Friday, April 3, 2020

Riding the Roller Coaster of Life

Well, I certainly didn't expect to fall off that cliff. After a very productive couple of days building a new baby quilt for the Little Lambs Foundation work came to an abrupt halt. Granted, it was a natural stopping point. All that remains is some kind of outer border treatment. However, my attention has been turned elsewhere. In spite of the fact that I spend most of my days sheltering in place due to my chemical sensitivities the ripple effect of the coronavirus pandemic has somehow taken a toll on my creativity and productivity. Maybe because every member of our household falls into the high risk category for Covid-19 for one reason or another. Just getting weekly groceries has become a more hazardous mission than in the past. That makes non-essential items not worth the effort to procure if they can't be had via an online vendor. As it turns out, not all of them are - at least not at a price I'm willing to pay. So my retail therapy options are more limited than ever before. That's enough to depress anyone I guess.

Son and I did venture out to purchase a half-barrel in which to plant the Roald Dahl rose bush I ordered before the virus took over the world. Fortunately, hardware and garden centers are still open for business. They have been deemed essential, no doubt for the health and well being of the general public! And we actually had cleaner air around our home that day so we were able to clean the deck and get the rose settled into place.


I want to get some annuals to plant around the baby rose to give the barrel some color while it gets established. I'm thinking we may need to uproot the rose, put more soil in the barrel, and then replant it. I didn't realize it was sitting so low in the pot until after we had a rain shower overnight.

One of our smaller pots has some volunteer violets in amongst the weeds.


I have a hard time getting outdoors to do any weeding or other gardening due to the noxious fumes that emanate from neighboring homes. It cheers me up no end to see a bit of color through my windows. Around the side of our house the rosemary is in bloom too. There aren't any windows over there though. 😞

At about the time that work stopped on the baby quilt (which I will eventually share with you in another post) my friend C~ brought over a needlepoint kit she thought I would enjoy stitching up for her. She'd found it at a thrift shop, obviously a souvenir from someone's cruise.


Her husband refers to their only granddaughter as "Princess." She asked me if I could just stitch that word and cover up the word 'Cruises.' Yes, I could. But that would have left 'Princess' shoved all the way to the top of the cosmetic case and left a lot of empty space between the word and the rest of the design. So to begin with I shifted 'Princess' down a bit. I also did my best to shift those little white flowers up a bit.


This project was just what I needed. It gave me the opportunity to do some rhythmic, mindless basketweave stitching for the background. Now I'm tackling the smaller, more detailed areas. I'm finding myself drawn to other embroidery projects too. Something about working on small, hand-held projects has more appeal than trying to work out a quilt plan on the design wall or even cutting patches. I'd even be pleased to sew down a binding on any - or all - of the quilts that are ready for that last step. I just need to get the bindings onto the quilts. If only I could muster up the energy that requires...

4 comments:

  1. I am going to find some wool ,and knit something???? Inspiration and motivation are on order, along with milk, flour, baked beans, bread and all else that is in short supply. I am usually so happy to be home, but the enforced total lockdown we have has had a funny effect, even the scheduled visit to the DR for our flu vaccinations takes on a whole new meaning, we can legally drive there, as he lives in the next town, about 42 km. Lovely to have some hand stitching, what a wonderful replacement of the word and flowers, this is a delight. Take care, I haven't been out since the 17th March, seems like forever. XXX from NZ, as we march into Autumn, cool mornings, a fleece blanket on top of the lighter duvet, and fleece pants and jacket for that 10 Celsius morning start.

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  2. We are trying to keep our shopping to once every ten days or so as it's the only place we could pick up infection during the lockdown - our permitted hour of outside exercise is spent walking the dogs mostly on our own land. The occasional parcel has arrived - my husband's brewing supplies for instance!- but they are carefully opened and hands are thoroughly washed, etc. etc. At least we'll have beer - not my usual tipple but I suppose I could adapt 😉

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  3. It's strange how the confinement of life and circumstances are affecting everyone differently. I'm finding myself super-productive right now, but I agree that somehow smaller projects are more appealing. I'd really like to get on and finish the Anemone quilt but somehow taking it down off the design wall is too much trouble. I hope you continue to have favourable conditions for your outside activities – and what colour is that rose going to be?

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  4. Hand work is definitely more appealing to me at the moment! I finished my quilt top and have my two BOM projects cut, but not a huge desire to sit at the machine right now. Of course, if Grandma Necchi returns home, ai vet ai am extremely motivated!! Take care Sue, sending hugs! OO

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