hello again

I have not fallen off a cliff hiking.

I did not sustain a grievous wound whilst sewing.

I did not run away with a strikingly handsome millionaire.

(too bad).

I have been reading.

Yup.

Reading.

Winter break afforded me the glorious opportunity to read non-work stuff.

You know, fiction that was always meant to be fiction.

Because we all know some stuff we read at work

really isn't real.

So, you ask, what has so raptly held my attention?

Has she been reading the classics?

Reading the top 100 books of all time?

Nope.

I have been sucked in by modern western murder thrillers.

I KNOW!

In December I blew through all 8 of Craig Johnson's Longmire books.

SOOOOOOOO good.

They even made a TV series from the books, on A&E in the summer.

Now that its January I'm quickly burning through the pages of

C.J. Box's novels. Also in the modern western murder thriller genre.

Both authors set their stories in northern Wyoming, one with a Sheriff and one with a Game Warden as the chief antagonists.

So really not my usual fare, I like novels about strong women and quilting.

I enjoy writers like Sandra Dallas (Prayers for Sale and Whiter Than Snow), Lisa See (Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan), Lorna Landvik (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons), and Jennifer Chiaverini (The Quilter's Apprentice, and the other Elm Creek novels), and many, many others.

But these modern western thrillers have me HOOKED!

But.
I have not abandoned sewing.
I made a few baskets over the past month.
You know, the kind where you wrap clothesline with strips of fabric and then coil them as you sew?
This...

 Gets sewn like this....

 To make this, my new egg basket. So much prettier to see in the fridge than a styrofoam carton.

Hmmm, I think I need to run to the farm to get more eggs.

 Here's another basket that works great for holding one of my favorite fruits (or is it vegetables?)
How can you not love avocados?

I also took some winter hikes.
This is along the Missouri River just before the confluence with the mighty Mississippi.

The water was a bit low.

And here is a lovely trail in Greensfelder Park.

Check out the brilliant green moss on this boulder. I took this photo in LATE December.

I did get involved in another challenge with my St Louis Modern Quilt Guild and

with the The Modern Quilt Guild using Madrona Road fabrics.

About 20 of us jumped at the chance to turn seven fat eights of fabric from the

Madrona Road line into something quilted, using the vast majority of the fabric given to us.

We (the quilt guild) were gifted the blue colorway to work with.

Needless to say, the orangey-pink colorway is more my speed.

Sooooo.

I compromised and made a two sided quilt.

Huh?

Well, I can't decide which side is the top and which is the back.

I like them both.

So here is the warm side which I'm calling "Side Roads"

 And here is the cool side with the fabrics we were given.
I'm calling this side "Gravel Road".

I quilted them with my version of my friend's Wyoming Winds freehand pattern.
If the sun comes out, I'll take more photos with better lighting.
I can't help that the lighting in my classroom is not the best.
I'll let the president of the school board know.
Really.
He's an old friend of mine.
Somehow I don't think it will do any good.
Sigh.

I'll try not to disappear so much again.
But I do have several books to read.
There's nothing like the printed word.
Nothing.