Chookshed Challenge, RSC, and Books

 I'm taking part in the Chookshed Challenge again this year, and have listed ten projects to work on.  Some of the ten had been started and put aside, and some are new projects on my wish list.  Number 3 was  chosen for January, which for me is a blue and lemon cot quilt.  There is just the quilting to be done on this one, the top has already been stitched, layers pinned, and the binding made.  Blue is also the chosen colour this month for Rainbow Scrap Challenge in January, so this project ticks both boxes. 

Ready to be quilted

I remember starting this quilt when the Ukraine War started.  Quilters worldwide were stitching blue and yellow quilts which were the colours of the Ukraine flag.  I had already made the blue and yellow nine patch blocks, in fact I think they were left overs from yet another UFO.  So I set them on point with a lemon background, added a pale blue border, prepared some binding, and promptly set it aside!  Sadly, the story of my quilting life.

But luckily, this UFO made it to my 2026 Chookshed Challenge list as number 3, which was the number selected for January.  Time to get quilting.  I decided on a cross hatch design and got to work.  Then added the binding.   I took the quilt along to a craft afternoon, and hand stitched the binding down to the back.  

This lovely little cot quilt will be donated to The Nest Collective sometime soon.  Perhaps I'll wait till I have another one finished as well.

Blue and white check backing

Several of the blogs I follow list which books they have read each month, so I thought I would do that too.  You may or may not be interested, but I'm an avid reader and the thought of not having any books to read fills me with dread.  Most of my reading is done in bed at night, and when reading a Jack Reacher book, he is one of my heros, I often used to tell Robin I'm going to bed with Jack!  (A bit of a play on words, as before I met Robin over 42 years ago I used to go out with a guy named Jack.)  No Jack Reacher this month though, but these are the books I've read, and enjoyed, in January.  And just to let you know, I particularly enjoy reading about serial killers, and always hope that  the baddies will get their comeuppance at the end!

Play Dead, by Angela Marsons, featuring DI Kim Stone.

City of Bones, by Michael Connelly, featuring Dectective Harry Bosch.

The Glass Room, by Ann Cleaves, featuring DCI Vera Stanhope.

These three lead characters, I realise,  all had a flawed beginning in life.  Kim Stone's mother left her two young children chained to a radiata and Kim's toddler brother died, and Kim ended up in care.  The mother of Harry Bosch was murdered when he was a child and he was taken into care as well.  And Vera Stanhope's mother died when she was ten, and she was raised by her rather shady father.  All three characters live alone, moved up the police ranks and solve murders, fighting  to  put the baddies away.  I also enjoyed the Vera TV series,  and she and the other characters comes to life so vividly in the books.

Livid, by Patrica Cornwell, features another strong character,  Kay Scarpetta.  Kay is the Chief Medical Examiner and has her fair share of troubles, some of them political as well as attacks on her life, as she solves her cases looking after and examining the dead bodies which end up in her care.  Kay is married to a FBI Profiler, another very interesting character.

And lastly, I read The Disappeared, by C J Box, featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.  This series is a little different for me, but very enjoyable.  Joe is a quiet man, busy keeping the hunting rules enforced, but comes across his fair share of  mysteries and murders as well.  This character is happily married, but often has political interference to his job.

So that's what I've read and enjoyed this month.  I love my local library!