Stunned silence?
March 31, 2020I was sort of expecting some response to the first step, but everyone has gone quiet. I didn’t think it was that bad 
I hope you are all actually hard at work on the next part of your quilt. I am still playing catch up. These are the fabrics I have chosen to work with.
I don’t often use range bundles, but I have had this one a long time and it makes things easy. It’s a moda bundle so I am a bit wary of using it for anything important. This seems like a great chance to get it out and get it used. It also saved me putting too much time into this. I do have show quilts I actually need to work on so I must make this a fairly quick sideline.
For my first block I am using just these 5, they aren’t a perfect gradation but I hope they will be goood enough. Either way I will get to test the pattern and play along with this project so it is a win win even if the block doesn’t really sparkle.
Yesterday I didn’t get as much sewing time as I hoped (see below) but I did mange to start my block. This morning I realised that what I really needed was a design wall. Partly so I can see what I am doing and partly to keep the parts away from the cats. The problem is I am working in the sitting room rather than my sewing room. It keeps me further from Tet who is working from home and needs to have a lot of meetings and allows me to see when we have had deliveries. People don’t often ring the doorbell and I don’t want to leave stuff outside longer than needed. So no space for a permanent design wall. For my tip of the day, improvised design wall,
A fleece blanket chucked over a door. A towel would work just as well. Something easy to pin into and that I didn’t mind pin holes in. If you are just using fabric (not paper foundations like mine) a piece of wadding might mean no pins. I had that blanket to hand so for me this was the simplest option. If we are all doing more sewing while stuck at home this may be very handy, and easy enough to roll up if you have to look presentable, though with no visitors is it really a big deal?
So why was yesterday not all day sewing? Well food. I never realised how much our normal lives let us ignore food. If we think about it a couple of hours on one day we were sorted for a week. Now I have to put in a lot more time. Both to find food sources, then to store what I can get and work out what order we must eat it. Yesterday was especially manic. It is looking like I won’t be able to rely on supermarkets anymore so I have found companies that will deliver meat fish and vegetables. They are obviously very busy too so deliveries are largely when they can fit me in. Which means my prenultimate supermarket delivery and a months meat arrived the same day. I am not prepared to have anything go to waste so meals are planned and the rest had to be frozen. This meant yesterdays lunch was anything that failed freezer tetris. Those last few items in the bottom of packs and bags. Last nights dinner gained a great dessert too. Even this still left me with a chicken. They are really awkward to fit in a freezer efficiently so instead I jointed it and fitted the parts in. The carcasse became animal food. Boiled up and stripped then boiled more with rice. The animals think I am a hero and we only had some very clean bones to throw away. A result but also a lot of time used. The real kicker here is I am sure I am doing a lot better than many. I am computer literate and can try chasing supplies. I can handle the increased costs (for now at least) I am one of the lucky ones. This must be a massive time and energy drain for a lot of folks. I know we need to keep busy and not get bored but this is not the way people want to do it. I wish I could offer a solution. The best I can say is try and hold on things should improve as the companies change how they trade and get increased capacity to deliver and provide click and collect. I hope community helpers will be able to keep everyone at least basically suppled.
On a more positive note, our little exercise group is managing to keep up the daily exercise. It does really help having others to do it with even when you are in different locations. The feeling of responsibility for the health of others will get me up and moving on the days I really don’t feel like it, and yes with careful choices the exercise seems to help my joints. I will admit I have made a few bad choices but the NHS have a lot of exercise instructions both written and video that are great for me. Yay NHS.