bekahcubed I’ll bet you’d never be able to guess that I’m a book lover.
But how was this book-loving formed? Is it innate? Is it environmental? Did I learn to love books by example?
Tomorrow’s prompt asks about the books in your house:
“Were there books in evidence around your house? Was there a special room in the house considered the “library”? Which of your parents’ books do you remember reading? Which books do you remember them reading?”
This week I’m thankful…
…that God is all-knowing
“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.”
~Job 28:23-24
…that God is glorified in concealing things
“It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.”
~Proverbs 25:2
…that God is glorified when I examine concealed things.
“Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”
~Acts 17:11
May I be a woman who diligently seeks to understand the mysteries of God, but who does it with humility and love, not shirking from tough things, but submitting every conflict to the wise and loving care of the one who knows all things and delights both to conceal and to reveal.
“But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
~I Corinthians 2:9-10
Remember the Anne-of-Green-Gables-inspired doll carpetbag I made (and gave away) earlier this month?
Wanna try to make one of your own?
It’s really quite simple.
First, print off the pattern. For best results, select “none” for page scaling.
Second, cut out the fabric.
For the outer fabric, I used a heavy upholstery fabric. If you want the bag without the “carpetbag” look, you could use any heavy-weight fabric. Alternately, you could use felt or felted wool (accidentally washed wool sweaters, maybe?) and leave it unlined.
For the lining, I used a lightweight dress fabric. The fabric I used was pretty slippery–I’d recommend that beginning sewers try quilting cotton or broadcloth for lining. If you’re making a felt or felted wool bag, you can skip the lining.
The contrasting handles leave the most up to you. I used a no-fray upholstery fabric that had an almost rubbery back. If you can find something similar, that’s ideal. Otherwise, you could try faux (or real) leather, canvas, or another heavy-weight fabric. If you use a fabric that won’t fray (and therefore won’t need to have it’s sides turned under), cut using the circle template I provided. If you’re using a fabric that will fray, make a circle template about a half inch wider (in diameter) to allow for turning the sides under before applying.
Third, assemble the main body of your bag (using the outer fabric).
Line up the bottom and the front (right sides together) and sew along bottom front seam.
Open up the seam.
Now align the back piece with the other long side of the bottom piece (right sides together). Sew along the bottom back seam.
Press both seams open.
Fourth, put the sides on your bag
Align the side of the side piece with side of front piece (right sides together) and pin in place.
Now align the bottom of the side piece with the bottom piece (right sides together) and pin in place.
Finally, align the other side of the side piece with the side of the back piece (right sides together) and pin in place.
Sew along the pinned portions, making sharp turns in the corners by leaving the needle down, lifting up your sewing machine’s presser foot, and rotating your fabric 90 degrees. Make sure that the extra fabric from the front/back/bottom pieces isn’t in the way before you put the presser foot back down and begin sewing again.
You’ve now got the first side on.
Repeat with the second side piece.
Fifth, stitch along the right side of all the seams you just made.
Notice how the stitching is right on the edge of the seam, going through both pieces of fabric on either side of the original seam. This gives the bag additional form and allows it to stand up on its own.
At this point, if you’re making an unlined bag from felt or felted wool, skip to step 8. If you’re making a lined bag, continue on with step 6.
Sixth, repeat steps three and four with the lining fabric.
Seventh, attach the lining to the outside.
You’ll start by turning the outside wrong-side out and the lining right-side out. Slip the lining into the outside.
Pin along the top edge of the lining and outside piece, lining up corners and the “dips” in the sides.
Sew along the top of the bag, leaving a small section along the back piece unsewn (so that you can turn the bag inside out.)
Turn the bag inside out through the small hole you left between the lining and the outer portion of the bag.
Topstitch along the seam around the top of the bag, closing the opening as you go.
Ninth (and finally), make and attach the straps.
Iron a fold into the long sides of the strap fabric.
Now fold the straps in half longwise so that you have a long narrow strip with the previously folded edges on one side (it’ll look like double-folded bias tape). Sew along the edge.
If your circle fabric has the potential to fray, iron under the edges approximately 1/4 inch.
Now pin your straps to the sides of the bag as shown below.
Layer the circles on top of the edges of the straps and pin.
Now, you’ll stitch around the edge of the circle, securing the straps and the circle to the bag. I made a little “X” through my circles to further secure the strap.
Congratulations, your Anne-inspired carpetbag is now complete!
I had a blast participating in Amy’s Armchair Cybils this year. I set out to read one book nominated in each Cybils category.
I failed.
But I got close–and had a grand deal of fun in the process.
Book Apps
I realized a little late that one needs to have some sort of e-ish reader or smart phone or whatever to read these. Since I do not, I refrained.
Fiction Picture Books
I read two finalists–one of which (Me…Jane) became the winner. It wasn’t my pick of the two I read, but I’m certainly not displeased with the results.
Nonfiction Picture Books
I read a whopping four of the six finalists–and was thrilled to see that my pick for winner made winner. Congratulations to Carlyn Beccia, author of I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat, for writing a remarkably readable mini-history of strange cures.
Easy Readers
I read two easy reader finalists and was officially unimpressed. I hope that the winner, I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems, was significantly better than the two I read.
Early Chapter Books
I have Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie sitting on my nightstand but have not yet read it. Oh well, since Have Fun, Anna Hibiscus! ended up as the winner. I still might read Like Pickle Juice, though, just because I have it.
Poetry
I was somewhat limited in my options since I chose to only get books from my library–and because my library had few of the poetry books. As a result, I ended up reading none. However, the book I most wanted to read ended up as the winner: Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto. I might just recommend that my library get a copy.
Graphic Novels
I read finalist Level Up, which I was rather stunned to find that I enjoyed. I really prefer text to pictures, so I didn’t expect to like any graphic novel. The winner ended up being Zita the Space Girl by Ben Hatke. I didn’t have Zita out of the library, but now I’m trying to decide whether I want to read the other finalist I do have out of the library.
Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction
I read Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (and quoted from it). I really recommend it–and intend to review it in full at some point, if I can get to it. The winner, however, was The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale. Amy has spoken highly enough of this one that I really will have to get my hands on a copy.
Middle Grade Fiction
I finished The Friendship Doll just last night. (I was rather behind after my decidedly unsuccessful attempt to read a Cybils middle-grade fiction nominee.) I enjoyed The Friendship Doll although I’m not sure if I was enthralled with it. I’ll have to think more on that one. The winner was Nerd Camp.
Young Adult Nonfiction
I read two finalists, Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming and Unraveling Freedom by Ann Bausum. I enjoyed reading both, although I felt Unraveling Freedom was a bit propagandish. I am ecstatic to see that the well-written, informative Amelia Lost won the award.
Graphic Novels
What? The Graphic Novels were separated into Middle Grade and YA? I didn’t catch that. See above for what I read. The winner in this category was Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol.
YA Fantasy and Science Fiction
I read two–one of which was my first-ever (and possibly last-ever) “demon” fiction. Misfit by Jon Skovron was interesting, to say the least. It feature a half-demoness, half-human whose uncle is, um, Dagon. Yeah. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, I guess. The story itself was written well. But I really couldn’t be comfortable with the subject matter. The other book, Blood Red Road by Moira Young, was absolutely wonderful. This is the kind of epic that is bound to spawn sequels (possibly even movies, GAG!) I am delighted to see that Blood Red Road won the award.
Young Adult Fiction
Having read a fair number of nominees (The Fitzosbornes in Exile, The Big Crunch, The Summer I learned to Fly, and Paper Covers Rock), I didn’t prioritize getting to finalist. Which is why Between Shades of Gray is still sitting on my nightstand. I did not read the winner, Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach.
Conclusions
I had a great deal of fun participating in Amy’s Armchair Cybils this year–and really hope she runs the same challenge next year. I’ve officially decided I’d probably be a very frustrated first-rounder, but I have really enjoyed immersing myself in the finalists over this past week (Yes, I checked all of the finalists I mentioned in this post out of the library a mere ten days ago.)
Please, run over to Armchair CybilsAmy’s to see what others are saying about this year’s Cybils.
I have officially discovered that highlighting something on Facebook using Diigo accomplishes exactly…nothing. So the great quote I had (that I can’t remember who posted) is lost.
So here’s a modge-podge of other quotes:
“RT @BurkParsons God doesn’t accept me just as I am, he loves me despite how I am; he loves me just as Jesus is.”
~Powlison, retweeted by Nateoh
Love this. So true. God doesn’t accept my sin–He paid for it. He doesn’t just look over my sin–He gave me His righteousness instead.
“The fact that the infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join himself to a human nature forever, so that infinite God became one person with finite man, will remain for eternity the most profound miracle and the most profound mystery in all the universe.”
~Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
Almost incomprehensible, the Incarnation is. But I am so thankful that the Son forever became fully man, while remaining fully God, that I might no longer be estranged from God.
And, somewhat off the topic, this week I taught my 2nd and 3rd graders about God’s justice and mercy, the penal substitution, and explained how Jesus didn’t physically “go to hell”.
The kids were tracking. I think we underestimate what they can learn.
My dad, however, commented: “So when are they going to give you fifth, sixth, eighth graders?”
No idea, but whatever age I get, I’m going to keep pounding home my point, like a broken record: the gospel is on every page of Scripture.
Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.
This year’s Cybils Nonfiction picture books was heavy on the nature/environment theme, with a whopping five out of the six titles falling under said theme.
I read four of the Cybils finalists, three environmental/nature ones and the lone non-natural book.
All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon and Katherine Tillotson is a poetic celebration of the water cycle, with text that TaP dAnCeS and sprays with different fonts and sizes of fonts. The illustrations flow in semi-abstract fashion.
This is a great conversation-opener, but will require conversation about the water cycle, since it doesn’t so much explain as it eludes to how the water cycle works.
Can We Save the Tiger? written by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Vicky White tells about animals that are extinct, animals that are endangered (like the tiger), and once endangered animals that have been preserved. The illustrations are classic nature notebook stuff–highly detailed black and white shaded drawings with the occasional colored bit.
This book did a nice job of balancing the interests of animals with the interests of humanity–and talking about the difficult decisions stewardship of the earth involves (not that it uses the term “stewardship” to describe it.)
Thunder Birds by Jim Arnosky is classic Arnosky, featuring fantastic nature drawings. This title showcases the avian predators in their fierce glory. The fold-out pages often allow for life-size drawings of bird heads, accompanied by statistics about each type of bird and a narrative piece about Jim’s (and often his wife Deanna’s) experiences with each bird.
This is the least narrative of the books so far, meant more for browsing and reading in short snippets than for reading aloud all in one setting. The fold-out pages are fascinating and it’s fun to have a glimpse of the size of the animals–but I fear the format isn’t as durable as a normal two-page spread.
I enjoyed all three of these books, but something about them rubbed me a little wrong. It took me a while to identify it, but I think I finally figured it out.
In an age where we eschew “moralistic” literature and (rightly?) consider the Victorian morality pieces to be pedantic, we seem to have no problem allowing environmentalism to be the new morality. As long as it’s environmentalism we’re championing, it’s just fine to moralize.
Thus, All the Water in the World ends with the injunction “All so precious–do not waste it. And delicious–we can taste it. Keep it clear, keep it clean…keep Earth green.”
Okay, I’m all about keeping water clean and keeping Earth green. But this feels a little bit like propaganda. I guess I’d rather children’s books (which are meant for an audience that doesn’t really have much judgment) focus more on facts and less on persuasion. Or something.
Which probably explains why my favorite of the four I read was Carlyn Beccia’s I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat. (Although the fact that I’m all about medicine may also contribute to my attraction to this title.)
I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat is written in quiz format, asking the reader to identify which of the proffered historical cures might actually help. The following pages walk through each cure, answering “Yes” “No” or “Maybe” to whether the cure would work and giving a brief history of the use of that specific “cure”.
This was a fascinating and imaginative book. It’s gross enough that boys should really love it and not gross enough that girls won’t read it–a perfect mix.
These books were all Cybils NonFiction Picture Book Finalists. I read them as a part of Amy’s Armchair Cybils. If asked to rank the books, I’d put I Feel Better at the top of the list, followed by Thunder Birds and Can We Save the Tiger?. All the Water in the World ranks last in my book, but basically just because of that bit I quoted above. Apart from those few lines (which interrupt a beautiful book), I’d recommend all four titles.
Congratulations to Miss Natalie who has won the Anne of Green Gables inspired carpet bag.
Natalie said:
“Dear Becca,
I love your sense of style!Your friend,
Natalie”
Why thank you–and I love spending time with you betwixt Sunday School classes.
Thanks to all who played–it was fun having my first little giveaway!
Prompt #6: “Were you enamored with another era as a child? Is there a time in history you thought it would have been fascinating to live in? Why?”
My answers are simple: Yes, Yes, and because I read it in a book.
When I was in my early elementary years, my Social Studies book had a unit on American Indians–and I was absolutely fascinated by it. I spent long hours poring over that book, books from the library, and most especially the article in the Compton’s encyclopedia about American Indians.
I guess I don’t know which “era” particularly I was interested in, but the “American Indian” lifestyle was what I wanted. Of course, I freely mixed between tribes in choosing what I wanted to emulate.
I would have a Hopi dwelling, an adobe pueblo in the cliffs. I’d wear moccasins (I tried rather unsuccessfully to make my own using some brown fabric I’d found in my mother’s stash.) I’d make beaded buckskin clothing and weave beautiful blankets. Of course, I’d eat pemmican. Naturally. I was an old pro at making it with the maple buds that littered our driveway.
In those days, I loved to practice “stealth”, sneaking up on siblings or otherwise like I would on an animal I was hunting. I also practiced running like the wind, making endless circles around our darkened church sanctuary while my parents were having Bible study in the fellowship hall.
Later on, pioneer days appealed, fueled by my love of the Little House books and Janette Oke’s “Love Comes Softly” series.
I wanted to build a house from logs found by the crick bed, chink it up with a nice mud plaster. I wanted to stuff a tick with feathers or hay (my romantic ideas didn’t really consider allergies those days). I wanted to kill a chicken and boil it, to sun-dry wild-grown fruit, to make cheese from my own cow’s milk.
Thing is, this particular yen didn’t die.
I don’t yearn for those days anymore (since my romantic view has tarnished somewhat and realizes that being a pioneer would be HARD work)–but I still want to do all that stuff.
Reality shows were just beginning when I was in high school, and I dreamt of a show that I’d be on that would let me pretend to be a pioneer for a month or a year. (Eventually, I think PBS did create a similar show, but I haven’t seen it.)
Now, as I window shop for houses, my heart is often pulled to those properties with a house that’s not at all a house of my dreams but that has the luxury of 19 acres or 23. A crick. Outbuildings.
I could keep a cow, I think–fresh milk for making cheese. (Yeah right–my family comes from dairymen, and keeping dairy cattle is seriously hard work.) I could heat my home with wood I “make” myself (as my family calls it when they ask my grandparents if they can come up to “make wood”.) I could grow everything I need to live on, keep bees for honey, maybe get sheep and take up weaving.
Never mind that keeping such a home would be a full-time occupation for more than one person–and that it’d probably leave little for paying the infernal property taxes. It’s still a pet dream of mine–to escape into back-to-the-land pioneering.
Of course, I have to make a living, so these imaginings stay in the realm of imagination. But this year I have a plan to do some of my pet projects. I have a friend who keeps chickens and I plan to buy one. I have some whipping cream ready to be churned to butter. I have recipes for cheese and some rennet stored up. I’m gonna be a pioneer some day, you just wait and see.
Surely I’m not the only person who has at times wished she belonged to another era. As I’m reading Little House in the Big Woods, I’m reminded of some of the times I wished I lived in while I was still a child. Thus this week’s prompt:
Were you enamored with another era as a child? Is there a time in history you thought it would have been fascinating to live in? Why?
After reading two of the “Easy Reading” Cybils finalists, my conclusion is sure: I hope any children I might have pass VERY quickly through the easy reading stage.
Dodsworth in Rome by Tim Egan is like a remarkably muted Amelia Bedelia. Dodsworth and “the duck” arrive in Rome. Dodsworth announces their destination: “Rome!” So the duck begins to roam.
The two visit the famous sights of Rome on a motor scooter, the duck with his eyes tightly shut (riding on a motor scooter can be rather scary, you know). They visit the Sistine Chapel–and the duck tries painting a duck on the ceiling. They visit a flea market, where the duck warily watches out for fleas.
Things happen. The duck is mildly amusing. The book overall is rather boring.
I don’t think it’s the book’s fault so much as the genre’s.
Frog and Friends is slightly more interesting–each chapter acts as a discrete story, similar to a story one might find on the typical picture book shelf.
Frog and his friends find a balloon and try to figure out what kind of animal it is. They grab ahold of its tail and get the surprise of their life when a gust of wind sends them sailing through the air aloft–until the balloon pops. They give the pieces a decent burial, sadly realizing that they will never know what the THING was.
In the next story, frog is gifted a scarf that he immediately pronounces as “perfect”. When he discovers that it’s not so perfect, he regifts it to someone else, who also announces it perfect only to find that it’s not. The regifting continues until frog gets it back. This time, the gifter provides some scarf-tying assistance and the scarf is at last deemed perfect–and truly is.
Finally, a hippo runs away from the zoo and decides to hang out in frog’s pond for the rest of his life–something frog’s not so sure about. How can frog show hospitality while still convincing the hippo that maybe he doesn’t want to stay quite so long?
The individual stories that made up Frog and Friends are cute, while not particularly spectacular. But I rather suppose that’s how it is with Easy Readers.
The mercy, I suppose, is that these readers are supposed to be able to be read independently–so as long as your child can do it on your own, you won’t have to put up with it too long. Even so, I hope every child makes it quickly through this stage and on to books with actual plots.
These books were both Cybils Easy Reader Finalists. I read them as a part of Amy’s Armchair Cybils. Clearly, I’m not a fan of the genre–but Frog and Friends was amusing and it’d be my pick for winner (of the two I read). I can’t help thinking, though: “If these are the best of the best…” Yeah. Scary.