I Like Thursday #115

 LeeAnna's prompt this week was where we go on vacation if we could go anywhere? I would go back to Hawaii. I absolutely loved the weather while we were there and I love the ocean. I'm talking about waves-that-knock-you-over type of waves! Lol! So how long would I like to stay? My ideal vacation would be a week on the Big Island of Hawaii (where the volcanoes are active), then a week on Lanai (because it wasn't available back when we were stationed in Hawaii in the 80s), and then a week on Maui (to see the humpbacks & turtles and to relax & enjoy). Three weeks away from home would be long enough. I'm pretty sure I'd want to do it again every five years or so. Lol! That would be my perfect  vacation.

On to the Likes for this past week. I had a pretty good week and I'll be sharing on Not Afraid of Color as will some of the other bloggers. Be sure to hop on over to see what's good in the world!

Recently I finished up "The Lost Village" by Camilla Sten. I was glued to this book! It was an eerie, scary book ... Halloween-style. Something awful happened years ago and a group of kids (late-20s but kids to me! Lol!) go back to see if they can find out how the village disappeared and to also see how it relates to the present. I recommend it if you like a haunted book!

GoodReads Synopsis

Now I'm reading "Just a Little Bit Dangerous" by Linda Castillo. This author may sound familiar as I've read a couple of her books that have a revolving cop character in an Amish community. This book does not have that character so I thought I'd read something new by someone old. The jury is still out on this one. VERY HALLMARK so far. Hmmm, oh well. I'm mostly killing time because my name is coming up for "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm about 2 weeks out for that one which I've heard so much about. Looking forward to seeing for myself! I'll keep you posted!

My niece is getting married in 2024 but she and her fiancé were invited to a friend's wedding recently. Her boyfriend is a friend of the groom so they attended the rehearsal dinner as well as the wedding. Don't they look sweet and isn't she going to make a beautiful bride next year!!??!

Rehearsal Dinner

Friend's Wedding

Yesterday I rented some time on the longarm at my LQS. I wanted to free motion my Oh My Strippy Stars, a QAL with Carole @ From My Carolina Home. The original pattern made 16 blocks but I went ahead and made 25, so 5x5 layout instead of 4x4. I used lemon yellow thread in the top & the bobbin because I didn't want my stitching to show up too much. After all, this was my first attempt at free motion quilting on a longarm.

Loaded and Ready to Go

Let's Get Quilting!

I'll share pictures later after I get the binding sewn on. Let's just say that it took me the better part of a day and it was exhausting. Lani, our longarm guru, said it was because I did dense quilting. She did say I did good and that it looked like I'd been doing this a while, not a first attempt! Encouraging words, for sure.

I've rambled on enough. Let's get this day going!