Random Acts of Mail Delivery Kindness!

This arrived yesterday, with no return address.

When I picked up the box, along with all of the other routine package deliveries I knew I didn’t order this -

No return address other than the company that shipped it.  Little note on the enclosed invoice, but no name as to who sent it – in fact, I think they ran out of the alloted number of letters they could use because the message was cut off. 

Maybe there was a name – but it got cut off too by the limited number of characters?

This beautiful color – and the words on the front.  it couldn’t have come at a better time.  Thank you so much for thinking of me and sending me this bit of cheer right when I needed it.  All of these words are reminders of things that keep us putting one foot in front of the other, day by day by day.

These are the things that will see us through.

I was having kind of an emotional morning – in the privacy of the QPO, just me and the cats.  No one would have been aware of the struggle within. 

And it is the same struggle that we are ALL having.  I worry about my son in Portland.  He is kind of a basket case as his work has stopped for now.  He is an Uber/Lyft driver.  And I applaud his decision to stay off the road for the next couple of weeks as Covid 19 blows through.  But he has bills to pay and is worried about catching things on grocery runs, etc.

I wished he could just get on a plane and come home and shelter here.  But he can’t.  Because he could spread something, catch something, bring it to us. He has to stay put.

Cat care package with some fabric for their mama!

This box came from Susan, and I quickly sent her off an email thanks – how nice is it that even the kitties are being thought of and cared for by others.  And that packing “material?” Perfect!

All of this – just ALL of this – had me spending part of my afternoon doing something that up until yesterday I really didn’t have time to do because of, well – PUPPY.  And getting mail order out.  And MORE PUPPY.  and our Unity Quilt Along Part 2 needing to go live yesterday.

I started in on mask-making.

For my sons.  Because I love them.

And I worry about them being out there, as mothers do.

A message from the Czech Republic to us.

This one has gathers on the side -

It has one long halter type strap that goes through casings on the sides..

Video tutorial:

I didn't have the soft laundry cord, so I simply cut 1 1/2'' strips and pressed those 1/4'' in on each side, and then folded the whole thing in half and stitched it.

Had I been home – I would have made cording from a recycled tee shirt.

Things I liked about this mask:

Size adjustable for family members.

Nothing to buy like elastic. (Fabric ties)

Easier to sew with no pleats (ties go through side casings to gather and form fit to face.)

This one has a filter pocket and 3 layers of fabric because of how the filter opening is made.

No nose wire because I don't know how those will wash/dry.

Running out to buy supplies is not an option.  There is no Michaels or Joann store anywhere near – closest ones are 1 to 1 1/2 hours drive away.  I have no floral wire, no pipe cleaners, no twist ties, nothing on hand that would do the job of a nose wire.

Is a nose wire necessary if the nose pads on my glasses holds the fabric in place?

Hey – I have that double-stick poster tape for seam guides! LOL!

As to the “My glasses fog up” problem.  I use an anti-fog glasses spray regularly so fogging isn’t a problem.

And while I cut and sewed – this was going on behind the scenes!

You didn’t really need this invoice box right away, did you mom?

This one fit well.

It’s large enough for manly sized faces.

There is a loop that secures behind your neck (See video) and the ties come up through the side casings to tie over your ears behind your head.

It fit snuggly against my cheeks, no gaping.

I wore this one to the grocery store because I was out of milk and other fresh items that needed to be replaced. 

Parking lot less than half full.

This is a good sign.

There were minimal customers in the store, but only ONE of them wearing a mask. None of the clerks are wearing masks either.

After the grocery store I ran to the end of the strip mall and went into Dollar General for some things that the grocery store did not have.

Both clerks there were wearing masks. Hooray!

I was told, however, that they have to supply their own masks if they want to wear one.

Here are these clerks in the front lines of humanity working because they are deemed "essential" and because they need their jobs to make ends meet but the company who profits from their labor is not protecting them.

I have watched and looked at nearly 100 different tutorials for mask making.

Some are more difficult than others.  Some may have a greater protection rate than others. Some require difficult to find materials.

Sometimes it's enough to make you want to throw your hands in the air and say why bother when they then tell you that they won’t prevent you from catching Covid-19 and will only provide minimal protection?  #dothis #dontdothat #notthatway #doitthisway

And the answer comes:

Because anything is better than nothing.

And so I will continue.  Maybe just one or two a day to give out as I see a need.  The USPS driver.  The postmaster in the local post office.  The FedEx driver.  The UPS driver.

And I still don’t know which ones are best – and I’m tired of the voices telling me “Do it this way, that one is no good, wrong fabric, use this instead”

This beautiful pink blooming tree was in the parking lot.

It has no idea that all of this is going on. It just follows its own instinct and blooms.

I tried this one last night.  It was faster – but I needed to make it larger for my boy’s faces.  I ended up using  a rectangle 9’’ x 18’’ so I could get 2 from a fat quarter.

And those of you out there saying “But it needs to be 2 different fabrics so they don’t put the outside side against their face!”…Well, the filter pocket opening will let you know which is the inside.  Or make an X on the wrong side with a sharpie as a reminder.

(Sorry, the stress is getting to me and I just typed out a bunch of snarky, took a deep breath and deleted it.)

And I cut up a tee shirt to make the ties:

This shirt had no side seams, so each cut was a loop which made it easy to pull and stretch after cutting and before trimming to length.

Cut 1’’ strips across the body of the shirt. Pull tightly to stretch the strips into soft curled cording.  I made 3 masks with this cording last night, and this is still the pile left over for more.

I cut my strips 17’’ in length after measuring what needs to go around The Hubster’s big head.  LOL. 

Blue Batik from our recent Quilty Box!

Things about pleats.  They are fiddly.  But instead of all of this measuring and pinning and pinning and measuring, I found I could easily free-hand fold 3 pleats, pin them in place (No wonder-clips – they made it harder!) and sew.

They don’t have to be perfect. This isn't couture sewing! You can eyeball it after doing a couple with the fiddly pin method.  It gets easier.

My preferred machine to use?  The Singer 201 with the walking foot for the pleat sewing.  The 301 did okay, but boy, that is a lot of layers.

I may experiment on this one farther – I liked how the top mask in this post had a halter loop for your neck and one tie above the ears.  If I can add simple casings to the sides of this mask, I might try to hybrid the two together.

As far as filters go – you can use non-woven interfacing, wash and cut up a non-woven reusable shopping bag, use blue non-woven shop towels, even a used dryer sheet will filter.  So will a couple pieces of paper toweling.

Vacuum bags scare me.  Filters are made with fiberglass and you don’t want to breathe that.  Seriously.

And there are all other kinds of advice and know-hows out there to tell you what to do and how to do it – and tell you what not to do and how not to do it making you feeling like you are a complete idiot (which I do.)

And most of all – I sewed masks last night.  And I let the tears fall that we are even having to do this AT ALL.  And then I turned it around and poured on the gratitude because we CAN do this.  For ourselves, for our families, for our loved ones -

And maybe for the cashiers at Dollar General because they are trying to make ends meet and masks are hard to come by.

And just maybe some cheery fabric ones won’t look so scary as we get used to this new normal.

Today – same as yesterday.  Mail order out, working on round 3 of our Unity Quilt Along, and making more masks!

And we keep on keeping on!

We have to continue to do something to make the most of social distancing!

I have placed my stock of Addicted to Scraps on deep deep discount at just $15.99 (regularly $27.95) and it comes with a free PDF pattern download for my Wanderlust table runner!

If you've been waiting for this book - now is the time. Put your stash to good use while you retreat away at home.

You'll find it in the Quiltville Store along with other goodies you may want to add to your cart - check the NEW category to see what else we've added.

And please let me add my thanks here for keeping my small business running. It is making a huge difference in the lives of my family.

Stay informed, take precautions, stay home, stay safe!

Wash wash wash your hands!

Quiltville Quote of the Day

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that." - Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

Be the light for someone who needs it.

Light may be found in the mask you give, the phone call you make, the encouragement you offer, the laughter you share via video chat, the text you send, the email with photos.

Be the light - it will light you as well!

Happy Tuesday -