Holding it all together

How are you? 

I hope you're holding it all together in body and spirit. It's a marathon, isn't it?

I have a home and a pension and someone to talk to and hug, so I am one of the lucky ones. Even so, I miss my family. I really miss my family. 

Yesterday I was on a Quaker zoom call and someone unexpectedly played a dance tune and I couldn't resist getting up to dance, though one or two on the call might not have thought it appropriate. But out of sight of the camera I burst into tears. Out of nowhere. Why? There's obviously a deep sadness underneath this smiling Sue.   

Today is forecast as rainy, so I am going to finish the quilt I assembled in the summer and put away in the cupboard uncompleted:

I have to add the wadding and the backing and sew them together and then bind the edges. This entails spreading all three layers out on the floor and making sure each layer is perfectly smooth, then tacking through them - all over, from the centre outwards  - to fasten them securely, and then sew round the edges. I HATE this part of the process, but then I hate so many elements of quilting that with every single quilt, I wonder why I am doing it.  

It's the colour, of course. I am a sucker for colour. Painting is having fun with colour, without the intense irritation and the blood:

But you can't spread a painting on your bed to cheer you up when you wake to yet another dark and gloomy December morning in the middle of a pandemic.

The good news is that my HUGS art cards are selling fast - and all in aid of the charity Help Refugees. If you'd like some before they sell out, click here.

N.B. they are blank inside so multi-purpose.

Onward and upward friends - remember the mantra - stay healthy, stay cheerful, and try to be kind.

Here, for your delectation, is Friday's sunset along the lane: