Pages

Friday, June 14, 2013

6 & 7 of 13 in 13 Challenge



Well Little White dove updated her challenge stats the other day and in pushed me into getting a book out.

Little White Dove

As I have two (or is it three) non fiction books on the go at the moment I decided to pick up a fiction.  While waiting for Jot in the library the other day I was browsing the librarian picks and saw this.  Needless to say I picked it up an devoured it in only 2 days.


The Giving Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

The great thing about the Elm Creek Quilt novels is you always know what you are going to get and this is no exception.  You are taken into a world of old friends and new friends and often finish the book wondering where the characters are going to end up.  I will admit that our library does not have the whole series so I have been reading them a bit haphazardly and out of order but what threw me completely is that the babies that were just conceived in the last book I read were 4 in this one.

I enjoyed it like I enjoy all of the Elm Creek Quilt series and hope to read the rest in the near future.

Book 7 is a complete opposite as it is non fiction and in no way is it light reading.

Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl


At one of my trainings recently this book was for sale and as I had heard about it in the past I decided to buy it.  It is an amazing book yet I have no idea how to review it for you here.  I guess I am still sorting through a lot of the information.

This book is in two parts, the first is a very matter of fact personal account of life in the concentration camps of WW2 including Auschwitz.  He points out how and why some men survived and how fate intervened on occasion.  The reason he wrote this is to highlight the second part of the book which is about this theory of Logotherapy.  This is his theory that every man is responsible for how he chooses to view the world and the suffering it holds.

As I said it has a lot of information in it and I found the first half of the book to be incredibly well written and a very factual account with what seemed like no emotion attachment.  It is a book I will be using when it comes to teach my kids about WW2 and the atrocities it produced as it shows how some men just refused to let it over power them.  Those are the real heroes, those that lived to tell the tale and make sure no one ever forgets.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Hello

Yes I know that over a month has past since my last post.  I did warn you all that with study and the new business this blog would probably get a little neglected :)

So what have I need up to in the crafty arena.  The answer is unfortunately not much.

The big finish in time for winter (just) was the Mondrian Quilt.  This was part of a quilt bee (run by MMQG) that I took part in in 2011 and has taken me two years to complete.  I can safely say it was worth the wait.  I absolutely love it and it keeps us very warm on the couch each night.  I ended up hand quilting each colour block in coordinating thread.  This has depicted a lovely pattern on the back.



I also whipped up this quilt top for a family who are going through a tough time with a sick baby right now and I am in the middle of hand quilting this with flowers and the families names so they are all included.  It is taking some time but I have plenty of study dvds to watch while I quilt.


I must quilt Jot cousins quilt in the next two weeks as well but this one I am going to do by machine.

Oh and I need to find time to whip up a couple of birthday presents as well.  I just wish I knew what I was going to make :)

I need to go now and get working on an assessment but this evening I will be back with the hand quilting.  Its a great way to wind down after the day.