Sewfrench

And to elaborate…

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Sewfrench

on yesterday’s post.

When asked, of all the books I read this year, what my VERY favorite book was, I had to ponder the question.

It’s always hard to choose THE BEST when there are so many that just come to you at the right moment!

How about I give you a few of my top picks?!!

I loved:

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
by J.D. Vance a quote by the author sums it up.
“I am a hill person. So is much of America’s white working class. And we hill people aren’t doing very well….Americans call them hillbillies, rednecks, or white trash. I call them neighbors, friends, and family. – J.D. Vance

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee because genetics fascinates me.

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff This book was absolutely lovely: a visit with the best of old friends. Heartwarming, enlightening, and inspirational.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik because she has led a fascinating life. She had her finger in everything!

New York by Edward Rutherfurd because he writes amazing “place” histories and we love all aspects of New York state. Last year I loved his book on Ireland.

But probably my most favorite, the one that has and will stick with me…

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi because it is a profound, emotional memoir forcing us to ask what are we doing to help each other live and die well? What should we be talking about that we’re not talking about? We’re all going to face illness and death and bereavement and difficult medical decisions; this is the voice to get us talking.

Heres to many great reads in the New year!!!

Posted in Books, Reading, Uncategorized | Tagged Best books of 2016, books, Favorite book of 2016, reading | 3 Comments

Books I loved and not so much in 2016

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Sewfrench

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss

One thing that I learned this year is that the books I loved most were the books I heavily researched, and studied the reviews, before I invested my time on them. Generally, I saw them on several favorite book lists, not just the New York Times list.

Another thought~ anyone can become a best seller when they have a fabulous promoter. I fell for that one a few too many times this year, resulting in quite a few mediocre books.

I use Goodreads to track my books, read reviews and find like-minded readers for recommendations, this has a proven track record. I also track them here, this is where I realized that my numbers don’t match up between Goodreads and my personal list… I’m going with the higher number because I obviously read that many!

I do “read” lots of books as audiobooks, as well. I’m not sure if everyone knows this but there are a few places to get them, and ebooks, music, , for free if you have a library card and your library subscribes to the service. Hoopla is one and my favorite, Overdrive. I can listen to my books as I sew, quilt, get in my 5 miles walking… I even convinced Peter to listen to one while we were doing some never-ending paining, this summer. He enjoyed it so much we listened to another on a road trip out west. He then went on to listen to at least one on his own. It’s so fun when we both read/listen to the same book and can discuss it. I need to get him on Goodreads, he has read a lot more than usual this year!

I do still buy books, including downloadable ones, especially if the wait list is more than five people and I ram really anxious to read it. I do still buy children’s books, quilting books, cookbooks, local authors, travel, research… books. I would hate to lose any more of our locally owning book stores than we have thus far.

~Studying did pay off, this year, I read more 5 star books and lots fewer one star, or abandoned books, this year. My goal was 80, up from last year’s 76 completed. I read 102. Last time I read this many was in Mrs. Gillette’s 5th grade class. Many years, growing up, we did not have a television. I do believe the library was my best friend.

New to me this year was participating in Book Riot’s 2016 Read Harder Challenge over on Goodreads. I took part in the 24-book challenge this year, exposing me to several new authors, and challenging with some rarely read genres.

Highlights from the Challenge:

~Read a Book Originally Publishes in the Decade You Were Born: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, this was a no brainer I had just bought the Kindle version for my granddaughter. Double dipping halves the cost!

~Read a dystopian novel: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline which turned out to be a favorite though I would never have chosen this book before being challenged to read this genre.

~Read a book about Feminism: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay which turned out to be my least favorite book of the year. Nothing against feminism. Notorious RBG is about feminism and was a very favorite, I classified it as a biography for the challenge and not listing any one book in any two categories left me with this one…

~Read a book by or about a person that identifies as transgender: George by Alex Gino an excellent middle-grades book. What with all this talk of who can use which bathroom this was a very timely read.

~Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia: I read the Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen and found it very interesting. I have always found books about other cultures to be at the top of my favorites, right up their with memoirs!

And on to the books!

★★★★★ Books I whole-heartedly recommend from this past year:

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
by J.D. Vance

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

New York by Edward Rutherfurd

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege, Nikola Sellmair, Carolin Sommer

Ruby by Cynthia Bond

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Life by Keith Richards

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon, Shana Knizhnik

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Bone Tree by Greg Iles

Press Here by Hervé Tullet, Christopher Franceschelli

The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters: A Guide to Creating, Quilting, and Living Courageously by Sherri Lynn Wood

1984 by George Orwell

City of Thieves by David Benioff, Ron Perlman

Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The only ★☆☆☆☆ of 2016:

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Unfinished books of 2016:

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Not she why even started reading this since the reviews were all bad. But she was an early feminist, won a Nobel Prize for Literature and passed away this year. Maybe I will attempt another of her books another year.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Only time to read so many books, I just couldn’t get through this one, no matter how many good reviews there were.

What about you?
Any fabulous books in 2016?
Looking forward to reading anything in particular in 2017?

I am looking forward to the 2017 Reading Harder Challenge and, once again, challenging myself not to list any book in two different categories!

Are you on Goodreads? I know I am friends with a few of you, but I am always looking for new friends with great recommendations!

Wishing you many fabulous reads in the New Year ahead!!

Posted in Books, Quotes, Reading | Tagged books, favorite books 2016, Goodreads, literature, read harder challenge 2016 | 3 Comments

Never arrive with your arms swinging.

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Sewfrench

That’s our motto.
And I am constantly in search of the next best hostess gift.

We were invited to our newest neighbor’s home for a cocktail party recently. I searched, and searched, for ideas of something new to bring. We have never met this couple. They built their home in the last lot of our neighborhood, which happens to be right across our tree line, so our closest neighbors! They have just recently moved in and we are excited to finally meet them.

If they are anything like us, they don’t “need” anything else. So something consumable is where I started my search. After reading so many comments and reviews I decided to go with The Barefoot Contessa’s Salted Caramel Nuts. Is there anything that Ina makes that is not perfectly delectable??? When gifting food, I always worry about all the different allergies… Gluten, corn, soy, eggs… Of the top eight most common allergies nuts is the only reactor in this one. A bonus that is is quite obvious that there are nuts in it!

I followed the recipe exactly and only wish she had given a temperature to boil the sugar to. The first batch got stringy, but was delicious. The second batch wasn’t stringy but clouded a bit as it cooled. Both perfectly delicious with the perfect crunch. I just like the science of cooking. Give me a number and I will nail it every time. Cook for 5-10 minutes seemed vague. I know it depends on the size pan you use, size of your flame… but still.

Hint: Take it off on the light side of browning.

Tip two: Pay attention to your pan size for the four cups of nuts. Change your pan size if you plan on doing a half batch

Tip three: Keep your pan on the stovetop as you add the nuts and stir. I think cooling too fast caused the clouding. Stringing because I cooked it a smidge longer than I should have. Just guessing on both points but if any of you candy makers know for sure I would love to know the whys and wherefors.

Tip four: Watch the video “before” you start
I had a better feel for what I was looking for after I watched it.

Salted Caramel Nuts @ Sewfrench

I love the look of the fleur de sel sprinkling on after it was finished but still warm. It is worth it to search it out. I searched at several local shops and couldn’t find any. That is until I came home I went through my own cupboards only to find I had bought some, in France, and had never opened it! No need to search for it in France, it is the very same one that is on Amazon.

I packaged the finished product using the free labels I found at On Sutton Place. I am a new reader to Ann’s blog and she has so many neat ideas, I am happy to have found her. These were exactly what I was looking for. I printed them on cardstock, then I hiked out through the 15″ of fresh snow (that my tall boots were not tall enough to be hiking in) and clipped a piece of fresh greenery to use. I dug up a tiny cluster of artificial pine cones amongst my Christmas wrappings. Now wishing I could remember where they came from.

I picked up this one quart container at Cost Plus World Market. I should have bought extras they were only $3.99. You never know when you are going to need a quick gift and this was the perfect container for this one. This recipe filled it with some left over for our snacking pleasure!

Wishing your heart to be full of Gratitude and Joy this Holiday Season!
Without that what do we have???

Posted in Christmas, Cooking, Gifts | 3 Comments

Carson’s Critters

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Sewfrench

This was such a fun quilt to make. Partly because I didn’t have to think about it thanks to Dani’s wonderful directions! I do not have an Accucut and I didn’t use Dani’s templates, but instead I used my own Eliza’s Backporch Drunkard’s Path templates.

Drunkard's Path templates @ Sewfrench

In the images below, you can see I didn’t use the entire template for the white part of the blocks.

Drunkard's Path templates @ Sewfrench

No need to waste the fabric that would be trimmed away anyway.

Drunkard's Path animal quilt @ Sewfrench

Stitch the pieces together with a 1/4″ seam, the colored piece on top, keeping it lifted up as you sew. The only spot were the seam allowance matters is directly under the needle.

Sewing Drunkard's Path curves @ Sewfrench

I then trimmed them to all the same size squares keeping that 1/4″ seam allowance on the white. Because of the size templates I used mine trimmed down to 6″ square.

Drunkard's Path quilt @ Sewfrench

Add sashings. Notice the different size vertical sashing for the larger turtle block. For this row I used 11.5″ x 1.5″ vertical sashing pieces. For the remaining 2 rows I cut 11.5″ x 4.25″ vertical sashing pieces.

Horizontal sashings are cut 4.25″ x the width needed.

I then added 3″ borders.

Wee Animal's quilt @ Sewfrench

I opted to machine quilt, this one.

Animal Quilt @ Sewfrench

I went with a serpentine, wavy, zigzag between 1/4″ and 1/2″ apart, similar to my original “Flower Garden“.

Drunkards Path Animal quilt @ Sewfrench

I actually got the instruction manual out for my machine and figured out how to create a custom stitch pattern for this one.

Settings for machine quilting @ Sewfrench

I like this curved stitch better than the more pointy settings I have used in the past.

serpentine quilting setting @ Sewfrench
Though they are much easier to set up!

Drunkards Path Animal quilt @ Sewfrench

It creates such beautiful texture. I just love it!

Drunkards Path Animal quilt @ Sewfrench

This one went off to the newest blessing of our oldest daughter’s college roommate.

Drunkards Path Animal quilt @ Sewfrench

There are plenty of quilt ideas for little girls, fewer for boys, this one is perfect!

Drunkards Path Animal quilt @ Sewfrench
A little hand embroidery brought the Critters to life!

Carson's Critters Drunkard's Path Animal quilt by Sewfrench

“Carson’s Critters”
by Sewfrench
Machine pieced, machine quilted
45″ square
Kona cotton
April 2015

Linking up With:
Needle and Thread Thursday
Crazy Mom Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop
TGIFF

Posted in 2015 completes, Gifts, machine quilting, Quilting, scraps, Uncategorized | Tagged animal quilt, baby quilt, critter quilt, drunkard's path, Kona, machine, quilting, serpentine, zigzag quilting | 8 Comments

Press Here by Herve Tullet

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Sewfrench

★★★★★

“Press the yellow dot on the cover of this book, follow the instructions within, and embark upon a magical journey! Each page of this surprising book instructs the reader to press the dots, shake the pages, tilt the book, and who knows what will happen next! Children and adults alike will giggle with delight as the dots multiply, change direction, and grow in size! Especially remarkable because the adventure occurs on the flat surface of the simple, printed page, this unique picture book about the power of imagination and interactivity will provide read-aloud fun for all ages!”

From the first page, of Press Here by Herve Tullet, “Ready?” to the last page “Want to do it again?” I knew this was a magical book! Our nearly three-year old granddaughter was transfixed with this book. First time through the delight, wonder and sense of magic was palpable. She even pointed out her “fingerprint” on one of the red dots, something I had overlooked.

Press Here by Hervé Tullet

I would contend that Press Here is actually more interactive than many digital picture books. Touching, rubbing, shaking, blowing, tilting – can you name an app that registers all those different actions? The design of the book is also memorable. Press Here arrives without a jacket and sporting the old school Golden Book-like raw cover edges with exposed gray cardboard. The page stock is thick and glossy hopefully helping in the wear and tear department.

An interactive book for interactive times. What a fun book!

Posted in Books, Reading, Review | Tagged book, book review, children's lit, juvenile lit, read aloud book | 2 Comments

Color Explosion quilt

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Sewfrench

It started out just playing with leftover Kona cottons on a rainy day, at the cottage.

And because my space is in the loft I can just leave it out and add to it when I feel the need to play with fabric.

Sometimes guests stay in the upstairs bedrooms and I find willing quilt testers. All quilts must be tested before gifting. Usually I do it myself, but I had a helper for this one. Who knows whether a baby quilt will work better than a toddler??

We’ve got a heavy reader here.

Tried my hand again at stippling free motion quilting. Not my favorite way to finish a quilt but I feel the need to conquer this method. It is much more difficult than it appears. Just getting the machine set up, tensions properly set… And it really takes a lot of practice!

Love the backing I found for, my great nephew, Ben’s quilt. It is a Kaffe Fassett, I believe. It sure looks like his anyway! I knew I should have photographed the selvedge…

“Color Explosion”
an experiment in shape
Created by Sewfrench
Kona Solids
Machine pieced and quilted
37″ x 42″

Linking up with:
Crazy Mom Quilts

Posted in Design, machine quilting, Quilting, scraps | Tagged design, Kona, kona cotton, quilting, sewing | 9 Comments

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Sewfrench

★★★★★

“I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.”
― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline surprised me. Not being into video games at all, I would have never thought that I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did. I’ve never read this type book and really enjoyed it, not because of the topic, but because of the author’s writing style. Very engaging.

The plot is a curious mix of past and future, a sort of Willie Wonka but with video games. It is about friendship, acceptance, inclusion and being courageous enough to live in the real world. The action was very exciting and there were a lot of great plot twists.

I didn’t realize this book was classified as YA, it didn’t feel like it, until somewhere around the 75% point and then something shifted. And then, and then and then… Still a 5 star in my book!

Ready Player One, the movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, is in the pre-production stage and, according to IMDB, has a tentative release date in 2018. I’m excited to see it, already!

Posted in Books, movie, Reading, Review, Uncategorized | Tagged book, book review, book spoiler, movie, movie spoiler, reading | Leave a comment

The annual clothing sewing one

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Sewfrench

After spotting this cardigan on Ebay, and deciding I “needed” it for spring, worrying about the quality and sizing, but mostly not wanting to wait the 6 weeks to receive it from China, I went in search of materials to make it myself.

Navy striped cardigan elbow patches
I found a lovely navy and white stripe that has a really good feel to it, just a small amount of lycra for just $2.99 a yard! I also picked up 1/8th of a yard of a caramel ultra-suede to use for elbow patches. I can’t tell you which exact one I bought but I do know it is available online and the lovely women who work at Field’s Fabrics will help you find the perfect one over the phone. I chose ultra-suede over suede, or leather, because it is so much lighter weight, machine washing is a bonus.

I couldn’t find a pattern exactly like I wanted so I went with Butterick 6328. I started out using the vest version D, then adding the sleeves from version A.

It went together easy enough. The pattern’s directions use a traditional sewing machine, I did use a serger which made for a neat and fast finish.

The pattern I bought was multi-sized and the smallest was an 8, this correlated to a size small, in ready to wear, no matter what the measurements on the pattern envelope says! Sleeves were still too long and the shoulders a tad wide, but nothing that couldn’t be altered.

Navy striped cardigan with elbow patches @ Sewfrench Once I finished it, I quickly realized I had more altering to do. While I have, and love, two of these long cardigans, for winter, I decided this one was just too long for spring and summer. I decided the points had to be cut off. I cut them straight off from the side seam to the point on the front edge which allowed for a perfect drape.

Sewfrench sews
The other major change I made was to remove the inseam pockets. I like pockets, but these just added bulk to the hip area, they hung in a lump. I think because the material is lightweight the pockets just hung. If a person wanted pockets, they could probably inset them as written, but then topstitch them to the front of the cardigan, preventing them from sagging to the hips.

As for the elbow patches, I drew up a pattern, cut both out with a rotary cutter, at the same time, to keep nice crisp edges.

Traditional, store-bought patches are 4 3/4 ” x 6 1/4″. I cut mine slightly smaller at 4 1/4″ x 6″ which was perfect for a size small and slimmed down sleeves. I first found something round that I could trace around for a 4 1/4″ circle. I then drew a rectangle of the size I wanted, (4 1/4″ x 6″), in pencil, on the backside of the ultra suede. I used the tin and traced a circle at one end of the rectangle, scooted down to the other end and drew another circle. I then used my small rotary cutter to cut along the edges, switching to a ruler for the short straight section. It worked perfectly!

I temporarily basted the sleeve seam closed, I had altering to do though, the sleeves were wider than what I wanted for this lightweight fabric. I seamed them in 2″ almost all the way to the armpits, tapering to the pits 1″, that is total measurement, so half those numbers on both the front and back edges of the sleeve.

I then pinned the patches where I thought they belonged. Once I had it where I wanted it, I opened the sleeve, transferred the measurements to the other sleeve and sewed the patches on while the sleeve was flat, topstitching, with a topstitching thread, 1/8″ from the edges.

Instant gratification and I couldn’t be happier with this one. Now for some warmer weather so I can actually wear it!

Linking up:
Fabric Tuesday
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?
TGIFF
Crazy Mom Quilts

Posted in Design, fabric, Review, Sewing | Tagged Butterick6328, drawing template, elbow patches, Elbow patches tutorial, pattern review, striped cardigan, tutorial, ultrasuede, waterfall cardigan | 6 Comments

Setting Sun quilt

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Sewfrench

Not a great day for taking pictures. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get the vibrancy, of my Setting Sun quilt, to shine. We, in Michigan, are in the gray days of winter.

Sunset
A flip-flop of a real sunset because it seemed better “weighted” that way.

DSCN1302-1024x768 (2)

This one is being shipped off to a sweet, little nephew. I have read all the horror stories, and it always makes me so nervous when shipping quilts. I hope it arrives safe and sound!

“Setting Sun”
Created by Sewfrench
Peppered Cottons
Machine pieced and hand-quilted
30″ x 38″

Linking up with:
Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?

Posted in 2016 Completes, Design, fabric, Quilting | Tagged baby quilt, hand quilted, peppered cotton, quilt, setting sun, sunset | 8 Comments

How to Mark a Baptist Fan

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Sewfrench

With a little help from my friends, I settled in on the Baptist Fan quilting design for my Garden Party quilt, I shared last week. I do mark the entire quilt top before I start quilting and ideally I mark it before I baste it. This one was pin-basted, before I marked it, because I originally thought I was quilting it a different way. Pin-basting, before marking, means you are constantly moving pins out-of-the-way, to mark. Doable, but more time-consuming.

This is how I mark mine. I created a template out of a piece of template plastic. I used a small hole punch on the 1″ marks, and an extra punch 1/4″ away from the 10th one. I use a pin to hold it in place, on my cutting mat, as I put the blue water erasable marker in each hole and swipe it back and forth. I start out at the bottom, right corner, 1/4″ in, from both sides, in the corner. Once the first fan is completed, I move across and mark the next one starting 1/4″ up from the bottom edge, putting the pin in the blue line of the outermost previous fan. I then mark until I run into the previous lines. Make sense?

How to Mark a Baptist Fan

I am loving this look, especially when quilted on as gorgeous a wool batting as Dream Wool is! I think I am going to love this batting even more than the Hobbs Heirloom Wool I used in Blowin’ In The Wind.

Garden Party quilt @ Sewfrench Here you can see how the 10, 1″ fan quilting looks with the double line on the longest, topmost one. And yes, I use multiple needles, especially when I am quilting longer rows, it keeps me from having to move my quilt around too much. It also feels like I can quilt longer before stopping to rethread!