Small goals, small victories

Here we are over a week into May 2020, still dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, and Centre County PA moves into the "yellow phase" on Friday 8th May - this eases our local "stay at home" restrictions a little as we move towards either a return to "normal" or a new "normal".  Personally I think that until a vaccine is available that is proven to be both effective and safe we will not return to the "normal" we had prior to this worldwide disease.  As I read about the high infections I am thankful to live in "Happy Valley" slap bang in the middle of rural Pennsylvania yet with the healthcare resources of a large population centre.  Although Penn State University can be the behemoth we love to hate, just now the economic prosperity it brings to State College and the surrounding area is really acting in our favour as we weather the storm with relatively few diagnosed cases and fewer deaths.

Psychologically it is nevertheless a challenging time and I, like many others, am finding deep concentration hard to come by so I have been working on smaller projects that give me a sense of almost instant gratification.  This week I have finished four doll quilts for our local Toys for Tots charity that will be donated to families in need this December.

The layouts were simple squares with straight line quilting and the backing for each is soft snuggly flannel.

The bindings are completely machine sewn, first to the back and then folded to the front. I cut the bindings at 2.5" and sewed at 1/4" from the edge on the back which led to a 1/2" fold over on the front - this also makes the corners much easier to get nice and tidy.

Finishing these means I have completed my One Monthly Goal for May.  Now I can get on with a few more things for the rest of the month before setting my June OMG.

Next up for completion is my sunflower wall hanging that I started as a response to the Manchester Arena Bombing of 22nd May 2017.  I am somewhat ashamed that it has taken me 3 years to move it back to the top of the work list, but I would like to be able to display it, fully quilted, bound and labelled by the 22nd of May this year.  Photos of this are way back here in July 2017.

On Wednesday this week my elder son came back from the UK after completing his time at university there.  As his mum I imposed on him to bring me back important things like UK tea and new ironing board covers for my ex-pat ironing board.  Today my board has had an upgrade from this:

to this:

So much better! No more wrinkly ironing board cover :)