Covid-19 Life: Quilts, Reading, and News

It has been dry in Michigan. We get a good rain then weeks of sunshine and dry weather. So watering the garden becomes a daily task. The bees are all over the flowers, and butterfly and Goldfinch come to the Zinnia.

I have the center of the Waterlily quilt hand appliqued and sewn together! I had to switch the background fabric for the blocks as my first choice did not provide enough contrast.

Somehow I have been busy and not getting in my reading! I have only a few reviews scheduled for the rest of August, but several books I should have read and reviewed.

And the galleys are still coming in...my own fault, of course.
New to my reading list:

• Day of Days by John Smolens is another on the 1927 school shooting in Bath, Michigan 
• Brood by Jackie Polzin, compared to Elizabeth Strout in the promo
• The Invisible Women by Erika Robuck, WWII historical fiction
• Nora by Nuala O'Connor, fiction about James Joyce's wife

And from Goodreads, a win

• The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves

I am writing a review for Marilynne Robinson's upcoming Gilead novel, Jack, and listening to an audiobook of her novel Lila. And reading Dr. Paula Byrnes The Real Jane Austen: a Life in Small Things.

A friend called me to help her identify a pile of vintage quilts. I donned my mask and went over.

Many were not in very good shape, like this turkey red single Irish Chain.

 Others were very appealing, like this Log Cabin.

 Then there was this stunner, another Log Cabin variation. The fabrics include wool, velvet, cotton, and rayons.

 The chintz backing was this wonderful paisley.

There were a number of scrap quilts, too. I love to look at the vintage fabrics.

How about that sashing fabric!

 Several were tied.

I bought a cement Shiba Inu statue. We are going to finally bury the ashes of our four Shibas, Kili, Kara, Suki, and Kamikaze. 

Sunny and Hazel had a quiet moment on the guest room bed where our son's partner's home office is situated. Hazel likes the Baby Cactus quilt I made!

Ellie had a broken tooth removed, poor girl! She is recovering nicely.

We had a beautiful cool day and invited our son and his girl and the grandpuppies over. They all had a grand time. We visited outdoors, wore masks except to eat. It was a risky thing to do, I know. But I can't go six months without seeing my family.

COVID-19 Life: TBR, WIP, And Sunny, Too

Our little 2-Mile town has seen rising cases of Covid-19, 22 in the last month. Much of the county is seeing rising cases again. I worry about the vibrant downtown surviving. DPTV, Detroit Public Television, aired a story about our city, found here. 

On my walks around town, I have seen parties and even tents and tables set up for bigger events. The school sports teams have been practising in the stadium. 

We continue to have our groceries delivered from Imperfect Produce and have been going to a local grocery chain that for $4.95 shops for you and brings it to the trunk of your car for pick up. We get a delivered restaurant meal every week. This week I will fill the gas tank for only the third time since February. 

The Clawson Quilting Sisters meet in the pack, socially distanced 6" apart, for show and tell and lunch every week. 

Show and Tell in the Park
The Great Gatsby Quilt

And the library book club is Zooming next week to discuss Elizabeth Berg's WWII homefront novel Dream When You're Feeling Blue. Sadly, the library had to close for a deep cleaning and testing of staff after someone was exposed or tested positive to Covid.

Apart from a walk and gardening (mostly watering!), life is centered around reading, writing book reviews, and working on quilts.

This week I machine quilted a top made of Row By Row patterns from years ago.

I am working with the Hazel quilt center block (from Esther Alui). I had trouble with Esther's patterns so I am make up my own design I finished hand appliqueing four of the center blocks of the Water Lily quilt.

New books on my NetGalley shelf include:

• Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall, recalling Detroit's vibrant African American neighborhood

• My Bed by Rebecca Bond and Sally Mavor, a children's book about how children around the world sleep. The art is amazing!

• Rita Blitt: Around and Around, the artist's work donated to the Mulvane Art Museum's collection

I have read 104 books this year!

Our grandpuppy goes to doggy day care three times a week. Her people both work from home and Sunny has to burn off all that energy! This week she was Dog of the Week! Her fur sister Ellie enjoys being the only dog for those hours.

Sunny

When I don't feel like working on the applique, I color in the birthday Jane Austen quotation coloring books.

My brother and his girlfriend are still uploading photographs from their trip to the Keweenaw Peninsula. I loved Martha's photo of an old wagon wheel.

Covid-19 Life, TBR, WIP

The Cleveland Pear tree

Some Spring.

This May has brought snow to Michigan--one of the top four snowiest Michigan Mays ever so far!

The Cleveland Pear tree bloomed and the apple tree is ready to bloom.

the apple tree

Wild violets under the apple trees

The first baby robins are flying. One sat on our patio in the morning...

And a bunny came to visit in the evening.

I finished the Alice in Wonderland Redwork quilt top.

And I finished the embroidered 'Gus' blocks.

I have finished reading 64 books this year. Yikes! And my TBR shelf is not getting any smaller!

Reading Now:

• The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson, a Goodreads win
• Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan by Deborah Reed
• The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing by Joseph Fasano, a novel by a poet I discovered on Twitter

Books in the mail:
Jo & Laurie from Bookish, based on the characters from Little Women
Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Would Know by Ellen Notbohm, author of The River by Starlight

New E-galleys:

• Divided Hearts by Barbara Brackman, based on her block of the month series
• Sensational Quilts for Scrap Lovers
• Pride and Prejudice from Jane Austen Children's Stories
• Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare by Ryan Dezember
• JFK by Fredrik Logevall, a new biography
• Shelter in Place by David Leavitt. I read his first novel The Lost Language of Cranes in 1991.
• The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, author of The Wonder

Our grandpuppy Sunny continues to learn new tricks, and our son and his girl keep me updated. She jumps through hoops (and on the table) and had a bell to ring when she needs to go outside. But she rings that bell when she wants to go out and play, too!

Sunny loves to watch

She has grown so much since we last saw her in early March!


I have been enjoying the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Watch Parties, streaming past concerts with commentary from viewers. And the DSO musicians sharing music 'from their porch'. Also, Sir Patrick Stewart's daily reading of Shakespeare's sonnets, Yo Yo Ma's cello pieces, Joseph Fasano's daily poetry reading, The Show Must Go On YouTube airings of Sir Anthony Lloyd Webber shows...I keep very busy!

My brother social isolates on nature walks. Last week, an osprey flew in front of his Ram truck. Below is an osprey he saw on his walk at Stony Creek Metro Park.

 He came across deer.

 And was able to bring his pontoon to his dock.

Cass Lake, MI

I hope you are keeping safe and busy, too.

Covid19 Life: Week Six of Lockdown

When this photo showed up on my Facebook Memories I thought it was the perfect illustration for lockdown: it's a dangerous world out there. I don't even want to leave the house. Our two-square mile city of 11, 980 people has 54 known COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths.

So we have stayed at home. For six weeks. And we are to remain in social isolation into May.

Well, the battery lawn mower was broke and my husband had to arm himself with a mask and, in fear and trembling, enter the local ACE Hardware to bring home a new one.

We do take daily walks early in the day, 30-40 minutes.

I have been working on my Emily Dickinson quilt. I need to find more fabrics to add to the collages. Just before lockdown the quilters had planned a three stop quilt shop hop and I thought I would find what I wanted then. It didn't happen.

The idea behind the quilt is that Emily Dickinson has many faces.

The woman who avoided visitors and stayed at home and dressed in white.

 The poet who wrote about passionate and dark subjects.

The author of poems filled with images of flowers and bees and birds, the woman who loved to garden.

And the writer of valentine poems, love poetry and letters, a closet romantic. This is the block I most need to develop.

I also am working on embroidering a set of blocks I printed off some time ago featuring Brutus, the cat.

Book mail included Estelle by Linda Steward Henley. The story involves a woman who discovers forgotten history about the artist Edgar Degas.

I purchased Perfume River Nights by Michael P. Mauer set during the Vietnam War.

I am currently reading The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai, a multigenerational story that takes us into 20th c Vietnamese history.

On the shelf to be read:

• In Search for Safety: Voices of Refugees by Susan Kuklin, a LibraryThing win 
• Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic by Eric Eyre, a Goodreads win
• The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell is set in a NYC apartment house
• A Heart Lost in Wonder by Catharine Randil, a biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Superman is Not Coming to Save You by Erin Brockovitch on water safety
• The Last American Aristocrat by David S. Brown, about Henry Adams
• Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman, another Owens family prequel
• Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan by Deborah Reed, fiction about a painter
• The Brother Years by Shannon Burke, family drama set in 1970s Chicago
• How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, set in Africa, by the author of Behold the Dreamers
• Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald, essays on nature
• The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts traces pianos from Siberia
• Bronte's Mistress by Fiona Austin imagines Bronson Bronte's love affair
• Chasing Chopin: A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a Half-Dozen Revolutions by Annik LaFarge
• The Truth About Baked Beans: An Edible New England History by Meg Muckenhoupt

My brother continues to seek out the quiet places. These photos are from his early morning kayaking on the canal behind his home.

We had a social distancing visit with our son, his girl, and the grandpups and Hazel the cat.

Little Sunny wanted so bad to give us kisses! She is about full grown now.

And, I finally found a mask pattern to adapt my way that I can feel good about. I left some with our son and will take some to my brother. In a few weeks my brother will be recalled from working at home to working in Dearborn. 

We also drove to my brother's house and left him some masks and some homemade bread. We stood in the yard, ten feet apart, and caught up.

We watched Star Trek Picard on CBS All Access on a free month trial. And every day I was Sir Patrick Stewart read a Shakespeare sonnet. I enjoy the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's free streaming of past concerts. This month I have enjoyed poetry shared across social media. 

I keep awfully busy!

And of course, we are cooking up a storm.

We don't have many meals with whole chicken, but this version with a honey curry glaze is wonderful.

This French Bean Vegetable Stew from Moosewood is a favorite.

 A simple dinner is gnocchi with white beans, tomatoes and spinach. topped with parmesan cheese.

Chicken and noodles with dumplings is the perfect comfort food.

I hope you are staying home and staying safe.