scrub caps

Since I have been back, life has been none stop.

The sharpening bus is being used even though it is not quite finished.  We did a farmer's market yesterday and one will be done today.  We purchased a bus that had a handicap lift in it.  That thing is wonderful for moving grinders!

I am off to Minneapolis at the end of this week.  All the grinders for scissors and clippers are here.  I am going to learn how to sharpen them all!  The one thing I am kind of excited about is fish hooks.

Part of non-stop is trying to get all the face masks I have been requested to make made.  Family is realizing they need more.  I understand this because I do not step outside home without one.  Even sometimes in my own yard.  It is just about having enough not to have to do laundry every day.  I am also still getting Etsy sales for them.  Other people feel the same way.  One of my customers puts them by the front door so they are all over her neighborhood.

My Beloved had a dental appointment once we got back.  His face mask was commented on and he was asked if I could make scrub caps with room for pony tails.  So I did.  The feedback on these were that they worked well and also the button to attach a face mask was nice.  I have those on Etsy too now.

Not what I though I would be sewing but it is what I am doing.  I have decided that coaching ice skating in Houston right now is not wise.  Being at my sewing machine is much wiser.  I keep hoping I will be able to plant dye, ecoprint, or embroidery some face masks.  Maybe for me?  But my me moments currently are about making myself a cardigan.  Thinking Ladys' of the Canyon style (Joni Mitchell).  But I also want a barn jacket/field jacket like that. 

And I am babbling again.  I have been sharing my computer since the stay at home order started.  Also, for the knife business.  Maybe I will also have to and inspiration to post more.  I do not find face masks or scrub caps very inspiring to me to write about very often but they are my days.

Went to Washington, came back to more face masks

We went to Washington to be with my Dad.  It has been about two months since I saw him.  He is doing okay enough for where life has him.  It is hard to be okay after my Mom's death.  But he likes having us.  We go different places then he normally does and there are people in the house.  I liked having my Beloved and Koda Bear with me. 

My Dad does better with boys around.  And the first day there I had food poisoning.  I slept most of the day and it was not until evening before I could really drink and eat.  Having the boys there helped or my Dad would have been very worried.  I did get checked on the whole day but most of the time I was so out of it I did not even notice.

The boys worked with my Dad on things that needed to get done.  Trees were pruned.  A tree was cut down.  The back steps were replaced.  A lot of chess was played.  School work was done.  Not very different from what happens at home.

We did get up to the mountain twice.  My Dad came up with us the first time.  He actually climbed up into the loft to sit in my rocking chair.  Watching your 91 year old father climb a ladder is scary!  I clipped back blackberries and went for a ramble with Koda Bear.

The second time we were up there more work was done.  My Dad decided not to come with us.  I worked with the scythe until my shoulders said to be careful.  The boyos weed whacked and cut down more trees.  The trees were dead or dangerous so they did need to go.  Definitely a theme of tree cutting for this trip. 

Maybe next time I can lobby for the covered picnic area we are planning.  Walls and fireplace will be included so short humans could sleep there if they wanted.  Or if we have more then just the normal count.  I am going to experiment with a rocket stove and a thermal mass bench in that space.  Being able to sit out in the snow with a warm bottom could be pretty fabulous.

While we were up in Washington, I decided I needed a hat to travel home in.  I get cold on planes.  The hat helped.  It also helped that I could crochet at my picnic table while the boyos wandered.  Lots of tramping went on.  

I found on the mountain that I did not suffer from anxiety when planes flew over.  It is part of the flight path from Canada to the US and beyond.  Which was pretty wonderful after everything that has gone on.  My lungs eased.  I could breathe easily.  It has not been true since I have gotten back.  Planes and breathing are difficult.

I got back and I had more face masks to make.  I have a feeling that it is part of the new normal.  I just read an article where Texas is the number 1 state for risk of COVID19 numbers to rise rapidly.  Second wave.  It does not surprise me at all.  More face masks.  More hand washing.  More staying at home.  Though I really wish to go surfing, camping, and walking in the mountains.  Walking helps.  For whatever reason, working on the computer is hard.  Maybe that will change.

face masks with pockets

My life revolves around the sewing machine.  The place I was going to volunteer with is making wonderful shields and a few medical masks but they could not source enough medical materials for all of us to use.  That was about the time that the suggestion was made for everyone to wear a mask.  They said "sew for family and friends."  Which I have been doing. And I have been sewing for my shop.

The Tall Short Person has a good friend that needs a mask for work that can hold a filter.  I looked at the patterns for those and my brain was not working this morning.  I finally worked it out and decided to modify my already modified pattern.  The two I needed to make went together much easier then I expected.  I expected them to be much harder.  

I am going to need to resize them a bit but maybe not.

I know I am not in this space much.  I walk.  I feed people.  I clean.  I teach.  I sew.  When my hands are already done, I crochet a few stitches.  Then I start it again the next day.  I am trying to be kind to my body and get more yoga in but not so far.  It is all about sewing masks.  That is okay because that it is what is needed right now.  

I do have a funny story about bread but that will have to wait for another day.  I hope to have a few moments to breathe soon.  And sometime soon I want to go camping and I want to go the the Georgia O'Keefe museum/gallery.  That was on my list for this spring.

more face masks

My life right now appears to be revolving around making face masks.  The place I was volunteering with has had problems sourcing materials and then the CDC said everyone should be wearing a face mask.  I am making fabric masks for family, friends, and in my Etsy shop.  The pattern keeps getting tweaked due to face shapes and better fits.  

But my life seems to fit quarantine and staying at home.  I could even do with more solitude.  What helps to keep me sane is a walk a day.  Face mask and hat is a requirement.  If we are under house arrest, that walk a day will be greatly missed.  Maybe just more outside is needed.

I did find that I cannot watch a drama that has an earthquake and rescue in it currently.  Or maybe ten minutes at a time.  My chest gets very tight.  

I am also finding words hard.  But the family is digging up the yard so I have pulled out seeds.  Bread gets made.  Dinner at home.  School on computers, both second grade and college.  I am at my sewing machine a lot.  I wrote on Instagram I am thinking of making myself a dress that I can ecoprint and dye.  Do I need a dress?  No.  Do I need the creativity?  Yes.

I am going to make camping happen when I can.  I also want to go to the Georgia O'Keefe musuem.  Something I was going to do this month but not happening now.  

Everyone stay sane and healthy.  Let me know if I can help.

neutrals

I have been thinking about making dresses out of neutral colored fabrics I have had in my stash for some time.  I do not need any more clothes so why?  I do not know but I figure it is better to make them out of something I have then going shopping.  

Two of the fabrics were going to be shirts for my Beloved.  But they were purchsed at a different point in his life.  White really does not work for him.  They were soft so I have had my eye on them for a while.  The third was purchased from Ragfinery.  My Dad calls it a rags shop.  Thrifted fabric and clothes.  He is right.

I just wanted A-line dresses.  Not cut as wide as I normally cut them.  Something that I can wear all over the place, whether it is over leggings or tights.

I admit to not liking any of the pictures I got of me in them.  They are a style that looks good on me.  But pictures do not do them justice.  I need to be living in these dresses.

One of the things I tried with a couple of them are overly long sleeves.  I cut the sleeve an extra half inch wide but made it so it fell to my finger tips.  I am quite pleased.  They fit well under my sweaters.  Better then a three quarter length sleeve.  

One of the other things I like about working with a neutral fabric is that when I want to, they can become another color.  They will not stay white for the duration.  But then the dresses I make seem to last for years.  Which is why I have so many clothes.  Dresses that last for ten years or more are the norm in my wardrobe.  I am very good about making things that are the styles I wear.

I do have a longer dress shape cut out as well.  Two more of those to go.  Not quite so neutral but I have been leaning towards greys and blues.  I will need to see how those turn out.