Sunday, July 12, 2020

A Magic Stars finish

I finished hand stitching the binding on this baby quilt yesterday afternoon. This is the back - 10 inch squares of 'fun' kid prints.

The front - Tiffany's Magic Stars... tutorial from The Joyful Quilters blog. I just did machine walking foot of diagonal lines in the corners.... the decided to outline stitch in those L shapes and in the center blocks. I used warm and natural so a lot of stitching was not needed. It should be all set for lots of washings and use.


Still working on quilting rain onto the umbrella quilt.


My second order from Connecting Threads arrived yesterday (under a week!) so I now have white on white fabric to prep and stitch a couple snowflakes for Hoarfrost and I can start cutting and stitching the boarder for it. 

We are expecting really hot temps again today. I might try and go attach the chicken wire to the bottom of the coop area... but I have a feeling it will be put off for a cooler day.  I don't do well with heat and humidity. I think I'll just stay inside and stitch!

Peanut keeping an eye on the chickens this morning while enjoying the heat lamp. They love the roost dowel Greg installed this week.


Outside while Emily cleaned their cage yesterday.They are about 2 weeks old.



I sent Aidan out to snap some photo's of my flowers yesterday before the rain came.

Feel free to stop reading here. The rest is why not as much stitching got done due to some stressful decisions that needed to get made. Lets see what it was!

I find I tend to play games on my phone (Cookie Jam) when I am stressed. Lets just say lots of games played and not so much stitching this week. Tuesday there was an emergency school board meeting a day after a mandate came down Monday that schools in Florida will be open on time .... for us that is August 10, 2020. Our new cases are averaging 10K the last 2 days and have been averaging 7-8K new a day for the last 2 weeks.... and hospital ICU's are getting full. In my county (Marion County)  we had 409 new cases in the last week as of Friday with 84 in hospital and 10 of those in Covid-19-ICU's in the 3 local hospitals in Ocala.  Edited - 15,300 new cases in Florida in the last 24 hours! 70K added in the last week.
Teams have been working to come up with opening plans before this mandate came down. (Keep in mind most of the state is still not wearing masks). They came up with great solutions.... and then it was up to parents to make the decision. We have until July 15 to decide for each child. The choice was in school every day following the bell or virtual at home with your schools teachers following the bell. The teachers will either have a class of kids in front of them or a class of virtual in front of them, no mixing. After reading the 70+ page document and lots of discussion with hubby without little ears around.... Grandma's sciatic recovered enough that she took the kids Tuesday and silly lady kept them until Thursday night!... We are opting to keep the kids home for schooling. Our cases are still rising and the kids are not comfortable going out in public with so many not social distancing or wearing masks. I only go out for groceries and Greg goes out for work where unfortunately he is in a small space and while he wears a mask, most of the customers do not! We will reevaluate in December for the Jan-May semester. Hopefully our local cases and hospitals will be in a better situation at that point. This also allows us to still see my in-laws who are in the higher risk age group. Greg's back is also not better - no shot Wednesday as insurance denied the request. Let's just say he sneezed and coughed Friday and called off work Saturday in intense pain. No way can he get CoVid-19 right now!  No matter your thoughts on this pandemic, I think we all need to practice kindness as everyone is in a different situation and there is no easy answer. Some have no choice but to send their kids to school as they need to be at work. The teachers and administration of schools are also put in a difficult situation. That is their job/passion and it is potentially risking them and/or their families. No easy solution and no easy answers so please practice kindness. 
Since we have a feeling this will be on-going for the next year or more.... we decided to use that stimulus check to purchase new laptops, wireless mouse and keyboards for each of the kids for school. They each had really old hand me downs (over 10 years old and out of update capability). These should last them well into high school. It also helped as they were so excited when the keyboard and mice arrived Friday.... the computers arrive on Monday.

12 comments:

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Your baby quilt is adorable - front and back! Hope you enjoy a little hand stitching time today, too. Those chicks look like they are really growing! As for school - I agree with your decision 100%! I think that is what my niece who also lives in Ocala is going to do, too. Her daughter is an 8th grader. I was just reading a facebook post from a teacher who was saying that going back in the building is not going to be anything resembling normal. Her opinion was that the inconvenience of remote/online learning is way better than the risk of exposure to the virus. Hope making the decision to keep your kids home helps alleviate some of your stress. Hugs!

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

I do 'feel' that you and your husband have made a good sound decision on the schooling--I know the kids in a way want to be back in a classroom--but --face it folks--it is just not safe to be doing that--
it seems that this covid virus keeps coming down in age--
it hit the seniors first--then down in ages and is now at the 20-30 years old--so it makes sense that school age kids will be next--and maybe with them being younger they will get well faster--but--what long term damage will it do to their bodies--we really even after 6 months time--know very little about this virus!!!
I am glad right now that I don't have to make a decision on sending kids to school or have grand children to worry about--worryin about my blog friends family is enough!!!
I do hope that your hubby can get some kinda relief from his back issues--I am praying for him--
luv, di

The Joyful Quilter said...

A finished quilt, a fabric order and growing chickens? That part sounds like a good week. The rest... Not SEW much!!

Karrin Hurd said...

Great finishes! Our cases are going up too in Callfornia. The school situation is still unsettled. Good luck!

Julierose said...

Ohmygosh--not a good situation--my son and DIL are both teachers and have the girls (9 and 7) at home. They finished their school year teaching them online AND doing their own teaching remotely.
They are supposed to go back in Sept but my DIL has immune problems so we have no idea what they will do. They, too, have been staying away from people since March...And STILL unthinking or uncaring people don't wear masks or social distance...not to mention the $$ to the schools in smaller towns...and no leadership from the govt. either...it is a huge problem with so many facets...
***********************
Your quilt finish is so cute love it;)) hang in there--hope your husband gets some relief soon...Julierose

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I so agree with your decision to keep the kids at home learning and wonderful that you could order laptops for them so they can both be on at the same time and get their school work done with the teacher at the same time too. I think it is awful that they turned the shot down for your husband but would probably approved addicting pain medication for him!
I love your blue/white block
Cases in Arkansas keep going up as well - nothing like what you all have but population is a lot lower all last week we were seeing increases in cases to the point that yesterday was our highest at 1061 - like I say our population is a lot less. I can't believe Florida opened Disney!!

Jenny said...

I dont want to get involved and get my head bitten off, but things seem to be spiraling out of control in USA as far as the pandemic is concerned. Guess everyone has to do what they can to keep themselves and their families safe, but it can't be easy. Hearing about all the figures rising worldwide on the TV night after night is just heartbreaking.

Miaismine said...

I love, love, love your umbrella quilt...it's so happy. Regarding your decisions, I agree with you! Kindness, compassion, understanding, being judgement free is vital during these times. You do you...you do what's best for your family. Those who love you will understand. Hugs to you!

Ray and Jeanne said...

You have definitely made the right choice for school. I'm glad you are able to keep the kids at home. I really feel for the teachers and staff - what a tough year this is going to be. In Illinois, it looks like we will have face-to-face school sometimes and online school when needed. This will be hard on working parent. Looks like schooling is a no-win situation right now. I'm busy making masks for all of my grands. When they are in school, it looks like they'll be wearing them. I'm so glad you are taking precautions. Stay safe! ~Jeanne

a good yarn said...

We are looking at the US figures with some alarm as a new outbreak is happening in my state. This after a massive outbreak in the state below us. These decisions are very personal ones and depend greatly on your family circumstances. Your chickens are thriving (what a terrific learning experience for Aidan and Emily) and the quilts are looking good too.

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

We are in the same boat here in Texas but alot of school districts have already decided about a month ago to let the parents decide. Fortunately, our Govenor did something unpopular with his constituents but he did make it mandatory to wear a mask in public buildings. If you have health issues and can not wear a mask then the business will accomodate you with curb side shopping. I am very proud of him and just wish they had done that when we decided to reopen. I don't think we have hit 15000 a day but we have hit 10000 for several days last week. Sure hope we can stop the spread!!!! Your raindrops are perfect for your umbrella quilt!

Quilter Kathy said...

Oh dear... that is such a hard decision. I'm so glad i don't have young kids right now... it's so complicated with so many decisions. Masks are mandated in most of the towns around where I live, so everyone is much safer. But the decision about schools opening in September hasn't been made yet.