The days are starting to run together. Are we really two weeks into May already? It appears that we are. Today also marks a full 2 months of quarantine/social distancing for us. We drove home from Florida on Saturday, March 14 and have been home ever since. My last day in my office was March 5. And it looks like I still won’t be going back anytime soon. Texas may be reopening, but NASA is taking a very conservative approach (which I appreciate) and will like remain in 90% telework mode for at least another month.
Around here we have good days and bad days. Yesterday was not such a great day — each girl had a meltdown (over separate things) before it was even lunchtime, I felt tired and groggy all day, and Jose wasn’t feeling 100% thanks to allergies. But we made it through and today is already going much more smoothly. My usual Thursday morning meeting was cancelled so I’m taking a break and may work on my latest puzzle (this 500-piece space travel one). Emma had her weekly Zoom meeting and is now drawing, Charlotte is in the living room playing with Legos, and Jose is working. At this moment, everyone is calm and happy and occupied and it is nice.
I am continuing to make postcards for my 100 day project and it’s fun to see what I can come up with on any given day. (It’s also fun to see them show up on mailboxes around the country and world!) I’m pulling inspiration from anywhere I can find it — scraps and unfinished items in my stash, techniques I’ve been meaning to try, patterns and designs I’ve seen online. I made the one pictured above just yesterday using a walking foot quilting design from Jacquie Gehring’s latest book. Instant favorite!
I haven’t worked on an actual quilt in quite a while. Instead, I’ve made a lot of postcards (obviously) and single blocks — for social distancing projects, for the Mini Series Stitch-Along, for pattern testing, for a group bee that I just joined. Small things feel more manageable than bigger things right now. But one of my goals for the month involved a full quilt, so we’ll see if I can still make that happen.
Other miscellaneous happenings:
- Still running, with the second of my four “virtual” races this weekend. The plan gives you a choice between 5K and 10K and I plan to stick with 5K. No reason to push it right now. I’ve had some knee and hip pain but it seems to be improving a bit. I bought new shoes, which may help as well.
- We got a garage fridge — our largest quarantine purchase so far. We’d considered getting one before, but Jose’s new home brew experiment plus the increase in at-home cooking pushed us over the edge. I’ve never been a huge beer person, but Jose’s interest has led to me honing in on beers that I like as well. My latest discovery is Rocket Fuel from 8th Wonder, a local brewery. It’s a Vietnamese coffee porter and it’s yummy.
- The weather is warming up, but we are still getting outside for a bike ride or walk almost every day. Charlotte’s bike-riding skills have really improved in the last couple months as a result, which has been really nice to see.
- We dyed the ends of Emma’s hair…twice. The first time we used Cotton Candy Pink and it didn’t show up at ALL. (I don’t want to bleach her hair, so we are admittedly trying to get something to show up on brown hair.) But then we tried Fuschia Shock and that actually worked better than expected! She loves it, and I may just have to try it myself.
Emma wants to try making a quilt, so we are going to try that today. Fingers crossed!
Frédérique says
I love your postcard, and it’s great to make small projects sometimes
Sarah says
It is! Small is so satisfying. Thanks Frederique!