A Saturday of Stitching–And Alias Grace!

Feet up in the recliner past 8pm and binging --

And binging, and more binging!

I mean, what’s a girl to do when her body clock is still not cooperating and it’s a “fall back an hour” night for daylight savings time?

I am always browsing the “recently added” section on Netflix to see if there is something that captures my interest.  I love anything set in the 19th century, and I looked this one over before I decided to have it a go – I was afraid it would be too dark, too scary.

But when someone mentioned there were QUILTS in the mini-series, I had no choice but to click PLAY!

The story is about the notorious 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Upper Canada. Two servants of the Kinnear household, Grace Marks and James McDermott, were convicted of the crime. McDermott was hanged and Marks was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Although the novel is based on factual events, Atwood constructs a narrative with a fictional doctor, Simon Jordan, who researches the case. Although ostensibly conducting research into criminal behaviour, he slowly becomes personally involved in the story of Grace Marks and seeks to reconcile his perception of the mild-mannered woman he sees with the murder of which she has been convicted. [source]

Read More»

Stitchin’ Friday!

I finished my desk work at 5pm.

Well, not finished really – there is so much to be done that it feels like it will NEVER be finished.  But I stepped away from the desk, the keyboard, the book writing in an effort to follow what my friend Irene has been telling me to do for months. 

“You have to take time for yourself and your own projects or you are going to burn out!”

I know!  I know!

But it’s always a bit tough on the re-bound from a long trip, be it state-side or overseas.  There is so much to catch up on that the light at the end of the tunnel is pushed further back as priorities shift just a bit.

Thanks to waiting on a shipment of Essential Triangle Tools and Simple Folded Corners Rulers for our On Ringo Lake mystery I have found myself being able to shift to some other deadlines – AND some time for evening piecing.

Read More»

Tiananmen Square Revisited

This is my friend Jill and I after an early morning walk before breakfast, outside of our hotel in Beijing.

We are both early risers, and each morning around 4:30am would come a ping on my phone. “Are you up? Want to go walking?” 

YES! Was the immediate answer as I’d likely been up for an hour or more already.  We’d usually head out between 6:30am and 6:45am back in time to grab breakfast and make it to the bus on time for the day’s adventures.

Interesting things about big-city China – They wash the streets.  OFTEN!  And I’m not talking just a left-sweeper type action but with huge trucks and tons of hosing force.  The streets were always wet as if from a recent deluge of rain.

There were some clips from our walking adventures that I was able to post up to Facebook and Instagram, but unable to share on the blog due to blogging by email with connectivity issues.  I’m still rather happy that I was able to get through what I did get through!

After dinner on our fist night in Beijing, loaded with energy and upside-down body clocks, we set out to find an ATM and stretch our legs in our new surroundings:

Read More»

All In A Wednesday.

The title of this post should be edited to include “And the wee small hours of Thursday morning…”

It’s been quite the madhouse over here.  One thing after another.

Just when you think you’ve caught your rhythm, someone or something changes the dance.

But we keep on going!

I’ve been on the phone constantly with family in Idaho regarding my Father-in-law who has been defying all odds even though the end is immanent. So much love being sent out to him from here.

And in the midst of it all comes a text message from the hubster with a photo of a featherweight that was found in the basement.  WHAT?!

After all of these years of sewing, no one thought that I might be able to use that “old dirty machine in the broken black box?!”

The serial number dates it to 1941.

It is thought to have belonged to Dave’s grandmother on his mom’s side, Grandma Snader, but we are checking around to be sure this didn’t belong to his step-mom’s family. (Dave's own mom died in 1983 and his dad remarried several years later.)

Read More»