>>>>

Wednesday, April 01, 2020

The Mess of Creativity -


Some days there isn’t a lot to share!

By the time I got back to the house from filling book/ruler orders at the QPO it was 4pm, with just a couple of hours before dinner to deal with what was in the above photo.

My plan?  To cut pieces to sew into units in that 2 hour span – making daily progress on our next round for the Unity Quilt Along.

Well, remember that thing called PUPPY!?

And while we were in a break between bouts of rain, we rain Zoey out hoping that she would settle into the evening hours.

Only, by 9:00 p.m. she was still so wound up we had to do it again.  In the dark.  With an umbrella. 

SO. MUCH. PUPPY!

And she has seriously been the best thing one could acquire when pandemicking from home.  Never a dull moment.

Zoey, come!  Zoey, Stay.  ZOEY!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!

It’s like having a toddler.


Some piles are here to the side of my cutting table.

I’m going to need to spend some time reorganizing because this quilt has turned into a frenzy of HURRY SEWING.  And we all know what happens with hurry sewing.

Mis-cuts, wrong fabrics, loads of seam ripping. And where is that rotary cutter?  There have to be at least THREE on this table, but can I find them?


Not here, but I found that bag of neutral strips!


AHA!

It’s a good thing that the aqua rotary cutter is the one at the QPO or it’s likely it would still be hidden under this pile of strips I’d been cutting from.

That little blue bin?  It is holding all of the trimmed off corners from Monday’s center.  I want to do something with those.  Even if I just border the label or something.

What did I get accomplished while potatoes were baking? (We did stuffed baked potatoes and salad for dinner – yummy! I baked a couple of extra potatoes with the batch and will do pan friend potatoes from those with another meal this week.)

CUTTING.  NO SEWING. Pieces laid out by the machine.  But no sewing.

Because???


This.

This 35 lb girl thinks she is still a lap puppy.

And I’m not going to make her realize otherwise.

This is comfort.

This is bonding.

This is love.

And it will all be okay.


I laughed about this all day long.

My little sister Mary (She’s 37 with 4 kids, but she will always be the baby sister!) sent a message saying the kids were singing “Bring back Aunt Bonnie to me, to me….”  I miss these kids!

I also really appreciate the busy moms who in the midst of all of this have taken on homeschooling (harder than raising a puppy!) their children to keep them current with the school year until school resumes after Summer break. 

What a job.  These moms are heros!

Other unsung heros:


From the Charlotte Observer:

Amid warnings of an impending shortage of protective equipment for medical staff, a Gastonia NC based textile company is organizing a national effort to ramp up production of face masks for healthcare workers.

Parkdale Mills Inc., one of the country’s largest yarn spinners, is working with companies like Hanesbrand, Fruit of the Loom, and six others to build a manufacturing supply chain for the masks, the National Council of Textile Organizations said in a press release.

The decision, according to NCTO, “heeds call of nation” to help. [source]

This makes me SO HAPPY.  I know it will take some time to get them into the places where they are needed most – but it’s a start.

And I hope it will continue.  Living in the south, it’s been really sad realizing that most of our once abundant and thriving textile industry has been moved overseas.  Where once many mills stood creating product and providing jobs and livelihoods – it’s been reduced to minimal over the past several decades.

I would love to see industry come back to our country so that we don’t find ourselves cut off from places that are unable to provide what we need.

Maybe it’s naïve of me to think this way – but putting all of our eggs in someone else’s basket gives the power to the basket holders. 

This is a wonderful thing.

Once at full capacity (in about four to five weeks) the coalition expects to produce up to 10 million face masks per week.

And the call for home made masks continues in the mean time, and I love the stories from around the country of quilters and sewists banding together to make colorful cheerful masks that although do not protect against Covid-19, are helpful and useful in many ways.

So please keep it up – we are in this for the long haul!


And next – it’s time to draw for the winner of the March 2020 Quilty Box!

This was a lovely box, and the projects are great!  For the more info, click to the original post.


Who is 621 of 4535 entries?


LeAnn Ryan!

Congrats, LeAnn – I have sent you an email to the address you provided with your entry.  Please reply with your mailing address so I can have the folks at Quilty Box get your prize off to you.  I hope this helps brighten your shelter-at-home time!

There will be more goodies coming soon so stay tuned.


Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Miracles are everywhere.

You just have to stop, pay attention and appreciate the little things.

Or the puppy things.

Will I get to sewing today? (It may be a miracle in itself!)

Enjoy your Wednesday, everyone!






















































22 comments:

  1. Thank you for the laugh. I also will be laughing all day. Yes we need to think more about what is made in America and not money, money, money. Experts in various fields have been warning about this for years along with the problems in the medical field in a pandemic. IT is time to start listening and take action.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah to the mill that is gearing up for mask making. My husband's first job was in textiles in Lowell, Massachusetts. Then a move to Maine to make wool for the fashion industry. I remember them switching the production line to make army blankets for some crisis at the time. He also spent time at a mill near Helen, Ga. He lived there during the gas crisis. So many mills closed, jobs & futures lost. It would be wonderful to bring that work back to the USA but not sure people are willing to pay the cost of made in th eUSA goods. Off to sew!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bonnie, I look forward to your blog every morning. It seems you can't read anything anymore without politics creeping in! I'm so tired of it. I know when I see your column I'm not going to be hit in the face with politics! I agree with bringing business back to America-----my husband and I owned and operated a clothing store for nearly 50 years (store actually ran for 97 years!) and it was always getting harder and harder to find American made goods. Give Zoey a tummy rub from me and I'll give our little rescue angel, Yoshi, a tummy rub from you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Keep on keep on in your Bonnie style. Love your daily blog. Hug that puppy tight! She's a delight!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good find, Bonnie! One of my rotary cutters was missing for MONTHS because I "put it in a safe place" after taking it to Quilt Bee. I needed scraps for a swap and searched my Small Bits Barrel. There in the middle was my long lost rotary cutter! It was SEW safe that I had forgotten to bring it out when I got home from Bee. LOL!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You and Zoey put a smile on my face. Thanks for the daily read; I thoroughly enjoy it. The masks on my sewing table are stacking up. Once I get the pleats in they are off to the local hospital. It feels good to be helping out. Thanks for all you do. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great to see how all of these companies are stepping up and doing things for the country. Shows what a great country we have.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your stories about your new puppy. We have a Chinese Crested that is a handful, very demanding. I've never seen a dog whine before but he does until he gets his way. I say he better be glad he's so cute or I would pinch his head off. Not really, I could never hurt one of my fur babies.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Haha, Bonnie, I love your canine toddler and your sweet bonding time. Fills my heart. She is obviously so happy and content (except for the goose poop or whatever the heck she ate!). As for the piecing time, just think of what you always say, it's not a race! Not even for you to stay ahead of us! So what if you have to bump the next step presentation out a day or a week??? It's not like we all don't have a zillion projects ourselves to work on. 😁❤🤣 love you, as always, and sooooo grateful.
    Sharon in Seattle

    ReplyDelete
  10. A couple years ago we had to do an insurance re-assessment. I told husband the value of the machines, rough estimate of tools and fabric. His shock was palpable and he needed heart surgery a month later! Side effect? No idea but he is fine now, maybe even better. My puppy is going on 2, at 75 lbs she is still a lap dog and still a wild and crazy girl, welcome to the club!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Don't ever kid yourself, a puppy that age IS a toddler! lol. And when you talk about moms homeschooling, don't forget the live-in grandmama's who are also taking up some of the extras and helping with the homeschooling, when they would rather be sewing!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the meme. Every day I strive to stop and smell the roses so to speak. We as a nation, have been so blessed. Giving thanks is good for the heart and soul. In my life, my greatest trials have been when I learned that “giving thanks” is the very best currency I have. Really enjoyed your post Bonnie.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Bonnie! Thank you for posting everyday,I look forward to it.I also want to thank you for the free patterns tab,I have started 3 of your scrap quilts,I like having several going at once,at this rate I may do every one on list lol.its a "pandemic"goal anyway!Thanks for the cheerful posts and God bless you! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love your puppy tales. I don't have a puppy for an excuse, but other to dos got my attention today. Also a nice walk in the sunshine while talking to my little sister on the phone. She's in NC and I'm in NM. We're both quilters, and it's fun when we can work on the same project. Hoping she can join in for Unity, but she's got a couple of pattern tests going on right now. So many projects, and for the most part, time to actually work on them.

    ReplyDelete
  15. It's very clear that Zoey owns you, as I'm sure Sadie did. We never own our pets - cats or dogs; they own us! They are so much a part of our lives.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Loved your fun little notice, and congratulations to LeAnn Ryan.
    I think it’s wonderful that these companies are stepping up to produce the protective items that are so desperately needed.
    Keep safe
    Love and quilty hugs
    Anne xxx

    ReplyDelete
  17. aquí ayudando en lo que se puede. Mi grupo hemos estado confeccionando batas para el Hospital. Es lo que necesitaban y se hace. Mientras se pueda debemos ayudar.
    Gracias por compartir esas vivencias con el cachorro, me hace feliz, y todos los trabajos. Mi Patch me mira pidiendo salir, y no puede ser, lo bajo dos veces al día a dar una vuelta, y nosotros necesitamos compañía y charla, pero él también va buscando a la gente que normalmente le dice cosas y cuando vamos para casa no esta muy conforme. Un saludo a todos y "QUEDATE EN CASA", ASÍ SALDREMOS DE ESTA.

    ReplyDelete
  18. congratulations to the wonderful winner of the box!!
    I would love to have everything made in our own country. It would make people feel useful and not dealing drugs and boozing (or maybe just less) and so many other reasons we need to make our own stuff.
    I enjoyed looking at your fabric explosions. I have the same problem and also "misplaced" my rotary cutters (I have two)
    I love Zoey. They are only puppies for a while.
    I have a 3 year old cornish rex girl kitty and she is actually still quite wild, but has calmed down. Much of it is their silly little brain adjusting to the routine, and sort of like being at at theme park. haha
    As we did with our kiddos, we are the boss. I also have a kitty on my lap, and that is when hubbs has to get things for me
    Stay well, Bonnie

    ReplyDelete
  19. My daughter is a nurse and where she works they have been given a single N95 mask to use for the duration of the pandemic. Well, how do you keep the mask clean when having to wear it again, and again, and again - fabric masks that are washable and go over the N95 masks, that's how. Glad to be able to help keep our medical personnel safe. Sew on!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I like the quote of the day! I had a hole in one on Tuesday! that was a small miracle. Please don't hate on me. Our Governor said golf courses were an essential business so they remain open and I am grateful. let me explain, we leave the pin in and the cup has been made shallow so we don't have to touch anything but our ball, the rakes hav been removed from the bunkers, we are able to stay 6ft apart for social distancing. So I golf and when I'm not golfing I'm sewing masks Over a 100 so far. And still sewing.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm afraid that the mighty $ and the stockholders have taken over our companies. That's why so much of our industry is no longer in the United States. It's cheaper and they can show that the margin of profit for the shareholders is higher. I agree, let's get our companies back on U.S. soil so that we can still be self-sufficient and not completely reliant on other countries.

    ReplyDelete
  22. So glad to hear about the companies making masks. I am sewing them as fast as I can but it's mighty slow going.

    ReplyDelete

If you are commenting as "anonymous" please leave your name at the end of your comment.

Did you know that ad space on this blog provides for all of the free patterns and free mysteries and challenges at no cost to you? Without ads, this blog would not be possible.

Thank you for understanding the many hours that go into this blog 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. :)