Busy with Nina

In the midst of all this reading, I have actually been doing some sewing! For anyone playing along at home, you can follow Jacqueline Leigh Creations on Instagram and Facebook, and my Art has it's own page on Facebook (I may combine them at a later stage).

My Bernina got her name - Nina! And we have been busy working our way through countless projects that have been collecting dust for... well, some of them, a couple of years... and getting orders knocked over as quickly as possible too!

Here's a little selection from my Instagram feed of what's been going on!

Hello baby! #Nina welcome to the family! 30 years younger than her sister #Stella there are some exciting times ahead! #bernina330 #StellaAirElectronic #sew #jlcreations #JacquelineLeighCreations

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Jan 25, 2016 at 7:29pm PST

Three gorgeous #frizzleinspired dresses are NEARLY ready to wing their way across the country to the wonderful @kit_cath93

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 15, 2016 at 6:39am PDT

Since I make bags, I thought I had better make myself one to carry around! #emmalinebagspattern - the #emmalinebag #sew #jlcreations #jacquelineleighcreations

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 15, 2016 at 6:44am PDT

A #WIP shot of a McCalls 6649 dress #chiffon #jacquelineleighcreations #jlcreations #sewing #dressmaking #sew #dancingdress

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 28, 2016 at 4:35am PDT

⛵️sailing away on the magical school bus with @kit_cath93 #missfrizzle #magicalschoolbus #sew #seamstress #sewing

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Mar 30, 2016 at 7:40pm PDT

Not-paper towels fresh off the sewing machine! #jlcreations #jacquelineleighcreations #saturdaysewday

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Apr 2, 2016 at 12:29am PDT

Love watching projects come together! #bunting #jlcreations #jacquelineleighcreations #saturdaysewday

A photo posted by JacquelineLeigh (@jacquelineleighcreations) on Apr 5, 2016 at 4:22am PDT

52 in 52 - book 14 - Pandora's Box - Giselle Green

Pandora's box. "Contains all the evils in the world" in Greek mythology, and although the parallels are drawn here, it is not the goddess Pandora, but the mother/grandmother of the protagonists.

A handy guide on the back of this book lets you prepare yourself- 50% tear-jerker, 20% drama, and 15% each friendship and love.  

For me, the 435 pages held no tears, but it was dramatic, easy to read, and I did stay awake half the night (having started reading at 11pm), two nights in a row to finish it. 

The story of terminally ill Shelly, who has watched her friend with the same disease die a horrible, painful, and drawn out death decides she will not endure the deterioration, she will take matters into her own hands. 

And 2 years as a single mother with full time care of her dying teenage daughter has left Rachel feeling lonely and deserted- by her ex husband, by her best friend as their lives take different courses, and by her mother Pandora who is emigrating to Australia (book set in UK), but not before sending "Pandora's box" full of childhood memories, pain, and best-forgotten-secrets. 

There is love, there is pain, and moral and ethical complexities which make the story interesting and thought provoking. Great read! 

52 in 52 books is taking over my sleep.

Well... I am loving this challenge... But it is resulting in "accidental" late nights of reading many hours past my self imposed bed time.... Yikes! 

I'm reading a book I found on sale at Kmart called Pandora's Box. If you ever want to write a book, heaps of really short chapters are really effective at stealing sleep! All the light we cannot see was similar- many short chapters, swapping between character stories, meaning the book is devoured without realising that chapters have been finished. "Just until the end of this chapter" is a lie I've told myself pretty much all my life- it's never just to the end of the chapter, but that's not something I realise until several chapters later... Oops! 

In other news, I've almost finished book 14! 

52 in 52 book 13 - Crazy Love - Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski

Amazing. Powerful. Challenging. 

175 pages plus Q&A with the author, this is a hard hitting and challenging book that urges us to walk the talk. Be literal in faith. Don't leave God at church on Sunday. Don't let anyone be surprised when they find out you're Christian- that should be evident in every breath, if you love God and behave as if you do. 

Another book I recommend and I will read again. The call to action in this book has the power to change the world. 

52 in 52 - Book 12 - All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

A book loaned to me by my sister, and it was amazing. 

Not QUITE unputdownable, but pretty close! 

It's been a while since I've been captured in the world of a book whilst "getting on with real life" 

The book is a fictional story based in WWII following the stories of a French girl, Marie-Laure, being raised by her widdower father; and an orphan German boy, Werner, growing up with his younger sister Jutta, and many other orphans under the care of a French house mother, Frau Elena. 

Marie-Laurie spends her days exploring and learning from professors in the museum where her father is the locksmith and master of keys. Despite losing her eyesight at age 6, she is able to use her other senses to perceive the world in colours of a different kind. 

Rumours abound of a cursed diamond, that has made its way through the rise and fall of nations and kingdoms, being stored at the museum. And when the invasion begins, it is with a precious stone that Marie-Laure and her father leave Paris on foot, walking past gridlocked traffic, a standstill caused by the occupants of the city fleeing invasion.  Marie-Laure is unaware of the stone her father carries, and he, not knowing whether it is the cursed diamond or one of 3 copies, anguishes over the risk they will be under the curse. 

The safe house arranged for them is deserted and being looted when they arrive, forcing them to press on to the seaside village his father grew up in, to the family home still occupied by his uncle, Etienne. A man haunted by ghosts of The Great War, Etienne has not left the house in decades, his radio collection allows him to be in touch with the world. 

Werner, being an orphan, will be forced into work in the coal mine as soon as he turns 15. The very place his father died. He and Jutta spend their days exploring, scavenging for extra food for the orphanage, finding odds and ends that have been discarded, and Werner's bright mind sees the patterns, asks questions, invents. He wants to be an engineer, an inventor... He fixes a found radio, then improves it, and before he knows it he is renowned as the radio repairman for the village. It is through this that he is tested and taken in to a excellent school, not knowing at the time of acceptance that he was being trained for war. 

As you can probably tell, this book has made an impression upon me. I will not spoil any more. It is a great read. 530 pages, excellently written. I highly recommend it. 

52 in 52- book 11 - Bad Girls of the Bible - Liz Curtis Higgs

So! The bible full of bad girls? I've just read about 10 of them! Eve Potiphar's wife, Lot's wife, the woman at the well, Delilah, Sapphira, Rahab, Jezebel, Michal, and "the sinful woman" 

The "badness" of these ladies varied between one bad attitude or decision, to a lifetime of sinful attitude and bad behaviour. 

But do you know what? It's far easier to relate to the imperfect than the perfect. We aren't all shiny and unblemished. We have made bad decisions and spoken in anger and without thought... But we are forgiven through faith, just like some of these women. Eve was God's hand crafted masterpiece, not made from dust like Adam, nope, created from Adam's rib. And she made a tremendous mistake in engaging in conversationwith the serpent, exaggerating God's word, and playing the blame game!! But she still went on to be the mother of humankind. She was forgiven. Women of ill repute were forgiven, just a matter of believing Christ is God and the saviour of all, and forgiveness is there for the asking. 

In May I'll be doing a 15 minute talk on one of the ladies from this book, I haven't chosen who yet, but I'm excited. Might even get some photos! 

52 in 52 - Book 10 - Communicating for a Change - Andy Stanley

I've listened to this one! I have listened to very few audio books, however they are quite enjoyable. This one I started months ago (in Jan) whilst driving around the south west. It was Brad's suggestion and so we put it on and I was instantly engrossed. Not only is it well written, it's easy to follow and educational (what more could a girl ask for!) the first half of the book is a story, followed by the second half, which consolidates the theories discussed in the story. I'm currently taking a public speaking course which follows this book, so already I am part way through listening (yep, weird!) to this book a second time. I think it is great, the theories in the book seem like they will require gradual implementation coinciding with growth in public speaking skill and experience. Highly recommend for anyone who does speak publicly, whether they enjoy it or loathe it- because even if you hate speaking, if you somehow get sucked into it, you should probably brush up on it!