It’s funny that with all this extra ‘time’ (mentally, it does not feel extra, but it is), I can’t manage to write every day. I can’t get my focus on. I’m not the only one.
Today would have been the first official day of Spring Break (well, it still is, but it doesn’t feel like it, right?)…and the man and I had three National Parks lined up. Right now, we’d be 8 hours into a drive to Yosemite, so maybe almost arriving, ready to set up a tent and cook tonight. We were looking forward to the trip, as was everyone who planned a trip for any time between the middle of March and who-knows-when. We only do one big trip a year, always during Spring Break. It makes me glad that we made an effort in the last few months to go to Portland, Joshua Tree, and happening Escondido wine country, because those trips will have to last in our heads for a while. We will just reschedule for next year, although Spring Break will be earlier next year, assuming next year is anything like normal…and this is already happening today…in April…
So we’d be driving into a small bit of snow, setting up a tent in snow, cooking in snow. It could be pretty. We had this issue last year, where we thought we might have snow and it never actually snowed ON us. So it could have been fine. Or amazing. Or miserable. Last year was fucking cold in Bryce. That’s the fun part about camping, is making sure you have enough alcohol and warm clothes to survive all those possibilities. Either way, we’ll plan it again.
Life continues here. I am feeling more human each day, after last week’s whatever-the-fuck-it-was, although my digestive system is still not in fine working order. It is working though, so that’s better than last week. On Saturday, I actually had enough energy and brain power (mostly) to quilt…so I did! Although I had planned to use a totally different thread. I even bought (before the world shut down) thread that went with this background, who-the-fuck-knows-where-it-is-now though, because I was braindead and just kept using the thread I was outlining with.
Which is darker than I would normally use in this situation, but honestly, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to say that a lot from here on out I think.
It’s the right color in the really dark areas and a little dark in the really light areas and so it’s perfect.
IT’S PERFECT I SAID.
Really it’s just me arguing with my own brain, and that’s a losing proposition at the moment, as it spaces out and wanders off to do something else.
Speaking of, I should go plant some sunflower seeds right now. Before the rain starts. The boychild and I moved some compost and some dirt and started on the other composter, because the girlchild has filled one with all her happy veggies and it got overloaded. If she lived here full time, we’d need three to cycle through our compostables appropriately. But two is normally fine. We built a small hillock in the front yard. Down with flat front yards! Up with hillocks?
You see? Some people are counting the days of social distancing…this is Day 24 since school got out, but we weren’t very good about it the first week, so I’m not counting it. Last week, we went to the grocery store (three of them) and picked up food from two take-out places. And dumped stuff in the parentals’ dumpster without contact. That’s it. My car did start yesterday after going nowhere for a week, so that’s good. This week will be the same, I think. The man is still essential and goes to work three days a week for long and horrible shifts, which is why when he’s home, the cats love him…
But he sometimes looks like this…
Which is kinda how we all feel about this.
I didn’t finish writing about the quilting bit, did I. Well, I finished quilting yesterday…or maybe Saturday. I can’t remember. Days are fluid.
Naw, that was Sunday. I finished quilting. And then the man had cleaned the floors, so I trimmed it.
It’s not very big…about 43″ high by 53″ wide. As always, there is cat assistance to be had.
The next part was finding a binding. So I have lots of fabric…I just don’t usually buy more than 1/2 yard of anything, and usually binding needs more than that…so I was thinking this would be an issue. I did some math, though, and realized if I used a batik for the binding, because they are usually a little wider (44″ wide instead of 40″ wide or so), I should be able to get the binding for this piece out of a half yard. So all I needed was something that would work that hadn’t had anything cut out of it yet. Hmmm.
And I was lucky in that two of the fabrics that I actually used in the quilt, well, I had brainfarted (and really really liked them) and bought them twice in half yards, so I had a spare half yard of each, and one of them worked for the binding. It took almost the whole half yard…
But I got it bound. And there was enough of the backing, a lovely lime green with a fade mark in it and some hippos, for the two sleeves, which had to be pieced anyway…
I’m pretty sure this came from my SIL, but I’m not positive. No way I bought this gem. You can see the quilting pretty well on the back here.
And then I pinned it and started hand-stitching all the way around.
The girlchild and I stayed up late and binge-watched Unorthodox last night and I didn’t get all the way around, but more than halfway.
I also worked on these…one dot on Saturday night…
The one on the far left…with cat assistance…
We love our kitties.
And one last night…
The seed-pod-like one…again, I bought nothing new for these. I had all the wool and I’m using threads already in my stash. This is Sue Spargo…she’s posting one a day on Instagram and Facebook and doing wonderful videos explaining how to stitch these. The woman is a creative force.
The cats are bug watching.
Or birdhouse watching…
I drew a little Friday and Saturday…mostly unfocused. Hopefully I’ll get focused starting today.
I have an idea for a big piece and a little piece.
We planted this mallow bush and it might not make it, although it seems to have new growth and a new moth as well.
Sweet fuzzy thing. That is a moth, right. Fuck.
Sigh. This is the bathroom. It needs lots of work. Realistically, it needs to be torn down to the studs and redone. It is also a cat convention area in the morning. Hi guys.
How can I help? Better than Zoom meetings. Cat meetings.
Last bit. I’ve been doing hand applique since I was 22 or 23 years old. Back then, I bought a bunch of thread, so it’s all maybe 30 years old. Sheesh. But I finally got to nearly the end of a spool. I’m hoping I can finish the binding before it runs out.
It’s so old that Mettler decided to renumber everything, so to find a replacement spool, a $3.25 item that has lasted 30 years, I had to find an online conversion chart for the old vs the new numbers, and then find someone who carried it. Then I felt bad for not buying more stuff from them because who am I keeping employed with my $3.25 purchase? No one. Sigh. Money is scary right now. Which reminds me, I need to pay the property taxes. Because that hasn’t gone away.
OK, my plan for the day is to watch the rain fall from the sky, maybe plant those sunflower seeds in the hillock we just created, finish binding, and start the small and the large projects in my head. I think the small one might become something public-ish. I also should shower. And remember to eat and drink things. What else? I don’t know. Function. You too. Be well.
Kathy Nida 