Monday, September 21, 2020

Creativity In Lockdown - R2BC

I re-covered the sofa cushions at no expense.
Time for a Reasons 2B Cheerful. No linky this week but it's time to look on the bright side of not being struck down so far and having all this extra free time. 

1

DD's Remote Learning

We've only had a couple of days of distance or remote learning but so far she's doing it responsibly and independently. I'm reading about families with lots of younger children who require constant supervision while the parents are supposed to be working from home. And how one family computer has to accommodate zoom lessons for four children all scheduled at the same time. 

A friend wrote that the parents of her 1st grader told the teacher, "forget the zooms. Just give us the assignments and we'll do them with our kids when it's convenient during the day." I feel their pain and reward my one daughter with ice-cream. 

2

The Cushions

I had these four big sofa cushions that I bought because I got an unexpected voucher for 600 shekels when I purchased my new fridge a few years ago. These vouchers tend to expire, be forgotten, or are subject to ridiculously restrictive small print that no one reads. So I rushed upstairs in the shopping mall to Fox Home and looked for anything that I vaguely needed. 

I did need big sofa cushions but the only design included the colours orange, lime green and turquoise. I promised myself that I would re-cover the cushions in the future. How hard could it be when you already have good quality square shaped cushions? 

Reader, I am no seamstress and I don't own a sewing machine. However, I also promised myself that I wouldn't waste this lockdown as I wasted the last one. Using an old blanket with a reversible pattern, I made two slip covers for two of the cushions. I then used two pillow slips that had been gifted to me when friends left the country, to sew a panel onto the front of the other two. The strip of turquoise and the lime green backing are now perfectly acceptable with the blues. The orange is banished! 

Thank you Netflix for 31 hours of binge watching Outlander, allowing me to achieve this transformation painlessly. 

3

The Headboard

Another project on my list was do do something with the plain wooden headboard on my bed. I had already placed a quilt over it that my friend Amanda made for DD as a cot blanket when she was born. I gave away all of DD's baby things (except for some loved stuffed animals and teddies) but this quilt is too beautiful and personal. And it's about 15 cm too short on either end. 

I had an old woven floor rug (a kilim?) that I loved because of the colour but we don't use woven rugs. Unlike proper carpets, of which we have two, they can't be hoovered easily and they just get dirty and dusty on the floor. So I washed it in the washing machine, cut off the tassels, folded it in half lengthways, and sewed up the two ends. This sleeve fits perfectly over the headboard and comes down as far as the mattress. The quilt sits on top of the kilim and voila - an all washable, upholstered headboard. 

4

Coffee And Shul (Synagogue)

I had two days worth of Rosh Hashanna services without having to get dressed or leave my home. I sat on my balcony with a cup of coffee and heard the whole thing below in the street, including the blowing of the shofar (a hollowed out ram's horn). Now that's my kind of shul. 

5

Not Yet In Total Quarantine

We're in Lockdown but can leave the apartment for essentials. Quarantine is much stricter and more and more of our friends are put into quarantine at home every day. One nursery school teacher had subbed in three different kindergartens last week before testing positive. One of the families we cancelled going to for lunch over Rosh Hashanna is now in quarantine because the son had been in school with a tested-positive child. I hope none of the above will actually get sick and apparently 90% of cases are mild or asymptomatic. We're taking no chances and so far we've been lucky. 

So as Israel careers into total loss of control over the pandemic, I wish you all a good week. 

 

2 comments:

  1. You have been very productive - love the cushions!
    I was speaking with a friend who is a teacher just yesterday and the online program for the elementary school kids is waaayy behind schedule in Toronto so not a good start. She is retired but supplies and they called her Sunday to ask if she would take a contract starting on Tuesday - of course there was no training available, no info on what class she would be doing as yet and she was supposed to do this from home (and what if she didn't have the proper texts)! She said NO - she is going to cover in the school next week for Yom Kippur. I too have wondered how a family with multiple children and parents working from home is supposed to manage!
    I'm glad to hear that you and DD managed a sweet Rosh Hashanah - I listened to the music with a cantor and a famous Jewish choir on the radio on Saturday morning. They weren't going to blow the Shofar until the Sunday program but I was in church and didn't get to listen.
    Our governing body has decided to close the church again for the next 4 weeks and then reassess. Our numbers are climbing so they don't want to risk anything. I'll probably drop back to going in to work to just 2 days a week starting next week as I don't have as much to do with just an online service. I have some historical research that I can work on from home.
    Everyone is getting out as much as possible for walks in the beautiful Autumn weather - at least that's safe!
    Stay well.

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    1. They don't blow the shofar on Shabbat even if it's Rosh Hahsannais year we only heard it on Sunday. They will blow it again next Monday on Yom Kippur.
      The numbers have gone even crazier here since I wrote this post. We are talking about even m ore restrictions. We have two more weeks until school is supposed to start again but if theings don't improve, schools will stay closed.
      Walks in the Auntumn weather sound like the most sensible thing to do. And stay home as much as possible apart from that. Our temperatures just dipped down into the high 20s this week so I'm looking forward to some of those walks.
      Lots of love Margie, and stay safe, xxx

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