Books – Juanita Collins

I went to the library last week and came home with four books.

Only four?

Well…I still had four on my desk that I hadn’t read yet. And they’re going to be due soon, so I thought I’d better limit myself. Here’s what came home with me:

I’m a pretty eclectic reader.

I adore the library. One time about a year ago when I was feeling kind of blue and homesick, I went into the library and the librarian remembered my name. She also happens to be the librarian who looks a lot like my Whitehorse friend Carrie-Lynn. Anyway, I cried a little bit. Yes, it was kind of embarrassing to have to wipe my tears at the library check-out desk. But that’s only one reason I love the library.

Mostly I love the library because it’s full of books.

There is one thing that makes me twist my mouth sideways, though and it’s this:

Terry Brooks and Ben Bova do not belong in the same section.

It’s impossibly annoying to sift through all the Fantasy in search of a new SciFi to read. Especially because there’s like 50 Fantasy books for every SciFi one, which is shameful. Even more shameful is the fact that they’re all lumped together on the same shelf.

C’mon! You wouldn’t shelve Phillipa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl in the English History section just because Henry VIII is in it, would you? Of course not!

Now, some people are going to disagree with me, but it’s my blog so I can say what I want. And what I want to say is this:

Fantasy Fiction and Science Fiction are not the same thing. Ben Bova and Terry Brooks do not write the same thing. They are not even similar. The only thing Bova and Brooks have in common is the word Fiction…and both their last names begin with the letter B.

Terry Brooks writes fantasy fiction. The world in a Fantasy novel includes magic swords, elves, epic quests to save the kingdom from the evil druid, like that.

Ben Bova writes science fiction. The world in a SciFi book is built on technology. Maybe theoretical, way-far-out advanced technology-of-the-future, but technology all the same.

Maybe human beings will never advance their technology to the stage where we create cyborgs who take over the earth, but for sure an elf with a magic sword is never going to be the one to save us from them.

Issac Asimov himself said that “science fiction has its groundings in science and is possible, whereas fantasy has no grounding in reality, and so is not possible,” and I’m gonna stand by my man on this one.

No response required. You know where I stand.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Work in Progress (WIP) Wednesday. This is the day I post an update on the crafty things I’ve been up to! I’ve been pretty busy in the sewing room these last few weeks. Here we go!

The first thing I did was to finish Amber’s quilt and send it down with Kelly. She loved it! It is now doing its job brightening up that hospital room and keeping her cozy at night. I loved doing the hand work on it. Hand quilting is so relaxing and rewarding to do, and while you are stitching, you are thinking about the person the quilt will be going to. The quilt becomes filled with thoughts and good wishes that its new owner can touch and see. I love that! Here is a photo of sewing the binding on, and you can see some of the hand work (along with my pretty new nail polish colour!) Once the binding is machine stitched onto one side, I then flip it over and hand stitch it down to the other. I really like working with the needle and thread in my hands.

Last week I made the March We Be Learning Bee block for Tara in Indiana. I really love this block…so bright and colorful! I actually made two – one to go to Tara and one to go into Noras quilt.

I also made the March In Color Order block of the month last week. Each month a new block is posted, so its fun and virtually zero pressure. I will be making the blocks out of batik fabrics (which I adore), and it will be going to my sister, Heidi when finished. (Hi, Heidi!) Each block will be made from half-triangle squares. This will be good for me as I need practice making nice points.

Here are all three blocks together (January, February & March). the final quilt will probably need more than 12 squares, so I’ll be supplementing with extras as I go along. I love sampler quilts. They’re interesting to look at and interesting to make. And I love that you can use traditional patterns with modern fabrics (such as batik), for a contemporary twist.

I’ve also finally started making a quilt for Nora! Remember Jade’s Quilt (that was originally started for Nora about 10 years ago?) – well, I figure it’s about time Nora got her quilt. She is the youngest daughter of my dear friend Paula and will be 17 at the end of May. Paula and I have been best friends since we were assigned to be roommates at university in 1979. That’s a long time! Nora’s quilt will be a “constellation quilt” – made entirely of stars, each star different from the next. Here are the first 9 blocks, which I’ve made over the last couple of weeks.

I have been away from fabric for so long…over 10 years, and it’s only in these last few months that I’ve gotten back to it. I realize how much I’ve missed it! I have a lot of quilts to make; a lot of catching up to do. I just never had the time with the busyness of my life, and quilting fell off the plate. Rediscovering my love of fabric and sewing has been part of my recovery process, for sure! One thing that I have always loved, though, and never got away from, is browsing quilting books and magazines. I have a small collection of my own, and also enjoy checking books out of the library. I love to curl up on the couch in my jammies and a cup of tea with a stack of quilting books to browse and dream my way through. So you can imagine how exciting it was to get my recent Amazon order in the mail today! Yay! Now you know what I’ll be doing this weekend! I sense a jammies day in my future! I ordered Sunday Morning Quilts, Modern Minimal and Jelly Roll Quilts. I haven’t even cracked them open to peek inside yet. Don’t you just love a fresh unopened book? All that potential…I’m savoring the moment!

On another topic, I met my friend Pam downtown today for a walk along the Yukon River. It was such a beautiful morning, -10c and blue sky with only a few clouds. I’m glad that I thought to take my camera. It was a lovely day to take pictures of the
S.S. Klondike.