Half-Square Triangle Quilt, Yes I Have Flour, Covid Update #2

I really enjoyed working on this quilt.  There is so much depressing/horrifying/shocking (pick any one) news every day that this really cheered me up.

The whole thing is made from half-square triangles.  If you are involved in a guild swap of half-squares, this is a great use for them.

Mmm, love the back.

YES, I HAVE FLOUR

Like many people I'm not sleeping very well some nights.  Although I don't usually get UP at three in the morning, last Tuesday I was WIDE AWAKE.  So I figured, what the hell.  And since I have flour I decided to rattle around in the kitchen and make a couple of these delicious breakfast fruit braids.  The filling is cream cheese, fruit preserves, and some fresh berries.  DH and I managed to eat the first one over two days.  To show a bit of respect for the waistlines, I put the other one out of sight in the freezer.

One of the problems with the current lockdown is a lack of will to go get treats for Sadie.  Well, not that we don't have the will but it's a bit of a production, and frankly, quite stressful. So I fished around in the messy pantry and located the dog cookie cutters and the collection of recipes.  These are dirt simple.

After cutting and rolling, then kneading the leftover dough and cutting some more, I finally used the last bits to just roll out little globby blobs of cookies.  Sadie does not care - they taste just as delicious as the cute bones.

Forcing my way OUT of the kitchen I ventured down to my workroom and made up a bunch of masks.  And yes, I started cocktail hour a bit early that day.  Don't judge me.

More entertainment...I located a set of guild blocks.  Rather wonky, ranging in size from 12" to 13", but pretty nevertheless.  Hopefully quilting will happen this coming week.  This is one of the guild donation quilts.

COVID UPDATE #2

I need to update my blog more often if I'm going to continue this personal diary.

• 3/31 Public schools in Ontario will be closed until May 4th. Toronto cancels all events (parades, conferences, festivals, cultural programs, until June 30th. Hamilton has a snitch line to report non-essential businesses flouting the mandate as well as people gathering with more than 5. Haldimand-Norfolk has 27 confirmed cases, Anson Place (seniors facility in Hagersville) has 3 dead, 11 positive.
• 4/1, it's one of those days when I had every expectation of working. Morning news until 11 am, with a bit of online messaging thrown in. 11 am pull up a half hour exercise video, which is interrupted by a call from Dr. Adachi's office (he's my bone density specialist).  I got my "visit" over the phone. 1130 shower & dress.  1200 lunch & newspaper. 1230 dry hair then go back to the paper. 100 call from  a friend about the cancellation arrangements for our fall Italy trip, and some mutual Trump bashing. 130 finally finished reading the front section of the paper. DH & I go into town. ..get water, get meds, mail cheque to food bank. 230 take Sadie for a walk. 300 go fish small potatoes out of the bag in the fruit cellar so DH can plant them. 320 make tea & write up this timetable of today's activities. 330 go to work...it's obviously going to be a short work day today!  Hamilton reporting 112 cases as of today. Ontario = 2,392.
• 4/3 Trump orders 3M to stop shipping N95 respirators to Canada and Latin America. Gosh, you couldn't ask for a better neighbour than that, eh? (yes, VERY tongue-in-cheek)  
• 4/4 Provincial forecasting...by end of April 80,000 cases and 1,600 deaths.  Dr. Zizzo's death (my family doctor!) was featured on CH news, possible Covid death. Ontario today 3,630, Hamilton today 147. Effective midnight tonight I am no longer  permitted porch pickups or dropoffs, although I wasn't taking dropoffs anyways.(*)
• 4/8 Hamilton 198, 6 deaths. Hald - Norfolk 110 with 6 deaths (60 cases are at Anson Place who are reporting 8 deaths which is at odds with gov't numbers).
• 4/10 Ontario govt has extended all restrictions and regulations until April 23. Made 15 masks.
• 4/11 Tried to mail masks to family but the post office closed an hour early.  This is the first time I've left the house in 11 days.  I even had on mascara!
• 4/12 - Easter Sunday.  We took a drive to 1-800-Luke's and threw a bag on his porch containing two masks and a few gloves.  DH cooked us a roast beef for Easter dinner.  Yum.
• 4/13 - Got myself mascara-ed up again and made a succesful trip to the post office.  I also picked up my meds.  Only a 30 day supply is being filled these days to prevent hoarding and to limit shortages.
• 4/14 - 3 am and I'm WIDE AWAKE.  Decided to get out of bed and make a couple of breakfast braided breads, filled with cream cheese, fruit, and walnuts.  Later I will be making dog cookies since Sadie's cupboard is bare.
• 4/15 (*) I called the Ontario government for clarification on the non-essential business rules regarding porch pickups and dropoffs. Apparently that decision is up to the business owner, although my "storefront" must be closed.
• 4/17 Picked up our first produce box that was ordered online.  For $25.00 we got: 5 oranges, 1 melon, 1 box blueberries, 1 box blackberries,  1 box mushrooms,  2 sweet peppers, 2 red onions, 1 head lettuce (yay!!  I've been wanting lettuce for at least a week.), 1 head of celery, and a large bunch of snow peas. You drive up, tell them who you are and what size box you ordered and they put it in your car.  Nice.  After we got home I left a quilt on the porch for a client pickup, and she left me a bottle of wine as a tip! How sweet is that?  I was reading the news before bed (stupid, studid, stupid.  Always a mistake). Donald Trump was tweeting that three of the states needed to be LIBERATED. Wtf? He thinks the restrictions are too limiting on the population.  And, oh yeah, those three states are all DEMOCRAT states. That man is such a frightening character.  He instigates chaos and encourages frenzied behavior akin to a pack of wild dogs, all for the sake of politics. Check out the "rallies" of protest that are going on because of his vitriol. As much as I don't like Doug Ford, I agree that our border should stay the hell shut. Fucking nutbars over there.
• 4/18 Yay, the US/Canada border is staying closed for another 30 days. I started another batch of masks using the Patrick Lose pattern.
• 4/19 Canada 33,383 cases. Ontario 10,010. Hamilton 323 cases.  Anson Place 71 cases, 23 deaths.  Dear God.  And so many people still think this is no worse than the seasonal flu?  Today was supposed to be the SOLO meeting in Elmira.  Sigh, not happening now until the fall.