Monday Musings

Published on January 7, 2019January 7, 2019 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous9 Comments

Wow … Two months since my last post.

The last few months, my blog has devolved into mostly book reviews, and those are mostly of books I received advance copies of and committed to review. Which is great! I love receiving early releases, reading them, and sharing them with others. Especially when they’re from authors I’m going to snatch up and read anyway.

A couple of years ago, I did an overhaul of my blog. I received some good industry advice about what publishers and acquisitions people would look for when they considered my submitted fiction. They would visit my blog and evaluate if my posts were pertinent to my fiction and how many views I had, yada yada.

quote 130-3 But let’s face it, no one–beyond my immediate family (any maybe not even they)–cares what I think about … anything. Not movies, not current events, not anything beyond book reviews.

I do have a few followers who like my thoughts about books. And I’m supremely grateful for every one of you!

But a curious thing happened when I changed the focus of my posts …

I lost interest.

So if I’m not interested, why would I expect anyone else to care??

Short answer: I wouldn’t.

So, I’m going back to my former format. But I’ll also retain elements of the new schedule.

Mondays: Monday Musings or Media Monday. Basically whatever I feel like talking about. I love movies and TV shows and podcasts and I like talking about them. Mondays were supposed to be about quilting, because I had a novel set in a quilt shop, but I complete only one or two quilts a year. It’s hard to blog weekly about that kind of production. 😉

Tuesday will still be Book Talk Tuesdays. Around May of last year, I decided 2018 would be devoted to catching up with favorite series I had lagged behind in. I did pretty well in that endeavor, so I’ll bring you all up to date as well.

Wednesdays will continue to be Wednesday Wanderings with tales of our travels or Woe! It’s Wednesday, when I talk about something personal, something I’m struggling with, something I don’t understand.

I will likely take off Thursdays, or will post an Author Spotlight on Thursdays.

Fridays will be devoted to food. Yes, Food Talk Fridays will be back. Restaurant reviews, recipes, whatever I feel like talking about.

Realistically, I know it’s January and I’m full of good intentions, and I may run out of champagne toast

steam and ideas by … ummm … May … but I’m ~~hoping~~ planning to be more consistent in 2019.

Here’s to good intentions! And even if I do less than perfectly with my posts, it’s okay. I’ll have improved, and that’s really all that matters.

Monday Musings: Boys, Quilts, and Wildlife

Published on March 12, 2018March 12, 2018 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous

It’s been a while since we talked quilting, mostly because I haven’t had anything new to share or talk about.

But I bought a kit when my favorite local shop closed. It’s a small quilt, though bigger than a crib blanket. I made it for my two-year-old grandson. I’m mostly happy with it. I think he’ll love it.

I didn’t stretch the backing tight enough when I sandwiched the layers together and I ended up with too many little tucks and pleats on the back.

I laid it out on the living room floor, on a quilt board that was just a mite too small.

Lesson learned. Next time I’ll find a place with enough table space to lay it out, tape it down tautly, and then do the sandwich.

Life is a learning experience, isn’t it?

Just like quilting, which I learn by trial and error.

Life can’t be practiced for. It’s more like do, error, re-do. Sometimes, of course, we nail it. But mostly it’s me bumbling along, doing the best I can, failing horribly, sighing, getting up, and trying again.

I’ll quilt again. And I’ll pay special attention to the backing. And something else, something I didn’t expect will go wrong. Or at least not be perfect.

But I’ll persist and maybe one of these days, a quilt (and a life) might just turn out okay.

Thanks for reading.

Do you have a favorite quilt or afghan or blankie? Even adults sometimes need a security blanket.

Monday Musings: Good-bye to an Era

Published on November 27, 2017November 26, 2017 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous1 Comment

My favorite local quilting store is closing. (Cue the violins.)

Quilters Paradise in Old Town Clovis is where I took my quilting classes. I bought lots of fabric there. Which reminds me, I have some reward cards I better redeem quickly!

It’s rare to find a shop so focused on customer service, quality products, and value.

The owners are always helpful. The dog hanging around the back classroom was calm and never demanding, but always grateful for an ear rub or tummy scratch.

Employees are knowledgeable. My first quilt top that I made in the Quilting 101 class turned out great, but I knew I would need help with the backing choice. So I toted in the top, laid it out and pleaded for advice. I walked out a few minutes later with the perfect fabric. (Don’t ask me if I’ve actually finished that quilt yet. Please.) I love the blue and gold with the cream, but I wasn’t sure if the backing should be dark or light. We ended up going with one of the medium golds for the backing fabric. I think it will look stunning when it is finished. Which I hope will be next year. I’m committed to not beginning a new project until I finish the three or four I have in progress.

There are a couple other quilt shops near me that I’ve never shopped at. And of course we have a Jo-Ann’s. So it looks like my quilting fabric loyalty is up for bids.

Do you have a local favorite shop? Or a favorite you make sure to visit on your travels?

Monday Musings: Quilting Quandaries

Published on August 28, 2017August 28, 2017 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous

Next week I’ll be on my way to Ireland and the UK. Trip of a lifetime, anniversary/birthday celebrations, and vacation all rolled into one.

For a knitter and quilter, this poses a problem.

Accessories for patchwork top view on a white surface

How much yarn and fabric should I buy?

Reasons for buying lots and lots of yardage and skeins:

I don’t know when or if I’ll ever return and have the opportunity to buy, so I want to have no regrets.
Fabric and yarn are fairly lightweight, and won’t add much bulk to my suitcase.
There might be patterns or colors not available here.

Reasons to forbear buying anything new and shiny and pretty:

With the internet, anything I see can probably be purchased later, just for more money and added shipping costs.
I have two completed quilt tops waiting to be finished and one partially pieced top waiting. I should not buy more fabric until those projects are completed.

See my problem?

But oh, the pretty pretty colors and patterns … Colorful balls of yarn on a wooden table

Monday Musings: So Many States …

Published on July 24, 2017July 23, 2017 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous

I’m getting to check off two entries on my “States I Have Yet to Visit” list this week.

I’m in Fargo, North Dakota this week for a pesticide safety conference, for my part-time day job. Yes, I’ve seen the movie; no, I haven’t seen the television series.

I’ve never been to North Dakota, or Denver, where we had a layover yesterday. Denver was less mountainous than I’d expected, but still beautiful. Our less-than-an-hour-gonna-have-to-hustle-to-make-the-connecting-flight layover turned into five-plus hours, thanks to mechanical issues on a plane.

Since it’s important to me that any plane I fly on have no mechanical issues, I was just fine with the delay. The upside was my friend and boss has a daughter who lives in Denver, and she readily agreed to come pick us up for dinner. And, of course, being introduced to Dion’s and their green chile pizza.

The downside was that I had finished my book and both magazines long before we finally landed in Fargo at 3 AM.

We were surprised and blessed to discover that the car rental agency had stayed open to accommodate our late flight, so we didn’t have to Uber or taxi or hitchhike to the hotel. I crawled into bed about 4:30 AM, Fargo time and managed to sleep a solid six hours.

We ventured to Fargo’s old town area, looking for lunch. The Smokehouse we found turned out to be closed on Sunday (not unusual, we soon discovered), so we went next door to Würst Bier Hall where we promptly ordered pretzels, wurst, porketta bánh mì, and french fries. Fabulous!! Stud Muffin would love that place, so I obviously have to come back.

After lunch, we walked around the old town area (gotta get some steps in after that lunch!), found a great coffee shop with scones (and a definite Seattle vibe), fun shops, and historic buildings. Dinner turned out to be peach kuchen and a root beer float at Krolls, a recommendation from our lunch server.

Don’t judge.

It’s now 8:00 Sunday evening. It’s only 6 PM in California, but my eyes are heavy. I won’t have a problem getting to sleep tonight. Tomorrow, we work!