Friday, May 15, 2020

Day 58 - Don't Be a Duck

I had to run out today to pick up a prescription. Thankfully Rite Aid now allows you to prepay for them online so the drive up pick up was a quick and painless transaction. But as usual, between the time I left my house and the time I returned, I witnessed behaviors of people indicative of us not all being in this together. Yeah, it's every man for himself out there.

So when I saw a bumper sticker speaking to me when I was sitting at the stoplight I had to take a picture. It's the round one on the left - the one that definitely doesn't say Don't be a duck. But it does say Don't be a d*ck. (Update: I found the sticker on Amazon here. It actually is quite cutely decorated.)
Dang I wish my phone took better pictures!
On a happier note...actually maybe more of a sadder note...Shutterfly occasionally sends emails reminding me of my memories from years ago. Here was today's emailed memory from six years ago, sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge on a cruise ship.
Someday again, I hope. Just not any time soon.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Day 57 - The Quilt Continues

I thought the hardest part of the “Timeless” quilt (AKA the Procrastination Quilt AKA the Fabric Headache Quilt) was behind me.

Over the last month I have:
Picked out all the fabrics.
Traced all the pattern pieces.
Ironed yards and yards and yards of fusible web onto the fabrics.
Cut out each individual fabric piece.
Ironed all the fabric pieces into their proper places.

It has been a huge undertaking and a very time consuming project. One requiring the utmost patience and persistence on my part. But now comes an even harder part - putting it together with a backing and some batting. Oh yeah, then there is the quilting that needs to be done.

Too bad I can’t just leave it as it is right now.  While not yet a true quilt it almost looks like one, doesn’t it?


Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Day 56 - Inconsistencies Will Be the Downfall

It was last week when I wanted to go back into hiding after one day's experience. I had been in the parking lot when Ed was in the medical clinic and watched an extraordinary number of people go in and out the doors with no face coverings and no observance of social distancing. That was followed up by a visit to the home improvement store to pick up some weed spray where, while waiting in line, I again watched and again saw numerous people ignoring social distancing recommendations. And very few masks. It was that day I was on the verge of wanting to stick my foot out as people walked by. I figured if someone was close enough to me to trip over my foot then they were too darn close and they deserved to fall. I came home never wanting to go into public again.

But then we did. We've been doing grocery pick-up since March but sometimes you want to be the one to pick out your own fruits and vegetables and not leave it to someone who doesn't care much about what your celery looks like. Having not been inside a grocery store since our weird visit day there back in March, it was time. So we headed to our local Winco grocery store this week and were pleasantly surprised. Most people with masks and plenty of social distancing. And even a group of young people without masks were being very considerate and moving their cart (and bodies) when around the rest of us older folks. Made me think maybe things will be okay.

Then came the doctor's appointment. They called us ahead of time, letting us know they aren't having patients wait inside the waiting room. Just call us when you arrive and we'll come and get you from your car when there is a room ready. Sounded like a great idea to us.

Until the receptionist came out to the car with the standard paperwork to fill out. On their clipboard with their pen. Did she drop off the paperwork and leave? Nope. She leaned into the car, talking us through it. With no mask on. Seriously, we are going to all this trouble and then someone working in a doctor's office isn't considerate enough to wear a mask when she's talking to us less than a foot from our faces? Grrr.

It's disheartening to see the inconsistencies happening around us. Yep, time to go back into hiding. With no more doctor appointments until next week, we'll stay right where we are. With us both being high risk we just can't, well, risk it with all these people and their behaviors.

The only good thing to come out of the appointment (other than Ed being good to go for two more years!) was the roses out in front of the car while I waited for him. I even captured the reflection in the car hood.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Make a Scrap Fabric Matching Game for Kids - Tutorial Tuesday

It's Tutorial Tuesday and today I have a project to keep your kids busy during this no-school pandemic times. It's an easy sew project using some of your fabric scraps.
Easy Homemade Fabric Matching Game for Children from Fabric Scraps


For this project you will need:
Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you sewing and crafting content.

You can find the step-by-step how to directions for this easy homemade scrap fabric matching game sewing project right here:

Monday, May 11, 2020

Day 54 - Mask Makin' Mama

Give this mama 30 minutes and she can pop out five face masks for her daughter who started back to work today.
For those interested in knowing which pattern I used, I went with my No Pleat Face Mask and added a nose wire like I did in the Pleated Face Mask with Nose Wire video.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Day 53 - On This Day


So today when no kids can hang out with their moms unless they are already quarantined together, I might as well pretend I’m on a cruise ship. Alcoholic drink in hand and flip flops off.

Happy Mother's Day to us all.


Saturday, May 9, 2020

Day 52 - Saturday Smorgasbord

Today was a smorgasbord of a day. Not food wise, but to-do list wise. I jumped from one random task to another.
In the order of completion, today I:
  • Unpacked the suitcase. When we came home from our February cruises we washed our clothes and proceeded to repack some of them. We even replenished our toiletry kit. We thought we would be heading right back out onto ships for several more weeks of warm weather cruises. That clearly didn't happen, and for some reason I just haven't been able to bring myself to unpack everything again. As we now have warm weather here some of the things in the suitcase were needed, and since there is no travel in the near future for us, it was time to empty it completely. Sad.
  • Cleared my sewing workspace of the fabric headache quilt. I've made some great progress on it, but I need to set it aside for a few days before I finish all the iron-on applique. Ugh.
  • Pulled multiple fabrics out of my baskets and texted photos back and forth to kiddo. Her store reopens on Monday and she needed some more face masks. She's been using the no-pleat one I made and likes it so much she wants more of the same style instead of using the store-provided masks. We now have five fabric choices, approved by her.
  • Cut up the box from my new lounge chair and put it into the recycling bin. The box was huge and the cardboard sturdy. It was a tough job.
  • Soaked up a generous amount of Vitamin D in said lounger.
  • Did a load of laundry and hung it on the clothesline outside.
  • Shaved both our heads again. Just like I did a couple weeks back, we went behind the shed and I used the clippers to cut our hair super short. No more waiting three months between haircuts in this house anymore.
  • Showered to remove loose hair.
  • Did another load of laundry to wash the hair out of the clothes and hung them on the clothesline, too.
  • Had another pizza picnic, this time from Domino's. And this time Ed even let us use the card table instead of having to share our tiny picnic ant TV tray.
  • Worked on figuring out some kind of flower decoration to go on the kitty cat wreath I made our daughter earlier this year. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with the flowers but I'm kind of liking the direction I'm heading with my practice pieces. 
A random but productive Saturday.