Quarantine Chronicles - Corona Style - An Introduction

Welcome to the new Quarantine Chronicles series here on my blog!!  It's my response to our current global health crisis.  Rest assured, the series is one that I really wish didn't exist!  Knowing that I couldn't cope with a daily post...

Corona-cation.  Week One.

I mentioned in Week 12's RSC post that I had come home for the duration.  I expect to use my time wisely.  Sewing (and writing up blog posts) throughout this ordeal.

That was Thursday, March 19th.

On Day ONE...

Read the news, first thing.  The pandemic has made it to small town America.  My county has its first 4 reported cases of corona virus.  :o((

Removed client quilt from the longarm.

Trimmed up next set of blocks for my niece's wedding quilt:

Moved forward with this week's Project QUILTING challenge

Prepared to load my B9P:

It was a very good day!!

Until...

I realized that I was missing the corners:

They weren't anywhere to be found.  The bag they were in was switched for another project and I haven't found the pieces yet.  :o((

Even so...

At the end of the day, I felt SEW good about my accomplishments for the day.  Yay!!

I guess I'll just have to choose another UFO to load on the frame.

These were the events of the day, as reported to my friend Libby @ Hillside Quilter (on the morning after.)

Day TWO, Friday, March 20th...

I made a list (to share with my friend Kathy @ Kathy's Quilting Blog.)  Apparently, list making doesn't work for me.  It became me vs. the list (and the list laughed at me!!)

Here it is, anyway:

Turn the studio upside down looking for missing corners of my Blooming 9 Patch quilt.  (No luck!)

Choose and post some Quilty Orphan Adoption projects/fabric/tools.  (Didn't happen.)

Make additional progress on niece's wedding quilt.  (Nope!)

Deliver client quilt that came off the rails yesterday.  CHECK!!

???  (This is where I spent the bulk of my day.  I wrote up a special blog post of early next week.)

Yep!  Lists DEFINITELY don't work for me.  I think I just trundle along and do the most I can with the time I've been given.

Day THREE, Saturday, March 21...

Start a blog post to mark the time.  (You are HERE!)

Open-air meeting for quilt drop-off for longarming.  CHECK!

** During that meeting, Deborah delivered my Christmas gift:

It's perfect!!  I've been wanting one of these Portable Design Boards for ages, but in typical Joyful Quilter fashion, I never got around to making one.  This one measures 10" x 15" and is going to come in SEW handy.  Thank you, Deborah!!

Decide on binding for a TEAL mug rug:

Apparently, my friend Tiffany and Julierose @ julierosequilts are in cahoots. The squirrels are threatening to overtake the studio!

The fabric for Shakespeare in the Park and the tutorial for Magic Stars merge into a single project idea and poor Kevin, along with (Goodnight) Darlene, gets kicked to the curb.  (I had decided to use that fabric for Kevin's upcoming  - now potentially canceled - class at my local quilt guild.)

Enjoyed a video chat with Needleb in preparation for our next Virtual Quilt Bee meeting.

Day FOUR, Sunday, March 22nd...


Bind scrappy TEAL mug rug.

Finishing up PQ 11.6 post and link-up with the Persimon Dreams.

Visit all of the PQ participants.  That will take quite a while, so no other goals will be posted for today.

Spent several happy hours (multitasking by) sorting through this tall kitchen bag of fabric scraps from Ruth S.:

Thank you for sharing, Ruth!!  That bag was filled with a mountain of usable scraps.  I'm already planning my first project!

Day FIVE, Monday, March 23rd...

Squirrel attack!!  The fabric stack is being transformed into blocks:

I'm sure I did more than that, but I guess you'll just have to check this weekend's ScrapHappy Saturday post to see what else happened (other than the obligatory checking emails, texts, and my newsfeed every few minutes.  Ugh!)

Day SIX, Tuesday, March 24th...

Today's COVID-19 report is that there are 11 cases in our county.  That's up from our original 4 cases last Thursday.

I've gotten smart about this new project and decided to develop a better system!  Today, I cut multiple pairs of blocks at one sitting:

Check out the tutorial in THIS post, released on the blog today.

Day SEVEN, Wednesday, March 25th...

This morning, there was progress on my H2H quilt, as this stack...

... Was pressed and the next sections were added:

... Cut...

Sewn and the resulting blocks were squared up:

After my lunch break, I prepared the back of my next quilt for the longarm.  There was only one-quarter yard left on the bolt once my pieces were cut for the backing.  With this fabric, I'm actually excited to be using it all up.  That bolt has been in my stash for more than 15 years!!

During my mid-afternoon snack/tea break, I heard North Carolina's latest stats.  Our state reported its first corona virus deaths and the current case count is 504.  That's up from 106 cases on Tuesday.  It's the 2nd day in a row that the number of cases has jumped by 100 or more.  Several cities and towns around us are beginning to issue "shelter-in-place" orders.  This is really beginning to feel like some sort of science fiction movie.  Although, now it's real life!!

SEW...

There you have it.  Contrary to popular belief, I survived a week with limited outside interaction.  I know some of my readers expect me to be climbing the walls (knowing how often I go and do.)  Honestly, I'm finding self-isolation to be a refreshing change of pace.  Not having to be on alert for the alarm clock's buzz is a definite bonus!

With nowhere to be, I've been spending a LOT more time in the studio.  I'm thankful for the productivity those extra hours have allowed.  I haven't done ALL of the projects that I was hoping to knock out, but I'm well on my way.

Until next time...
That's it for Week ONE!!