I believe

 It's Dr Martin Luther King, Jr day and it's hard to find a blog title with a positive outlook that doesn't harken back to some positive message he delivered to people, some of whom would not hear.  But their children heard.  And, that's what changes the world, so while it may feel discouraging to see ignorance in power, the world is still changing.  We should have known it would be dramatic.

Last Monday, Rob came home with covid.  His boss's wife was sick first, then she gave it to her husband and he gave it to mine, but the order really doesn't matter because I didn't get sick.  I don't know how.  I can only attribute it to being triple jabbed.  I rushed through the work week thinking I'd have to take time off without warning, but it never really happened.  I had symptoms that could easily be attributed to cedar allergies.  And, while Rob was sick, he wasn't sick for long and his after effects seem to be resolving, so we're feeling pretty lucky to have been so lightly touched by fate.  

We've spent a very quiet weekend inside, tho.  There's been so much wind and so many allergens blowing around that we've stayed inside as much as we can and that led to sewing and cooking.  Barbara Brackman has started her 2022 BOM featuring 4 pointed stars.  I cut block one and then decided to change a fabric.  I pulled a few and laid them into the pieces and picked one and cut it and put all that away.  And, the other pieces I'd cut were missing.  Even Rob, the finder of all things...I don't make this stuff up, he can find anything...could not find them.  So, I cut more and in five years when those originals show back up, I won't know what I was planning to make with them.  Oh, well.  I made the block on Saturday but knew it wasn't right, so on Sunday, I took it partially apart and made some tweaks and put it back together much better.  I wish I'd paper pieced it.  It would have been easier, but I decided to rotary cut it and machine piece it without a foundation, both of which I think Barbara was trying to subtly advise against.  I haven't posted it to the Facebook group, but I think I'm going to.  

I also finished the Linus quilt binding and it's ready to launder and hand off.  They had a meeting last week, but since we'd had covid in the house, it didn't feel right to make a drop-off.  

I started the cosmos block.  We were trying to decide whether a gold/orange or a magenta.  I decided to lay my blocks out and to look at the blocks coming up before deciding to see which would be the most complimentary.  I'm 15 blocks in.  Every time I lay it out, I like it a little more.  You'll have to wait to see which color I picked for the cosmos.  There are 29 tiny pieces and I'm not even in the double digits yet.  I'm thinking that tulip (3 from the left, three down) needs replacing.  The tulip is too close to the shade of the background.  Oops!

Here's one from way back...way, way back.  it's a UFO that's roughly 17 years unfinished.  We were poking around in my UFO pile and Rob pointed to it and asked what it was, so I pulled it out.  It's a game of Old Maid.  Each block has a mate in a different color and if you match them all, the one that's left is the block named Old Maid's Puzzle.  25 blocks would have made that real easy, but at the time, I thought every quilt had to be a bed quilt, so I went with an even number.  The intent in the black block was to embroider the game instructions.  I couldn't think what to write, so decided to start quilting it anyway.  I thought it was only half done, but there are only a couple blocks and the sashing around them in the upper left corner and the border all around that aren't quilted.  And, I'm wondering if this wouldn't be a fun quilt to finish.  

The quilting stitches are ginormous and I joked with Rob that it would be hard to make stitches that big again...but I bet I could do it.  This is the way my family heirloom quilts are quilted and that's what I was trying to imitate.  I didn't look, but I bet this was done before I knew to bury my knots.  The back is red and who knows how color safe it might be but the white quilting thread I used is beautiful against that red background.  There's plenty of red fabric folded over to the front for me to whack off a piece and check colorfastness.  I'm sure I washed it three times, but have learned that doesn't mean much.  

Bread is a small miracle every time I bake it.  

We are doing this today and I'd encourage you to as well, if you can.

Everybody have a wonderful week!  If you have the day off, enjoy it and spend a little time sewing.  If you're working, then bless you and may all your customers be in a good mood.  

I believe that things are changing, but I'm discouraged with the pace.  I believe we can do anything if we work together and I'm ready for us to prove that.  "Everything will be okay in the end.  If it's not okay, it's not the end."  John Lennon

Lane