Four weeks in..

 Max after his bath. 

 A few of the masks I have made. 

I bought a bolt of sew-in stabilizer many years ago for a specific quilt project that has not materialized, so am using it as a lining inside the masks, making them three layers. Using fabric to make bias tape for the ties. That is my oldest Hunter trying his on.

 I set up a sewing area at home. I usually do all of my sewing at my longarm studio, "The Hive". It overlooks the front yard. Getting some piecing done, just not the same as having all of my tools at hand. Kind of like a perpetual retreat, lol. 

 I purchased this kit over 5 years ago at Chattanooga Quilts. I didn't have a reference photo for it. The pattern is from a book of Christmas quilts and this fabric is spring/dandelions. So after I thought I had cut one of the fabrics incorrectly, I messaged the shop for a photo. They amazingly were able to locate a photo which is pretty impressive since it was sooo long ago and they weren't in the shop at the time. Great customer service, really recommend stopping by if you are ever near by! Link here: Chattanooga Quilts website or Chattanooga Quilts Facebook page. Four blocks done, five to go. It took me several redo's to get these right. 

Above left is my empty design wall at the Hive. The quilt on the right has been in the works for many years and occupying the design wall for months on end. It is Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone. I finally got the parts put together and added the outer border. I am thinking of doing another pieced border also. Stay tuned. This is one of my UFO projects for this year, making progress.

 I have been spending more time at home with my 17 yo, so not too much being accomplished at the studio. I did start quilting this sweet 42 in quilt for my great niece Aubrey Elizabeth. She is a month old already!

quilt back

This is Karen M.'s Splendid Sampler, about 76 in sq. It is absolutely wonderfully made and has so much going on. She opted for a simple curlicue pattern called Denali in white thread.

We haven't gotten take out this week at all I am proud to say. Here is a sampling of our food situation this week. 

Quinoa salad (from Daniel Plan Cookbook, that's the picture above my plate). Nice to have something a little lighter. We have been eating a lot of heavy comfort food. 

 I discovered baking my bacon several years ago. It is amazing. about 20 mins at 375 degrees and it comes out crispy and melt in your mouth yummy. Easter Sunday breakfast was waffles with peanut butter and bacon. Completely reminded me of my dad!

What's more comforting than good ol' meat and potatoes. This is a meat pie, basically a meatloaf w/o ketchup with your favorite mashed potatoes on top (mine are garlic and sour cream laced) and then melted cheese. For me a side of corn makes it perfect. 

Homemade pizza using Martha White crust. I like sausage and mushrooms on mine. 

Flamingo a Friend website

This weekend was my Huntsville bestie's 60th birthday. This is the girl wearing her 59 turning 60 shirt for the past six months, so not being able to celebrate was not really an option here. I made her favorite apple cake (and kept back a couple of slices since I couldn't eat it with her), had her yard flocked with Flamingos, and helped her hubby arrange a drive by birthday parade. See more on her FB page here: Pam Anders FB page. She was quite surprised and thrilled. 

Max chillin' at the Hive. He goes just about everywhere with me these days since we humans can't really go in anywhere there is no risk of having to leave him in the car. Luckily, he didn't go with us to run a quick errand, as it would not have ended well for him.

 This is old blue. We bought her new in 2008, she is a Honda Pilot and had over 185,000 miles logged. All three of my boys learned to drive in her. She met her demise after colliding with a Toyota 4Runner on Monday. My almost 18 yo son was driving, it was his first accident and he has never had a ticket. I am thankful nobody was injured and that little Maxoroni didn't go with us, also that I was with him. It was my first experience with air bags and it all happened so fast. I was looking the other way so did not see it coming and the next thing is an awful smell, smoke, and disorientation. Chandler's wrist is swollen today but he feels it is not broken and I do not have any desire to visit any sort of medical facility if it can be helped (Coronavirus and all). He is keeping it iced and wrapped for now. I am a little sore through my shoulders, feels like I did yard work (which clearly did not happen this week). It could have been much worse if the other car had hit ours any further back, I believe we were protected. 

 The yard of my rental house does not have much grass, a lot of ground cover type plants (aka weeds). These cute little berries are growing right now, along with clover and other unidentified plants. No wonder the birds love my yard! They are in the front and back. 

Update

Sunrise from our back porch

So much going on in our lives these days.  I love when I get up early and get to see a beautiful sunrise before the chaos of the day begins.  The colors were much more vibrant than that in the picture.  The ones I got that captured the color were fuzzy because I couldn't hold still long enough for the exposure.  

Izzie update:  Yes, her head is shaved AGAIN.  The bump on her head was getting squishy again which means infection, and the bump in the roof of her mouth that was filling in with who knows what kind of tissue and was actually extruding through the hold in her gums where there used to be two teeth.  So I took her to the vet to have the tissue removed from her mouth and since he sedated/anesthetized her for the mouth he did a sterile needle aspiration of the head necessitating a little shaving.  She has been on antibiotics for months and it turns out the expensive super duper ones were not covering the organism she was growing.  So now she is on the right one.  At least it is not some bacteria resistant to everything. She sure is a trooper and barely acts sick. 

Blue and neutral hst (step 3) and orange
paper pieced strip blocks (step 4)

Orca Bay quilt update:  You may recall I started a mystery quilt on my birthday.  It is my first and I am still excited about it.  The quilting was put on hold during the move and the holidays.  I have been back at it as time permits.  I have love, love, loved my new sewing desk(s). The orange strip blocks are nearly complete, only 14 more 5.5 inch blocks cut in half to do.  Then on to the next step, which is sewing another piece onto those little blue and neutral half square triangles (hst).  I have been following the pictures others post of their

completed, yes completed, orca bays.  They are gorgeous and I can't wait to see how my colors come out.  I haven't seen another one with my chosen combination.  I am hoping it will turn out as dramatic. Boy this one is not for the faint of heart when it comes to quilt piecing! Tons of tiny pieces. 

We just finished our first full week of homeschool.  It is going pretty well.  One of the biggest challenges is going to be getting the boys to write well and want to read.  We are going to be reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn over the next few weeks.  Wish me luck.  I love reading and hope to be able to instill the same in my kids without torturing them. 

Speaking of reading, I just finished reading Room by Emma Donoghue   http://www.roomthebook.com/  I normally choose to read mystery/suspense type novels (or the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich, hilarious!) I downloaded a sample of this when it was first released into my Kindle app on the IPad.  I never purchased the book though.  This week it was sitting on a table at the library and I grabbed it remembering that I had wanted to read it.  Let me tell you, it is one of those stories that sticks with you and affects you in some unexplainable way.  I don't know how else to put it.  If you are looking for a good one, give it a go, not if you are looking for a light read though. 

https://e-mealz.com/ One last thing. Mealtime Makeover at E-Mealz.com.  I love to use coupons to save money, not so much the actual cutting and organizing. I also like to have a plan on what to feed my family every night.  I am not good at winging it because I don't generally keep a "stocked" pantry.  I purchase what I need for the week.  I also like to do freezer cooking when I have the time.  All of these things are savers of money and time if you do it right. I heard an endorsement/ad on Dave Ramsey the financial guru for this plan and went to check it out.  I have to admit, I first looked at it a few months ago but didn't buy into it right away.  (I had to let my membership expire to the couponing web site that I rarely found the time to use).  In a nutshell, you pick your preferred grocery shopping store and type of meal plan (options include portion control, low fat, two people, six people, etc) and you get an entire seven days' worth of dinner menus with at least one vegetable or fruit dish, recipes, plus the shopping list for said menu.  This is all based on what your store has on sale that week.  If you are ambitious you can take time to go through your coupons for additional savings (they don't tell you what coupons are out there.  This is strictly based on the sales).  I have used it for two weeks and love it.  We are eating more of a variety and I don't have to think about what's for dinner.  I just look at the menu,  I already know I have all the ingredients.  It has been a huge stress reliever come meal time.