Sheltering at Home with friends

Unless you’ve been living on the dark side of the moon, you know we are in the early innings (yes, my Quilty friends this is still early in the game) of a pandemic that has literally brought the world to its knees … and contrary to what the US President says … its not OK, and its not going to magically go away any time soon.  This. Is. Some. Serious. Shit. …OK Rant over, moving along.

FYI, I am a member of Stash Bee 2020 and I was Queen Bee for Hive in June.  I asked my hive mates to make a house/village block with these simple instructions.

Your mission for June is to make a quilt block about your family’s home/neighbourhood.  It can be your home, or the home of someone you love, or care about. I am looking for house/village blocks that measure between 15.5″ and 16.5″ unfinished.  You CAN make it any size you want–up to and including the maximum that Stash Bee guidelines allow… (max. 16″ square blocks that can be pieced in 1.5 hours or less).  It doesn’t have to be square, but please aim for blocks to be15.5″ wide.  (I will be adding sashing if needed to bring all the blocks up to 18″ square later).  The important thing is that your house represents you.

Because I’m serious about documenting how the pandemic affects me and the folks I know, I asked everyone to send a note along with their block sharing a bit about them, and how they are doing.  Everyone has an important story to tell during this time of social distancing and sheltering at home and I’m honoured to share these stories with you.

This first block I got is from Carolyn….  Its a beauty and I’m calling it

“Sheltering near the Jersey Shore”

Carolyn says “During this pandemic I have been sheltering at home, with my parents.  I’ve been helping them as much as possible.  I live in New Jersey, not too far from the shore, which has a very different vibe this summer so far.  The current stay at home order is until July 7, which means so many places are staying closed.  Face masks are mandatory when going out, even at the farm where we picked strawberries last weekend.  Maybe soon more will open and a beach day will be in order.  My family has been lucky during this time, following the social distance guidelines has helped to keep us healthy.”

The next happy mail I opened was from Susan. Doesn’t her home look cheerful? I think the perfect name for this block is

“Grandma’s House and Home Bakery”

Susan shared a day in the life of a grandma.  Here is her story.

I managed to grab some sewing time while the two-year old visiting grandma was taking a nap.  I love just sewing without a pattern.  My house is a single story ranch, so long it takes up almost our whole lot.  Thanks for encouraging me to sew again.  I had put everything up when they came the last of May.  So 4 weeks later, I can see all kinds of opportunities to create.  We’ve been making sourdough bread, waffles, cakes, etc.  

The next time I opened the mailbox, I found this ahhhsome beauty from Cindy. This one is

Little House in the Woods

Here is what Cindy shared with me. …As for the crazy times of isolation we live in…I’m normally a homebody type of person, married to a homebody who is retired…so its not  altered our lives too drastically. I work at a quilt store and that ended in March.  My boss will be opening up again later this month with limited hours, etc.  That’ll be quite different.  I have missed getting together with friends on a regular basis but that is starting to get back to normal too.

Thank you Carolyn, Susan and Cindy for sending these blocks and giving us a peek into your world in 2020.  I am very excited to put these houses into my “Sheltering at Home” quilt.  As the rest of the blocks arrive in my mailbox, I will share them and their stories here, so there is a record of our little group and how we lived during the 2020 Corona Virus Pandemic.

Did you do something creative today.