CONFESSIONS OF A QUILTER/SEWIST DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC

Well, here we are.  At home.  Some of us working from home, like myself, but it still leaves me personal time to do the other thing I love... work with fabric!  One Vlogist and tutorialist (I may have made up that word) that I love to follow is Karen Brown of "Just Get It Done Quilts" and she said "This is what we've all been training for."  And she's right!  I mean, unrestricted time in my sewing room, no interruptions, stay up as late as I like, as long as I can show up in my jammies for lessons on my laptop in the morning?  The first two weeks were free of teaching.  So, I had as much time on my hands as I have ever dreamed of... and yet... I was completely uninspired. Instead I spent my time cleaning out closets, the basement, I moved my sewing room to a larger guest room because... let's face it... we're not having visitors for a while.  I cleaned, sorted, organized, purged and finally landed in my sewing room and faced the reality of life at that moment.  I was scared!  Yes!  Never in my life have I lived through something like this.  So, I reached out to a person who I knew would have some perspective on this situation.  I spoke to my 89 year old father.  He lived through the depression and WWII, helped to rebuild a broken and bombed Europe and then returned home to the States to rebuild his own life.  He has known strife and uncertainty and lived to tell the tale. Judging from where he is now in life I know we will get through this pandemic, one way or another.  

However, I worry about what this will look like for the foreseeable future.  Short term, what will my summer and fall look like?  Will I go to my beloved gatherings in July and October?  When will I return to my job?  Will I have a job?  Or will we need to continue social distancing in some fashion?  Long Term, how will our economy survive?  How will the small businesses make it through?  How will people make ends meet?  So many questions.  Not to mention the worry over loved ones and the leaders of our communities and our country.  Again, Karen Brown offerred some comfort.  She lives and works in Canada and has lived through other situations very similar if not identical to the Covid 19 crisis.  Her words, "You just get through it!"  

After two weeks of purging my life I was asked by several people if I would make them and their families masks.  They were scared, and frankly, so am I.  Some believe these masks offer little to keep us safe but it really doesn't matter.  They keep you a little safer and a little is better than nothing.  I also had to use some engenuity and work with a few materials I don't normally work with in order to make the masks more efficient for some family members.  I like challenges.  Especially ones in which I feel I can surmount.  

I watched several... and when I say several I mean probably over 20, tutorials on the best ways to make a surgical mask.  I settled on two and made a mash up of one that suited my style of sewing and creating.  They have been a hit so far.  

I have been able to start things I had on the back burner, finish things I had in a waiting to finish pile and even begin to dream of upcoming projects that I might like to make.  What's on your Pandemic plate.  Post pictures in the comments and let's keep each other inspired.  

Sew Sweetness Tower Cross Body Bag, Free Pattern

Lily, my Sewing Room, everywhere I go, Pup

Sewspire Journal Tool Keeper - Free Tutorial

MASKS

Just Get It Done Quilts, Karen Brown's "Comfort Quilt for Ugly Fabric" quilt.  Mine are shades of blue in mostly Lotta Jansdotter fabric.  I don't think its ugly fabric but I wanted to make something that reminded me of delft, broken up into pieces.  Probably how I feel at the moment.