This One's for You Noreen!

 "Why are you no longer writing on your blog?"

My friend's voice had a hint of whine in it, as though I had done her wrong.

 We were working on fixing a large hole in the middle of a quilt she had made several years ago for her grandson. The quilt was faded and worn, obviously well loved and much used by her grandson, and possibly even by his dog. Maybe the dog liked how it tasted - all fabric-y and smelling of his master? I didn't ask. The repair job was not a thing of beauty but it rendered the quilt once more usable.

"But I am writing on my blog," I replied, ruefully adding, "once in the blue moon."

And why? Because it seems pointless. Who needs to read yet another tale of mask wearing, social distancing, vaccine or no vaccine, zooming - that pathetic substitute for face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball connection with other human beings. And because, not going out and mingling with other people for so long, inspiration is at a low ebb. Maybe I don't want to be boring. Better to be silent.

But still, the carnival in my head carries on regardless.

"But I love reading your blog," she protested.

And I'm as susceptible to flattery as the next person. Butter me up and I'll follow you anywhere. 

So, in the style of beating a dead horse, here are some of the thoughts and things that are saving my sanity while the world as we knew it crumbles around us.

Quilting is like therapy. Granted, I cannot quilt from a prone position on a couch, but the results are as beneficial as if I could. It calms the mind, quiets the internal chatter, promotes a feeling of virtue (I'm getting stuff done, moving one more project to the finish line -yeah!)

I even took a project to the Northwest when I went to visit youngest son in March. And even though the airline would eject you without a mask, every seat was taken on the flight there, so social distancing? Impossible. And yet we all survived. The project was a quilt for my sister's newest grandson, born just before Christmas. The pattern is simple squares from whatever children's fabrics I had on hand, brought together with sashing and borders of a green I've had around for years. So, win win. A quilt for a new baby and a reduction in my fabric stash. Now all I want to know is when is sis coming to pick it up!

I have been stitching in the ditch to quilt it. Should finish that today, then onwards to the binding, then done!

The OC walked by as I was pinning the layers. He despairs of my scattershot methods - how many projects do I have at any given time, in various states of done-ness?

Who's this one for, he asked. I told him. So how is R's quilt coming along? Smirk. Not to worry. I'll be getting to it as soon as this one's on its way. He seemed unconvinced, as is R also. She's been promised a quilt for years. I think she thought I'd be mailing it from the far side. But no. I actually have most of the fabric - Kaffe Fassett, no less, the luminous colors of which draw juice from my teeth. Had I made her a quilt sooner she'd not have gotten one so perfectly suited to her Bohemian, riotously colorful personality. Fear not, you will see it when it's done.

There are other things of course. I have spent time already this year herding cats, babysitting ducklings, reading voraciously and continuing my efforts to master sourdough - along with the rest of the world, but, for today, this, I think, is enough.

So, no more whining Noreen!