House Bound

We’ve been very good about staying home, limiting trips and keeping our distance from others. But there comes a time when we must.get.out, so ... we gathered our masks and plastic gloves 

and headed to Ojai on an essential trip 

to drop off face masks and pick up food. 

Not my fault the food was Bocalli’s (very delicious) strawberry shortcake . . .

 Jac liked the gloves, hated the mask

Yummmmmm.

When the girls arrived today, Jac came running to tell me “Sissy’s ‘jama’s have a hole, Granma fix it!" 

Hmm, how about Sissy fix it?

Leanne did all the work herself, from creating the sticky patch to sewing it on, with minimal input from me. Her watermelon heart looks great!

Surprise!

Found this on our doorstep Sunday morning. 

Either the Easter Bunny knows what’s important right now or somebody was having waaaay too much fun that night. Thanks for the laugh - and the TP! - mystery person.

Easter Pictures

We took Easter pictures earlier this week, in two separate sessions as dictated by the current social distancing rules. 

It’s probably just as well - trying to wrangle Jac and Donovan without everything devolving into chaos would have been difficult. It might have been fun crazy to try though ...

Out of 150-ish shots, we got at least one decent picture of each family. 

And then there are the outtakes - my favorite part!

And that’s all, folks!

Winding Down

We delivered face masks #56 through 63 to Gary and Shelly today. 

We did the social distancing thing, talking to them from our car, but it was so good to see them and to get out of our house for a couple of hours.

They are both die-hard LA Kings fans so I knew they would like the first four masks

but I was thrilled at how enthusiastic they were about the other fabrics. Made my day week. 

I’m planning to wind down my mask factory after this weekend, barring special requests or local emergencies. I have 8 left to deliver locally, plus 40 or so that are going to Colorado for Rachel’s family and co-workers. The need seems to be diminishing and commercial production is ramping up (or so say the news reports I read). 

Time to get back to quilting!

April Flowers

My aunt sent a picture of this gorgeous tree in her Ohio backyard 

so I thought I’d return the favor  

with a shot of my favorite orchid tree in full bloom.

I saw these at the Santa Barbara Zoo several years ago and had to have one.

And as long as I was outside . . . I’m not sure what this shrub is but the birds love it. One pair builds a nest inside it every year.

Hubby’s rose tree is budding. We mostly ignore it and it blooms like crazy almost year round.

I call this one ‘fake iris’; pretty sure that’s not its name . . .

It always surprises me when succulents bloom. 

So pretty!

Six More, Out The Door

Things went much faster today after I taught this cutie how to make bias-strip ties. She loved making them!

She’s probably better at it than I am, at this point.

And she didn’t burn herself, which was my main hesitation in letting her try. 

Thanks to Leanne’s help, these masks are packed up - four for Idaho, two for Pennsylvania - and ready to mail tomorrow morning. That’s 50 down, ?? more to go. Woohoo!

Planting Season (And More Masks)

Between Jac and Leanne, we are going to be up to our arm pits (ha!) in deliciousness in, oh, maybe 10-15 years? 

They are both very excited about their avocado trees but I’m not holding my breath. 

I’m trying to keep track of the number of masks I make, purely for personal curiosity. Today, five went to a friend for her family 

and four more went to the daycare Leia attended prior to kindergarten. 

The new pattern I tried, that I had such high hopes for, takes forEVer. I figure it’s taking me 40-45 minutes per mask. I need quality and quantity, so after I finish the 13 I’ve cut out but haven’t sewn, I’ll be searching for a new pattern. Again. Maybe this one my SIL recommended? I haven’t tried that style yet and I’m curious. If you have a pattern you like, especially one that has a pocket for a filter, I’d love to know.

 Tomorrow’s project

Never Dull

There’s never a dull minute when Jac comes to visit. 

Me: May I take a picture of your avocado tree?

Jac: Wait til I get my glasses on . . .

Jac: I love my tree. But I don’t like adocabos.

So expressive. You know what she’s thinking even without seeing her whole face.

Mugging for the camera while watching TV. 

She’s a princess through and through.