I keep track of days in a small notepad, although I don’t always remember to read it when I’m making patches. More on that later …

The Rocking E patch was a simple, sweet memory: our first babysitting gig since Covid. We had pizza and leftover birthday cake while Meg and Paul (who both got vaccinated) went out to eat … for the first time since Covid.

The garden served as a good after-dinner diversion …

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and I got a workout tracking down Ellis (who was wearing a candy pink striped dress that used to be P’s) …

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All too soon it was time to wind down for bed. Unfortunately, E is no longer the “easy to bed” baby I remembered from one year ago. These days she knows her big sibs are still up having fun … and she let her feelings be known, loudly.

So I brought her back to the living room and sang the better part of my Nana repertoire while rocking E. Soon enough she started to doze.

“Do you want to go to bed?” I asked.

“Yesss,” was the whispered reply.

G and P followed in turn … another successful babysitting job in the books.

The next day, Grace posted the most amazing photo …

which I thought she had taken herself until noticing the credit just now.

In any case, I thought Jude’s framed thread beads would be the perfect stitch solution. Except, I neglected to read that note-to-self when I started to stitch today.

Instead, I went on the hunt for cloth and thread …

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dyed by Deb of course.

Without a plan, and leaving the erasable marker capped, I stitched one circle freehand …

and then another and another …

I was amazed at, ummm, how circular they were … like enso. I pondered what to do next, but not wanting to draw attention away from them, I decided to stop.

They were enough … even if I did forget the thread beads.