It is early on a Sunday morning as I type this post and the house is quiet except for the sound of the heater, the cat eating her breakfast, and the keys typing. I am looking out on the garden in our backyard, which is a little random, but has the most lovely flowers saying hello to me - I love the bright pop of yellow in the daffodils and the forsythia tree, and the subtle green of new leaves behind them. It is spring in Indiana and it gives me hope that we too will be able to weather this tough season.
I started working from home the second full week of March - my company was early to send us all home and it has been good, as very few employees have fallen ill. We also have essential business to conduct, so it keeps those on the manufacturing and distribution lines safer. Everyone scoffed when I started working from home, then slowly a week or two later, they all started to do the same. It has been a weird month for sure, capped off with two weeks of remote training with a team from around the world. We had a few weeks to prepare for being completely remote and decided that we'd all work European hours, with our US team logging on at 4:30 am and our Asia team staying on until midnight. We all made it work, and though it was nowhere near what training would have been in person, we still managed to get to know each other better, laugh, and create some jokes among the group. It is impressive to see what we can do when we all work together. I hope that we can continue to do that for the coming weeks, maybe months, to help those in our population who can't afford to be sick, whether due to age, immune systems, or serving as a provider to their family. And I hope any of you who are reading this are well.
It seems strange to go into a regular monthly report of my stitching and quilting, but the best thing to do in these times is get into a routine. I am so happy for my hobbies, and can't imagine getting through this time without them. I made a lot more mistakes than usual, but I was forgiving with myself and just kept powering along.
On the stitching front, I worked on four projects this month, with two coming to a finish. First is my Stitchingly Months of the Year SAL, which was created to commemorate Women's month, perhaps women's suffrage, but became for me a bit of a rallying cry by the end of the month to come together in the current situation. I now have a complete row across the top and it is hard to believe the year is 1/4 over!
I also continued stitching on my travel project, as it is clear I won't be on an airplane anytime soon. I finished this cute little guy about mid-month. I channeled my blogging and Instagram friend Carol and stitched this over 1 on some scrap fabric in my stash. I think he turned out pretty cute! He is little - about 2 1/2" square.
On the quilting front, I decided to keep going with my UFOs and got the back made for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt from last year. I loaded and started quilting it, and am about 2/3 of the way done, planning for a finish in the early part of April.
I also caught up on my scrap blocks for February, finishing up 4 orange scrap blocks, which will be cut further to go into a quilt for my son.
I also set to making fabric masks, as it became clear that our healthcare workers would need something to supplement what they have. I didn't have much elastic, but my mom found some that originally cost 60 cents! And then she found a second package, so my daughter and I set to making masks. She hasn't sewn much, but learned quickly and has been a great help. We've finished two batches, and will make some more this week. We ran out of elastic the second week so went to ties on a few. All the fabric I am using is from my scrap bins, and it is nice to be able to do something with the larger pieces, although I will say that the bins don't really seems to be any more empty!
Now we will get on to the stats for the month. With no commute, I was able to get in more stitching, sewing, and exercise and the numbers show it:
Stash Report with Donna:
Fabric added this month: 0 yards
Fabric used this month: 6 1/8 yards
Fabric added year to date: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 3/8 yards
Net fabric used: 7 3/8 yards
Stitching time Report with Kate:
Days with crafting in March: 24 / 77%
Days crafting YTD: 65 / 71%
Weeks with at least 90 minutes of exercise: 4 out of 4 = 100%
Hope that you find some comfort in your crafts in the coming days and weeks. I wish you all well and hope that you remain healthy or recover quickly.
I started working from home the second full week of March - my company was early to send us all home and it has been good, as very few employees have fallen ill. We also have essential business to conduct, so it keeps those on the manufacturing and distribution lines safer. Everyone scoffed when I started working from home, then slowly a week or two later, they all started to do the same. It has been a weird month for sure, capped off with two weeks of remote training with a team from around the world. We had a few weeks to prepare for being completely remote and decided that we'd all work European hours, with our US team logging on at 4:30 am and our Asia team staying on until midnight. We all made it work, and though it was nowhere near what training would have been in person, we still managed to get to know each other better, laugh, and create some jokes among the group. It is impressive to see what we can do when we all work together. I hope that we can continue to do that for the coming weeks, maybe months, to help those in our population who can't afford to be sick, whether due to age, immune systems, or serving as a provider to their family. And I hope any of you who are reading this are well.
It seems strange to go into a regular monthly report of my stitching and quilting, but the best thing to do in these times is get into a routine. I am so happy for my hobbies, and can't imagine getting through this time without them. I made a lot more mistakes than usual, but I was forgiving with myself and just kept powering along.
On the stitching front, I worked on four projects this month, with two coming to a finish. First is my Stitchingly Months of the Year SAL, which was created to commemorate Women's month, perhaps women's suffrage, but became for me a bit of a rallying cry by the end of the month to come together in the current situation. I now have a complete row across the top and it is hard to believe the year is 1/4 over!
On the quilting front, I decided to keep going with my UFOs and got the back made for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt from last year. I loaded and started quilting it, and am about 2/3 of the way done, planning for a finish in the early part of April.
I also caught up on my scrap blocks for February, finishing up 4 orange scrap blocks, which will be cut further to go into a quilt for my son.
I also set to making fabric masks, as it became clear that our healthcare workers would need something to supplement what they have. I didn't have much elastic, but my mom found some that originally cost 60 cents! And then she found a second package, so my daughter and I set to making masks. She hasn't sewn much, but learned quickly and has been a great help. We've finished two batches, and will make some more this week. We ran out of elastic the second week so went to ties on a few. All the fabric I am using is from my scrap bins, and it is nice to be able to do something with the larger pieces, although I will say that the bins don't really seems to be any more empty!
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| Masks from the blue scrap bin, with a few red/yellow |
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| Masks from the green scrap bin |
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| My daughter sewing away! |
Stash Report with Donna:
Fabric added this month: 0 yards
Fabric used this month: 6 1/8 yards
Fabric added year to date: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 3/8 yards
Net fabric used: 7 3/8 yards
Stitching time Report with Kate:
Days with crafting in March: 24 / 77%
Days crafting YTD: 65 / 71%
Weeks with at least 90 minutes of exercise: 4 out of 4 = 100%
Hope that you find some comfort in your crafts in the coming days and weeks. I wish you all well and hope that you remain healthy or recover quickly.
Comments
So glad you all worked out a good time to conduct business and that your working from home is going well. I asked my youngest son if he missed all the travel and, surprisingly, he said no--it just felt good to be home with all of this mess going on.
Love your teeny-tiny Count Dracula--there is just something about tiny stitching that makes me smile :) Your SAL is looking great, too--such happy, cheery colors. Great to have caught up on your orange quilt blocks, too.
Keep on keeping on, as they say! So glad we have our crafts at this time--and hug those kids close. I'm missing mine so badly right now, along with my mom...