Cabin fever quilt

Last Wednesday I set off of work, hit black ice and crashed Dennis car ( mine was already in the garage). the car required a new wheel and tire. I missed a cyclist by inches. (No I have no idea what he was doing on a bike in that weather either.) I ended up shaken and wrenched my shoulder and back a little with referred aching into my elbow. But no major injuries. I had a couple of days at home, went in on Friday to find  all my colleagues were also off with various ailments and the staff had cancelled almost all of the appointments. So I got a slightly early finish and got home just as the snow was starting.

Overnight 8 inches of snow fell. Essential travel only was the official advice. Well, I had a hair appointment and I graded that as essential so Dennis drive me and it was grim then. Not a wise journey. Then the snow froze and we have ice over the roads. My sister spent the whole weekend at the hospital (she is a nurse) because she came off nights on Saturday morning to find she could not get home.  An on foot inspection of local roads this morning, the discovery that the grit bin at the top of the estate is empty and the fact that not one of the local taxi firms were running pretty much ruled out getting to work by either car or train.

So, a snow day. It started thus:
I dressed and made fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast and washed up. I made two calls to work to sort the schedules out.  I took a call from the builder to say he could not come and so I then  put all the furniture in the lounge back where it belonged and took the dust sheets off. I made two onion and rosemary foccacia and washed up.

 I received two phone calls from work to deal with specific cases. I made red lentil and chickpea soup and washed up. I marinated the fish for todays tea and - yes you got it- I washed that stuff up too. I looked at the clock. It was only 10.25. Really - what do stay at home childless wives do all day??? Dennis had to stop me baking because we haven't eaten the mocha cake, Christmas cookies and loaf of bread I made yesterday yet. And, I may have mentioned this once or twice, but I don't even have a sewing machine to make the most of this time!

So I was pretty, much pacing the house fired with guilt at being (more or less)healthy but home and with unresolved creativity, when one of my colleagues rang to say that he was only at work because he happens to live right on a gritted bus route, that many other people were not getting in and that he would really rather I didn't even try.He had taken an executive decision that things were not going to get better by tomorrow and he had cancelled my work for then too. Just then a very sturdily shod and somewhat blue looking postman slid down the drive bearing not just Fibre Arts but Studios magazine. Suddenly I felt so much better - permission and reading matter!

Of course I didn't ger very far reading before the inspiration and need to create took over. I cannot machine sew my existing projects but I can fuse ready for when my new machine arrives as and when the van can get here. Then I thought I could maybe hand blanket stitch. And hang it - I might as well hand piece. Which is how this little quilt top came to be almost, but obviously not quite, finished.   The red shape is the Adinkire symbol for creativity. I know its not exactly high art but I thought it would be something to stick up on my temporary studio wall. And it will - as all tops do - look better finished and embellished. It is about 26 x 24 inches.

It is only after I emerged from 'down the well' that I realised I had sewed so much my shoulder was bad again.  But I still had fun.