Production Day

Alyssa stayed for a few days after Christmas. We both read quite a bit -- she read The Help by Kathryn Stockett and started The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, both of which I heartily recommend. I finished Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, (O.K.) tried One Day by David Nicholls (after 100 pages I just couldn't get into it, so gave it up), and started Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout, (grabbed me in Chapter 1). There are not many Christmas breaks that Alyssa misses reading at least one novel, not only because everyone gets books as gifts, but because it's her down time from work-related reading and grading. Me? I just hop on that reading train because I enjoy the ride any time.
We also got some crafty production in. On Tuesday, we got down to business. She did block printing on kitchen towels. Learning to cut linoleum blocks as a 4-H project turned out to be a valuable lesson. The leaf blocks shown here were especially appealing to me. Then again, this design was pretty cute, too. Of course there were other designs and colors -- stars and circles and birch bark in silver or blue. Alyssa went home with a nice stack of designer gifts for her friends and I managed to reap the benefits of her talents with a few towels too.After the towels it was on to quilting. I meandered a baby quilt Alyssa and friend Rachelle had pieced for another friend. Nice bright blocks surround by a cheerful green dot. It took just a couple of hours to meander the entire quilt before handing it back to Alyssa to complete the binding.While she did that, I moved on to a project that's been churning in my brain for a few weeks. It's not quite finished, but it will be by the end of the weekend. I'll be back then to share.