I Like #158

Hi All!  In the middle of all our craziness, I have noticed that my likes are a combination of the very wide world (virtual) and the very close by (my backyard).  What a weird world.

1.  I'm loving all the zoom meetings.  I've "seen" more of my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins) than in a long, long time.  Really fantastic!  We had a virtual birthday party for my Grandma last Friday night (she turned 92) everyone got to be there!  My cousin even announced that he and his long-term partner got married last week!  Congratulations to Doug and Victoria!  It's always made us smile because my parents are also named Doug and Victoria (though my mom goes by Vicki).  And on the other entertaining duplicate name coincidence, My sister and her husband are named Rebecca and Andrew, and so are their married best friends!  Funnily enough, they have opposing nicknames,  my sister and her husband are Becky and Andrew while their best friends are Rebecca and Andy.


2. And friends too!  We had a wonderful visit with a group of the I like bloggers and it was really fun to see everyone in person!  Would there be interest in doing another virtual meet-up?  Weekends are best for me but I can do pretty much any time except Sunday morning so if people want to comment when would work, I can set something up.

3.  Plants!  My mother of thousands, which usually reproduced by making new babies on the edge of its leaves has started to bloom with flowers!  They are gorgeous hanging pink blossoms.  I didn't even know it could bloom!!  She'll move outside as soon as it's warmed up just a little more.

4. And outside flora too! My apple trees are at that wonderful stage where lots of the blossoms are fully white and open but there are still lots of pink buds to add some color.  So fab. I potted a bunch of dahlia bulbs, marigold seeds, and zinna seeds this week in my two sad flower beds and in the containers I had.  My eyes were bigger than my desire to dig new beds when I ordered bulbs last fall, so I had some extra.  I decided to plant them in dog food sacks!  I hope it works well, and I like the idea of reusing them!

5.  The pups!  Duh!  They are really enjoying having me home but I think they wish I would play more with them and work less!

6.  Sewing!  I just finished up a four month push of new artwork for a show (that has of course been postponed now) and took the opportunity this week to do some piecing.  I got out my 11 years of valentines blocks from my mom and started piecing.  I used all stuff from my scrap bin, and it was really fun and freeing.  The 2019 and 2020 blocks have to wait until next year since I didn't have quite enough for another row.  I generally am not a piecer, but I really enjoyed working on these.  Maybe I'll make a scrappy quilt this spring just for fun.  We'll see.

7.  Embroidery!  I like free-form embroidery, and I started this prayer book cover almost two years ago.  I haven't worked on it much since about six months after I started it because I've been knitting in my handwork time, but I've discovered that Zoom meetings are a great opportunity for handwork.  There's a long way to go, but I'm enjoying it.  The background is actually an iridescent dark blue, not black.

I hope everyone is staying sane and has a good week!  Click on over to LeeAnna's for more positivity!