Although we still had time left in our island paradise, everything changed there, just like here - on March 14th. So, the COVID stupor descended on us all. And we self-isolated for our last 10 days there. We ended up leaving earlier than originally planned, but got bumped once before we were able to get home.
Once back, we were in forced quarantine for 14 days. When that was over, not much changed. The big change was going from ordering groceries online to going into the store. And scary as it is, the stores are doing a great job of creating an environment for social distancing and protecting their workers.
Masks have become a big part of my "stay home" days. At first I decided to make masks for my family - kids, grand kids, siblings and their families plus a few friends. I experimented with two styles and have now made close to 100 masks.
The Peterborough Regional Health Centre put out a challenge to get 1000 home made masks a week. To do a small part, I decided to deliver "19" masks a week until I run out of materials. I try to make 5 masks a day and the last three weeks, I have delivered some.
I have only been out 6 times since I got home - once to the drug store, twice to the grocery store and 3 deliveries of masks to the hospital. The first trip to the grocery store had more than half the customers with masks. The second one - I only saw a couple of others with masks. Not sure why that would happen. I realized that it's hard to tell someone's expression behind their mask. I came home and took a selfie with my mask on and smiling. Couldn't tell. And that inspired this little mat that I finished this week.
What else have I been working on? I finished a Mandala mat that was a challenge for the OHCG Teachers' Branch to display at this year's Annual which was supposed to take place at Deerhurst, but was cancelled due to COVID. The theme for this annual was "Everything Under the Sun" and we added to the challenge that the pattern had to be hooked with "everything under the sun but new wool". I used polar fleece, yarn, sari silk, t-shirt material, buttons. The other teachers used velvet, ribbon. as well as yarn and t-shirts. They will be featured in an upcoming issue of the OHCG Newsletter.
I am also working on two quilt tops for the twin beds in our grand kids' room. I managed to cut out all the 4" squares needed without purchasing any fabric. Same for the masks - all made out of leftover fabric from other projects. My stash is definitely shrinking with all these projects.
This picture was taken about 6 strips ago. I try to do a few strips a week, but it is not as urgent as the masks, so I am taking my time.
On the BRAGGING side of things, I received this image from a student in my Portraits class at the Rug Hooking School at Trent last year. Robin was one of the brave souls who decided to do a "art effect" on the portrait of her son. She used the Kandinski style on LunaPic. And I think she nailed it. I am always so happy when students share their finished pieces.
All of this year's teaching has been cancelled - and I am happy about that. I think that until we have a vaccine, I don't want to be in a classroom - no matter how much I love the teaching. Happy that there are lots of ZOOM and FaceBook live opportunities to get together. And no shortage of youtube videos.
Stay safe. Keep hooking. And keep in touch with one another until we get out the other side of this.
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