LIFE IN OUR TIME

Who is counting the days until the end of this?  There will be no going back to "the good old days"

We are still doing well though I still worry about my daughter in India.  I stay busy.  I have been working on my tree calendar quilt but took some time out to work on a FREE Helen Godden project.

Helen's nine patch pattern was designed primarily as free motion quilting lessons.  She quilted hers on some pretty batiks and encouraged us to paint the designs or applique them or whatever.  I painted mine with prismacolor pencils with a fixative.  Here is the link to find that pattern AND all her wonderful videos demonstrating techniques.

https://helengodden.com/product/flower-power-quilt-a-long/

I needed a break from the labor intensive tree quilt. I came back refreshed and solved the questions of my 3 problem children (Aug, Feb, and Nov).  I show you August now as it was the most troublesome of all and I like how it resolved.  The goal was to find background which evoked a still, hot, dusty summer day-I did not achieve that and the finished sky is more turbulent than i wanted.

The little figures in the forefront are mice.  The silk embroidered leaves will all hang downwards which will give the tree a languid air.  Here are the ribbons I choose to be the leaves-they have an end of summer look with washed out greens and some copper.

There is lots of embroidery on these blocks with silk ribbon, 6 strand embroidery thread, and perle cottons. 

I have almost finished april which is a cherry blossom tree.

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And now

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

This looks like a fractal

Stay well and wear your mask!

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 17
 This is the September block with fall trees and shrubs.  The critter is a  moose if it seems indeterminate.  Some block don't have much ribbon embroidery and this is one of them.  There are ribbon leaves on the autumn trees and on the shrubs.  

Here is a before photo to show how the ribbon embroidery enhances the design.

The sky fabric is from Jennifer Sampou's line of sky fabrics.  These are gorgeous and I have used several.

We continue to be well.  The Missouri governor put the state in a shelter-in-place situation.  In our small town Walmart seems to be the local gathering place.  We see old people with oxygen tanks, pregnant women, children, young people-a general cross section of the population.  We don't, of course, go into our local Walmart. 

I am kind of proud of Walmart tho as they have instituted new rules.  Only 20% occupancy can be in the store at one time-then, when full, it becomes only one in as one leaves.  Apparently the aisles have been marked like one way streets with clerks enforcing this. Grocery store workers are some of our most valued people these days.  These steps Walmart has taken of limiting customers and defining traffic patterns will help ensure the health of employees as well as shoppers.

The electricity went out the other day.  Kitty and I were surfing the web with our feet up in the recliner when-nothing.  We sat there for about 15 minutes contemplating the fragility of our world.  I thought about internet and electricity repair people and our resulting lives if they are sick and unable to work.  What about the postoffice?  The police to keep order (is that why gun sales are up?). We already know how stressed our hospitals are and the danger to health care professionals.  Just some thoughts as I stared at my blank screen.

My daughter, Mary, as most of you know, lives in India.  She sent me this photo of the Indian idea of social distancing.

The squares were made by government officials to mark where people should stand for social distancing.  Instead, they are using the boxes to mark their places in line and sitting together in the shade.

  

Shake it off!!! and now:

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

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

Photo from the National Geographic

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 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.