One Year after - The story picks up a year after One Second After ends, two years since the detonation of nuclear weapons above the United States brought America to its knees. After suffering starvation, war, and countless deaths, the survivors of Black Mountain, North Carolina, are beginning to piece back together the technologies they had once taken for granted: electricity, radio communications, and medications. They cling to the hope that a new national government is finally emerging.

Then comes word that most of the young men and women of the community are to be drafted into an “Army of National Recovery” and sent to trouble spots hundreds of miles away.

When town administrator John Matherson protests the draft, he’s offered a deal: leave Black Mountain and enter national service, and the draft will be reduced. But the brutal suppression of a neighboring community under its new federal administrator and the troops accompanying him suggests that all is not as it should be with this burgeoning government.

Great followup to his first book. I really hope that he writes a third book as more technology comes back into the united states. 

That Touch of Magic - Stacy Easter has seen better days. Being a librarian is a labor of love—if only paying her bills were half as much fun. What’s a single, bookish beauty in sleepy Nodaway Falls, New York, supposed to do?

To make ends meet, Stacy decides to develop her special…powers. Everyone can use a touch of magic now and then, right? Soon she’s got clients lining up to receive her signature potions—until a few of them go awry. Meanwhile, her own life has just taken a storybook turn: Leo North, the official One Who Got Away, is back in town. 

Stacy’s best friends, Peach and Liv, are more concerned about the state of her heart than the side effects of a few rogue magic spells. But someone with dark intentions is crossing magical wires all over Nodaway Falls, and those closest to Stacy are at risk. Can Stacy conjure up a way out of this mess with her life—and maybe even her love life—intact?

Lucy March AKA Lani Diane Rich is one of my favorite Podcasters. Her and her husband have several podcasts to include Dusted a podcast about Buffy the Vampire slayer and Angel; a Veronica Mars podcast; and there general podcast story wonk. I knew Lani was an author and teacher, one podcast her husband was talking about her new release book and I decided to read them. I am glad I did. This is the second book in the series and was just as tightly written as the first. I loved the ending of the story and was very satisfied with how everything finished. I know she has written at least one more book in the series. 

Finally:

 

Tricky Twenty-Two - Stephanie Plum might not be the world's greatest bounty hunter, but she knows when she's being played. Ken Globovic (aka Gobbles), hailed as the Supreme Exalted Zookeeper of the animal house known as Zeta fraternity, has been arrested for beating up the dean of students at Kiltman College. Gobbles has missed his court date and gone into hiding. People have seen him on campus, but no one will talk. Things just aren't adding up, and Stephanie can't shake the feeling that something funny is going on at the college - and it's not just Zeta fraternity pranks.

As much as people love Gobbles, they hate Doug Linken. When Linken is gunned down in his backyard it's good riddance, and the list of possible murder suspects is long. The only people who care about finding Linken's killer are Trenton cop Joe Morelli, who has been assigned the case, security expert Ranger, who was hired to protect Linken, and Stephanie, who has her eye on a cash prize and hopefully has some tricks up her sleeve.

Another fun quick book in the Stephanie Plum series. These book never disappoint and are always a fun quick read. 

Below is my updated around the world list: 

1. A book you meant to read in 2015, but didn't - The Rumor
2. A book set in a different continent - The Rosie Project
3. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 (winner or nominated) - Die Again
4. A book by an author you discovered in 2015 - That Touch of Magic
5. A book with a title beginning with the 1st letter of your name - The Naturals
6. The highest rated on your TBR
7. A book about books - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore or A Hidden Fire or The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
8. A classic book with less than 200 pages - Brave New World or Fahrenheit 451
9. A book that was mentioned in another book - Dragonflight or Dragonsong
10. A book by an author you feel you should have read by now - Outlander
11. A book from the Rory Gilmore challenge - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Going to read the illustrated version
12. A childhood classic - Charlotte's Web
13. Reader’s Choice - Among Others or Brotherhood in Death
14. A book with one of the five W’s -or H in the title (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How) - What Alice Forgot
15. A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago) - Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever
16. A book from the top 100 mystery novels - The Firm
17. A book with a beautiful cover - Deep Freeze
18. A book on a summer/beach reading list - Beach Town or It's You
19. A non-fiction book- Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency
20. A book with a first name in the title - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9, Volume 1
21. A book from the Goodreads Recommendations page - 
22. The first book in a new to you series - Uglies or Vampire Academy
23. The next book in a series you are reading - Royal Wedding
24. A "between the numbers" book of a series (0.5, 1,5, 2.5, etc.) The Guard
25. A book whose main character is in a profession that interests youTrauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse or Home Again or Carved in Bone
26. A book everyone is talking about 
27. A book with a beautiful title (in your own opinion)
28. A biography, autobiography, or memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail or Bossypants
29. A book by an author who writes under more than one name - J.D. Robb or Nora Roberts Book
30. A fairytale from a culture other than your own - The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
31. A work of young adult fiction
32. A historical fiction book - The Archer's Daughter
33. The 16th book on your TBR 
34. A book about mental illness - Columbine
35. An award winning book
36. An identity book - a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation
37. A book that you've seen the movie of but haven't read - The Martian or The 5th Wave
38. A book about an anti hero
39. A previous suggestion that did not make it into the list
40. A novella from your favorite genre
41. A book about a major world event (fiction or non-fiction)
42. A top 100 fantasy novel - The Stand or Dragonflight
43. A book about a thing that goes bump in the night
44. A book you're embarrassed to read in public
45. A book related to a hobby or passion you have
46. A crime story
47. A book with a type of food/drink in the title
48. A dystopia
49. A book with a great opening line 
50. A book originally written in a language other than English
51. A short story from a well-known author
52. A book published in 2016 

Around the world in 52 books

Well I have completed the first book in my around the world in 52 books challenge.

I finished The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

Synopsis from goodreads:

Madeline King and Grace Pancik are best friends and the envy of Nantucket for their perfect marriages, their beautiful kids, their Sunday night double dates with their devoted husbands. But this summer, something's changed, and if there's anything Nantucket likes better than cocktails on the beach at sunset, it's a good rumor.

And rumor has it...

...that Madeline, a novelist, is battling writer's block, with a deadline looming, bills piling up, and blank pages driving her to desperation--and a desperately bad decision;

...that Grace, hard at work to transform her backyard into a garden paradise, has been collaborating a bit more closely that necessary with her ruggedly handsome landscape architect;

...that Grace's husband, successful island real estate developer "Fast Eddie" Pancik, has embarked on quite an unusual side project;

...that the storybook romance between Madeline's son, Brick, and Grace's daughter Allegra is on the rocks, heading for disaster.

As the gossip escalates, and they face the possible loss of the happy lives they've worked so hard to create, Grace and Madeline try mightily to set the record straight--but the truth might be even worse than rumor has it. 


I don't know how to fell about the book. I liked it, the pace was quick and the writing was great. However, I didn't like the decisions that the three adults in the book made. I do like how the teenagers handled themselves and how the book ended for the teenagers, but, I also feel bad because I think that the adults got what they deserved.

Below is my updated around the world list: 

1. A book you meant to read in 2015, but didn't - The Rumor
2. A book set in a different continent - The Rosie Project
3. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 (winner or nominated) - Die Again
4. A book by an author you discovered in 2015 - That Touch of Magic
5. A book with a title beginning with the 1st letter of your name - The Naturals
6. The highest rated on your TBR
7. A book about books - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore or A Hidden Fire or The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
8. A classic book with less than 200 pages - Brave New World or Fahrenheit 451
9. A book that was mentioned in another book - Dragonflight or Dragonsong
10. A book by an author you feel you should have read by now - Outlander
11. A book from the Rory Gilmore challenge - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Going to read the illustrated version
12. A childhood classic - Charlotte's Web
13. Reader’s Choice - Among Others or Brotherhood in Death
14. A book with one of the five W’s -or H in the title (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How) - What Alice Forgot
15. A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago) - Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever
16. A book from the top 100 mystery novels - The Firm
17. A book with a beautiful cover - Deep Freeze
18. A book on a summer/beach reading list - Beach Town or It's You
19. A non-fiction book- Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency
20. A book with a first name in the title - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9, Volume 1
21. A book from the Goodreads Recommendations page - 
22. The first book in a new to you series - Uglies or Vampire Academy
23. The next book in a series you are reading - Royal Wedding
24. A "between the numbers" book of a series (0.5, 1,5, 2.5, etc.) The Guard
25. A book whose main character is in a profession that interests youTrauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse or Home Again or Carved in Bone
26. A book everyone is talking about 
27. A book with a beautiful title (in your own opinion)
28. A biography, autobiography, or memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail or Bossypants
29. A book by an author who writes under more than one name - J.D. Robb or Nora Roberts Book
30. A fairytale from a culture other than your own - The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
31. A work of young adult fiction
32. A historical fiction book - The Archer's Daughter
33. The 16th book on your TBR 
34. A book about mental illness - Columbine
35. An award winning book
36. An identity book - a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation
37. A book that you've seen the movie of but haven't read - The Martian or The 5th Wave
38. A book about an anti hero
39. A previous suggestion that did not make it into the list
40. A novella from your favorite genre
41. A book about a major world event (fiction or non-fiction)
42. A top 100 fantasy novel - The Stand or Dragonflight
43. A book about a thing that goes bump in the night
44. A book you're embarrassed to read in public
45. A book related to a hobby or passion you have
46. A crime story
47. A book with a type of food/drink in the title
48. A dystopia
49. A book with a great opening line 
50. A book originally written in a language other than English
51. A short story from a well-known author
52. A book published in 2016 

Around the Year in 52 Books

I was looking for a good reading challenge for 2016 and I found the Goodreads Around The Year in 52 Books. Each week you read a book within a certain category. Below is my list of books that I have picked so far. 

1. A book you meant to read in 2015, but didn't - The Rumor
2. A book set in a different continent - The Rosie Project
3. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 (winner or nominated) - Die Again
4. A book by an author you discovered in 2015 - That Touch of Magic
5. A book with a title beginning with the 1st letter of your name - The Naturals
6. The highest rated on your TBR
7. A book about books - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
8. A classic book with less than 200 pages - Brave New World or Fahrenheit 451
9. A book that was mentioned in another book - 
10. A book by an author you feel you should have read by now - Outlander
11. A book from the Rory Gilmore challenge - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Going to read the illustrated version
12. A childhood classic - Charlotte's Web
13. Reader’s Choice
14. A book with one of the five W’s -or H in the title (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How)
15. A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago)
16. A book from the top 100 mystery novels
17. A book with a beautiful cover
18. A book on a summer/beach reading list
19. A non-fiction book
20. A book with a first name in the title
21. A book from the Goodreads Recommendations page
22. The first book in a new to you series
23. The next book in a series you are reading
24. A "between the numbers" book of a series (0.5, 1,5, 2.5, etc.) The Guard
25. A book whose main character is in a profession that interests you
26. A book everyone is talking about 
27. A book with a beautiful title (in your own opinion)
28. A biography, autobiography, or memoir
29. A book by an author who writes under more than one name
30. A fairytale from a culture other than your own
31. A work of young adult fiction
32. A historical fiction book
33. The 16th book on your TBR 
34. A book about mental illness
35. An award winning book
36. An identity book - a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation
37. A book that you've seen the movie of but haven't read
38. A book about an anti hero
39. A previous suggestion that did not make it into the list
40. A novella from your favorite genre
41. A book about a major world event (fiction or non-fiction)
42. A top 100 fantasy novel
43. A book about a thing that goes bump in the night
44. A book you're embarrassed to read in public
45. A book related to a hobby or passion you have
46. A crime story
47. A book with a type of food/drink in the title
48. A dystopia
49. A book with a great opening line 
50. A book originally written in a language other than English
51. A short story from a well-known author
52. A book published in 2016