Life, for sure is different.  Months of isolating have lead to some pretty beautiful things though.  Spiritual lessons of doing without, of being together, of using what we have, including extra hours to think, create and be.

Back in March, we made the most of the time we had- including naming our "school"- Lester is our family name and The Mysterious Lester Society is a nod to the books by Trenton Lee Stewart which we have loved.  At the end of the year, I made our family a yearbook, to document our days, projects and life lessons.

We felt lucky to be isolated with so many kids!  Each birthday felt like a real party and we did extra special things, like homemade pinatas to ease the loss of the family and friends who would normally have been there with us to celebrate.

My own quarantine project was a braided rag rug- the instructions for which I found in the book Made by Hand by Lena Corwin from the chapter on rugs by Cal Patch.

Happy to use up so many scraps and to record the days in a physical way, like the rings of a tree trunk.

Light has felt so important in being home so much.  I have taken to making pendant lights- both from rice paper and macrame (pattern from the book Modern Macrame by Emily Katz).

And now as we head into Fall there are more birthdays and homemade gifts.  I made this messenger bag for my six year old boy- a little inspired by the Apollo 11 documentary and our trip last year to the air and space museum in Washington D.C.  Just the right size for pens, gum, books and whoopie cushions.  I found a way to add images to clay and so made custom pins.  The patches are all vintage except for the pyramid one which is from the spy museum in Washington, D.C.