Twice Betrayed by Wes Bundy -- A Review

You may recall that some months back I reviewed the newest book by Wes Bundy, The Bus Bench.  If you missed it and would like to take a look you can find it HERE.
Mr. Bundy graciously sent me his other 2 books, of which one was Twice Betrayed.

In Twice Betrayed we meet Kathryn Northcutt.  She is the daughter of one of America's wealthiest families.  She has led a very sheltered life due to being kidnapped as a child.
Eric Ryan, a college student studying to be a pharmacist has a chance meeting with Kathryn when their Limo had a flat.

From that day forward he could think of nothing but her.  A few years pass and Eric is now a pharmacist.  It so happens that medicines need to be delivered to the Northcutt's mansion.  Eric is excited to be able to deliver the medicines.  He includes a note to Kathryn in hopes that she will see it.  He reminded her of their chance meeting with the flat tire.

Kathryn did indeed receive the note, which ensued to quite a long time of them emailing each other back and forth.  Finally they get to meet in person.  Her mother, who she hated, disapproved but daddy liked Eric quite well.

Eventually they marry despite her mother's protests, but by doing so, her mother kicks her out of the family.  She has to go from spoiled rotten rich and having servants do everything to being poor and having to do everything for herself.

There is a whole myriad of things that happen throughout the book, including the death of both of her parents and some very revealing things in her mothers journals.
So much is going on that it makes this one of those books that you hate to put down as you want to know just what is going to happen next.

I admit to not liking the ending much.  The ending itself is nice, but it left me with questions....who was N?  Just what did they find in daddy's safe?   I wonder if Mr. Bundy will enlighten me?

I look forward to also reading and reviewing his other novel, The Devil in Butterfly Wings, next.

I am highlighting all 3 of his books on amazon here:



Disclaimer:  I rec'd a copy of this book to review but was no compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.  Post does include affiliate links.

WIP Wednesday--A Week's Gone By Already?

It sure seems this past week has flown by.  Things are so busy around our house with so many things, including school starting today.  Oh my!
Well, I posted a tutorial with pictures of making this string block in purple over on blogborne, but never got to making a second one.  Purple is the color this month with the soscrappy blog.
You can find my blogborne post HERE if you are interested in checking it out.

Next I am working on putting together a tutorial post for making a jelly roll type quilt.  Here is my progress on it, this past week.  I only have it sewn down the first time, and ready to sew down the second time.

I was able to put on more of the yo-yo's on the table runner too this past week.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
3 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug--plus more to sell
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
Blue and Brown yo-yo table runner
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt

I am linking up with the following blogs:

Online Earnings June and July 2016

June was sure a bleak earning month.  I use the excuse that I was gone part of it on the mission trip with no internet or mobile data.  That's really just an excuse though.

Zubeezone-- $5.60 paypal
Swagbucks--$25 amazon
PerkTV-- $10 amazon
Pinecone research-- $10 paypal
Instantcashsweepstakes--$2 paypal
Empowr-- $12.65

This totals just $66.38.  I spent $38.33 total on upgrades with some traffic exchanges bringing my net down to only $28.05 for the month  :(

I sold a few of my early quilts which I ended with $63.59 profit for Gifts Galore and More (which I call myself).  However, I realized that there are things that I have bought for "business" that I've not thought to write down over the year such as my new sewing machine, bobbins, cutter blades, thread, and batting.  Now I'm lost on how to know a true figure for the business side of my earnings.

If I add the $63.59 then I made $91.64 in June.


For July it looked a little better:

Atomicmailer-- $16.57 paypal
zubeezone-- $5.39 paypal
squirlytraffic-- $5.39 paypal
chatabout-- $5 paypal
swagbucks-- $25 paypal and $25 amazon
mylot-- $6.96 paypal
rabadaba-- $13.78 paypal
perktv-- $10 amazon
pinecone research--$3 paypal
lucktastic-- $5 amazon
apptrailers -- $1.03 paypal

This totals $121.87.  I had a total of $40.38 paid out in upgrades making my net $81.49 for the month.
For Gifts Galore and More I had a profit of $4.74 which takes my earnings to $86.23.


I have bee rethinking upgrades on the traffic exchanges.  Some I have cancelled, some I am keeping for now.  I did add 2 more.  Here are the banners for the traffic exchanges that I am currently upgraded with:























I have lifetime upgrades in zubeedownlines, redstagmailer, bigfootmailer, and redstaghits. The rest I do pay a monthly upgrade fee.


Happy Surfing, and here is to more and more earnings online for all!

WIP Wednesday-- Sometimes It's Just a Week for Cutting

Cutting fabrics is all I got done over this past week.
I started out looking through my strips and scraps to look for purple for the soscrappy blog challenge.
For the quilt I want to make, I am doing quilt as you go.  So I also looked around for fabrics I could cut for the back squares as well as the batting.  I will be making strip blocks in colors.....something I've been wanting to do for a long time, so it's about time I get started on them.

I was just going to cut what I needed and go on, but figured I really should just cut all of the scraps into usable pieces while I was at it.
You can see in my picture that I cut 10 inch for hotpads, a few extra 12 inch squares, 5 inch squares for later use, and 5 inch squares for coaster sets.  I ended up with a few skinny strips for doll rugs, and some strips for toothbrush rugs.  I ended up with a pile of strips for later string blocks too.
Not pictured are the 10 inch cotton batting that I cut for the hotpads and the pillowcase that I started filling with small pieces for making a dog bed.

I actually do have a progress picture to share on the crazy colored quilt. It's a cheat shot that I saved for this week just in case I didn't get anything done.  I actually added the other 2 rows on during the quilt retreat.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
3 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug--plus more to sell
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
Blue and Brown yo-yo table runner
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt

I am linking up with the following blogs:

Here's some fun stuff for quilters:
 

School scissors pattern tissue paper 15" x 20" tissue paper by DoodlesGifts
Check out another Tissue Paper

Handmade Uncut Personalized Quilt Sewing Labels Fabric by Flissitations
Check out more Handmade with love Fabrics at Zazzle

Disney Princess Crochet -- Review

We know all the girls love the Disney Princess' and would love these little crocheted dolls of each one of them.

The kit includes all of the materials needed to make Ariel and Cinderella (my granddaughter, Ariel, is claiming Ariel and my mother is claiming Cinderella once I get them made) as shown below:

The instruction book is 76 pages.  It's includes extensive instructions as well as illustrations for making Ariel and Cinderella, but also 10 other dolls:
Cinderella's Fairy Godmother
Aurora
Belle
Jasmine
Merida
Mulan
Pocahontas
Rapunzel
Snow White and
Tiana

Also included in the book are instructions with illustrations on the different stitches and techniques used to make the dolls.  There are some stitches that I wasn't familiar with, but the instructions are so clear that I had no problem doing them.

I haven't started working on this kit yet, but I have previously made Queen Elsa from the Frozen Crochet.  You can find my review of that kit HERE.  It's also highlighted at the bottom of this post.


About the author and designer:
Jessica Ward is the author and she has written and edited many books for Disney, including Duffy the Disney Bear, The Ultimate Disney Party Book and the Birnbaum official travel guides to the Disney Parks.  She lives in Connecticut.

Jana Whitley is the designer and she began making fantasy and fairy tale character for family and friends in 2007.  The rest is history for her as she has never stopped since.  This is her first published collection of patterns.  She lives in Utah.







Disclosure:  I rec'd this product in exchange for my review.  I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own.  Post does include affiliate links.

WIP Wednesday -- Quilt Retreat Progress

The quilt retreat was lots of fun.  I feel like I got a lot done.  I finished 5 microwave hotpads and 4 sets of coasters.

I worked on the black, white with a bit of red quilt:

I'm cheating with this picture.  I actually had these 2 rows of this crazy colored quilt done before the retreat.  I didn't plan on working on it at the retreat but ended up putting on 2 more rows.  I'm saving that picture for next week's post.

I got more yo-yo's added to the table runner.  Still 34 more to put on to finish it---finally!

Since the retreat's been over on Sunday I've worked mostly on finally starting to recover my craft/sewing room.  That is not going anywhere fast, but I have gotten some boxes looked through and those things put in their specific places.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
3 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug--plus more to sell
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
Blue and Brown yo-yo table runner
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks

2016 Finishes:
Smaller pink 4 patch quilt for charity
Pink 4 patch quilt for charity
Hexagon flower table runner
T-shirt toothbrush rug
4 sets of coasters
16 total microwave hotpads

I am linking up with the following blogs:

WIP Wednesday--Finally Back to Sewing!

I know it's been a long time since I've done a WIP post.  It's been a long time since I've actually done any crafts/sewing/quilting.  All I've worked on basically in the past couple of months is the yo-yo table runner.  By now, I'm sure the gal who ordered it won't still want it, but I truck along when the mood strikes to work on it--or I go to a sewing group to work on it.
I still have 50 more yo-yo's to put on before it's finished!

For sewing club at church I actually finally got around to working on the baby blanket quilt.  I won't pick it up again until next months meeting, but I will also finish it then.

I bought myself a Five and Dime ruler through amazon.  Once it came in I couldn't wait to use it.  I already had my stack of items for the quilt.
Here is what I have so far--the stack of 10 inch squares with the 5 inch pinned in the middle.  IN the meantime I also came up with a nice rainbow stack of 5 inch squares and some leftover 10 inch squares from the pile of fabrics that I pressed and cut.

I have a quilt retreat this weekend with our quilt guild.  I am so pumped about it!   I have several projects packed to work on---none of which are the ones in this post.  Oh how I wish it was Friday!

Here is my current UFO list, although I don't know the name of the pattern I've chosen to use with the five and dime squares.

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
3 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug--plus more to sell
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
Blue and Brown yo-yo table runner
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks


I am linking up with the following blogs:

Paintly Days Patterns Coloring Book for Watercolors!

We all know how popular the adult coloring books are.  They are fun and a great way to de-stress.

Author and Artist Kristy Rice has put together a series of 3 coloring books for watercolor!  If painting is your passion, these books are perfect!

The pages are thick watercolor paper.  They are double sided so you can practice on one side and then paint on the other side for keeps.  There is no bleedthrough.
The front and back covers pull out and have tutorials, art supply suggestions, a color wheel, and artistic inspiration.
It has easy tear out pages and they are the perfect size for framing.
The outlines disappear as you paint.

Here is an example of 2 designs in the book:

Here are 2 more pages from the book.  There are several that have quotes or sayings.  These would be awesome to print and frame.

More about the author:
Kristy Rice started her love of art at the age of 5.  She would get under her covers with a flashlight and make art literally day and night.
For the last 14 years her personal obsession has evolved into an innovative brand named Momental Designs.
She has transformed event stationery worldwide.  Notable celebrities such as Jessica Simpon, Katy Perry, Sean Parker, and Alexis Bledel have used her work.
Kristy's work has been credited in People Magazine, OK! Magazine, Good Morning America, Vanity Fair, Martha Stewart Weddings, and others.
Her artwork has also graced the products of well known paper brands like Envelopments and Papyrus.  Even TJ Maxx and Target offer products featuring her unmistakable artwork.

You can follow Kristy on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/momental/  or https://www.instagram.com/kristythepainter/

You will find her on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/painterlydays


Here are all 3 books in the series:




Disclosure:  I rec'd a copy of Patterns in exchange for this review.  I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own.  This post contains affiliate links.