Visual Journal, a Birthday and other Fun Things

Reading seems to be the number one thing that keeps my mind off of the Pamdemic

The trumpet vine is blooming. The color is divine

I finally got some quilting done

I’ve been working on some family history at my studio

Practicing free motion machine quilting 

The man of my dreams celebrated his 70th birthday. We had a zoom dinner with our kids!

My tribute to the man. Ever so generous, loving and kind

I washed his car and it rained the next day. 

The gladiolus is blooming. This color is so vibrant that is sort of glows in the sunlight

The pool where I swim daily for exercise. I often call this my favorite room in our house. I love to garden, sit here and read and tread water for fun! A few more days left of the merry month of May!

Visual Journal, Safe at Home, Quilting!

My days end in the pool treading water as my exercise

I’ve been playing with felt lately. Relaxing hand sewing

Visited my studio neighbor with much distance between us 

Coming here during the week has been my saving grace

I am thankful that I can read books during this time when it is hard to focus

I’ve been doing some mindless strip fusing of Hopscotch fabrics by me and RJR

Visited my MIL’s house was bittersweet. She passed in December and now a family will live in this charming house. 

I had this large vase that was gifted to me. Found an old ball vase, and carefully glued it with e6000 glue to make this new garden decor

A doctor teleconference because I want an antibody test for Covid 19. I think I had this in mid January because I was so sick, fatigued, had a horrible cough, but no fever. In Los Angeles, you can get both tests, no questions asked, and for free. Orange County doesn’t have that. You can’t open businesses unless everyone has access to testing. 

I moved all of the family history to my studio to work on.

There is no substitute for a food processor 

I had a lovely Mother’s Day at home! I am loved.

I am making a small wall quilt and it feels good 

Thank you so much for sharing in my visual journey. Be safe at home.

Drawing, Gardening and Reading

Reading is what really takes me away from thinking about the Pandemic. I have read the complete sets of the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny and the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths

I am loving the colors in the garden

Swimming is now part of my daily rituals

The green beans are doing well. I might need more string for the beans to cling on

Some days mindless work is all you need

The Morning Glories are such a beautiful color, but they are weeds that need to be sequestered 

I was a guest on Pokey Bolton’s Live Instagram feed! It was so fun!

Steve’s strawberries are coming along 

We went for a drive as a diversion and went to see the empty John Wayne Airport

The carrots are coming up and I am sure they will need to be separated out soon

Here's the link if people are looking for it! https://www.instagram.com/p/B_nm2S5nZPk/

Visual Journal and Work in Progress

I tend to take these photos on my lap since I am home in the late afternoon

This is a trying time in our lives being on lock down. I see all kinds of people complaining about having to stay home, but I wanted to give another point of view: make the best of what you have

Reading has become a huge escape for me. Open it up and fall in and not think about anything else. 

This is one of the projects that I am working on. Sort of improv inside the circles with shade

Getting back into genealogy. I am being my boxes to my studio to work on, so I can spread out!

I’ve gone back to my natural hair color after having pink hair for four years: 

If you are on Instagram, Pokey Bolton has a live feed at 1:00pm Pacific Time everyday of the week @craftalifenapa is the handle. I will be her guest on Thursday, April 30

Scraps of stenciled fabrics that I am using for my next project. 

I listened to a terrific podcast on @Nashville restaurant radio with my nephew Brandon Styll interviewing chef and restaurant owner Hugh Acheson about the restaurant industry in the time of Corona. Link to watch interview with a Lyric Kinard Youtube now at https://youtu.be/qDf_Sc9XoyM

This is what I am making with my old workshop samples and quilted stenciled scraps

Working on family history

Bobbin winding day! I’ve got things to sew. We are having a heat wave.

Another fun circle, making a broken circle? These will be sewn onto back wool blended felt


It was a hot one at 96 today and I stayed home. No a/c in my studio. Me and the pool have bonded. 

More things I can do to keep my mind off the things that I can’t. Be safe and well everyone!