Day 18

It is the last day of March and I am sure you have all had plenty of time to get caught up on your aquas, teals and turquoises.  I am so excited to move on to a new color!  April is going to be light and bright blues.  Dark and navy blues will get a turn later.  For now, stick with the ones that aren't too dreary.  Blue is always such a big color that I usually break it down into two months.  

 Day 18 of semi isolation.  18 little houses added to my quilt.  It was day 2 of distance learning and we are all adjusting to a new routine.  I had Google Meets with my students today and it was awesome to hear their voices and see their faces.  Lots of time spent supporting teachers and they are all stretching so far past their comfort zones.  They have postponed the earliest possible return to school date to May 4th, so the new normal will have plenty of time to settle in by the end of that.  Kurt finally came off of his mandatory quarantine for work and the office went to "red" which means that nobody is supposed to go in unless there is no other way to get the work done.  His home office is in the family room and each of the kids are working in their own rooms.  I'll see if they all want to gather around the dinner table for some communal learning time, but it might be better if everyone has some personal space right now. 

Here is my home office/sewing space.  We found an extra monitor to hook my lap to up to which makes it much easier on my eyes.  I just scoot back the sewing machine during the day and then pull it back out front again when I am ready to sew.  I have an ironing board/cutting station in the closet.  It was all set up before I realized that there is not an outlet in the closet, so I have a little ironing mat that goes in the bathroom when I am ready to iron something.  

 After my office hours and Kurt's morning meetings, we took a break and glued the tile down in the hall bath.  I think we finished the cutting two days ago.  One step at a time!  If we get it grouted tomorrow we will be ready to install the toilet.  Getting closer. 

Scrap Happy Saturday - Last Hurrah of Aqua

Today is the last Saturday of Aqua.  If you are anything like me, you had plenty of time to get all caught up and then some. 

 In finishing up other projects, I did liberate a delicious stack of lovely hand dyes and batiks that I am excited to introduce into my snails trail quilt.  I think I will do some cutting today. 

Block number 15 has been added to the day by day house quilt.  Distance learning starts Monday.  That will be interesting.  I've spent a lot of time on training and tech support this week.  Hopefully everyone is ready for the shift.  It is actually useful to have a school age child at home, she gets to show me what everything looks like from a kids point of view which is super beneficial right now as we all start trying out new tools.  

Day 14

14 houses on the wall and so ends week 2 of the new normal.  I will sew this row together and get ready for the next.  

 They tried to close the beach today.  It did seem to be empty in the middle of the day.  Police beach buggies were cruising up and down.  I think they were kicking people off.  We didn't see anyone on the beach, and the couple of people we saw sneaking through the barricades seemed to bounce right back out. 

 I made sure to get my morning beach walk in before the closing time of 11.  Kurt wanted to do an evening beach walk as well after they opened up again at 4, so I definitely got all of my steps in today!

 There have been a bunch of cruise ships all lit up on the horizon at night.  I'm not sure what is up with that.  They used to hang out there before docking and leaving, but I have no idea what they are up to now. 
We are having a make your own pasta bar for dinner.  It seems more festive than just having spaghetti.  Maybe more board games time after that?  We got an expansion pack for Catan so the 5 of us can all play together.  Sydney won last night with a clay monopoly. Not that I'm bitter, but I had a clay strategy all worked out and lost horribly as a result.  Perhaps we will have a rousing game of apples to apples instead. Always a crowd favorite!
I need a little fun after being on e-mail all day helping everyone get ready for online learning on Monday.  I have learned so much!  I think we all have. 

Day 13

I spent the last two days at school helping to get teachers trained on tools to use for distance learning which starts next week.  Even the teachers who don't usually use technology have jumped right in with enthusiasm in figuring out how they can keep teaching while the kids are locked in at home.  It was great, but so exhausting!  We could only be in small groups sitting 6 feet apart and the custodians had to come in and sanitize everything between sessions.  I took this one last photo of my classroom just in case I don't see it again for a while.  

 I'm starting to think that Florida is going to be one of the last states to call any kind of wide spread lock down or shelter in place.  It does seem that they will be closing the beach for the weekend.  Maybe it was all those spring breakers who went home sick after last week?

 We ventured out to try to catch the rocket launch this afternoon, but it got scrubbed right before lift off. 

 And then I got caught up on my houses again.  Having to go in to work interfered with my quarantine plans of sewing and snacking.

Day 10

10 houses on the wall.   I made a wonky roof for a bit of variety.  I won't say that I am going stir crazy, it is far too soon for that.  

Yesterday we began to put up tile in the hall bathroom.  I was very sore and tired by the end of the day.  

 Today I needed a less strenuous project.  I had a stack of extra t-shirt parts from memory quilts.  I turned them into this tidy stack of cleaning rags. 

The sunrise was beautiful again today!  It is easier to maintain appropriate social distancing early in the morning.  There were a few random joggers and yoga people, but everyone stays spread out. 
Most of the rest of the day was spent figuring out how to use distance learning tools.  I thought I was signed up to teach Google Classroom which I love and use all the time.  Somehow I instead ended up teaching Google Hangouts/Google Meet which I had never used before today.  After several practice calls to teachers and administrators at school I feel marginally competent.  Because of the social distancing, we are allowed to meet with groups of no more than 5 teachers at a time for 2 hours followed by a half hour break for sanitation before the next group comes in.  We are supposed to sit very far apart and not touch anyone.  So that is what I will be doing for the next few days. 
It is going to feel really strange to leave the house and go into school after all the home isolation.  I'll have to wear real pants -- and shoes!  Not sure what we will do if a total lock down happens before tomorrow.  Florida does not seem to be headed in that direction,  though lots of businesses and companies are coming up with stronger rules.  Kurt is on a 14 day quarantine because a guy came into the office after being out of the country. Another couple of guys are on quarantine because they were in New York.  The kids are all busy with distance learning now so it feels a lot less like vacation than it did last week.    

The Gift of Time

This morning we took the dog for her usual morning stroll and enjoyed the sun coming up over the dunes.    Now that we are all settling into home isolation I am feeling grateful for the extra time to spend with my family and my hobbies.   Though I know how hard the disruption is on everyone, there is no choice but to take a deep breath and let it happen.   

 I helped Kurt on our guest bathroom remodel this morning.  I am hopeful that we will have everything we need before the stores shut down for good, but if not, we still have other bathrooms.  I'm not sure that home improvement stores count as essential services when we get to the next level of shutdown in Florida.

My new sewing space is all set up in the master bedroom and I just can't get enough of the view.  We just finished our redo of the closet a few weeks ago and there was plenty of space  in it for the things I think I might need for the next few weeks or months.  It forced me to do some much needed organization and I have collected together stacks orphans blocks and random collections to make useful.  Maybe quilt backs?  Pot holders?  Zipper bags?  Figuring it all out will be fun.  

 I made sure to bring the teal/aqua/turquoise scraps.  I enjoyed quite a bit of time yesterday in the afternoon stitching hexies and watching a wedding from our deck.  It was lovely.  I might work ahead on the the RSC colors we haven't gotten to yet.  Getting scraps organized and cut into usable sizes is always very relaxing for me.  I think I will focus on tiny block with little bits for a while because they take more time and take less space.  First though, I will visit Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday and Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun that Housework.  After all, I have been given the gift of time and there are no errands to be run.

Day 8

And so begins week 2 of social isolation.  I sewed the top row together!    Groups of 7 seems to make the most sense.  Each new week will start on a Saturday since that was the first day of our spring break.   I also painted the upstairs hall bathroom today and moved my sewing room into the master bedroom to make room for Anna who is home early from college.  If we had known that everyone would be back so soon, we would not have totally gutted the guest bathroom.  We timed it all to make sure everything would be done before summer vacation.  Now we are just hoping to be able to get all the supplies before everything closes down. If not, we will all be sharing the master bathroom.  Given that nobody has anywhere to go, taking turns should not be a problem.

 There was a sign on the railing to the beach entrance as we went for our morning walk of the dog. It didn't seem to have much effect.  Police came to block off the lot after the crowds had arrived for the day. Maybe tomorrow will be more sparse?    

And while I'm on a roll, here is the wedding that our next door neighbors hosted this evening. 

National Quilting Day

Happy National Quilting Day!  Before I can do any actual sewing, I need to spend a bit of time tidying up.

I put together this top

And this one too, so all the extra fabrics and such are scattered everywhere right now.  A day of sorting scraps actually sounds like fun.  I finished off the teal blocks for this month.  I might get scraps cut into the right sizes for future months though.  I hope you are all finding bright sides and enjoying a bit of extra sewing time.

Day 7

 House number 7 marks the end of one week of "isolation"  it doesn't really feel real at the moment.  Lots of things are still open and the beaches are full.  I know that California and Pennsylvania have started more severe lock downs, but even restaurants are still open here.  They are only allowed 50% capacity and can seat every other table, but the aren't closed yet.  We are starting to know more people showing symptoms though and going in for testing, so staying home still feels safer to me.
We got updates from College board about AP testing and reading and it sounds like the CDC is starting to think about this thing going on for quite a bit longer.  Summer reading is now online and the test will only cover a portion of the curriculum.

 I had a morning run this bright and early and saw lots of people out and about.  Also, lots of jelly fish.  They are closing all the beach parking lots as of today, but the ocean will still be available for anyone within walking distance.

I got the NYB blocks put together last night which left me looking for another project.  I'm feeling the effects of short attention span lately and will think about borders and backing and such at a later date.  

Next up in the UFO bins was this Row by Row quilt from 2015.  I collected together 5 blocks, but never could figure out a way to make them fit together.  Some are vertical, some are horizontal.  Some are batik, some are applique.  And so it sat, and sat.  I pulled it all out this morning and got these three blocks ironed on before deciding to take the two vertical blocks and put them together to make a table runner or wall hanging.  Reversible maybe.  I'll toss the rest into the scrap bin and move on with life.  Like I said, short attention span right now.
Honestly, other than ongoing RSC projects, the pickings are getting a bit slim.  I have an long term mini log cabin quilt, a Dear Jane which needs some work on borders and a Farmer's Wife which barely even got started.
I'll need to get my sewing space moved over to the master bedroom to make room for more incoming college students, while I am getting all that organized, I can figure out what is next.  

Day 6

6 blocks into my quilt.  It is going to be hand dyes and batiks for a while here as I work on the New York Beauty blocks.  

 The kids started a puzzle with me today.  Willingly!  Being stuck in the house together has a good side too.  I had a friend come back with positive test results today so I am feeling a little freaked out.  The numbers are all getting really big, but that isn't the same as having a face to tie to the count. 

I finished the last block for the New York Beauty quilt.  I'm thinking that a nice solid border and then some flying geese might work.  I feel like the left side fits together more than the right side.  Any words of advice on block arrangement?  I feel like the yellow needs to rotate to meet the teal in the bottom center.  Then maybe the light purple should move?  I"m working through this now as I look at the photo.  It is sideways on the design wall which makes it look very different.  

Day 5

Block 5 today and I used brown fabric because I was making a brown New York Beauty block. I guess I'll join these into rows of 7 for now? 

I added the block in the lower right hand corner and the teal one just above it.  I have the last two drafted, so that should be a nice project for tomorrow. 

I started the day with a nice jog on the beach and watched a rocket launch.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep using the beach because they are getting ready to close those too. I went in to school this morning to feed the fish and do a bit of cleaning and organization.  Teachers all report next Monday so hopefully we will know what the plan is by then.  State testing has been cancelled and we are not to return before April 15.  After that it is hard to say.  I'm guessing we won't be going back this school year.  It's all just a guess at this point though.  

Day 4

Home day number 4.  My house today is purple because I was working on a purple block.  

 After lunch walks is a nice part of Kurt working from home.  The weather was beautiful again and the beaches were packed, but we stayed well away from the crowds.  There was a big group of teenage girls making a tic-toc video on the steps, but everyone else was pretty segregated.

I made a quick quilt delivery this morning to a friend waiting for test results.   Don't worry, we kept plenty of distance.  I took this photo from across the street.  We had our first Covid-19 in the county today and the total is up to 173 for the state.  They closed down bars and night clubs, so I guess that is off the to do list.  Just kidding, that was never on my spring break list.  

After finishing off Tiny Tuesday yesterday I needed a new project.  New York Beauty is next on my list.  

 There were 7 blocks done, so I pulled out the freezer paper and drafted the purple one this morning.  My curved piecing was a little rusty, but I'm sure it will come back to me soon.  These blocks take a really long time which sounds just perfect right now. 
We are having sheet pan fajitas for dinner tonight and are planning to start watching the Mandalorian together after that. 

Day 3

Today's house today has a jaunty tropical feel, but the sky is dark.  It rained today which scared all the crowds away from the beach.  Sydney and I both had a doctor's appointment this morning.  She has a major head cold and I am almost recovered from a very minor flu.  Even a normal illness seems terrifying right now.    

I finished my Tiny Tuesday quilt today!  I tried and failed to prop it on the railing before drafting Ryan to come and hold it for me.  He went into work with Kurt briefly to get a job assignment to let him get an early start on his summer internship. The office is closed, but one or two people are going in at a time on an "as needed" basis.  Ryan seems happy to have a project to work on after he has taken care of his online learning each day.   This was Kurt's first day of working from home.  He had teleconferences in the family room while I hid in the sewing room.  When we manage to get Anna back I'll have to set up a space in the master bedroom.  Hopefully distance learning will have started by then and I'll have work to keep up with.  Still officially spring break right now though, so more time to sew.  

Then we played a rousing game of Catan after dinner.  Apparently Ryan plays it all the time at the comic book store, but this was our first time to try it as a family.  High marks from everyone involved.  It looked like Sydney was well ahead, but I snuck in at the end for the big win!  

Coronacation Day 2

 We took a walk on the beach this morning and tried to watch the launch which got scrubbed right before lift off.  The beach was packed!  I think everyone who came to Florida for spring break hoping for theme parks decided to come over to see the ocean instead.

There was a ton of sea glass!  We don't usually get a lot of that here, so it was a real treat to collect a big handful.  

 I finished the missing blocks for Tiny Tuesday.  It looks like I just need to sash out the last few and I can sew them all together.

 Here is my new house today.  It is ocean themed and sunny.

The blue arrow is where we live, the red is all around us, but nothing in our county quite yet.  Probably due to lack of testing, but we will look on the bright side.  I think Florida is up to 107 cases now.  Sydney has a head cold.  She has been asking Alexa (the smart speaker) to tell her about the symptoms for Corona.  Alexa was happy to tell her about k-9 corona virus.  Sydney is pretty sure she does not have k-9 corona virus.  It is probably the same head cold I had two weeks ago.  With all our hand washing and social distancing you would think we could have avoided sharing a cold.  

Slowly Sunday

 I'm going to have (at least) two weeks of quality quilting time.  That means that I need to do some planning and organization.  I would LOVE to set up the quilting frame and finish up A BUNCH of waiting tops.  With the two older kids home from college though, and DH working from home, there is absolutely no space for that.  We carefully bought a new house with just enough room to squeeze everyone in for holidays.  I guess you just can't plan for everything though. 

 So instead I did a survey of the bins in progress.  1 to 4 are RSC which are all caught up for this month.  Of the rest, Tiny Tuesday was nearest completion. 

So here is Tiny Tuesday up on the wall.  I need 4 more blocks and then I can sew it all together.  That sounds like a great plan for the afternoon.  If I dig around, I'm sure I can find some fun blocks to fill in the gaps.  

As for the evening, Sunday is pizza night and I have heard that Disney released the newest Star Wars movie early.  I think that we will all watch as a family while I work on hand quilting my Leap Year quilt.  

I'm linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday as well as Oh Scrap!    Just guessing that lots of us will be home quilting today.