All Good Things

Yes, I have been gone a while but mostly because with the Covid lockdown, there has been little to nothing to write about. And it continues...So what did I do while staying home? I sat in the garden and enjoyed the most perfect Spring. We had regular rain, which made everything grow and bloom and look great, so staying home and enjoying it was no problem. I learned to slow down a bit, and got in the habit of taking a nap every afternoon, which is quite a luxury. I read novels (murder...) and did a little sewing, furniture rearranging and met with my Tuesday quilters. I let my housekeeper go and learned that I can keep my house clean by myself, if I have a schedule, which means a day for doing all that she did, as I learned it from her.

So how boring that would be to write about. 

But around me, lots of interesting/disastrous  things were happening, and I got addicted to reading CNN every morning until I had wasted half my day. The news was so bad, like a train crash, but I couldn't tear my eyes away and hungered for more details. No wonder I needed a nap.  Not good. So I quit. Finally. I had a little withdrawal, but really I am over it.

 And it dawned on me that instead of reading about awful news, I would return to the blog and write about good stuff, of which there really is plenty, if one focuses on it. For example, about the same time as I stopped writing the blog, my sister met a man from our church and they started texting and then met for walking and talking, and pretty soon dating, got engaged and found a house. It's only been since April 3 that this began and yesterday they eloped!!! I am sooooo happy for her and John and they will close on their new house Tuesday! Things moved fast but everyone agreed it was perfect timing. With no one able to congregate, eloping was a great solution. So later when we are able to be in a group, we'll have a party to celebrate, at the new huge wonderful house. In the meantime, they have two houses to sell and the market is wild for selling. A house across from her current home sold in 5 days.

 Here's a picture of my basil. Lots of different varieties, all yummy.

So did I miss not being part of the big (not) wedding, nope! And it made sense not to have a fuss, as she is 54, second wedding, and he is 63, and widowed last year. They are crazy in love and that makes everyone feel good. 

 On another note, totally unrelated, I moved my sewing room out of the sunroom, making it a tv watching room for Dave, and brought all the fabric and machines upstairs, since I was pretty much done with meeting with all the quilters. I sold one of the three machines and its table, and gave the majority of my quilting fabric to my two Tuesday quilters, who don't have a stash at all.  Sometimes an empty shelf is better than a full one.

 

The remaining fabric was claimed by my sister, so I have only garment fabric left. I have finally given up quilting, after 39 years. That's enough. I want to do something else. Don't argue with me. I mean it.

We are sleeping downstairs in what was the living room and had been the big quilting room (is your head spinning?) and after looking at the original listing photos for this house, I decided that I actually could have a dining room in the space where it was supposed to be.  

I made a tablecloth to match my red dotty plates and napkins too, which was a fun little sewing project. And finally I began to hang my quilts, paintings and collages around the house. It took a full day, up and down the ladder, but so worth it. Finally it looks like my house. 

 

And in the eating area of the kitchen I put my old dining table on bed risers to make it a prep table, instead of using the shiny black granite counter tops which show every fingerprint. They stay clean longer when I use the white formica table for all the messy stuff. Because it is a counter height, I felt the need for counter height stools and I ordered these online and whamo they were delivered and we love them. Even the legs are leather covered.

OK so we are just about caught up...except now I am in a kind of transition. Done with quilting but still interested in knitting and polymer clay and I may do some paint/paper/collage stuff in the coming months. Actually I am hoping for something to come along to engulf my imagination. I love the idea of getting all wrapped up in a new activity that carries me from idea to design to construction to completion. Haven't a clue to what that could be, so stay tuned.