Friday, April 26, 2024

Barn Quilts...but I don't have a barn! ;)

 I've been so busy lately that I haven't even thought about updating my blog, and for that I apologize to anyone who follows me, and to myself for not keeping my own promise to keep the blog updated.  But that's neither here or there right now.  It's 6:34 AM on Friday (WOOT), April 26, 2024 and I've been playing around updating the look and feel of my blog this morning when I should have been doing other more important things, like pulling fabric for my table runner I want to make, and downloading the most recent QAL patterns that I've joined but haven't even started, nothing new there lol.  So since I have to get my work laptop booted up in about 10 minutes to get ready to work and make the $$ to support my quilting habit, I figured I'd type up a quick post.  

For those who have ever been in the country side, just crusing around looking, being the famous "Sunday drivers" I'm sure no matter where you live you've seen barns, and on many of those barns there are huge colorful quilt blocks called "Barn Quilts" and I've always been enamored by them and wondered where the idea started and, of course, how I could make one and hang it on our home.  Well here is a bit of history of the Barn Quilt and a link to a YouTube video that I found to help me make my own.

Barn quilts tell a story


YouTube: DIY Barn Quilt - How to Make a Pattern, Paint, and Supplies by DoodleDog Primitives

One minute to go so I'm off to make that $$.  Have a wonderfully productive day today!

Kerensa

Friday, February 2, 2024

NetGalley and BookSirens ARCs

Happy Friday morning!  I'm so glad the weekend is upon us because I know I will get to do some reading and sewing, and maybe even get into my closet and get it organized.  It's been a hectic week, my father had a PET scan and then a biopsy of a spot the doctors found on his lung and it came back as squamous cell carcinoma cancer so now we are waiting for the Thoracic Surgeon he was referred to, to schedule him for a consult to find out if the cancer can be surgically removed. This has reminded me more of when momma was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer adenocarcinoma stage 4 back in the summer of 2014 and while she opted for treatment, the cancer was too far along and had metastasized into her bones. Momma passed away on 11/3/2014 and I miss her dearly every day. Hopefully, daddy's cancer was caught early enough and they can remove it. Unfortunately, he is a heavy smoker and probably won't quit any time soon, if at all. 

My husband had his lithotripsy and stent placement on Wednesday.  Six hours at the hospital, most of it spent waiting to be called back to the pre-op room, then 2 hours waiting to be taken back to surgery, and the rest of the time was me sitting back in the waiting room, but he is doing well, just hurting, as expected.  Now hubby has to strain the urine to capture the stones so the doctor can find out what they are made of and hopefully stop them from happening. We went through this over 20 years ago but he had to have surgery back then and it was absolute hell for almost a year with his recovery.  This is so much easier and has a faster recovery time.  We go back on 2/8 to hopefully have the stent removed if all pieces of the stones have passed.

While waiting for the lithotripsy to be done I had plenty of time to finish my NetGalley ARC (advanced reader copy) of the book The Sunlit Ruins by Andrea Septien and you can see my review here on GoodReads. The story was good, although not one that I would normally gravitate toward and the narrators, Luzma Ortiz and Martin Martinez did an amazing job. I also picked back up on my BookSirens ARC, The Architect, by  Melanie Bokstad Horev. I'm only 30% into it and have 8 days to finish it so I must focus tonight and this weekend to make sure I get my review in on time.

I love posting reviews of books I've read and products I've purchased because reviews help people make decisions on what to buy, well at least I use reviews to make the final decision.  Too many negative reviews and I'm out, plenty of positive reviews and I am about 90% inclined to purchase if it was something I wanted. You can see products I've reviewed on my Amazon Profile

I've also continued listening to the House of Flame and Shadow, by Sarah J. Maas and I am so loving being back in Bryce and Hunt's world, and the narrator, Elizabeth Evans brings their world to life. if you love Romantacy (the new Fantasy Romance genre) you should really read the Crescent City series, and I read that SJM is going to have a fourth book so yayyyyy!

Since I was up early this morning I played around with some of my 2.5" precuts.  I want to do a triple Irish chain quilt but can't decide on colors.  I don't know if I want to go completely scrappy, controlled scrappy, or stick with one color value, etc.  Here's what I did this morning.  I was thinking red and maybe teal for the chains.  


These are just a few of the pre-cuts that I have accumulated so I have a nice little stash of assorted colors and patterns all sorted by color in these sweet little containers.


These are a few patterns I've found that I am trying to duplicate.  If I have the links to the creators then the photos are linked, otherwise, I apologize I don't remember where I found the images, but I liked them enough to use them as inspiration. Credit for these patterns does not go to me at all.  If you know who created those without links, please let me know so that I can give credit where it's due.

Anyway, I need to get myself ready to log into work.  Have an amazing day and weekend!

Kerensa

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Busy or Lazy, that is the question...

It feels like I've been busy without a moment to spare, but when I look back over the last few weeks since I last posted here, I feel like I haven't done anything other than laze around.  So now I have to think back on what I did to trick my mind into thinking I've been productive. 😂  Don't get me wrong, at work I'm probably the most productive person on my team and potentially in our department, but at home, I have so much going on that my brain jumps from thing to thing to thing and it seems like nothing gets done.  For example, I get up at 4 AM every morning intending to get through all of my personal, "quilty", and coding emails (yes, I have 3 different email addresses just to stay organized lol) but by 6:30 AM, when I need to switch my personal brain off and turn on my work brain, I realize that all I've done is surf through quilt blog after quilt blog, or I've scrolled through Audible and Chirp looking for audiobooks, or I've updated the checkbook register but not cleaned out the emails associated with the bills I paid.  

The 2-year-old grand has since greeted the daylight and bugged nanny for the last bit of her "free time" and now it's time to get ready for work.  So for now, I wanted to share that I'm so giddy because as of midnight last night, the audiobook I've been patiently waiting for has dropped into my Audible player. I finally got to continue the story of Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar, from the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas.  I made it through almost an hour of House of Flame and Shadow, only 28 hours and 44 minutes to go!


Be Productive and have a fantastic day!

Kerensa

Saturday, January 13, 2024

2023 #AudibleStats

 It's that time of year again...time to get all those 2023 stats from Audible, Kindle, Spotify, etc. It's so neat looking back at what I listened to and read over the past year.  Here's my #AudibleStats for 2023.  Not too shabby.



Stay warm and cozy out there.

Kerensa

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Yes, I'm still alive...

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've posted, life just seems to get in the way, we can all relate, right? The last time I was here I played around with my page, made some updates, and found what I liked but then had to stop for a while.  What you see is what you get right now, but I'll eventually get back to finishing it up.  I've since finished book 5 of the Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and now I'm impatiently waiting for the next book, I need to know what happens next in one of my favorite fantasy true love/soulmates series!  I'll update my book reviews when I have a bit more time.  It's almost time for me to clock into work lol.  

I've also started watching a new anime series that my son recommended to me.  I'm a huge Vikings fan, accurate historical and not-so-accurate stories created around it, particularly around Thor and Odin, Ragnarok, etc. So he told me to watch the series Vinland Saga on Netflix.  So here I am this morning when I should be getting things ready for our 5-day cruise on Saturday, watching it, and checking out the awesome Audible audiobook sale for Cyber Monday/week.  Should you wish to check out the series, here is some info on it:

Thorfinn pursues a journey with his father's killer in order to take revenge and end his life in a duel as an honorable warrior and pay his father an homage. A young man named Thorfinn finds himself in a quest for revenge against his father's killer. Firstly indulged in the apparent greatness of war and honor, Thorfinn quickly changes as he endures having to survive alone and then alongside the man he vows to kill, developing conflicting emotions towards the causality of his past and present life. Thorfinn vows to kill the man who took his father's life. But the life of a hate-filled Viking comes at a heavy cost; will Thorfinn succeed and finally kill Askeladd, or could his rage be his undoing? Only Odin himself knows the answers, and Valhalla awaits those waiting to die in battle. Johnny-the-Film-Sentinel-2187

Well, that's it for now, time for me to log into work and get some real work done so I can earn a paycheck. 😊

Have a great day!
Kerensa




Monday, October 30, 2023

Another Audiobook Bites the Dust....

I finished book 4 of the Blood and Ash series, The War of Two Queens this morning!  I'm onto book 5... but first I must go get ready for work.  Until next time, here is my review:

The War of Two Queens audiobook review


Have a great day!
Kerensa


Saturday, October 7, 2023

Blood and Ash series, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I did it!  I finished another book, well in Audible Audiobook format anyway lol.  I love holding paper/hardback books, I love the smell, the feel, and the weight of them, but I often have little time to curl up with a good book, especially with my almost 2-year-old grandson living here with us, as he demands ALL of Nana's attention. 😂 So the only way I get to "read" is when I am driving, or in my office/quilt room doing other things I need to do, like paying bills/balancing the checkbook etc. So I finished book 3 in the Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I loved the first 2 books so I've purchased the rest in the series, including pre-purchasing book 6, which is supposed to be a companion guide for the series, which I normally don't bother with.  I've posted my reviews of book 3 on Goodreads and Audible if anyone is interested and included the links below:

Blood and Ash series, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Book 1:

Book 2:

Book 3:

Until next time, 

Kerensa