Sewing Books For Sale

This morning I was thinking to myself that I need to clear out my sewing books. I have so many sewing books that I buy and then never use so I thought surely there is someone out there that would like to use these.  So I have done a bit of organising and pulled out some books to sell.  I am going to pop them up here for anyone that may want them for a couple of weeks and then whatever doesn't sell I am going to move over to Fishpond.

Sew U by Wendy Mullin

As New Condition

$15 + postage

Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin

As New Condition

$15 + postage

In Stitches by Amy Butler - SOLD!

As New Condition

$15 + postage

Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson - SOLD!

Small tear in cover in spine

$10 + postage 

Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee

As New Condition

$10 + postage

Design-It-Yourself Clothes by Cal Patch

As New Condition

$15 + postage

If you are interested in any of these books please email me on ksultanie(at)yahoo(dot)com and we can discuss postage costs.  I am also happy to arrange pick up if you are in the Gold Coast or Brisbane area.

November Reading List

After a lame effort in October I got back into the swing of things with my reading for November.  I find that feeding time gives me a lot of time for reading.  This month I managed to read 7 books which brings me up to a total of 43 for the year.  That means if I want to reach my goal of 52 books I need to read another 9 in December.  I am not too confident that will happen but I will give it a shot.  This month I read

I continued on with my obsession with the Stephanie Plum series.  I have 4 more of these books on my ereader and then there are another 2 in the series that I need to get although one hasn't be released yet.  I have said basically everything I can about this series the past few months.  They are great and I am still loving the series!

Flea Market Chic is a new book I bought the other week.  I could basically live in this book.  It is all about making and decorating your home with items sourced from flea markets and op shops and secondhand.  I have found so much inspiration in this book I really can't wait until we are able to buy a house.  So many times while reading this book I said to Corey "ooh I want one of these".  I think he is dreading us buying a house now!

So now to finish of my year with a bang (hopefully!).  Fingers crossed I can get a bit of reading in during December.

October Reading List

Well, October, what a busy month you were!  I read a grand total of 1 book.  Yep, that's right people, I lonely little book.  But it's a book that I think is going to do me a lot of good.

When I first got pregnant I read a lot of reviews online about Tizzie Hall.  They were very mixed reviews.  Some people loved her advice and routines and some people were dead against them.  I avoided reading the book for a while because of some of the negative feedback I had read online.  My Aunty follows the routines in this book with her little boy and he is the best sleeper.  She advised me to read it but still I put it off.  Finally a friend from work gave me her copy and after it sat on my bookshelf for a few weeks before I finally gave in and picked it up.

I was pretty surprised with the book.  The advice seems pretty straight forward and the routines are not too strict.  Tizzie champions the idea of having a routine but she also tells you not to let having a routine force you to sit at home.  She tells you how to have a routine while also keeping it flexible so you can actually have a social life.  Being only 3 weeks we haven't been to strict on Imogen's routine just yet.  She pretty much eats on the routine in the book but the day sleeps are a whole other thing.  She usually does one or two of them but never all three.

What I have found very helpful in this book are Tizzie's tips for teaching babies to self settle.  This is a battle we are still working on with Imogen but we are making progress and that is all we can hope for.

Have any of you read this book?  Did the advice work for you?  Do you follow a routine for your babies?

September Reading List

I just realised that it is nearly November and I still haven't shared my September books with you all.  But that's ok because here they are now...

For September I continued reading the Stephanie Plum series and managed to smash through six more books.  Like I said last month these books are a really easy read and are very entertaining. I highly recommend them if you are after a mindless read that you can flick through while lazing about.  The perfect summer holiday read!  This month brings me up to 35 books for the year with 17 left for the year. I don't like my chances of getting there because for October I have only read 1 book. Slacker!!!

August Reading List

I am pretty happy with how I went this past month with my reading.  I think this month is going to be even better.  I think it is because I have found a good series that I am enjoying and am powering through all the books.  For August I read.....

The Diary of Mattie Spenser was probably my least favourite book. It was a bit of a slow read.  I am not really that into period dramas so it wasn't really my sort of thing.  I trudged through it though.  The Pilot's Wife was an awesome read! I smashed it out in a couple of days.  It was given to me by one of the girls at work and I loved it.  I think I need to investigate some more Anita Shreve books.  One for the Money is the first book in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.  Stephanie Plum is a bumbling bounty hunter who has a knack for running into trouble while trying to chase her targets.  The books are hilarious and such easy reads.  I also managed to read book 2 (Two for the Dough) and book 3 (Three to Get Deadly) in August.  Don't be surprised when my September list comes out if it is basically the rest of this series. I am enjoying them that much!

This month brings me up to 29 books which leaves me with 23 books to read in 4 months.  Fingers crossed I can get there!

July Reading List

This month was a slow month for reading. I do most of my reading on my lunch break but this past month at work has been so busy that I have been grabbing food whenever I get the chance and not having much time to actually stop.  Here is what I read:-

A Tiny Bit Marvelous is written from the perspective of four members of the one family.  It is quite interesting to read how they each perceive the same events in their life.  The best part of this book is the chapters written in the voice of the teenage daughter.  They way Dawn French writes these chapters cracks me up.  You can really imagine a 16 year old girl standing in front of you saying these things.  It's hilarious!

The Slap was given to me by my sister when she was up for dad's birthday and it took me a while to get through it.  I found it really interesting and thought provoking.  Especially for someone about to have a baby.  You most probably know what it's about but if not the story centres around a group of friends.  At the start of the book they have a bbq and one of the men slaps a child that is not his.  Each chapter is written from the point of view of a different member of the group and shows the different perspectives on the incident.  I found myself changing my mind on the incident with every chapter.  I got to the end of the book having more questions than answers on what I would do if something like this happened in my life.  It's a great book and definitely very thought provoking.

Hopefully August will be a bit more productive for me in the reading department otherwise I am going to struggle to hit my target of 52 books for the year.

June Reading List

Every time I write these posts I am baffled that another month is over and done with.  This months I managed 4 books.  Being that we are now halfway through the year we would expect that I would've read 26 books to be on track with my goal of 52 for the year.  Well I have come close to that goal with 24 books down.  This month I managed to read the following:-

With Friends Like These - This book is about a group of 4 friends and how as they grew up and got married and started having children their lives and friendships changed.  I really enjoyed this book.  I think it was because I could relate to some of the story lines having just gotten married and being pregnant with my first child.

My Name Is Memory - I loved this book!!! The concept was awesome and I think it was executed really well.  The idea of the book is that some people in the world can remember all of their past lives and can recognise souls of people that have come into contact with before.  The story centers around 1 boy who can remember who is chasing the love of his life (or lives) through their lifetimes and trying to get her to remember him.  It is a love story and it is a beautiful read!

French Children Don't Throw Food - This is the only parenting book that I have read since falling pregnant and it was really enjoyable.  It is written by an American lady who married a British guy and moved to Paris when they had a daughter and then twin boys.  She shares the differences she observed between French parenting techniques and British/American parenting techniques.  I like that this book doesn't dictate strict rules and regulations for parenting and recognises that every child and every parent is different.  A lot of the concepts that it shares make perfect sense and I will definitely be giving them a go with Squishy.  I'll report back later and let you know if they work.

Water For Elephants - If you liked The Notebook then you have to read Water For Elephants.  I love how the book is written from the perspective of the main character at two points of his life.  I thought the love story in this book was really good but I also enjoyed the relationship between the main character and the animals he cared for in the circus.  The book was interspersed with pictures of vintage circuses which I loved.  Even in black and white they really portray the excitement and theatrics of circuses in the 1920's and you can really imagine the being there.

After finishing French Children Don't Throw Food I wondered whether I should read any other parenting style books before Squishy comes along.  Are they necessary?  Are there any good ones that you have read and would recommend?

May Reading List

Winter has started off with a bang here on the Gold Coast.  This past week has been full of grey rainy days and it seems set to continue for the weekend.  This means I get to pull out all my cosy knits but it also means that I can't get any decent photos of a new knit that I have to share with you.  Fingers crossed I can get some decent light this afternoon!  So because I can't take any photos I thought I would share with you the books I read in May.

So this months reading list didn't reach the dizzying heights of last month and to be honest I'm not sure if I'll hit 7 books in a month again this year.  But the books I did read this month I did enjoy.  I read another 2 books in the Pretty Little Liars series.  There are 4 more books I think in this series but only 2 of them are out.  I can only find one on the e-reader store so I think I might get the other from the library.  Deadlocked is the latest book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.  I am addicted to these books! I rushed out and bought it the first chance I got and read it within 2 days.  I must say I got to the end and kind of went "is that it?" I was expecting more.  The Book of Lost Threads is a random book I got of my friends e-reader which I must say I chose purely because of the cover.  I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of 4 people in a little country town who become friends and help each other deal with their demons and make some moving realizations about their lives.  It is a very moving and sweet book.

So this month brings my total for the year up to 20 for the year.  If I want to reach my goal of 52 books I need to read 4.57 books a month!  Ha ha random number.  Considering I am going to have a newborn bub for the last couple of months of the year and I assume not much reading time I think I should get a wriggle on.

April Reading List

This month was a good reading month for me.  I managed 7 books!  I think this is my best month of reading since the start of last year.

I finished up the Shopaholic series with Shopaholic & Baby.  This was a fun read being pregnant and able to relate to a lot of the stuff that was going on in the book.  Especially the overwhelming feeling of all the things you have to buy.  One of the items on my 101 in 1001 list is to reread the Harry Potter series.  I finished up Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince and now I only have 1 more book till I can cross that item of my 101 list.  The last 5 books I read are the first 5 books in the Pretty Little Liars series.  These books are so quick to read and they really suck you in.  They are about a group of teenage girls whose best friend goes missing in year 7.  In the first book they start receiving text messages revealing their closest secrets from someone who they believe is their missing friend.  It is part mystery part suspense and they having totally sucked me in.