lydamorehouse | Still Plenty Anxious! (Reply)

Image: Sometimes when you stare into the void, the void stares back....

Last night I was showing off my progress on anxiety quilt #3 to

rachelmanija and Willow decided to climb under the quilt and peek out at me. When I sent the resulting photo I snapped (above), to Rachel, I was informed I MUST post this picture. So, here it is: the cutest void you may have seen in awhile. (Not to throw shade at anyone else's void kitties, because I am certain they are adorable. I just happened to get a good shot.)

But, then, for

pameladean I feel I owe equal time to the sunshine floof whom she stans:

Image: same chair, different quilt, different cat--all the sunshine and giant paws.

All right, hopefully, that has helped cheer any of you who are getting down with this whole pandemic bullsh*t.

Yesterday, I went out and got everyone in my household a coffee, because I am determined to single-handedly keep my coffee shop alive. Claddaugh is a mom shop (Mary actually employs a lot of her own children, but 'pop' refuses to work there so far as I can tell.) And, they've got a really great no touch pick-up system in place. If you are local and love really good coffee (or are just on a support local business kick), check them out: http://www.claddaghcoffeecafe.com/curbside-pickup.html You can also buy gift cards just to keep them up and running.

Our day was otherwise pretty good. We did not manage to get out for our architectural tour of Saint Paul, but I did a LOT of yard work. I uncovered our front garden and discovered a few nice surprises. The monarda/bee-balm has self-propagated like mad, which makes me happy because I'm a big fan. I also noticed that the sweat bees/halictidae (their main pollinator) were all over the bloodroot last night while I was out grilling dinner, which is fantastic news. I have been working towards a bee friendly lawn. To that end, I've been trying to provide habitats for all the bees--including the pollinators, like this one, that no one particularly thinks about. As I have joked to my family, if certain native bees need barren dirt to build their homes in, I totally have that habitat available for them! (I refuse to use fertilizer, and so often kill my grass semi-annually.)

Because it was Earth Day, Mason's ecology crew from his Science Museum job had an impromptu get-together on Zoom. He loves his work crew and its been one of the hardest parts of this whole thing to have been furloughed--not because of the money it provided, but all of the opportunity and friendships. He was positively giddy having gotten to talk to them, which just shows you that he is, in fact, and extroverted introvert... because then he immediately went on a solitary walk to his secret hidey spot on the banks of the Mississippi to read and chill out after all that social interaction. :-)

I had further adventures in sour dough in that I tried a sourdough French loaf last night that actually turned out amazing? I think Vera was mocking me because I had previously decided that her feeding schedule was driving me bonkers and had made plans to "fridge" her. I mean, it's time. So, of course, I said goodbye to daily bread and, fed her one last time for the week, and shoved her into the back of the fridge, intending to forget about her until the reminder went off next Wednesday to refresh and feed her. So, OF COURSE, she produced the best loaf I think I have ever made possibly in my life, but certainly with sour dough.

So, I hived her off this morning, because we ate every last scrap of it and now my family is demanding more.

Damn you, Vera!

Will I never be free from the tyranny of sour dough???

So,that's me. I will close with the first picture I sent Rachel. This is my third anxiety quilt. I have not officially finished with backings or batting any of the previous ones, but they are the size they're going to be, basically. (The patchwork one is one I intend to continue to return to and grow.) This one is actually "commissioned" for Rachel and, because of that, will probably the first one that I actually finish/finish, since I want it to be usable for her. I have plans for more and by god, like a lot of you, I'm probably going to be ready to open an Etsy store once this thing lifts... or maybe even if things go on....

Picture comes with cat, because, for some reason, Willow LOVES this quilt.

anxiety quilt 3, void cat for size