Quilts, Books, "Sacred Fabric", and Accents (whew!)

Quilt Progress The latest quilt on the design wall is coming along ok. I think. It's at that weird, formless stage where it doesn't really quite match the vision in my head and yet it hasn't really taken on a shape and identity of its own yet. But I have faith that it'll get there. Stay tuned... Books I've finished a couple more books in the past few days --- "Superstition" by Karen Robards, and "Undead and Unappreciated" by Mary Janice Davidson. "Superstition" is a murder mystery with a (very slight) supernatural twist. I found one aspect of the solution to the mystery to be slightly unsatisfying, but it wasn't a huge issue and I don't want to say more because it would be a spoiler. Other than that, I liked it enough that I plan to try more books by this author. I'd recommend it if you're a fan of mysteries that tend toward the romantic suspense side of the genre. "Undead and Unappreciated" is the third in a series of hilarious novels about Elizabeth Taylor (no, not THAT Elizabeth Taylor!); a.k.a. Elizabeth I, Queen of the Vampires; a.k.a. Betsy, who would much rather go shoe shopping than be queen of anything, especially a bunch of boring, icky, dead people. Need I say more? For fans of Janet Evanovich or Jennifer Crusie...picture if Stephanie Plum became a super-vamp and you have a general idea of what these books are like. "Sacred Fabric" I noticed in the comments section of Jenny's latest blog post that Sonji asked, "Do you ever have trouble cutting into a nice big piece of delicious fabric? " So I wondered...do you? Do you have any fabric that's so superfantastic that you can't bear the thought of cutting it and using it? At its most extreme, that's what I refer to as "sacred fabric". I used to be much worse about doing that --- putting certain fabrics on a pedestal --- than I am now. Now I'll pretty much cut into anything. I may ruin it, but if I do, better me than whoever gets my fabric after I die. HA! The one and only sacred fabric currently in my stash is a one-yard piece of rainbow-hued Artfabrik that was a birthday gift from my friend and CosmicTwin, Morven. (I would love to turn her name into a link to her website or blog so you could see her lovely self and her quilts, but she doesn't have a website or blog! hint...hint... [grins]) Maybe someday I'll use that fabric in something, but for now it gives me more pleasure to look at it in one piece than it would to cut it up. Accents Speaking of Morven, she sent me a link to a really cool website this morning. Well, actually for me it was the middle of the night when she sent it, but that's because she lives in New Zealand, which is currently 16 hours ahead of Kentucky in the whole time zone thing. She's from NZ originally, but spent three years in 'tucky, which is when we met and became friends, but now she's back in KiwiLand. (sob!!) Anyway, it's a website where you can listen to dozens and dozens of people from around the world all reading (in English) the same short paragraph and hear the differences in the various accents. The one from Wellington sounds just like Morv's accent to my ears. There's one from Louisville, but while I think it sounds like many Kentuckians I know, I don't think it sounds quite like me. But bear in mind, I actually grew up in southern Ohio, in the Cincinnati area, and have lived in Wisconsin, Missouri, and North Carolina before landing in Kentucky. So while I think of Kentucky as home, I'm not actually FROM here. I think the recording from Columbus, Ohio, sounds a bit closer to my accent, but isn't quite right either. Maybe I need to record for them, so they have a Cincinnati-native sample! Do any of them sound like you?