This week I’m hosting Valerie Hansen with Cozy Christmas (2 books) and Lynette Sowell with Tempest’s Course: Quilt of Love Series (US only). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (Dec. 15th) evening.
Interview with the heroine from Cozy Christmas by Valerie Hansen:
1. Kelly, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I’m a textiles conservator. I have a passion for fabrics and textiles, and keeping them beautiful, or bringing them back from the edge of ruin. It’s not the usual answer someone gives when asked, “So what do you do for a living?” When I was in high school, my foster parents bought me my first sewing machine and I was hooked. I made all my own clothes. Except jeans, of course.
2. What do you do for fun?
I’m an arts nerd. When I can afford it, I love to visit museums, art galleries, and go to the symphony.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
Trying to find out more about my family. My dad was never around and my mother raised me until I got put into foster care when I was six. Then she died when I was 12. She never talked much about our family when I was young, but I’ve always wanted to know more. I worry about what I might learn, so I try not to go there.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
Being alone when I’m older. I’m used to it now. My foster father, more of a dad than I’d ever had growing up, passed away and now his wife Lottie is alone. They never had children, so I worry about when Lottie gets older. I’ll be there for her. But who will be there for me
5. What do you want out of life?
I want to leave a mark and make a difference – Kelly Frost was here, and she helped preserve the past and make the world a more beautiful place.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
Being at peace with God, and with myself. It’s taken me a long time to realize that, and I’m still working on it. I’ve accepted Christ as my savior and began that “new creation” life, but the past still tries to follow me. Accepting God’s grace and knowing it for sure are sometimes two different things, to me.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
Every once in a while, I love to read a good mystery. I like to try to figure out who the villain is.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would like to be more trusting. I’ve seen the kindest-appearing people turn in a heartbeat and betray people. It’s hard to meet someone and not suspect them of ulterior motives.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
No, I don’t have any pets. But once I get another place to live, I’d like to get two kittens, so they will always have each other to play with.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I would love to go back in time and see Gray House during the whaling age of the 1850s. I’d like to meet Mary Gray and tell her she can make different choices with her life, that she doesn’t have to be bound by her bad decisions, that God can forgive her like He forgave me.