Journal: Quilts, Berninas, and Social Distancing

To church or not to church, that is the question!

‘Anointed handkerchiefs’, that is the answer.  To keep people safe from COVID-19, that is.  At least, according to a preacher in Louisiana, it is.  (He also claims his services cure cancer and HIV.)  

Some religious people choose a verse such as Acts 5:29, where, in answer to the authorities ordering the disciples not to preach in the name of Jesus, Peter and the other apostles responded, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” 

But those same religious people totally forget the verses in Romans 13:1&3:  “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God:  the powers that be are ordained of God.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.”

Solitary verses are not of ‘private interpretation’, as Peter said; we are expected to have enough sense to find the balance!

Our church school has now closed, maybe until summer, on account of COVID-19.  Church services will be only streamed, as there are not to be gatherings with more than ten people.

I’m glad the services can be streamed, but it certainly changes the dynamics for a pastor, to preach to near-empty pews instead of animated faces!

Hmmm... I’m looking out the back patio door and wondering... Do you think the birds got the notice that restaurants and eateries are closed?  I’ve seen nary a one at the feeding stations.

Oh.

Maybe it’s because the feeders are empty.

>>Time out while I go refill them.<<

Okay, I’m back.  Did you miss me?

A friend who lives on a farm in New York State, upon seeing pictures I posted of the starlings that have recently migrated back, told me how they destroy the apples in her orchard.  “So I have mixed feelings about them,” she said.

Understandable.  Around here, they get into farm animals’ feeding stations and sully them.  It can be quite a problem.  Blame Eugene Schieffelin:  In 1890, he released 60 starlings into New York City’s Central Park.  He did the same with another 40 birds in 1891.  Schieffelin wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare to North America.  He also sponsored the introduction of the English sparrow.  Just one of the problems with doing such a thing is that introduced birds almost invariably are more aggressive than native birds such as blue birds, and crowd them out of their natural habitats.

Tuesday, I got the following notice from AQS:  “We have reached an agreement to reschedule the 36^th Annual Paducah AQS QuiltWeek for September 2-5, 2020.”

But! – they are doubling many of their awards, and adding extra award categories, too.  I’ve got dollar signs instead of eyeballs now.  

On the other hand... if I didn’t get so much as an ‘Attagirl’ in Daytona Beach... 😏

That afternoon Hester told me that they all – she, Andrew, and Keira – have colds, so Andrew is working from home for the next two weeks.  They are getting better now, thankfully.

Larry is still working, hauling forms to various jobs.  That day, they did a basement in Fremont, and a garage by Cedar Bluffs. 

At 5:30 p.m., Norma texted to tell me that they were on their way home from Omaha, after staying in the Hope Lodge just one night.  Norma hadn’t gotten much sleep, because she was in quite a lot of pain.  But she was able to get her Codeine prescription that morning.

Wednesday morning, Keith and Korrine were suddenly jarred awake by a 5.7 magnitude earthquake.  The epicenter was about 35 miles to their south, in Magna, a suburb of Salt Lake City, where Keith used to live.

At the Salt Lake Temple, the Angel Moroni statue lost its trumpet.  (Actually, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that the ‘statute’ lost its trumpet.  🙄)  He now looks pretty much like he’s shaking his fist at the heavens.

The Salt Lake City International Airport was temporarily closed, and the Utah Coronavirus hotline was knocked out.

I’ve never felt an earthquake.  One was close enough that I should’ve; but I evidently didn’t recognize it for what it was, wrongly assuming it was just squirrels racketing about on the roof, or maybe Larry bouncing a skid loader off his flatbed trailer and onto the ground.

I didn’t even hear it on the news, didn’t read it on online news, until Keith texted me.  The only news on the radio all morning was about the coronavirus.

They are fine, and their house is okay, they think, though everything really rattled and shook, and there were many aftershocks.

Keith called a 65-year-old friend who lives in Magna, and he said their collection of 150 teapots all fell and shattered to bits.

That night, I finished the last row of hexagons on the Atlantic Beach Path quilt.  Three of the bottom borders were done, leaving two to complete, including the one with tucks.  More pictures here.

Thursday morning, Larry got up as usual before sunrise, collecting his clothes by the light of his cellphone flashlight so as not to wake me up (though he does wake me up, almost every morning).  He opened the bedroom door to go out, and a bright light shined in my closed eyes. 

I wondered, Why in the world did he shine his flashlight right in my eyes?? – at the same time he was wondering, Why did she grab her lantern (a cute little LED lantern Loren gave me, which I keep in the headboard) and shine it right in my eyes?

But we didn’t have to wonder for long, because there was an enormous clap of thunder that went on rolling and rumbling for a long time.  haha  First thunderstorm of the season.

It had been lightning, not a flashlight.

That evening, it began sleeting – but the pieces of sleet were big enough, one could’ve called it ‘hail’ instead of ‘sleet’.   Thunder was a continuous rolling rumble.

By 9:30 p.m., I got to the final border of the quilt, getting it partially done.  More photos here.  But I had to quit; I’d been quilting for 8 ½ hours, and my back was protesting.  Just a little bit more, just a little bit more, and this quilt will be done!

Here’s a shot showing how I pinned the tucks to one side and quilted between each of them, stitching atop the previous stitching line.

These are the QSDs (Quilting Studio Denizens), Tiger and Teensy, on the rag rug I made a couple of years ago, using a gazillion 2” x 3” rectangles of double-knit.

Half of the blue flowers on the last border of the quilt were outlined; I still needed to do the little yellow flowers, the leaves, and the piano-key quilting in the white outer area. 

Friday, I cleaned the kitchen, watered the houseplants, loaded clothes in the washing machine, scrubbed the bathtub, and then edited photos while waiting for the Schwan man.

I tried opening PaintShop Pro and got a popup box with a big red X saying, “Encountered an improper argument.”  Huh?

“Yeah, well, come over here and say that, and I’ll give you a proper argument!!!”  (I only talk to my computer silently, in my head, so as not to get shipped off to the funny farm.)

It was just as well the quilt wasn’t done yet, because, though it was bright and sunny, the back deck, my best photographic studio for big quilts, was all covered with snow and ice from the night’s winter storm.  The 45-mph wind had blown the snow right off the ground in some places, and made drifts in others.  I think we got 2 or 3 inches of snow.

That afternoon, I took a break from quilting to read my email, and ---- Aarrgghh!!! 

When I received the notice Tuesday that the Paducah show had been postponed until September 2-5, contest entrants were given the option of letting them keep our quilts until then if we liked.  They would be stored flat in a temperature/humidity-controlled environment.

I clicked the ‘Store until September’ option.

Then I said to Larry, not entirely in jest, “What if the town floods?” 

Paducah is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, after all.

So guess what it was I found on my computer Friday afternoon? 

(Did you guess?)

WeatherBug was informing me that Paducah had just been issued a flood warning!!! 😲

A quilting friend who lives near Paducah told me, “I haven’t heard a report on flooding in Paducah.  We have been here two years, and sometimes the Ohio has gotten really high.  But there is a flood wall downtown that protects that area.”

Then she added, “The AQS building is far, far from any water.  But if you want, I can break in and check on it for you.  I can’t get arrested because we are all practicing social distancing.”

haha  I have funny quilting friends.

So... I will presume the New York Beauty quilt is safe, and continue blithely on my way.

Late that night, I finished the quilting, then trimmed and removed the Atlantic Beach Path quilt from my frame.  More photos here.

Saturday, I started by putting things away:  everything for the Bernina 180 that I would no longer need, the scraps of batting and fabric cut from the quilt that were still big enough to use, quilting thread, rulers, marking pens, hem gauges, and other tools. 

So I was looking around for a good place to put needles, tools, thimbles, ready-made labels, etc., that were in the tool caddy from the 180, as I needed more room on my maple table for the 730 surround-table platform Johnny made for Sue, which fits around the 730.  I glanced at a few tins, then settled on the small round zippered hatbox-shaped case that Teddy and Amy gave me a couple of years ago. 

I zipped it open ----- and guess what I found inside??? 

The long-lost silk and invisible YLI thread a quilting friend sent me, that’s what.  It’s been lost for two years.  🙄  It is now in the drawer with other embroidery thread, which is where I looked for it time and again, thinking, It should be here.

The question is, will I remember that I’ve put needles, tools, thimbles, ready-made labels, etc., into this sewing case?

I do not have ALLzheimer’s; it’s only HALFzeimer’s.  I only forget half of the things I need to remember.

And then... and then...  I got my brand-spankin’-new-to-me Bernina Artista 730 (it says 200 on the machine, but it’s been upgraded to a 730) out of its bag.  I put it on the maple table... situated the table platform around it... plugged in the foot pedal... plugged the main cord into the surge protector... and pressed the switch to turn it on.

And whataya know!  It plays a pretty little trumpet fanfare when it comes on!

How ’bout that.  My new washer, dryer, and sewing machine all play me tunes.  Wheeeeeee!

I cut strips of binding for the Atlantic Beach Path quilt, sewed the strips together, pressed it, and sewed it to the top side of the quilt.  The 730 worked perfectly.  The surround-table is so helpful, when working on a big, heavy quilt.

It’s sooo nice to be able to backstitch, and when I let the backstitch button up, it doesn’t keep backstitching.  Also, I discovered that I don’t have to hold the foot pedal down the whole time the bobbin is winding.  Sue tells me I can even keep sewing while the bobbin winds.

The perfect day to break out my new Artista 730:  National Quilting Day!

I started this quilt on September 10, 2019, and began quilting it December 20, 2019.  There have been interruptions for Christmas and travel.  As of Saturday night, the total number of hours in the quilt is 449, with 242 hours in the quilting alone.

Several have asked, so here’s the answer:  My quilting studio measures 21.5 ft. x 11.5 ft., give or take a little for the sides of the dormer.  In it are my three Bernina sewing/embroidery machines, my Bernina serger, the Handi Quilter 18” Avanté and 12’ frame, my cutting table, an oak bookcase with drawers and cupboards, a couple of oak filing cabinets full of thread, my Sizzix eclips2 electronic cutter, and a variety of other things in drawers and containers.

The little office just across the landing where my ironing board, rolltop desk, dresser, and some fabric bins are measures 11.5 ft. x 9 ft.  It might be nice to have a big, square room; but I’m quite fond of this old farmhouse with its nooks and crannies.

Plus, the close quarters are an incentive to not gain weight.  heh

Victoria was feeling lonesome Sunday, staying home with her little family, so after the online service was over, she called to chat with us, and let Carolyn and Violet say hello.  Almost as good as a hug, hearing those dear little voices!  And their Mama’s voice, too.  Plus Kurt’s; I heard him chuckle in the background when Violet said, “Heh-woe, Gwammaw, wuvoo.”  Carolyn is 2 ½; Violet is 17 months.

Bishop's Palace in Galveston, Texas

Since we had no online evening service, I listened to some previous services that are posted online in the archives.  http://www.bbccolumbus.com/archives.htm

Mighty strange times!

Larry must’ve been making up for sleep lost during the last two weeks.  He went to bed at 1:00 a.m. Saturday night, got up at noon and ate some French toast, and soon went to take a ‘nap’, from which he did not arise until 8:15 p.m.  I would’ve worried about him, had he not snored reassuringly every now and then.

Maybe he thought sleeping was a good option after I asked him to bring an end table back into the house from out in the garage and put it back in the laundry room, so I can bring my poor cold houseplants back up from the basement and put them on it.  😂

“My hands are freezing cold,” I told Hester.  “Shall I go check his temperature by laying a hand on his forehead?”

“Just be ready to duck if you do!!!!” she laughed.

Haha, she was remembering the story of me at age 16 walking onto Jackson’s porch on 15^th Street (just a couple of houses down from Hester and Andrew’s house), and finding Larry sleeping in a reclining lawn chair with his cap backwards over his face.

I stuck something through the hole in the back of the cap and tickled his nose --------- and he swung a wild fist at me without even opening his eyes first!

He’d thought it was his brother Kenny.

Good thing I was fast on my feet.

I yelped a protesting, “Hey!” and he came to, apologizing.  (I suggested he apologize to Kenny, too, heh heh.)

Next to these photos I posted on Facebook of homes in Galveston, a friend wrote, “How do people live so close to their neighbors??  You could borrow sugar without leaving your house!”

“And you have to leave your house to practice social distancing!” I added.

We’ve just had a supper of chicken/vegetable casserole, with Activia mixed berry yogurt for dessert, and cranberry juice to wash it all down.  With Boyer’s hazelnut coffee on the side.  On the bag of beans, it says, “Rocky Mountain Roasted.”  Is that why it tastes so good?  😄

Now, off I go to the quilting studio to pin the binding to the back side of the quilt.

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn         ,,,>^..^<,,,