LIFE IN THE TIME OF CORONA-

DAY 14

March block-beginning of spring

Bird nest with eggs

Dangerous cat among the spring flowers

My first trial run at ribbon embroidery. I like the leaves on the dandelions and the tree leaves are okay but I feel I should have made them sparser as the green on spring trees looks like a haze of green rather than lots of leaves. I like the kitty-he looks like my orange cat Yoshi who bites therefore he is an outdoor cat but basically a sweetie.

Speaking of the color "orange" and given my love of the English language, I have some interesting information on this color.  Or rather, not the color itself, but how English speakers thought of this color.

From Arts and Collections:

https://www.artsandcollections.com/article/a-history-of-the-colour-orange 

we read the following:

"Before the 15th century, the colour orange did not have a name in Europe; it was simply called yellow-red. Portuguese merchants brought the first orange trees to Europe from Asia in the late 15th and early 16th century, along with the Sanskrit, naranga—which became ‘naranja’ in Spanish and ‘laranja’ in Portuguese."

So from the fruit, comes the description of the color orange. And the concept of seeing it as a separate color.

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Before and after micro quilting of fox block

I like it. The fox circle is 9" across so the area is small.  It is a different matter to paint on a block that has been painted and to quilt on the paint with chocolate brown.  

It is a moot point tho.  I cut my fabric into the nine squares I would need and marveled at the amount of cloth left over.  Yes, yes, I know....measure twice and cut once.  I hate it when my brain goes on a holiday.  So this project is kaput for a while as I as forced to reorder more black fabric and, when it arrives, it will have to spend a week in quarantine (40 days!) to see if it has corona. Ribbon embroidery it will be-start with the simplest.

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I find it unforgivable that when it comes to distributing critical medical supplies to the states, the government favors some states over others.  He freely admits this, saying some states have governors who have been critical of the government actions. Some states such as Florida,  received 100% of their requested supplies and others such a New York, Michigan, and Washington, receive a portion of their requested supplies (per the NY Times and the Washington Post).

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Shake it off!!! and now:

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

A moment of reflection, humor, or beauty in these trying times 

A beautiful bridge to connect opposing sides

Happy Creating!

I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, 

Midweek Makers, Whoop Whoop, Finish or Not!, and Off the Wall Friday.

LIFE IN THE TIME OF CORONA-

DAY 10

This is October's block in my calendar quilt.  All (?) that remains to be added is the silk ribbon embroidery of the leaves and some gardening in the grass.  This was a very difficult background to find.  I had to turn the fabric on its side so the sky looks striated.  I also stuffed the pumpkins to plump them out a bit.

I am setting this project aside for a week or so while I paint and quilt 3 blocks from my other project-Helen Godden's Midnight Madness.  She challenges us with each new project to improve our skills.  This project will refine our ability to blend paints and also to free motion quilt on a small quilt-almost micro quilting.  Each image will be 9 inches in diameter or, our choice, enlarged to a bigger size.  I am doing a practice square for the micro quilting.  Here is my beginning and I will show you later the micro quilting-just a trial to see if 9 inches is feasible for me.

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Our mayor has closed down city services and encouraged shops and businesses to close.  Many people in rural Missouri have adopted the original message that the corona virus is a hoax to bring the economy down so there is not a lot of cooperation.  The people who don't believe in science and expert opinion are the ones who are putting themselves at the most risk.

Here is an interesting factoid about the corona virus which also appeals to my love of the english language:

"Coronaviruses are a family of so-called “enveloped viruses”. This means they are coated in an oily coat, known as a lipid bilayer, studded with proteins that stick out like spikes of a crown, helping to give them their name – corona is Latin for crown."

I believe that the quote above was from the NYT.  Also, the reason that hand washing is so beneficial is because soap breaks down this fatty, oily layer.  

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Here is my daughter Mary who lives in northern India in her Hannibal Lector mask:

And here she is without.  She doesn't have any makeup on.  She just has always had beautiful skin and a lovely natural complexion.

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YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

A moment of reflection, humor, or beauty in these trying times 

A new, improved, more useful clock for our times

Of course, since my husband and I retired, we have had to resort to checking the days on our weekly pill containers which works fine if we are both on the same day!

Happy Creating!

I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, 
Midweek Makers, Whoop Whoop, Finish or Not!, and Off the Wall Friday.

LIFE IN THE TIME OF CORONA-

DAY 7

Theses block are January with all the snow .  This is a hawthorne tree.  We found one of these on our walks this winter as we hiked thru the snow.  

How is everyone doing?  Well I hope and not too troubled by stay at home or with children staying at home.  It would be difficult to home school kids  when they miss their friends and cannot get out to play much.

One of my favorite bloggers is the loveliest lady in Belgium-Nadine.  Like a lot of us, she has let the blogging habit lapse.  She sent me some of her thoughts which really stuck a cord with me:

and I cannot help thinking that maybe, just maybe, we all are given a chance to reflect on our way of living, of excessive, useless consumerism... and then also some important "what if"...
what if we turned to a simpler life ?
What if we privileged small, local producers ?
What if we came back to a "make do" state of mind ?
What if we stopped a moment and focused on contentment, gratitude, respect ? 

 As à quilter, it's no secret I have more than once been tempted with the latest fabrics, the latest patterns, the latest quilt books, etc... that are now neatly stashed and sleeping on my shelves. It's human... however, being now forced to stay home, and make-do with what I have, I realise that the less you have, the more creative you become. You start making your brains work harder, you let your imagination take the lead, and the result is sometimes magical !

Let's take the challenge we are now living as an opportunity to focus on essential values, and show our children, our young generations, that these are the secrets to a happier life...

You can find Nadine"s blog   :http://asewingnana.blogspot.com/

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Here are a couple of photos of another of my creations-My daughter Mary......

She reminds me of a ballet dancer when she does her yoga.  Isn't that a beautiful dress.  It was a gift from one of her ESL students and is a silk dress from China.

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One of my passions is the English language.  I love how English has so many roots-from Latin, German, French, Indian (shampoo, pajamas, khaki from when England ruled the waves).  I love to trace these roots and figure out words. I came across an interesting and timely word the other day-quarantine.  This word derives from Italian.  Quarantine comes from quaranta giorni which means 40 days and was the amount of days people had to be isolated during the plague when entering a new city.

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The wonderful small quilt shop in our town had to close its doors to customers tho they take online orders and deliver to curb orders.  The White Flower quilt shop has huge amounts of beautiful fabric.  They are also being very community conscious organizing a drive, on behalf of our local doctors and nurses,  for face masks and gowns.  The provide patterns and a collection spot.  Good on them!  Give them a look see.

https://www.whiteflowerquiltshop.com/

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YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

A moment of reflection, humor, or beauty in these trying times 

I believe the dancer is Ashley Shaw-she who can defy gravity.  I like this photo because it combines elements never put together.

Happy Creating!

I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, 
Midweek Makers, Whoop Whoop, Finish or Not!, and Off the Wall Friday.

LIFE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

DAY 4

The June block -Jacaranda tree with squirrels-is complete.  All applique, embroidery, and ribbon work completed. 

 

I have 3 blocks completed, 5 blocks mid-stage, and 4 blocks which are my problem children. All the mid-stage blocks have been appliqued and most have been embroidered.  My problem children have needs ranging from new background,  to fabric for trees is wrong, to fabric choices need improving.  I love this aspect of the work.

Here is the pattern for the quilt.  The pattern is about 20 years old.  Backgrounds on these blocks are"old-fashioned" batiks which be lovely color blends which are almost impossible to find now that manufacturers go for patterned batiks.

The 4 corners of each block is crazy quilting which I have never done but looks intriguing.  Here is another version of the quilt by Lori Hockett:

I like the overall coloring of this one better.  It appears more blended without the sharp edges formed by the crazy quilting in the original.  I am not there yet tho-plenty of time to sort that. 

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Corona impacted me yesterday for the first time.  Sheltering in place is no problem for my husband and I as we are natural introverts who do best entertaining ourselves.  For us, it would be torture to have to socialize all day so I can sympathize with those having trouble staying home.  We are flip sides of the same coin. 

The impact was a minor problem with my bank acct at Bank of America and wanted to resolve it.  Even tho we belong to a special group of acct holders and I am sure I received the best treatment possible, I had to go thru a long list of prompts for 5 minutes after which I was placed on hold for what I was told would be fifteen minutes.  After 20 minutes the line disconnected.  It is a minor problem and I will try again.  It causes me anxiety as it seems like a beginning of a breakdown in society wherein it will be hard to solve problems without major effort. Early days, tho.

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You will notice I changed the name of my journal.  I like this better.

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YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

A moment of reflection, humor, or beauty in these trying times 

SOME GOOD NEWS! YEAH CHOCOLATE!

Happy Creating!

I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, Esther's Wow, 
Midweek Makers, Whoop Whoop, Finish or Not!, and Off the Wall Friday.

    DAY 2 IN A "JOURNEY OF OUR ISOLATION"

This block is from my new project which is a calendar quilt by Piecemakers.  This pattern combines my need to applique plus my love of embroidery.  The embroidery is not quite finished-fox needs a face and I have to plant some flowers in the grass.  This is a cherry tree in full blossom.  Silk ribbon will make the blossoms and the second photo shows the beautiful variegated pink/rose ribbons.  Ribbon embroidery is a bit new to me so makes me a little apprehensive.  There are 12 of these blocks, of course, and one large center.

Here is a lovely thing...

My perle cotton threads.

I NEED HELP WITH THIS...ANYONE?

Comments are not coming thru to my email so I don't know if I have one unless I look at the blog.  I know I have been out of the loop for 9 months.  Have there been some changes?

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I go out to the mailbox armed with my can of lysol (put 'em up!).  I spray the mailbox, door knobs and the mail.  How about you? I have heard from lots of older quilters who follow the same precautions.

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Here is something that occurred to me while stitching.  We are asking the young people-mostly millennials-to stay home, don't socialize, no dating, no shopping-we are asking them to stop what comes most naturally to them.  Of course, not all are being socially responsible but many are.  

I hope the boomers who denigrate this group will remember that millennials did them a service and that boomers need to return the favor.

Boomers mostly seem to vote their 501ks and ignore the very real problems of the younger people to wit:

climate change

massive student debt

massive cost of college

lack of good jobs

automation

these are all I can think of now as I am a boomer not a millennial

I think we as a group have been selfish in the deferral of solutions to very real problems an act which seems to echo Marie Antoinette's  "Let them eat cake".

END LECTURE

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN
A moment of reflection, humor, or beauty in these trying times 

These photos are by Ed Mis of houses in February showing icy lake effect weather.  I was reminded of scenes from Dr Zhivago and the ice houses in the tundra.

Happy Creating!

I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, Esther's Wow, 
Midweek Makers, Whoop Whoop, Finish or Not!, and Off the Wall Friday.

DAY 1 IN A "JOURNEY OF OUR ISOLATION"

Blogging appears to be a dying art. Now seems like a good time to revive it as a way of reaching out to others during a period of self-isolation when people crave interaction with others. I am adopting my title from Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year.  So I will tell you what is occurring in my little corner of self-isolation and in the small world around me.

Few here seems to be taking the BIG C seriously. People old and disabled and young and vigorous drift in and out of Walmart. Schools have finally closed today in my rural town but there are groups of kids wandering around and playing with each other. Finding child care must be very difficult at this time if both parents don't have the luxury of staying away from the workplace.  Andrew Yang makes a lot of sense right now.  Missouri has recorded its first death.  In total MO has tested OMG only 266 people.

But enough of this doom and gloom.....I wish I had a better photo of "Curiouser and Curiouser", an Alice in Wonderland themed quilt. I sold this quilt to an "Alice" aficionado. I love it when my creations go on to live their on life independent of me.  Here are some other photos:

https://helengodden.com

This quilt is Helen Godden's design.  She has a block of the month each year with wonderful images to paint and quilt.  The above is my second foray into this process.  Most of the work is from Helen with some touches of my own in some of the design, painting, and quilting.

Visit her page if you are looking for something to do.  I would recommend to begin with Feathered Friends quilt.  Each year becomes a bit more difficult tho Helen takes you thru the whole process with 2-3 long videos explaining everything.  She holds your hand.  It looks hard but is actually easy.

I finished this quilt Dec 2019.  So what have you and I been working since then?  Well, I guess we will have to check back in with each other. Personally I will be doing shorter blogs but talking with you more often.

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN
A moment of reflection, humor, or beauty in these trying times 

What is with this toilet paper hoarding?  Can't figure that one out.  Or the grocery store fisticuffs over bottled water.

Happy Creating!

I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, Esther's Wow, 
Midweek Makers, Whoop Whoop, Finish or Not!, and Off the Wall Friday.