Corona Quilting

In the midst of all the uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus, I've been doing much more reading than quilting. Not that there's really any connection, but that is just what I'm up to lately. I have had the same scrappy quilt up on the design wall for the past five months, and progress has been slow. I built some string blocks of 60-degree diamonds and triangles, but I can't start laying that one out until I finish the top on the design wall. I finally got inspired to pull some fabrics for a new quilt, but haven't settled on a pattern yet. I've been in a very neutral-color mood. So here is some virtual quilting inspired by the Coronavirus craziness.

Coronaviruses get their name from the club-shaped protein spikes that cover the surface of the virus particles. The Latin root of corona means "crown" or "halo" or "wreath." So I've been searching through Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns for blocks with a crown theme and drafting blocks in EQ7. The quilt above includes block '2048-Memory Wreath/Crown of Thorns' and block '2169-Coronation/Free Trade.'

I went to the grocery store today. The shelves in the toilet paper aisle were bare. They have cancelled all work-related travel for the next 30 days. We are reviewing employees' digital needs in case we all need to work from home (who doesn't have a work laptop? Who doesn't have wifi access at home?) and three people in our workgroup are already working from home due to having traveled internationally or having a family member that traveled somewhere or had contact with someone who traveled to a city where people had the virus. We don't know if it will mostly pass us by, or get worse. So in the meantime, I am designing digital quilts.