Quilting and Novel-Writing

This is the first quilt I did. I finished it almost three years ago. It's completely a scrap quilt. Many of the pieces are leftover fabric from dresses or other projects of mine over the years. Some were pieces my from my mom's stash, and some were pieces she received in a quilt block swap. As you can see, it's throw sized. I didn't give much thought to color and composition, I just sewed blocks together and tried not to get any two of the same design too close together. Like most first projects, I learned a lot.

Making a quilt (yes, even a baby quilt) seems to me the sewing equivalent of writing a novel. It takes a long time, and planning is required. As you go (or at least, as I go) your plans change and morph. You take the pieces and lay them out, shuffle them around, see how they look one way, and then another. Although I will say that "cut and paste" is much easier than "rip out and re-sew". You add some things and take some away. Maybe you let it set awhile and then come back to it much later and finish it in a burst of inspiration (that's how my first quilt went, anyway, and many of my short stories).

And when it is all over, you have something to be proud of, even if it is a little bit homely by other's standards. :) Although, it's much easier to go back and revise the rough draft of a novel than to revise a whole quilt. (Well, I say that, but ask me again later when I'm actually doing the revision of my novel and we'll see.)

Speaking of novel writing, I am not doing so well in that department. I've written maybe six whole pages this month. I have been doing a lot of research reading, however, which is good. It keeps the novel on top of my mind, so that I am thinking about it and planning and trying out different ideas. When I will really get worried is when I'm not thinking about it anymore. It's a short jump from not thinking about a story to not finishing it.

About My Novel

By request, I'm going to talk a little about the novel I'm working on. I'm about 3/4 done, and I have been working on it since, oh, June or something. It's going much slower than I originally intended, but I keep plugging along. After I finish the first draft, I'll have quite a bit of revision to do to really make it readable.

It's partly a murder mystery, but that is a secondary plot. I won't try to explain the whole thing here, but I will say the people at the library must think I have a sad life. I've been doing research for it, and I've checked out probably six books on domestic violence and four or five on alcoholism and children of alcoholics.

I don't know if I would call this a Christian novel, but it is written from my viewpoint as a Christian, and the one of the two main characters is a Christian. Nobody gets "saved" by the end, though.

I'm having a difficult time deciding how many of the details of the murder are really necessary. I find many forensic-type murder mysteries (and even worse, I think, shows like CSI) really have more detail than they need to to get the point across, and I wonder about a culture where that is considered "entertainment". But forensics is a real part of life, and is very valuable for catching and convicting criminals. For my research I've read several nonfiction books written by forensic anthropologists and other forensic scientists, and it is fascinating even as it is really kind of gross. I think just like doctors or morticians, it takes a special kind of personality to stand up to that kind of job.

Eek!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I blogged. And it's not like I've been overwhelmingly busy, I just let it slip. So easy to do.

This is November, and I sort of wish I were doing NaNoWriMo. I thought about it, back a couple of months ago, when I thought that the novel I am working on would be done (at least, the 1st draft would be done) by now. But I stalled out on that novel-in-progress for a month and more, and I'm not going to start something new, or I'll never finish it. Instead, I am devoting November to finishing my novel-in-progress (which doesn't even have a working title). I'm on page 163. That is way longer than anything I've written before. I'm quite proud of myself, actually. I set myself a goal of two pages a day (except Sundays. I give myself Sundays off.)

Yesterday, I started a top-secret knitting project. Well, I'm going to post pics here, but my husband is under strict orders not to check this blog until after his birthday. I got out the knitting books (yup, that's pretty much my whole knitting library right there) and looked at patterns and tried some swatches, and cast on stitches for a hat. A black hat, how boring, but at least it isn't ALL going to be in k2, p2 rib, as many of my hats end up being. I tried the brioche stitch from Knitting Without Tears, and it didn't work out for me, so I'm going to use a variation of a pattern from the Vogue Stitchionary. You know, everyone raves about Knitting Without Tears, and its one of the big knitting classics, but I have barely used it. I just don't like the patterns much. I don't knit many sweaters, anyway. Actually, I've knit only one sweater, and have another in progress, delayed since last winter.

This is the first thing I've knit for Brandon. While we were dating, I thought about it, but I have experienced the Curse (albeit with a hat, and not a sweater) firsthand, so I didn't risk it.

The yarn is a Caron acrylic I've had leftover from a project my sophmore year of college (when I still crocheted, and hadn't learned to knit). It's very soft. I'm using a two strands held together, for warmth and so it knits up more quickly.

While I was looking at hat patterns online (I don't have a very large knitting library because so much can be found online) I found this blog, Kody May Knits. She knits A LOT of hats, and posts the patterns for free online (personal use only). If you're into funky hats (and some are very classic and pretty, as well) you might check it out.