Weekly update: signs of spring, almost finished, and two good books

 

Though it was a chilly, windy 19 yesterday, today it got up to 52.   I snapped a photo of just-emerged skunk cabbage along the trail in the ravine at the end of our block.  Spring is in the air!

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I'm up to the binding on the Double X / Old Maid's Puzzle quilt.   (I did correct the mis-turned hourglass block....see Wednesday's post.)

This wooden binding bobbin was a favor at the Magpies' 2018 meetup.  It's very handy.   I fold the binding in half as I sew it, rather than pressing it ahead of time. 

UPDATE (Monday morning):  here's the finished quilt!  

The back used up most of two blue sort-of-repro prints.  

As for the birdhouses . . . I did not have enough of the background fabric I thought I'd use.   I went to Joann's to find some more but they didn't have any.  I went to the quilt shop and found a good substitute.  I needed 2 yards and that what was on the bolt.  

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This is my entry in the "true crime" category for a FB reading group I've joined. 

Chicago Tribune researchers Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather combed the archives to tell the stories of four women in 1920's Chicago who were put on trial for murder. Rookie reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins covered their cases for the Trib. She used the stories as the basis for a play called "Chicago" that premiered on Broadway in 1926. It was adapted by Hollywood for a silent movie in 1927. Bob Fosse recreated it as a Broadway musical in 1975. Its 1996 revival is still playing. A 2002 movie musical received Oscar nominations.

But, back to this book: Rumore and Mather dig deeper into the backgrounds of these four women and to put their stories into context. They follow up to find out what happened after they served their time. (One died in prison; another a couple of years later. Two moved to California and died at 77 and 80.)

I am one of the few (apparently) who has never seen "Chicago" on stage or screen. I will have to rectify that. 

"The age of disappearing women did not begin with Agatha Christie. It had begun long before...and it would continue for quite a bit longer. We disappeared from schools. From our homeotwn. From our families and our jobs. One day we would be going about our business, sitting in class, or laughing with friends, or walking hand in hand with a beau. Then poof . . . The age of disappearing women. It had been going on forever. Thousands of us vanished...Only our long absences and quiet returns. If we returned at all." (p. 254)

Disappeared, forgotten. Reappeared, remembered. Those poles are at the heart of this richly-imagined retelling of the nine days in 1926 that Agatha Christie went missing. This story is told from the omniscient point of view of Nan O'Dea, Archie Christie's mistress (whom he eventually married). De Gramont puts an unexpected spin on motive (both Nan's and Agatha's) that adds intrigue and dimension. Wonderfully-written!

This is quite different from The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict which I read last year (review here).

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