Laowai

It seems we’ve started a tradition of picnicking on Sunday during this Coronavirus lockdown. I keep thinking we must be due for some grim rainy weather. But day after day the sun comes out so bright I have to squint while I make my coffee. Thank goodness!

Here are some photos from last weekend and yesterday. We’ve just gone to close-by farmy areas. We fed some goats and petted some calfs and we could hear lambs bleating across the lake.

And yesterday we could hear an alphorn from one end of this little lake. It’s quiet, you have to turn your sound up.

I finished sewing 100 hexagons together. Maybe they will be a lap size quilt. I just need about 800 more, but that will wait because I’ve started quilting my Stay Home quilt. 

Just Rhubarb Pie from the Zingerman’s Bakehouse Cookbook

I’m determined to use up as much of my scrap pile as I can and in the most tedious way possible. So I started English Paper Piecing hexagons. I think these little shapes require small scale prints. Very soothing hand work. My family thinks I have lost my mind. 

Also, some baskets, some cheese and a moth on my window.

They’re tight.

They’re heading out for a run/roller blade.

I love ’em.

Here they all are – just for fun. Scroll, scroll, scroll.

While our world is spinning and feeling out of control spring marches on as usual.

And my sewing project continues at our very sunny dinning room table. This quilt is heavily influenced by the Flower Shop quilt I made last year. Each house is a solid color and and I mostly used the scraps from that quilt. 

Today I finished my last house.

All 35 houses stacked up. I think I could make 35 more – mixing the colors and shapes and patterns was really so satisfying. But my backing fabric and my batting should arrive soon and I will be happy to start quilting.

Hard to believe it’s only been one week that we’ve been stuck in the house trying to battle the coronavirus. Here a few things we’ve been doing.

The girls were feeling a little frustrated with school stuff on Friday so we spent the afternoon crafting. We made window room bird feeders. We’ve done it before. Basically we decorate the inside of a box and then tape it to the outside of one of our windows and throw some bird seed inside. And then we wait for the birds to visit. The photos are not the greatest with all the reflections but here they are:

It’s good that we can put these under the roof of our patio since they are only cardboard boxes.This morning I saw a bird go to the outside perch of Claire’s box so I think they will get brave enough to come inside soon. And with a little patience we’ll get a nice photo.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my sewing machine. Thank goodness for my stash of fabric scraps. I looked through my fabric yesterday – looking for more fabrics to make into houses. I noticed a couple fabrics that I’ve had for a long time. These two came from my grandma Dice. How can I love a little piece of fabric so much? I used some of the striped one to make a door and windows in a pink house. I wish I knew what Grandma used the fabric for.

We’ve also been doing some cooking with the girls. Here’s Brian making tortellini with Claire.

Bea and I had a good laugh at these cupcakes. I pulled them out of the freezer and they were totally deformed. That’s what you get when you have a freezer the size of two shoe boxes. Bea made some frosting and they were delicious.

We’ve been cheering ourselves with lots of desserts. I made a chocolate peanut butter tart from Smitten Kitchen. I didn’t use the cookie crust because I had a regular crust in the fridge. It was a surprisingly simple recipe – a keeper for sure.

We’ve been watching lots of TV and movies and thank goodness for Facetime. When people in the US aren’t going to school and work we can call them during the day. Bea has been staying up late talking to her best bud Mabel. Disney Plus is coming to Switzerland on Tuesday and Brian has promised to get it (ALL THE SIMPSONS!).

Hope you are well and feeling cozy and entertained in your house.

Yesterday I made six quilt blocks – six new houses. I also started to think about how I want to put the blocks together. I put all the images of the blocks in my drawing program and arranged them in a bunch of different ways. I think I like them lined up simply the best. I added white panels between the houses. You have to squint your eyes to see how it would look with the whites all matching. Still haven’t made any trees because I’m having so much fun making the houses. I have 26 houses made so far and I ordered some cotton batting. It’s still a work in progress.

Here are the houses I made yesterday: