Slow going in the coronavirus era

I really haven’t felt like updating since we just haven’t been doing much. I wrote that, then I realized it was incorrect; we have been doing stuff, but the vast majority of it isn’t travel related, so I haven’t been posting. I was on the site of one of my favorite bloggers, and she said she was in the same funk. It isn’t really depression, just a bored funk. Hard to get motivated to write though.

We did take one trip on July to Alabama to get work done on the motorhome. The results are great!

Television lift and cabinet modifications to accommodate it.
Old TV removed and added shelves for a pantry.
Cabinet doors over the new pantry.
The top pull is for the new prep surface.
Pull out kitchen preparation Surface.
Small cabinet to hold maps and atlases in the bottom with remote controls in the top. There is even a spot in the back to store our iPads.
New heather colored carpeting in LR and kitchen slides plus bedroom.

Oh, and we added a 12v and a USB port, but I didn’t get pictures. I am very very happy with the mods. It took a couple of weeks, but that is the way it goes. While we were waiting, we visited the Natchez Trace some, and we drove to the far eastern Alabama to see the very edge of the Appalachians. It was mainly just a way to kill time, but the country is pretty.

When we got back we just put the motorhome up, but that doesn’t mean Kevin hasn’t been playing with all kinds of things. He has now bought two separate 3D printers, one with one color only and one that can manage three colors. He is having a blast learning the software, a huge job actually. He has made a bunch of mask holders, the ones that elastic from masks slip,over to keep them from behind your ear. The school aged grandchildren all have multiple ones with their names on them. We bought a BlueFire data bus reader for the motorhome (fabulous BTW), and he not only made a custom dash board I canwatch while driving, but a custom holder for the iPad we use as a display head.

Now everything is easy to see!
Holds the ipad

He also made all kinds of little custom holders for our cell phones, etc.

Holds phone, GPS, and TPMS on co-pilot’s side. Something similar on driver’s side.

While Kevin has bee printing, I have been sewing. I quilted 4 quilts for the local quilt guild. There are always lots of pieces, but not many quilters. I really don’t like the quilt tops, so I won’t show them! They are the worse type of scrap quilts, but I am sure the recipients will find them warm. I finished the Drunkard’s Path lap quilt for Kevin. The texture is luscious – wool batting and fairly loose quilting.

Kevin chose the layout. I call it “setting sun”.
All the corners match! I just did a gentle meander for the quilting and a decorative stitch for the binding.

I also did a small quilt using the design I am going to do for our bed at home – Jewel Box. I really like this one, and it will be a nice little baby quilt.

I am quite proud of the circles and scallop ruler work.
Also pretty proud of the straight ruler work!

I will be using most of the same quilting designs on the king sized quilt I am working on now. I have always had problems with getting my machine completely flat and level in its table. It was off just enough to make the rulers rock on the needle plate. I enlisted Kevin and his new printer, and he made custom pads to make it perfect! He used a micrometer to measure and then printed the right size of pad for each corner.

Oh, and like all the sewists in the world, I am still making masks. I wish I had kept track of how many, but it is between 350 and 400. Wow! Lots went to kids and grandkids since everyone really needs 7-10 to let them be replaced once or twice a day before washing. I ended up buying the mask die from Accuquilt in both the medium adult and the child sizes. They made the volume possible! I gave 60 to my grandchildren’s school and 45 to another public school.

Children size
Adult (red stars) and child size (snoopy and rainbows) for comparison

I have made dozens and dozens of masks with licensed University of Northern Iowa fabric. Those are so popular I bought an entire bolt. I figure masks will be needed until at least next summer, and I can use any left over for baby presents or home dec items. There is only one fabric store that has it (they did a special order from the supplier), and it was too far away to go often.

After writing this post, I figure I might just keep it up. We actually are doing things, even if I feel bleh.