There seems to be a paltry lack of sewing going on at Stella Bella Quilts. I have no idea what I have been doing but I am still behind in everything--emails, sewing, blogging, reading blogs, etc.
If you commented on my posts or emailed me and I haven't responded, I am very sorry and thank you for commenting/emailing. I read everything and sometimes forget to reply back.
September and October flew away and now it's almost Thanksgiving. I am working more at Starbucks and getting ready for the big weekend promotion this week (buy one, share one holiday drinks 2PM -5PM Nov. 15th-18th. Take a friend and )
This is the little bit I have done:
1. Sewed three backings together for
Hubble,
Civil War Block of the Week and
Good Fortune. Made one binding, and have binding fabric for the other two quilts. Now I just need to get these to the quilter (not gifts--thankfully--all for me). A big task finished 'cause I really dislike sewing backings together.
2. Figured out most of the Xmas gifts for this year--ordered some online, making some the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving, plans for the rest, no malls/stores/madness for me.
3. Made October & November's blocks for the Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Block of the Month
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| October FQS BOM |
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| November FQS BOM |
4. Made a couple Votes for Women Block of the Week blocks. I am behind in this from being so busy in October and getting hung up on hand piecing (OY!!) the sunflower block from week 4 (I am still working on that one).
Here is New Jersey (week 5)
And Aunt Eliza's Star (week 6)
Nights are getting chilly and Stella has perfected the quintessential cat-curled-up-in-quilts pose.
My thoughts are with everyone two- and four-legged affected by Hurricane Sandy. It is going to be a long road to recovering, particularly with winter arriving. On behalf of my warm, safe, & healthy cats, I made donations to the
ASPCA, which is on the ground helping rescue & reunite pets. I know there are a lot of causes and people out there helping & it's much needed.
I thought it would be fitting to add the latest book I finished to this post since it relates to women's history and the changing role of women in America: The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of The Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history in general, women's history, World War II history, America during the early to mid-20th-century, social history, or just a really well written book about something that is not well known. The book was particularly fascinating to me because although I've read a lot of WWII books, I never read a book that focused on the Manhattan Project and development of the atomic bomb. Most of the books I've read have focused on the beginning of the war or the war in Europe. This book is more of a social history about the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, development and the workers, particularly the women, who worked there. Intertwined throughout the book is a discussion of the discovery of fission and development of the bomb to provide context. In fact, I think I liked this book so much because the author did a great job of putting gender roles, ideas, social mores, this part of the country (the South during Jim Crow), and the time period in context. Ms. Kiernan also discusses the stories of women from a wide range of socio-economic classes, education, and life experiences and most importantly, includes the stories and experiences of African Americans at Oak Ridge. In my opinion, this was a fascinating read and it is amazing to think that a place as large as Oak Ridge and the development of atomic bombs could be kept secret for so long, particularly as compared to today's world of everything everywhere being facebooked, instagramed, and tweeted. If you read this book, let me know what you thought of it. 
