Quilts, books and movies

In between family events over the holidays, I read some books, watched some movies, and did some quilting. Here's a photo of the quilt I'm working on now using blocks from 2008 block exchange. Daisy gave me the geisha panel - I like the way it fits in with the other blocks - thanks Daisy! This is the center of the quilt - I've got ten more blocks and some sashing sections to add. Our 2009 block exchange begins in two weeks, and I'm happy that Phyllis, Debra and Eileen are going to re-join the group.

I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Milk" in the theater and really liked both movies. My money is on Sean Penn to win an Oscar (altho, I may change my mind after I see "the Wrestler"). While at Debbie's, we had family movie nights and watched "Music Man" and "Kung Fu Panda" again.

I've been reading a lot too. Mom and I both read Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett - it is a quick, funny, literate book- check it out. I also read Caleb Carr's The Italian Secretary (not as good as his The Alienist, but I liked the Edinburgh/Holyrood setting where Tish and I visited a couple years ago) and Margaret Truman's Murder at the Library of Congress (interesting to read after I'd just toured LC, including the underground tunnel between the Jefferson and Madison buildings). I'm now reading Carol O'Connell's Find Me (another of her wonderful Mallory books - Terry Person got me hooked on this series years ago, and I'm always happy to see that she's written a new one). I received some books for Christmas that I'm looking forward to reading too - Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates, Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.