Reading and Stitching

I have stitched more than I have read, but I finally finished Susan Branch's book, FineRomance: Falling in Love with the English Countryside. 

I did like it, and as I have said before I love the format of her books. It is just eye candy to look at the photos and watercolor drawings scattered all the way through. While I am not just dying to visit England, I really did like seeing the homes she shared.

I loved the end as she tied all that she had learned about England into what she called the Arts and Crafts movement or today I think it is called the Maker Movement. I call it good ole Home Economics and Shop.

She sums it up with... it is just really fulfilling to create and make stuff and keep old ways alive even with our new technology.

The following two pages I read twice. I loved the quote by Thomas Moore on the left.

My favorite of the three books that Susan Wrote on her life was Martha's Vineyard: Isle of Dreams. By far actually.

I am now reading a Karen Kingsbury book. It is one of her older ones and I really don't know why I hadn't read it, because it was at Mom's house. A Time to Dance was made into a Hallmark movie. I tried really hard to read the book before it came on, but just couldn't do it at the time. I loved the movie, so I am now reading the Part 2 book, A Time to Embrace. It will be a quick and easy read as many of her older ones were. I know I will like it.

I will have this one behind me before the movie.

Now onto stitching....

I finished my sampler last week, and am going to try and get it to the framer's this week.

The August cottage came out today.

I almost messed up with this one because I chose to do it on Aida cloth instead of the linen. I don't have much to choose from around here, so I didn't want to wait on mail. I had to outline some clouds and shells, but I think it turned out ok.

I had to place an order for the linen to match the other sampler before I can do its matching piece, so I started on books of the Bible piece this weekend.

I am stitching it on the same linen as the pattern picture, so I think it is going to be a winner.

That is my stitching and reading catch up.

One day real soon I will do a recap of all my cottages.

Back to housework rather than stitching or reading,

Sandy