Brummie Blogger

The Great Escape - Buttonhole stitch

This is part eight and is the area just below the owl's breast feathers and is shaped where his feet will go when I do part nine. This was another slightly fiddly stitch but it didn't take too long to do once I'd got into a rhythm.

Tomorrow I'll be starting on February's Cottage of the month. Everything is laid out so it's all ready to go. This afternoon I didn't prepare just one piece of fabric, or even two. No, I've prepped three pieces so I'm all set for March and April too. It's not often I get a burst of enthusiasm for the sewing machine or the iron so I thought I'd make the most of it.

I'll get the owl's feet sorted at some point too. He looks as if he really needs them now, don't you think?

The Great Escape - Wheat Ear stitch

I got a bit behind on this but I'm gradually catching up again. Part seven is the wings of the owl which are done in Wheat Ear stitch and I decided to do them in a darker colour. I quite liked doing this stitch but it was a bit fiddly to do because you have to take the needle under an already stitched thread, and then under another one. This took ages and there are a lot of stitches. Also, you have to work it from the top down so when you reach the bottom of each column you have to finish off and restart at the top of the next.

I got a bit bored of Wheat Ear stitch by the time I was half way through the second wing but I do like the effect of it. I'm going to carry straight on and do part eight, which hopefully won't take too long.

February's Cottage

I've got the next cottage ready to go and will be starting it at the beginning of February along with Tree. February's Cottage is really pretty with lots of pink and a bit of green and brown. I'm really looking forward to doing this one.

It's on the same fabric as January's Cottage which is that lovely 28ct Lambswool Permin. I've bought a huge piece of it so that I've got enough to do the remaining eleven cottages. It worked out to be more economical buying it that way and made sure I'd have it ready each month.

I realised that I'd have a piece of it left over though, and there was a chart in my wish list at Sew and So that used the same fabric. "Hmmm" I thought, "maybe I should get the chart that goes with the fabric."

Pretty, isn't it? And it turns out that Tree has the same chart in her stash so it looks like we have another SAL lined up.

I'm trying to catch up with The Great Escape before the start of February, and I'm bogged down in Wheat Ear stitch at the moment. Photo coming soon, I hope.

January Cottage - Finished

My first finish of the year. If all goes to plan there should be at least another eleven joining this one which'll be a record for me. I've mostly enjoyed stitching this too although I did hit a couple of snags along the way. There are in fact three errors in it. One I could change but it's making no difference at all so I'm leaving it. The other two you can barely see and they're not bothering me so again, I'm going to leave them. I'll just call them features.

I have come to the conclusion that I cannot do French Knots. I have no idea why. I did the first one and it was perfect. Great, I thought and went on to do the second one. The thread went straight through the fabric. So, I did it again, and again, and again. Every time exactly the same as the first one I did. The one that worked. Only these didn't.

Then I went and got some instructions and checked in case I was doing something really stupid. I wasn't. Needle up. Thread round needle twice. Needle down in a slightly different place. Thread held against fabric before needle goes all the way through and held in place as thread is pulled down. And it just doesn't work.

I was so patient. I sat there for almost an hour trying variations on that, looking in different books to see if any gave alternate instructions. I used blunt needles, sharp needles, I wound the thread twice or three times. Nothing worked.

In the end, I did the only rational thing. I used cross stitches instead. Result = one finished snowman, and one sane cross stitcher.

The only problem that I have now is that the next bit to do on my Tree of Stitches is...

... you guessed it - French Knots. Wonder how long it'll be before that one comes back out of the drawer.

January Cottage - nearly finished

I'm just about to carry on with my current favourite project, so before I do I thought I'd post an update. I didn't get much done during this last week. On Monday I went and got most of my hair cut off as it was really getting on my nerves. On Tuesday the tooth with the hole in it decided it didn't want to be ignored any longer. I've been pretending that it was ok for a couple of months now, but the hole got a bit bigger and it was getting a bit painful to eat. My dentist did a great job of taking the tooth out because I didn't feel a thing at the time. I did feel a bit unwell an hour or so later though and the next morning I woke with a migraine. That lasted for two days. So, not much stitching got done, as I said.

This is where I was up to before my stitching time got so rudely interrupted.

There's a mistake in there unfortunately. It's only a small one where I miscounted and I'm not sure if I'm going to correct it or not. At the moment it's not jumping up and down and waving at me but I'll have to see how much it's bothering me later.

 

Vanished by Liza Marklund

At a derelict port in Stockholm, two brutally murdered men are found by a security guard. In the same area a young woman, Aida, is on the run from a deranged gunman.

Meanwhile, journalist Annika Bengtzon is approached by a woman wanting her story published in the Evening Post. She claims to have founded an organization to erase people's pasts - giving vulnerable individuals a completely new identity.

Annika helps Aida to get in touch with the foundation. But as she begins to investigate this woman's story, more bodies turn up and she finds herself getting dangerously close to the truth - that all is not as it seems...

According to the note in the front of the book, chronologically the events in this book follow on from Exposed. The note goes on to say that although the Annika Bengtzon novels form part of a series, they can just as easily be enjoyed on their own.

To some extent I'd agree with that. After all, I am reading them out of sequence myself. I would still say though that the first in the series, Exposed, should be read first, as the events in that are referred to in the other books and I think it's best if you don't know about them when you read it.

This is now the fourth book by the author that I've read and I'm still very keen to read more. I really like the character of Annika and it was interesting to go back in time from the later books that I've read to find out how she got to where she is in those. Annika is so stubborn and tenacious. Even when she's really down she doesn't give up. And she's so well written that you feel that you almost know her.

I like how the books have intelligent themes to them. The author doesn't insult you by dumbing things down so you get an interesting read as well as a thrilling one. There was a nice twist to this one with one character not being who you thought they were. That was nicely done.

Definitely recommended, but do read Exposed first.

January cottage - progress

I haven't got much stitching done yet this month as I've had the reading bug but I have made a start on my Cottage of the month. This is the latest project that I'm stitching along with Tree. I'm really enjoying it and am looking forward to the next two months which look lovely.

This is where I've got to so far.

I'm just about to add the snowman. I quite like the snow when it's stitched and not the type that I have to drive in.

I also have the next two parts of The Great Escape waiting to be done but I want to get the cottage finished first. Hopefully I'll get those done before the next installment comes out as I don't want to get too far behind.

Books read in December

Apparently I've had the reading bug this month as I've read slightly more than usual with fifteen being my total. I've read some absolute crackers too. One of the books that I bought for my Kindle - Before I go to sleep - was superb. I finally got around to one that had been on my TBR shelves for ages - PopCo - and loved it. I read some more in two of the series that I've been devouring, the Meg Langslow bird mysteries and the Stephanie Plum books. All of those were wonderful. There was also a surprisingly good zombie book. I hope next month is as good.

Dreamer's Cat - Stephen Leather
This is only available as a digital book and was billed as a sci-fi murder mystery with a killer twist. It had some great reviews on Amazon so I bought it to see if it was as good as everyone said. It did sound very intriguing from the synopsis. Having read it, I'm inclined to agree with those reviews. I loved the story and it did indeed have a killer twist. Definitely worth the very low price.

Before I go to sleep - S. J. Watson
Amazon kept trying to tempt me to buy this for my Kindle so I investigated it and saw that it was another book with rave reviews. It also sounded very good so weak-willed as I am when it comes to books, I downloaded it. I am so glad that I did. I was hooked from the very first paragraph and have just read the whole book straight through in one go. It's about a woman with amnesia and is told from her point of view. She wakes every morning in a strange bed. She doesn't recognise the room that she's in and then she realises that there's a strange man in bed with her. Can you imagine how that feels? The author gives you a good idea which is what makes the book so good. You're in the head of a confused and scared woman. She doesn't know who to trust as every time she goes to sleep, she loses everything she gained during the day. I can't recommend this one enough for anyone who likes a good psychological thriller.

Swan for the money - Donna Andrews
I recently acquired the latest two books in the Meg Langslow bird series from Amazon. I couldn't resist reading them any longer so I read the first of them this morning. Meg's parents get involved in competitive rose growing and Meg is roped in to organise the rose show. There are indeed two swans in it, plus banded cows and fainting goats. I loved those goats. The whole book was brilliant as usual and I'm itching to dive into the next one now.

Stork raving mad - Donna Andrews
This was great! In this installment, Meg is eight and a half months pregnant with twins and has houseguests everywhere, partly as the heating has broken down at the college. She has students in the library and computer interns in the basement, as well as various family members scattered around the house. Then someone gets themselves murdered which leads to more and more mayhem. I could just keep on reading these but sadly I seem to have caught up apart from the latest hardback. How long do you think it'll be before I cave and buy it?

Plum spooky - Janet Evanovich
Luckily I had a nice Stephanie Plum to wean me off the Meg Langslows. I wasn't as keen on the between the numbers books when I read the first couple but they've grown on me and this one was great. It was much thicker than the previous ones and was much more like the numbered books. I did love Carl the monkey. Elmer was terrific too. Now I'm waiting impatiently for someone to get the single copy of Finger lickin' fifteen back to the library so that I can borrow it. I'm sure I can find something to occupy me while I'm waiting though.

Kafka on the shore - Haruki Murakami
This was a nice change of pace from the previous few books. I haven't read one of the Japanese authors for a while and I really enjoyed this. It was nicely surreal but with a storyline that kept me wanting to read to find out what was going to happen next. I loved the characters in it and the situations that they found themselves in. Interesting ending too leaving me wanting just a little more.

Red-headed stepchild - Jaye Wells
I got this and its sequel from The Works a while back. I'm always tempted by urban fantasy and I thought these looked quite interesting. This was an interesting take on the vampire myth with the whole forbidden fruit thing and I quite liked that. I liked the main characters and found the book quite readable.

The mage in black - Jaye Wells
This is the sequel to Red-headed stepchild and continues the story where that one left off. It introduces lots more characters and deepens the plot with the will they/won't they go to war storyline. Again, I rather liked it, enough so that I'm finding myself wanting to buy the third book straight away as this ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger. Wonder if I can get it for my Kindle...

Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire
This is a murder/mystery and all of the main characters are Fae. That should tick all of the boxes for me and I assumed that I'd love it. I really wanted to love it as it sounded intriguing and used plenty of the myths and legends that I've seen in various other books that feature fairies/fae/fey. I can't fault the writing, or the characters or the story, but there was something there that just didn't grip me. I did like the book, don't get me wrong. I just didn't love it. It actually took me four days to finish it, which says a lot about how much it didn't draw me in. With other books like this I would read until my eyes wouldn't stay open any longer but I'd find my mind wandering off while I was reading with this one. It's a shame, because I did think I'd love it. I should have loved it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it.

Six geese a-laying - Sophie Kinsella
This was a short story that I pre-ordered for my Kindle. I thought it was very cool when the story downloaded itself automatically on the 16th as soon as I turned the Kindle on. When I say it was a short story though, I do mean short. It was free and lasted me around ten minutes. maybe less. It was however very sweet and I enjoyed a mini-dose of one of my favourite authors.

Snow - Orhan Pamuk
I thought this might be appropriate given that quantities of the white stuff were being forecast. Thankfully we didn't get any here but it was still rather chilly and perfect for hibernating with something to read. Lots of snow in the book and the story wasn't bad either. Ka was a bit of an odd one but I did feel sorry for him at the end.

Warm bodies - Isaac Marion
This was recommended to me by a friend at work a while back and I finally got around to checking if the library had it in stock. They did, so I gave it a try. It's a zombie book but it's not the usual fare. It's told from the viewpoint of one zombie in particular and it's the story of his relationship with a girl and his fight to live. Usually with zombie stories, the zombies are the bad guys and you're rooting for the living. In this book, you're rooting for R, the zombie, and Julie his living friend. This was a great read. It was fun and offbeat and slightly moving all rolled into one. It'd make a terrific film. Definitely recommended.

Finger lickin' fifteen - Janet Evanovich
I loved this. Lots of Ranger, lots of Lula, lots of mayhem and things blowing up and being set on fire. Plenty of laugh out loud moments. I do love this series.

PopCo - Scarlett Thomas
I loved this. I like codes and puzzles and anything like that so this book being full of those things made it absolutely fascinating to me. I loved the whole thing though, the present day story as well as the flashbacks and the story of the locket and the treasure. I was pretty much hooked from the first paragraph and although I didn't have the time to read this straight through, I was reading it every time I had a spare ten minutes. This was just a brilliant read on so many levels, and the final chapter that gives the solution was excellent. Another of my favourites this month.

Haven - Justin Kemppainen
This is one of the free books that I downloaded from Amazon onto my Kindle. It had some pretty good reviews and it sounded really interesting. It had a dystopian theme to it, which is something that I like reading and overall I rather liked it. It's not something that I'd rave about and it won't top my book of the month list but it was definitely worth reading. I'd certainly look out for more by the author.