Good Friends/Fun Mail

My online friend and I were talking Barbie clothes and Harry Potter, and just having a great convo on IG.  As part of the conversation, I said I wished I had some Harry Potter fabric.  [I really don't know why I didn't buy some earlier, but I didn't.  I've been going through a phase where I'm trying to not buy more fabric.  (Don't ask how well that is going!)] And I don't remember whether it was the same convo or not, but this same IG friend mentioned the cutest HP social distancing shirt, and I decided that I really needed one to add to my teacher wardrobe. 

Anyway, I came home one afternoon, and there were not one but two wonderful packages on my favorite chair that had come in the mail  The first was an adorable mask made with Harry Potter fabric.  It's a different style than I make, but has the cutest Harrys, Rons and Hermiones on the front. 

Along with the mask was a wonderful selection of HP scraps.  I suddenly remembered that my school bag is nearly 6 years old and I really NEED to make a new one, and that these scraps would be perfect.  That naturally led to the conclusion that I must have more Harry Potter fabric.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much HP fabric to be had after the recent mask-making, fabric-buying Covid-19 frenzy, but I did find a few pieces, and my daughter found a few pieces at a Joann's store close to her.  She also apparently had a few pieces in her stash she offered to me but apparently forgot to bring.  But a plan for a new school bag is developing. 

The other package contained my new HP social distancing shirt.  LOOK at this shirt Susie (@crafty.like.a.slytherin) made.  It is so perfectly timely!  I had so much fun wearing this the first teacher day we had to spend actually at school.  Some of the other teachers actually did a true double take, and then laughed. 

Here's the original Educational Decree #31 but we all know that in the Covid era, 8 inches isn't nearly enough.

It came with the cutest note that made me smile. 

She even made me a tote bag from the outtake (or what I call the weeding) of the vinyl.  That was so very thoughtful.  I don't think this tote will hold up to the weight of bringing a million papers home every day, but it will be great for the beach or other outings. 

Then, this past Saturday, I received a most unexpected package of fabric from my friend Leona.  Leona was my very first swap partner, way back in the Flickr heyday.   A few years ago she often made trips to the Florida panhandle and we would meet often and talk sewing and quilting and family and whatever, but unfortunately she hasn't been able to come this way in awhile.  She said that she saw that I had done a lot of charity sewing and she wanted to help out with some fabric.  That was just so kind.

So it's been a great week or so for mail.  Thank you Liiani, Susie, and Leona.  I am very grateful for friends to take the time to think of others and brighten the world a little, especially in these stressful times.  I need to take more time to think of how I can lift others and make someone smile.  Yesterday, in our home church, we sang a Primary song that goes like this:

I want to be kind to everyone

For that is right, you see.

So I say to myself, "remember this:

Kindness begins with me."

Maskmaker, Maskmaker

So, here we are.  Spring 2020.  Covid-19.  Quarantine.  I've been making masks.  Masks and gowns.  Masks ad nauseum.  If you're a quilter, it is likely that you have made a few (or hundreds) also.  This seems to have been the theme for Spring 2020.  I see them everywhere.  On Instagram.  On FaceBook.  Everyone trying to help.  Everyone coming together to do a little something to help.

For me it started one morning during Spring Break while I was perusing IG as part of my morning ritual.  My niece is a doctor.  The morning  that the CDC said it was ok for medical professionals to wear scarves, bandannas, or whatever they had instead of the protective equipment they were used to, my niece posted that it was not OK.  That medical professionals needed protective equipment to stay safe themselves as they treated infected patients.  But there wasn't much left in the stockpile.  It had been used and not replaced.  My niece was aghast (really, weren't we all?)  She heard stories from her friends in Seattle and New York that they were using bandannas or t-shirts over their faces to protect them from getting this virus.  By that evening I had made my first mask.  So had my daughter.  She researched mask patterns on the internet and tested what she found.  As we talked, I decided that a 3-ply mask made of quilting cotton had a pretty good record of stopping particulates, was easy to make, and could be made from items we mostly had on hand.  We had no idea what this would become. 

Everyone who knows me knows that fabric is no problem in my world.  In fact, I had done the calculations and bought 12 yards of fabric, just to be sure I didn't run out.  (Like that could ever happen!)  My goal was to make 100 masks.  But I didn't really think to buy elastic.  So Saturday morning, when it was reported that elastic was also in short supply, I posted the problem on my FB page, and a friend asked if she could help.  She ended up doing the legwork, finding it in a local shop, with a limit of 20 yards per person.  She bought me 20 yards.  I sent my husband after 20 more, and ordered another 50 yards on eBay.  I started making masks in earnest.

On Sunday morning, a friend tagged me on FB in a group a wonderful lady had started a FB group to make masks for medical professionals here in Pensacola.  I was all in.  I invited everyone I knew who sewed, and kept sewing.  By the end of the week I had made more than 100 masks.

And then there were 200. 

I was well on my way to 300 when the mask maker's group put out a call for people to make masks for our hospitals from a fabric that was reported to filter 99% of particulates and could be autoclaved and re-used.  I signed up.  I made 100.  And then another 100.  And then a third 100.  The need was met.  We could stand down.

Or, we could join another group that was making hospital gowns for nursing homes.  I made gowns.

A dozen the first week.

And we got feedback.  People wore them.  They were helping!  I recognized some of the ones in this photo that were ones I had made!

So I made 10 more the next week. 

And then I had to take a week off.  My neck and shoulders couldn't handle the constant sewing. But the following week I made another 4.   And then somewhere in there I finished off the masks I had cut out.

My mother always said that busy hands were the antidote to a disturbed mind, and I find that to be true.  This quarantine and the situation with this virus are just so uncertain.  So, if I'm honest, I made masks and gowns to try and help, yes, but also to keep busy and not give my mind the chance to dwell on what's going on. 

And maybe, just maybe, it made a smidgen of difference to someone I don't even know.  I hope so.