Completed items 2009 and 2008

MY FINISHED PROJECTS 2009

JANUARY
Mystery Designer BOM 7 (doesn't qualify)
Miss M's bag
FEBRUARY
MARCH
Sudoku quilt
Rocket quilt
APRIL
Mystery Designer 8, 9, 10 (Don't qualify)
MAY
JUNE
JULY
Eye Spy Quilt
Mystery Designer 11, 12 (Don't qualify)
G's Quilt
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
Luke's Frog Quilt
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Four eye spy quilts
Nanna's name plate

Completed Projects for 2008

• Mystery Designer Block of the Month 1 - 6
• Block for Lilly's baby
• Dolls Quilt for EB Swap
• Frog quilt top
• Table Runner for EB Swap
• Jungle Quilt
• Baby Elephant Sham
• Yellow and Blue Disappearing Nine Patch
• Kira's sheets
• Kira's pillowcase
• Drawstring bag
• Red, green and blue raggedy edge

2009 Reading List

I want to save my 2009 reading list, but not keep it on the side bar. I need the space to start 2010! This is the only way I can think of to do it! There's a few stats about my year of reading at the bottom if you are interested.

• 55. Fever of the Bone - Val McDermid
• 54. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
• 53. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
• 52. The Household Guide to Dying - Debra Adelaide
• 51. Devil's Brood - Sharon Kay Penman
• 50. Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi - Geoff Dyer
• 49. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
• 48. Prince of Darkness - sharon Kay Penman
• 47. An Open Swimmer - Tim Winton
• 46. The Orchard - Drusilla Modjeska
• 45. Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
• 44. Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay
• 43. Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
• 42. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
• 41. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
• 40. Dragon's Lair - Sharon Kay Penman
• 39. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith
• 38. The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas
• 37. Look Me in the Eye - John Elder Robison
• 36. The End - Lemony Snicket
• 35. The Spiderwick Chronicles - The Field Guide - Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
• 34. My Father's Keeper: Children of Nazi Leaders-an intimate history of damage and denial - Stephan & Norbert Lerbert
• 33. The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
• 32. The Miracle at Speedy Motors - Alexander McCall Smith
• 31. Celluloid Serial Killers: The Real Monsters Behind the Movies - Paul B Kidd
• 30. Time and Chance - Sharon Kay Penman
• 29. Cruel as the Grave - Sharon Kay Penman
• 28. In TThe Winter Dark - Tim Winton
• 27. The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
• 26. Breath - Tim Winton
• 25. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
• 24. I am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
• 23. Somebody else's Child - Torey Hayden
• 22. Handle with Care - Jodi Piccoult
• 21. Tales of Suspense - Edgar Allen Poe
• 20. Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• 19. The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
• 18. The Fresco - Sheri S Tepper
• 17. Report for Murder - Val McDermid
• 16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
• 15. A Respectable Girl - Fleur Beale
• 14. The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
• 13. The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
• 12. Abandoned - Anya Peters
• 11. The Reckoning - Sharon Kay Penman
• 10. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - JK Rowling
• 9. Broken Lives - Estelle Blackburn
• 8. The Effects of Light - Miranda Beverly-Whittermore
• 7. Why Weren't We Told: A personal search for the truth about our history - Henry Reynolds
• 6. A Love Story - Denene Miller and Nick Chiles
• 5. The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket
• 4. Falls the Shadow - Sharon Kay Penman
• 3. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix - JK Rowling
• 2. Defending Gary: Unraveling the mind of the Green River Killer - Mark Prothero and Carlton Smith
• 1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling

A few stats.

56 books started in 2009
55 finished (don't see me finishing my current one tonight!)
31 authors
39 adult books
16 children's/young adult's books
9 non fiction.

Series I have read:
Wire in the Blood (Val McDermid)
Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)
All of Sharon Kay Penman's historical novels including the Welsh Trilogy, the Henry II Trilogy and the Justin De Quincy Mysteries
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket)
No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith)
Harry Potter (JK Rowling)

Currently reading...

My Life Among the Serial Killers by Helen Morrison M.D and Harold Goldberg.

I've read less of this stuff this year than I normally do -  only three others I can see as I peruse my list. It's not a matter of losing interest, more of finding it harder and harder to find good stuff. I find Helen Morrison a little arrogant and condescending not only of her readers, but her peers. She has a theory, it's the right theory and everyone else is wrong. Most probably not what she means to portray, but the way it comes across. She is very willing to completely discount the effect of childhood experiences on these depraved killers, which is something I don't think is correct. Then again, I'm not the trained forensic psychiatrist who has spent countless hours interviewing and studying serial killers.

During our trip away I also managed to read a few other books. Apart from finishing off Eclipse before we left, I finished the series, reading

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer 

and

Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid (the most recent Tony Hill/ Wire in the Blood book)

I've really enjoyed keeping track of all these books this year and plan to do so again next year. Any one else interested in keeping track of their reading? No target, just a way to share what you are reading. Let me know, I love to see what others are getting into - lots of good ideas!

And the Winner is... (Finally!!)

So sorry for the delay! As I should have predicted, things got way to manic towards the end to even think about drawing the prize! We got back yesterday (2 days later than planned, but we were having such a good time!) and I've finally had time to sit down and do the draw.

I took the highly scientific approach of writing down everyone's name and assigning them numbers before heading to random.org to generate three winners

Which came up with:

27 - Becanne (who gets the FQ's)
22 - Amummy (who takes home the scraps)
5 - Jazzyjaes (who scores the strips.)

So thank you for taking part. Hope you had fun!

Inspiration

y but I have been a busy blogger today! I've just finished fixing this bag for a friend.

Can you see what it's made out of??

Yep! Buttons - the whole bag!! The handle had broken so I sewed it back together and now I am all inspired. I'm thinking boxes....

Please travel safe these holidays.

This video celebrates the 20 years of Australian Transport Accident Commission  commercials. Please be warned the video is graphic. I flinched several times while watching it. This is a link to an article about it as well. It is, however, a timely reminder. If you are traveling this holiday period, please do so safely.

Nanna's nameplate

When we were in Newcastle the other week, we went to visit my grandmother. She is in a nursing home and I noticed that all the other residents had lovely name plates on their doors. Nanna hasn't been there long and doesn't have one, so I decided to make her one.

It's my first attempt at applique and I must thank Barbara Brandeburg for this super simple tutorial!

This is the back.

I took the opportunity (given the back is not likely to be seen by many!) to quilt it using a contrasting colour. I'll take it down to mums at Christmas as I know she will be seeing her shortly after.