Tag Archives: Quarantine

The New Normal April 20, 2020

I know how someone feels that has received a bonus or how a hunter feels when he or she gets the big prey. Look what I found this morning. 32 ounces. Yeah…the big one.

While I haven’t exactly done a lot of shopping recently, I have not seen any hand sanitizer in stores or online in over a month. I still have some, and I purchased alcohol and aloe vera gel to make my own, but all that stuff is still in the closet. I went this morning for the 8 am grocery pickup at Walmart, a stop by the laundry to wash a quilt, and a quick trip to Target to see if there were any Lysol wipes. I got nowhere on the wipes but I was so happy that I almost skipped out of the store with my Germ-X. I messaged everyone to share my good news. Crazy. I cannot imagine having ever gotten so excited about a bottle of Germ-X in the past but there ya go!

By shopping early, I’m home by 9 am and it was so pretty. I was so productive. Then..just like “poof” … it became windy and gray. I remained productive, sort of…

Last week I made a couple of denim valances for one of the bedrooms. I thought it would take a couple of hours. This is a bad picture but I want you to get the idea of just how simple this project was. It was not even lined. I just wanted something to somewhat “finish” the window since it has blinds.

Saying something like “it’ll be easy” is a bad omen when you are getting ready to make something–or at least for me it is. On the first valance, I failed to “finish” the left and right sides of the valance, so while everything else was fine, I had raw edges. It meant that I had to seam rip the valances to take them apart and correct my error. I was so annoyed. These were simple. So simple. Yet, I made them so difficult.

Tippy Jo stays right with me when I’m doing something which is so difficult. I have to watch cords, pins, etc. as she’ll eat or steal just about anything. Here’s her take on things.

I did finally get both of them finished. The second one was a breeze but good grief…how in the world did that first one become so difficult? At least I have plenty of time to do things. Lots of time. Lots and lots.

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The New Normal, April10, 2020.

People…I do not know the day of the week. If I do not look at my iPhone or ask Alexa, one day might as well be the next. It’s crazy. I’m just drifting. I saw a little thing somewhere that says..

#coronavirus has turned us all into dogs. We roam the house all day looking for food. We are told “no” if we get too close to strangers. And we get really excited about car rides.

I’ve been working on a quilt top, and I have several other quilt/sewing projects to start and finish; and since it is so easy to have numerous unfinished projects, I wanted to finish this before I took on anything else. Here’s my completed quilt top. It’s comprised for four-quarter blocks of reproduction vintage 30’s fabrics. Many of the fabrics are from a designer named Lori Holt and her Farmgirl Vintage series.

Tippy Jo helps me every step of the way. She thinks she knows a lot about everything, and she’s right, I somehow got my machine stuck in reverse. It’s fine now, but there was a moment….

I just make the quilt top. I don’t even try to quilt my quilts. Someone else can do these on the long arm quilter far better than me. I don’t hand piece them either. I have arthritis in my right hand that would make this difficult. However, I do enjoy putting the color combinations together. This is a scrap quilt so there really isn’t a pattern.

The backing of the fabric is a large print with the same colors. It has a nod to the 30’s as well, but instead of the tiny 30’s patterns, it’s a large pattern. I like the contrast from one side to the other. I am binding the quilt in red. Even though I use good fabrics, I washed and tested the red to ensure it does not run and fade onto the fabric.

This quilting and working with fabrics reminded me what a mess my sewing notions were in. I have several sewing notion storage containers, but this is my favorite. In this picture, it’s all tidied and ready to be closed. Isn’t this amazing?

And look how small it gets. This is important as, like many, my dining room is also my sewing room!

Have a wonderful day.

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