Fran and Tina Sparkle show us a finish

Was it really March when I started this?! Not the quickest progress, eh? Last night I completed the stitching on the “Liberty” section of LHN’s Heart of America, and this afternoon I started the “Freedom” section. (I’m doing each section on a different fabric and plan to reassemble them later- details here) I’m skipping the borders on each piece as well, largely because I don’t care to stitch borders but also because I’m not quite sure how these will be fitting back together yet.

My Webkinz volunteered to help with the picture (I think they’re a bit jealous of little Cheese) so I need to introduce them as well. Fran is the lovely pink & white kitty and Tina Sparkle is the very sweet bear cub. I named them after characters in one of my favorite quirky little films, Strictly Ballroom. (I figure I’ll get a boy Webkinz next and name him Scott) I’ve actually only spent a tiny bit of time on the Webkinz website, but what I have seen is really cute. My daughter is really into it, but then again she’s nine. Soooo…. any other big people out there care to admit they have a Webkinz?

I’m still struggling along with the second book in the Outlander series. I don’t know what the trouble is, but Dragonfly in Amber is nowhere near as interesting to me as the first book was… I have to push myself to read it. I figure it HAS to get better, though, because it sure can’t get any worse there’s a good story line in there somewhere.

“Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the rest of the week” -Longfellow

 

Se habla Espanol? Not today.

Here’s a close up of a square I stitched for Paula for the last round of the F&S Exchange. I started with Donna’s “Frosty Tree Trimmers” pattern (pictured below), changed the colors and added a scene in the middle.

Pretty cute, aren’t they? I’m hoping I can make time to stitch these (as originally designed) for Christmas this year.

I just finished up Outlander and I have Dragonfly on standby. I don’t know why it took me so long to read this book… I guess it’s because I don’t generally care for science fiction (time travel especially), steamy romance, or foreign history in novels. Since this has all three–centers around all 3 in fact– I just gave it a pass. But recently I saw it on Barbara’s blog and like a lemming I decided to read it as well. I’m glad I did; it’s a good story.

This school year I had a big plan–we would begin Spanish lessons in September and by the time Cinco de Mayo rolled around, we’d be able to speak only in Spanish all day. Only it didn’t happen that way… maybe next year. We’re still having the taco salad for dinner though.

 

In two days, I have:

1. made a few more threadholders and listed them in my Etsy shop.

2. read the first 4 chapters of Atonement and quit– bleh.

3. stitched a block for a monthly tree-themed exchange.

4. started (& almost finished) LK’s Hop for a bunny-themed exchange.

5. started (& almost finished) The Appeal by John Grisham.

6. found some jelly beans that I actually like.

 

the booklist

Stolen from Barbara, who got it from Anna :)

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. (Movies don’t count.)

1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)***
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)***
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)***
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)***
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)***
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)***
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)***
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)***
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)***
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)***
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)***
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

There were a few on the list which I marked with asterisks… those I started reading and for whatever reason couldn’t bear to finish.

Last night I started What Was She Thinking [notes on a scandal] by Zoe Heller. I’m not particularly enjoying it but I feel compelled to read on because it surely must get better. Musn’t it?

I’m thankful for my library card :) 

 

girl with a pearl earring

I finished the book last week and thought it was not as great as everyone said… then caught the movie yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. This is one of those rare examples of a book and a movie so enhancing each other that the complete story would be lost if they were not both experienced.

The movie leaves a lot out. There’s no brother, no mention of the father’s trade or how he became blind, no reason given for the girl’s having to become a maid, and (perhaps most importantly) no explanation given for the gift of the pearls at the end. I can see a lot of unanswered questions in this film, and understand why it is considered to be only a 3-star movie. It is, however, a beautiful film with very artistic direction… I watched it twice and I’m sure I’ll watch it again.

The book is slow going, and lacks much of the scenery and character detail that was shown in the movie. It also glossed over the sexual tension between the maid and her master; tension which was depicted wonderfully in the movie. Though it started out very s l o w l y , and I was tempted to quit reading about 3 times, I kept going. As it turned out, the last 50 or so pages were the best so I’m glad I didn’t give up.

At any rate, it’s always interesting to see into the lives of artists and Tracy Chevalier does a good job of providing insight… even if just from her own imagination.