Updated

I updated a sidebar area.  It still said books read in 2013.  Obviously I never posted any 2014 books.  However, I did read  81 books or 29,604 pages - which ever way you prefer to loo at it.  I read 12 chunksters - meaning the book was over 450 pages.  That's a lot of pages!

The book from December 2014 ( the last full month) that I would recommend is Gutenberg's Apprentice by Alix Christie.  It starts slow but well worth the read.

In early February, I will remove the January list then make a recommendation.  I will try to follow this pattern thru the year.  We shall see how I actually do.

National Puzzle Day

This is for my SIL that loves jigsaw puzzles.

Don't be puzzled by today. National Puzzle Day honors puzzles of all size, shape and form. Crossword puzzles are by far the most common. Sudoku, a number puzzle, is the most recent puzzle rage. There's easy puzzles, and there's puzzles for experts. They fit the needs of every person, and every skill level.

Puzzles are a favorite pastime of millions of people, young and old. So, what's with this fascination over puzzles? There's numerous reasons for it's popularity. For many, doing puzzles is fun. Some people just like the challenge of completing them, and graduating to evermore complex and difficult puzzle solving levels. For others, it is a way to kill time, and to eliminate boredom. Others still, do puzzles to keep their mind sharp, or to learn new words.

Whatever the cause for your interest, spend National Puzzle Day doing puzzles.

Personally - my first choice is crossword puzzles, then jigsaw puzzles.

Today is grandson #4 first birthday!  Hard to believe it is already here.  He has grown so much and has already been walking for a few weeks.  Before I know it, he will be in school.    His big brother (grandson #1) will miss starting kindergarten by 21 days this year.   Here he is at Christmas:

Last week I finished my class piece from the National ANG seminar this past September.  I held off showing it here until my teacher saw.  I figured she deserved the first look.  Well. today she posted it on her blog.  Check it out!

And here are my photos.

The photo on the right was the inspiration photo.  We were to replicate the photo in color.  We could choose 10 fibers and only 10.  One of which had to be Very Velvet which was for the bottom french knots.  At first all I saw was was the bright teal.  The more I looked at it, I slowly saw a lot more - the green sheers on the right, the dark chandelier on the left and the dark band on the light in the center, the spots of greenery and purples in the vases, etc. And so on.  Below are the close-ups.

WELCOME

My name is Jackie

This blog is about life in general - mostly my needlework, the books I read, my family, my cat, etc.  I am also into genealogy, so occasionally I mention it.  I like quirky or unusual (little known) "holidays", so I go out looking for them and then post on the appropriate day.  I occasionally give out my reading status (i.e. so many books per month, etc) and sometimes even recommend a book or two.  I admit to averaging 75-80 books per year. And I am awed by those who can read more.

I noticed a couple of other posts that were quite "talkative" so here I am mere minutes before the scheduled post is to be posted, editing away, seeing what I can add.

For those that like cats, here's Max.  He does like to soak the sunlight from the back of the couch.  Since this became a favorite resting place, I have placed an afghan over the back of the couch (less car hairs to clean up) and he enjoys the extra warmth (it's a bit cold this winter).

I will admit that I like dogs too.  But my husband is a definite cat person.  However, our son has a puppy - a boxer - and he is quite a friendly "little" guy.

This is where Max spent Christmas until the presents started to show up.  And once the dog arrived, Max decided to spent the holiday in our bedroom - away from all the noise and general chaos of several adults, 4 kids, 4 and under in age, and a dog (still a puppy).

Though I talk about my four grandsons, I rarely show photos.  They do deserve some privacy and I prefer to keep them safe.  One of them has a Big Birthday coming up soon!

Please read the past posts so you can see some of my stitching.  I hope you enjoy!

It turns out that January 21 is National Hugs day.  How did I ever miss that one.  Click here and check out what was stitched.  Yes. stitching tied in with an off-the-wall holiday!  A great two-for-one!

TUSAL

This was due on the 20th.  I went to take a photo and the camera died.  Just batteries but it took me a day or so to get them replaced  (far too much going on these days).  So here it is: the first TUSAL of 2015!

The purplish strands are from a new design.  The teal is from a finish (photo coming soon).  Not sure if you can see some of the pink which also part of the new design as well as some misc.