Category Archives: Book Review

As I’m a bit of a janeite, I buy every book I see about Austen. Even some rather dreadful sequels and continuations. I have even made a few cross words. So when I saw this book at Dymocks I just had to have it.

I’m still collecting my thoughts about this book – overall I liked it. Ms Collins focussed on Austen’s early years and the influence her father may have had on her. I say may have because there isn’t much evidence to support anyone’s theories on the relationship between George Austen and Jane. However, Ms Collins extrapolations strike me as plausible and the information about religion in the 18th century was enlightening (at least for me). I particularly enjoyed how Ms Collins highlighted events in Austen’s life that appeared in her published works. For example,

Jane’s visits to Godmersham undoubtedly gave her the knowledge of the daily routine of a great house, which she used effectively in Mansfield Park.

Irene Collins is probably the perfect person to write a book like this – she is the Vice President of the Jane Austen Society  plus she is the Reader Emeritus at Liverpool University.

It’s an easy read and quite short (only 238 pages – excluding notes). Definitely worth a read if you’re at all interested in Austen.

We’ve been reading Salvation Creek for book club.

It’s a memoir by Susan Duncan who was unfortunate to lose both her brother and husband within a matter of days. This tragedy bought about a midlife crisis of sorts – she packed in her job and decided to try to find a place in the country to live.

This type of memoir has been done before – generally people move to Italy or France and discover the joys of fine food and simple living.

Susan did eventually find a home for herself on a boat access only part of Pittwater. She became involved in the community and meet some wonderful people. Barbara, in particular, seems to have been a bit of a saint.

This book was OK, not good nor bad. It was a story I’ve read before and not as articulately written as some others. The middle was tiresome – Susan seemed to be moving around in circles (I guess that’s life though rather than fiction). It was nice to read an Australian version of the story and I found the Dorothea Mackellar references interesting.

A good non-taxing beach read.

So my new books have arrived …

I haven’t had a chance to look at them properly, but they’re beautiful productions. I had a quick flick through both books and I wanted to make pretty much everything. I particularly liked the scallop edge quilt in Amy’s book – I thought it would be very quick (perfect for a new baby present).

I will post a detailed review later…

I’ve been busily trying to finish quilting my ‘seattle’ quilt with my new sewing machine. I call it my Seattle quilt because I bought the fabric in Seattle in 2002 (yes that is five years ago and I’m still trying to get it finished!). So not much to show on the craft front.

However, I recently purchased Heirloom Machine Quilting by Harriet Hargrave, so I thought I would give a quick review.

There is no chance that I’m ever going to hand piece of hand quilt, so the idea of using my machine to create something that looks ‘heirloom’ was quite appealing. I have done a bit of machine quilting in the past, but have never been completely satisfied with the results. I was beginning to think that I should send my quilts out to be quilted on a long arm machine or at least someone with a frame, but to me that always seemed like cheating (no offense intended to anyone). This book, however, has convinced me that I can do it myself with a normal domestic sewing machine. The gallery quilts are stunning and to know they achieved them with a normal sewing machine is inspiring.

Here’s a list of the things that really stuck in my mind…

• Starch the quilt fabrics before piecing to make everything a bit crisper and easier to work with.

• Plan your quilt design before you even plan the top (not sure if I will ever get to this point because for me quilting is all about the fabric and the way it goes together)

• Stabilise your quilt sandwich by stitching in the ditch (you can even use vanishing thread if ditch quilting is not part of your design)

• Plan your quilting so you don’t have to manipulate the entire quilt constantly. For example, when quilting in the ditch, quilt all of the vertical lines and then all of the horizontal lines.

There was also quite a section on free motion quilting, but I haven’t read that properly yet because I want to master the straight line stuff first.

I really want to get my Seattle quilt finished so I can move onto something else and try some of these techniques. I have at least five quilts in mind.