The Cake Is Not A Lie

So, yesterday was my mom's birthday.  I made the cake!

Triple layer strawberry cake, from The Cake Doctor book.  Very yummy!  Though, unfortunately, I went with store-bought icing, and all those strawberries went sliiiiiding off the cake during the car drive over to my parents'. :(  So they got stuck back on with toothpicks.  Stab!

I haven't been getting much reading done, since I've been concentrating on writing and quilting, but I did (finally!) finish The Silent Tower (369pp) by Barbara Hambly.  I'm not sure what to think of what's happening in it, but it is very much set up as the first part of a series.  Additionally, it takes about a third of the way into the book for the two disparate universes in it to start to mesh.  So, maybe not recommended at this juncture?

And I also bit the bullet, used up my January allowance, and purchased a physical copy of Penric's Demon (135pp) by Lois McMaster Bujold.  I finally have the whole series in book form!  And I've determined that I reallyreally like reading a physical book over a digital one.  (Wonderful Husband is the opposite.)  Rereading this in a physical format was a completely different experience than reading it on a screen.  Much love for Penric and Desdemona!  And now I want to reread the whole series.  Preferably in internal chronology order.  Maybe by the time I finish, Subterranean Press will actually have gotten Knot of Shadows printed and in the mail to me. :)

All You Need Is Love

So last weekend, I participated in the virtual Treadle On Gathering.  Which was quite fun and interesting and I learned more than a few things!  Not all of them having to do with treadle machines, either. ^_^

I also cut up rather a lot of my current scrap pile into usable parts, and finished my other Sneaky Secret Project:

This is 13.5" square, and all the reds are scraps from the quilt I'm making for Squiddle.  It's my fourth mini quilt (and I've just finished the top for my fifth), so I'm thinking of grouping them on a wall somewhere for a display?  Who knows.  Anyhow, it's cute, and was finished in time for Valentine's Day.

Red Things

So, I have finished reading The Red Pyramid (516pp), the first of the Kane Chronicles trilogy.  It was slightly less easy to follow than the Percy Jackson books, but then I have a more thorough grounding in Greek mythology than I do in Egyptian.  I blame the American public education system.

Also, I have finished three parts of the Sneaky Secret Project!  (Part four still in progress.)  You see, I had found a pattern for Valentine's Day card quilts.  And since I had all those red scraps from the quilt I am making for Squiddle, I made three cards, for my boys and my husband:

Caveat on the pattern: it gives you the size for the side triangles, but not the corner triangles.  I used Bonnie Hunter's tutorial to help me figure out the math for those.

And!  Since I used a plain cream fabric for the backing, I'll actually be able to write on these Valentine's cards.

Monday Progress

The star blocks are complete!

Now I just need to pull 12 or 24 reds, and 9 or 18 off-whites (depending on how much variety I'm going for) and start cutting strips to make the X blocks!

But first, Sneaky Secret Project lies in the scraps:

This Week

Went to the Gig Harbor Quilters meeting on Wednesday and had a good time.  I made a contact with a woman who lives not that far from me, and who is interested in having someone to sew with.  The guest speaker had made some lovely quilts, but was, for my taste, just a bit too interested in talking about the classes she teaches locally and her longarm quilting business, with the obvious text/subtext of trying to drum up business.

However, I did purchase some more reds for the Reds for Squiddle quilt off the Treasure Table, as well as a yard of Mario fabric that will be made into a pillowcase for Jazzy.

I haven't gotten any more sewing done since, due to inertia, insomnia, housekeeping, and keeping up with my writing ~4000 words a week on the story I'm currently posting.  (One more scene, and I'll be done with this Friday's chapter!)

Also, finally The Blood of Olympus (502pp) arrived, so I read through that on Thursday.  And now I'm onto The Red Pyramid, which is the first of the Kane Chronicles books.  I must admit, I'm amused by the hints Riordan drops of the other series in both of these volumes.

And, I had my 19th wedding anniversary this week!  We did absolutely nothing for it, as the boys had swimming class that evening. ^_^;;