Hit the Ball, Drag George

Do you know that golf joke?

It was my husband's favorite I think.

Four guys head out for a round of 18 holes one morning.  Late that afternoon, they finally return to the club house and the manager says, "Where have you been?  We were just getting ready to send someone out to look for you!" "Oh," says one of the guys, "George had a heart attack on the fourth tee and died.  So for the rest of the game, it's been hit the ball, drag George, hit the ball, drag George, hit the ball, drag George."

Anytime I tell that joke (and it's the only joke I can remember), it makes me giggle.

There have been a few days like that this week when that's how I felt.

Do the task because it has to be done!

And then other days, I've moved seamlessly from one thing to the next.
Almost my first thought when I woke up this morning was that I really miss being spontaneous!
I think a super moon during a Covid-19 epidemic isn't doing my state of mind any good!

It could also be the 45 masks my daughter and I are making for the NICU where my triplets grands were for the first couple months.
The mask making is emotionally draining for me.

So to counter this uncomfortable state of mind, I've challenged myself to keep a daily list of the things that happen that are NORMAL to help me stay grounded.
Robins singing at 4 a.m.; dandelion seed heads all over the lawn; putting out the trash; hearing trains pass; doing laundry; spring weeding of the flower beds.
Might this be a mindfulness practice?

 The list is all pretty mundane stuff but it's reassuring to realize what continues uninterrupted!

I have about half of the flower beds weeded for spring -- it's so full of hope and promise -- plants that I love poking through the dirt, coming into bud, full of flowers.  

I know the buds will become beautiful flowers and the flowers will attract butterflies and bees and the shrubs will be loaded with tasty fruit.

(Dwarf crested iris)

All of this regardless of what is happening on the news! 

I've also turned back to writing some Haiku (poems) to seal precious little memories in my mind.

Bumblebee queens fly

among apricot blossoms --

spring pollen gather.

(This flowering quince is gorgeous and full of queens gathering food for their new colonies.) 

The stitching goals for the week have gone largely untouched but when I accomplish a certain amount of the mask making tasks, I reward myself with some self-indulgent stitching.

The quilt I was suppose to layer is still not layered.

But the Halo blocks continue to be enjoyable to piece!  My goal is twenty blocks (four by five setting) before the border units.

So far there aren't many fabric repeats and lots of goodies have come off the shelves to cut a piece and more stacks of fabric have been tidied up!

The is the last "sashed 9-patch" block to be pieced for a wheel chair laprobe for the VA.

The blocks have been good "leader/ender" stitching and all the pieces came out of the 2 1/2" squares basket -- didn't need to cut anything, it was all there just waiting! 

Well, I did chop up squares to make the sashing pieces and cornerstones.

The green stripe at the top of this picture will be the sashing -- I shopped for it via text messages at my favorite shop, Mercantile on Main in Coshocton, Ohio!

Pretty good choice considering I couldn't touch the fabric?!?

It's good to have the kind of relationship with a salesperson who knows my preferences and likes!

Maybe I can set the blocks together in the next week?

This sweet little stitching sampler below is the brain child of Emma at Treehouse Textiles in Australia.  I wish I could visit her shop as her pictures on Instagram always look scrumptious!  Each week she is sharing prompts and some technique videos to add elements to the piece (you can find all of them in her Instagram feed).

The last couple weeks, she's encouraged embroidery details and I really don't embroider.

So I was pleased during a stash rummaging session to come across these two little rabbits to applique to my version.

They remind me of the two rabbits who are running laps around my lawn these days -- is it love?

This stack came off the shelves last evening -- it's time to make some birthday gifts for my youngest grandchildren.  They will be one on June 2nd.  I've had the pattern since I found out they were on the horizon.  The fabrics for the girls were easy to pick but I'm a bit stumped on fabric for the boy. 

Might need to do some text-shopping again! 

Not sure about the hats as they consistently remove stuff from their heads now!

Seeing them last weekend was the highlight of the week!

We stayed outside and I was surprised when my son handed one of them to me!

I've been so good about staying home and away from people -- what a great reward!

Left to right -- girl, son, me, girl, boy, daughter-in-law!

I've had a little outing this morning to the physical therapist who helps me manage my lower back issues (thank goodness she is allowed to work again) and a quick stop at the garden center for bean seeds (a few plants may have hitched a ride home with me).  So now I'm ready to hunker back down at my stitching -- I feel like layering a quilt!!

We are having nasty cold weather for our weekend here in NE Ohio but I hope your weekend will be warm and beautiful -- if it isn't, make your own beauty!!

Until next week,

Mary

So They say . . . .

. . . . if one does something for 21 days, it becomes a habit (usually to encourage folks to keep trying to exercise or study something) but really?!?  My daughter, Alison who is working from home tells me it's day 34 of our isolation marathon.  Today, it took some effort to get my engine firing on all cylinders -- whew, this can be such hard work!

When I finally left the house for a walk (alone), I was rewarded by finding this little clump of wildflowers -- azure bluets I believe -- and some spring bird song.

I swung past my local garden center and picked up some broccoli and lettuce seedlings for my planting trough and discovered the peas are sprouting when I opened the polycover to plant them!

Well, that's good!  

Then it was time to survey all my seed trays and see if anything else has sprouted?  

See those little green sprouts?  I've been waiting for that to happen for a month!!

What a lovely little sight.

I'm having to find ways to spark myself up every day -- probably that isn't as new as it feels but having to use different resources and strategies to maintain a positive mindset makes it feel new.

Last week, I listened to this PODCAST from Marie Green of Olive Knits -- check it out -- good advice!!

Then a friend shared the following "explanation" from Jennifer Yaeger LPC, a trauma specialist of what many of us are experiencing -

1. Parts of our brain have shut down in order for us to survive.

2. As a result, we are not able to fully process a lot of what is going on around us.

3. Feeling somewhat numb and out of touch with our emotions is normal, especially if you have lived through trauma before.

4. Some people are also more apt to feel hypervigilant or anxious while others become hypoactive or depressed.  Neither means anything other than indicating your predisposition to dealing with extreme stress.

5. In depth processing of trauma happens years later, when we feel emotionally safe to deal with it.

6. When in the midst of trauma, just getting by emotionally and functionally is okay.  Lowering expectations and being kind to yourself and others is vital.

So there you go!!  We are case studies in trauma.  Since this might last all spring or longer, I'm just going to keep sewing and going out into the backyard - pretend it's 1905 and get contented with what I have.

So in the spirit of being content with what I have, earlier this week I stumbled across a "sew-along" for Jen Kingwell's pattern, Halo.  Since that pattern has been on my "want to do" list for a while, I decided to give it a go.  My first stop (looking for my pattern) uncovered this book of Jen's with two UFO's lurking inside?!?

Yikes, will the UFO discover journey never end? 

These were two "supersized" Glitter blocks (inspired by an Aussie quilter in an overeager moment).  They are very pretty but . . . the challenge is eliminate -- finish or pitch?

Happily, I was inspired to set them together for a small mat (instead of making more)!

A cheery assortment of quilting threads,

an afternoon of simple walking foot matchstick quilting,

and a pre-folded binding experiment. 

resulted in a delightful little tray mat for my favorite tea tray!!

Now I just need a warm sunny afternoon on the front porch with a friend to enjoy using it! 

The black and red project is out on the sewing table to be my current "sew-off" project.  One block is completed and when the other three are ready, it will make a great large pillow cover!

UFO's no more!!

I did find the Halo pattern and have started cutting bits and pieces for it while putting away fabric piles from previous projects in my continuing effort to tidy up the studio!

If you'd like to get sucked into this sew-along, too -- click HERE for the details! 

It's only two blocks a week and you can make any size piece!

Easy, right?!?

 I finished the charity quilt over the weekend and then it took a couple days to get this twin size quilt layered and ready for the next phase of my #aprilquiltingmarathon.

It's my Kinship Sampler from #100day100blocks2019

(It's going to run again starting July 1, 2020 -- check it out HERE!)

Willie kept up his end of a very intellectual conversation about all this weirdness while I pin basted on Tuesday.

The quilting began yesterday morning.  By working in several short (20 to 30 minute) sessions, I had  three rows done by the end of the day.  I'm learning that stopping when I start to feel tired/get sloppy is definitely the best strategy!

I'm using a modified Baptist fan, primarily because there is less retracing the quilting to get to a new start point and my retracing ability is not great.  (HERE'S a link to a post I wrote about how to machine quilt Baptist fan -- same concept, just simpler changes of direction).

  I expect it will take the rest of this week and next week to finish the quilting.

The highlight of the past week was visiting with the triplets!  We spent an hour out on the patio with them Easter afternoon.  

I made teething biscuits for their Easter goodies and everyone got right into them.

We hadn't been together for a month and there were so many little changes -- fun, fun, fun!!

Well, I just finished off the chocolate chips and ordered a skein of hand-dyed yarn "I can't live without" -- time to head to another part of the house, far away from the computer and the kitchen and do some sweeping or sewing or knitting or something!

Let's all promise to be gentle on ourselves.  

Call a friend, write a note, make a mask, smile at everyone!

Do what you can and don't fret about the rest of it.

Mary

Linking up this week with TGIFF Here!