Friday check in: SAHRR starter, 16 trips + reading

The ZBPL retirees met for lunch on Wednesday.  Most of us still live in the area (two are in Wisconsin) but I don't cross paths with them very often.  

It's been too cold to walk and I miss stretching my legs.  (I could walk at the rec center but that's early morning and I prefer to walk in the afternoon.)

# # # # #  In the warm, cozy basement studio: 

 I have chosen the starter for the Stay At Home Round Robin.  

At the ALA Midwinter Meeting in 2018 I got two vendor tote bags with this Jane Austen quotation. I repurposed one of them into a fancier tote bag. (Both sides shown in the photos.  I filled it with advance reader copies and donated it to the AAUW convention fundraiser that year. 

SAHRR gives me the impetus to finally repurpose the other tote bag.  The panel is cut.  I hope it will turn into a wall quilt for the auction at the ALA Annual Conference in June.  

(A couple of years ago I repurposed another vendor's tote for a wall quilt for the auction.  The company CEO bought it for her office!)

Meanwhile, I've been working on the Trip Around the World mats.  As of last evening there are 16.  (And I corrected the mispiecing shown in the photo in the previous post.)  I have 20 more to make. They're due at the end of May so (for once) I am ahead of schedule.

 # # # # # 

Vic Kemp was an outsider artist who rose to great fame and fortune with his signature style of outrageous, somewhat titillating portraiture.  His live-large philosophy and parenting style profoundly affected his four children.   The siblings (now in their 40's) are shocked by the news that he remarried a much, much younger woman (whom they have never heard of, let alone met) and further shocked to learn that he drowned in the lake next to the family summer villa in Italy.  The four immediately drop everything in London and gather at the villa.   In the messy present they confront their equally messy past and set the stage for their uneasy future.  

This is the fourth Rachel Joyce novel that I've read.  She's such a good writer!

Linking up with Brag About Your BeautiesFinished or Not Friday   SAHRR 2026