Weekly update: I surprised myself

Today is our 40th wedding anniversary.  We are still smiling. :)  I made a quiche for a celebratory breakfast.    

I

# # # # # # #In the studio:  

'Taint perfect but 'tis finished!  I can't believe it, either.  I kept going and going -- no fussing, no fretting.  I think I'll call it Spontaneous Spiderweb.   

The back used up some of the larger pieces of 30's fabrics that I still had. 

Here's what's left. 

And here's what I *need* to work on:  the mini quilt for the teal swap.  The required fabric is the 10" teal square.   You get just a hint of the pattern because this is a surprise for my assigned swap partner.

This week's reading was mixed.  I didn't like The Last Tourist by Olen Steinhauer at all. I kept reading because I thought it would get better. It didn't. It's a cat-and-mouse spy thriller with too many characters to keep track of. (And not very pleasant characters at that.)

The Lady of Sing Sing by Idanna Pucci was interesting. In 1895 Maria Barbella, an Italian immigrant in New York, killed her two-timing lover. She was jailed in The Tombs (Manhattan). The trial was a shambles--she didn't speak English, the interpreters were inept, the public defenders were not helpful. She was convicted, sentenced to death, and sent to Sing Sing.  Cora Slocomb, the New Orleans-born wife of Italian count Detalmo Brazza, took up Maria's cause. She joined forces with the women's prison matron at The Tombs and the Sing Sing adminstrator's wife. They successfully advocated for a retrial.  It was determined that Maria was in the throes of an epileptic fit when she slashed her lover's throat (and that he was indeed unfaithful and did not intend to marry her). She was acquitted --and disappeared, or so it seemed. Idanna Pucci is Cora Slocomb's great-granddaughter.  This book was first published in 1995. The new edition includes an very interesting update about the discovery of Maria's descendants, thanks to the internet.  

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