Stitching and listening

I spent the weekend stitching, cutting, and sewing some more.  I made strip sets, cut them into segments, sewed them into nine patches--550 of them.  Next I'm using them to make 110 double nine patch blocks.   I spent the time in my sewing room, but mostly, I was in Nazi Germany.  Papa played the accordian, there was a Jew hiding in the basement, bombs were dropping, and Death was collecting way too many souls.  Yep, I was listening to "The Book Thief," an audio book by Markus Zusac.  I had read it years ago, and decided to revisit it.  It is one of the best books I've ever read and to describe it, I would have to say that not all Germans in WWII were filthy Nazis.

Today the book ended and I was trying to sew nine patches with tears running down my face.  It took at least 5 kleenexes--maybe more.  It is one of those stories that stays with you and you wish it might not end.  When it does, it is almost like a small death itself.  I guess that is why I'm blogging about it.  I used to say I listened to audiobooks while I quilted.  Now it feels more like I quilt while I listen to audiobooks.  There is a difference!

Big news on the scrapbooking scene...  I haven't blogged much about scrapbooking lately because I've been too busy quilting, but I am on the design team at a local shop and was asked to be in the Iron Scrapper contest for National Scrapbooking Day on May 7.  I'm pretty excited.  Maybe I should do some cropping in the next few weeks to help prepare...

Aloha,

JoAnne