Self-Isolation Activities

Sadly, the condition of the world, and the US in particular, isn't showing signs of release from this horrific pandemic. Our community of 112,000 people has 37 reported cases of COVID-19, mostly travel-related. Villagers love to cruise. I'm glad we don't.

Given that President Trump announced yesterday that Coronavirus self-isolating orders will remain until April 30, those of us who are quiltmakers, crafters, and makers may be some of the few people who come out of this with a modicum of sanity!

Dan has found a clever way to interact with two of our grandsons. Nine year-old Aesa likes to play chess, so Dan searched the Internet to learn the method for making chess moves using an alpha-numeric chess board layout. They FaceTimed to teach/learn how to do it, and once they worked it out, started text-messaging moves to each other.

Ten year-old Tay isn't much of a game-player, but he's interested in cooking. One evening, Dan spent 90 minutes on FaceTime, helping Tay make Pizza Skillet for his family. Of course, Tay had assistance to: turn on the gas burner; chop onions; and drain hot noodles. Tay's efforts received rave reviews from his family, and not one bit of the dish was leftover! Their next adventure is to bake Apple Spice Cake.

On Saturday, Dan put together a meatloaf and grilled it. Since the weather was gorgeous, he monitored the grill and I joined him later to sit under our Bismarck, admire the cloudless blue sky and wave at people passing in golf carts.

Sunday morning I worshipped with Lutheran Church of Hope. So good! Pastor Mike always captures our attention with a cheery introduction to his message. He explained it as "good medicine" (we all need a smile now and then) during these troubling times.

I'm in my she cave every morning for Bible reading and prayer with a coffee, and then quilting.

And quilting. That's all I'm doing as I've made progress on my Victor Vasarely-inspired challenge quilt.

After completing the quilt top, I realized that to use wool batting, I needed to splice the pieces I had in my stash. My technique is to overlap two batting pieces, cut a wavy line through them, and hand-sew the curved pieces together.

I used a ladder stitch. A herringbone stitch works too. 

I had to piece a backing.... (lots of scrounging for pieces that were large enough)

... before I could pin-baste.

And while I was at it, I pin-basted the 36" X 48" Beginner Modern Quilt I designed for teaching. The background fabric is Kona Splash, the 2019 Kona color of the year. 

These two quilts, along with my temperature quilt and Grandma's vintage quilt are why I have nothing else on my agenda but quilting! 

My intent is to complete my Victor Vasarely-inspired challenge quilt by April 6, the date our Central Florida MQGers are supposed to post Instagram pictures of their completed quilts. If you're on Instagram, check out our hashtag #modartchallenge.

For the VV quilt, I've been walking foot quilting straight lines with 28-weight Aurifil thread using the dark color, dusty blue; medium color, purple; and light color, yellow. All the convex curves are quilted using a ruler foot with the .75-inch echo guide, and orange (# 2235) 50-weight Aurifil. 

Bobbin threads are two colors of 50-weight Aurifl. 

I'm guessing my 50" X 62" quilt will be one of the largest ones, if not the largest. At least that's my justification for how long it seems to be taking to make it! 

About 85 percent of the hand-quilting is finished on my vintage quilt. Here's a picture of the back. I love the poofy texture that wool batting adds. 

Neither of the books I've listened to in the past week are on a current or best-seller book list.

I chose The Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff because of the title - "thread"... Sewing? Nope. The book is the true story of successful advertising executive Laura Schroff who, on a Manhattan street, meets 11 year-old panhandler Maurice. Compelled by an unknown reason, "Miss Laura" befriends Maurice and makes a difference in his life. The story is about Maurice's uncertain circumstances, living conditions, and experiences he shares with Laura during the more than 30 years of their friendship.

Linda's score: 3.7/5.0

Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky is a faith-infused book about the lives of Madison, a young woman going blind due to genetic Stargardt disease, and her friend Paul. They each begin to realize they're falling in love just as Madison's eyesight begins to fail, complicating their relationship. Neither wants to "pity" the other into a serious relationship. I thought this story moved along v-e-r-y slowly, as the author used it to repeat and often reiterate the question, "Why did God allow this to happen?"

Linda's score: 3.4/5.0

I am fully aware that Coronavirus is no laughing matter, but let me leave you with something smile-worthy. This is a legit Instagram post. Don't you feel for all those parents who are trying to homeschool, many for the first time? 

Hang in there, my friends. Wash your hands. Disinfect doorknobs. Be safe. Linda