Taking Stock and Hope.

 In Melbourne we're now in Stage 4 lockdown as the Covid virus continues to spread with over 3,500 people infected in 7 days and life has changed dramatically for all of us. We had the boys here for the first couple of days before lockdown started but now we can only face time to see them. We think we could continue to babysit as we had a prior arrangement but our children thought we should be extra cautious so we can't hug them for at least 6 weeks, and we think lockdown  will probably be extended.
      Now that we have plenty of time it took a few days to adjust but we've now adapted and I have been working on some projects for me. I have finished the Lyre quilt top which was a Di Ford Hall's design based on an antique top in her collection,  and I plan on basting it this week and start machine quilting it. I starred at the end of April as a tribute to Di's wonderful contribution to quilting as well as honouring her friendship.

 I've also been very busy sorting lots of donated scraps, pressing them and then cutting into usable squares,  from 2 inches to 6.5 inches, and in half inch increments, so I get the maximum use of the donated fabric. I used to keep 1.5 inches too but really these will be for donation quilts and I need to make them more quickly than 1.5 inches will allow.

 I've also been deconstructing bits and pieces I'm finding in bags of scraps and making what I call "quilt soup" as I add lots of new fabrics to freshen my boxes of scrap squares. From these I'm now making up kits so I have them ready to make more donation quilts.

 My other passion is restoring vintage and antique blocks and tops. These star blocks are from the late 1800s to early 1900s and the brown fabric has totally shattered. There were 18 blocks but 8 are very damaged so I am remaking them so I have 16 blocks and this way I can combine rescued fabric from the damaged blocks. It's a labour of love and a lovely way to do some slow stitching.

 Jake is 3 in a couple of weeks and, like most of us, we haven't been able to get together to celebrate many birthdays this year so we'll have a big celebration when these restrictions are finally over. We face timed them on the weekend and when we had finished Aidan went and picked up the iPad again and gave it to his mummy saying "NanNan", so at least this time Aidan is old enough to remember us.

I also heavily pruned our standard roses as they were very top heavy this year and the weight of the flowers in the rain caused the bushes to bow dramatically. In jyst a couple of weeks we can see lots of new growth which is giving me hope for a beautiful spring. I think we all need to hold onto hope that we will get through these challenging and uncertain times and be able to enjoy face to face interaction again with family and friends. In the meantime stay connected as best you can, stay busy doing things you enjoy, and stay hopeful for better things to come.
Hugs, Jan Mac