Happy?

Good morning! Here's how the morning is going around here:

Dave his second Covid vaccination shot yesterday and this morning is in bed with a host of the side effects they tell you to watch out for. My brother got his first on Wednesday (the day before his birthday!) and hasn't had any side effects. I'm so glad for this vaccine--though I worry, of course, about the variants that are coming, that they won't respond to the vaccines that we have. I suspect that Covid vaccines may end up being like flu vaccines, where we will have to get them every 12 to 18 months just to keep up with the mutations. 

Thank goodness President Biden made vaccinations a priority. In fact, thank goodness for President Biden in general. It's nice to have an adult in the White House again. It's nice not to feel my blood pressure rise when I read the news. It's nice not to feel, as a woman of color, under the gun. (Yes, I know that racists and white supremacists are still out there, but at least their leader isn't in the White House, egging them on towards violence.) Yesterday I watched a clip of Deb Haaland, a Native American woman from my home state, get sworn in as Secretary of the Interior and I felt so happy. Think of it: A Native American woman in charge of federal lands and America's natural resources! This would never have happened under trump--or any republican president. Republicans have their token white woman and their few token African Americans (fewer now after trump) and the rest of the government roles they fill with the most horrific white men that they can find. Why any brown or black person--any woman for that matter--would ever vote republican is beyond me. Always reminds me of the saying: "A woman voting for a republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." (I just want to tell them to wise the fuck up already.)

Deep breath.

What have I been up to these days? Therapy, as always, and a lot of journaling, sketching, very little sewing. My sciatica is slowly resolving, thank goodness, though my hands and wrists are still being touchy. I think with allergies + pollen revving up my immune system, everything is inflamed right now. I'm still doing paraffin wax treatments and using arnica and CBD cream on my hands, which helps them feel intermittently better. 

I've also been watching some Netflix here and there, with an emphasis on stand up comedy. I need some levity in my life, especially since I'll be starting to job hunt in the next couple of weeks. I don't think I'll be going back to psych, but I do want to continue to work with either pediatric patients or switch over to women's health (with an emphasis on women's reproductive health). My dream job would be working for Planned Parenthood or a similar organization.

Ugh. Job hunting though.

Oh and I've been shopping online for fabric, of course. The American Quilters' Society was having a huge sale (it's National Quilting Month, which I guess is a thing now) so I bought three yards of fabric and six or seven books at a huge discount. They should be here this coming week!

Speaking of quilts, here are some quilts from earlier this year and last year:

This is a crumb block quilt, made from the tiniest scraps leftover from other projects sewn together into larger blocks and sashed in various shades of my favorite color:

There are bits in there of the earliest fabric I bought when I started sewing five years ago!.The quilt is smallish, a throw-sized quilt. (I tend to use this size at the foot of the bed, when my feet are cold.) I tied this quilt with green embroidery thread (unlike my other quilts which are machine quilted).

This is a quilt I made last year and gave to Kelly and Kevin:

It's made with a mix of bright solid colors and black-and-white prints. It's a "picnic sized" quilt, really intended to toss on the ground and sit upon!

There are a couple more that I have photographs of, so I'll post those soon.