Happy Easter

Hoping the Easter Bunny hopped down the trail to your house today.

First Homemade Face Mask

I used Dee Mallon's tutorial deemallon.com to make my first fabric fabric face.  She did an excellent tutorial, very easy to follow.  I'm really pleased with it.  Now I need to make a couple for my sister and brother-in-law (by request :) ).  I found the no-sew t-shirt face mask tutorial after I made this one.  So I will give that a try to.  It looks like it would be really comfortable.  (Tutorial for t-shirt mask in previous post, by permission)

Easy and Fast No-Sew Mask by Linda McDermott

Easy and Fast No-Sew Face Mask

T-Shirt material is one of the recommended materials for making homemade face masks. To save money, clean old t-shirts work just as well as new ones. Making your own face masks will free up supplies for the medical community.

Start your mask with a piece of paper that measures 9” x 6 1/2” (or 9 1/2”x7” for extra large)

Fold the t-shirt and place the 9” side on fold.

After cutting through both sides of the t-shirt you will end up with two pieces. When you UNFOLD them they will each measure 9”x13”, see next photo, to make two masks. Washing the mask after wearing is recommended, or putting it aside for a few days, so having 2 or more masks on hand helps to have a clean mask available.

An unfolded piece that measures 9”x13”.

Refold the rectangle piece so each 9” end falls in the middle and overlaps about 1/4”-1/2”. This will be the inside of the mask.

Pinch and snip a small slit close to the edge like this. Make 6 small slits or holes on each side about 1/4”-1/2” from each edge.

Snip with tips of scissors.

Notice the little slits on both sides.

Cut out two narrow strips 11” long for ear straps.

Place the mask right side up and run the strips through the slits like this.

Gather the mask edges like this and tie a knot on each end of the ear straps.

And you’re done!

If you want to add a filter for extra protection, there is an opening on the back to slide in a piece of coffee filter or paper towel.

Cut filter like this.

This is for demonstration only. Make it as snug as you feel comfortable.

If you want to use the graphics on your t-shirt, cut it like …

Place the 9”x 6 1/2” pattern next to the collar and fold t-shirt.

Or cut out a full 9”x13” rectangle and proceed like the other mask.
You can also use this size paper to make the masks instead of the 9” x 6 1/2”.

When you fold and overlap the two 9” edges, like the other mask, the edges will be higher up so most of the graphic will show in front.

Done!
Remember to wash your hands before removing your mask or touching your face. Wash hands.
And don’t touch your face.
Good luck and be safe.

Updated 4/1/20 with correct size on first photo and other clarifications. Also, this is a standard size I thought would work for most. Make any size adjustments to best fit you. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

"The Time To Be Slow" John O'Donohue

I'm trying to do some slow stitching every day.  Even if only for a few minutes, a few stitches.  I have pieced backgrounds for two small quilts, but that's as far as I've gotten with sewing fabric together.   My mind is like a butterfly flitting from one flower (thought) to another.  I have no idea what day I'm on most of the time, or what day it should be.  Took me quite a while this morning to realize it is Sunday. The unreality, the dislocation, the inability to focus... I'm sure I'm not the only one in this time of 'stay home' Covid-19 days that's dealing with this.  

Woke to Marlee trying to burrow under me because we were having thunderstorms.  Now the winds are really wreaking havoc, ahead of a cold front.  We've had a couple of days with temperatures in the upper 70s and 80s, it brings to mind the recurring thought that this is shaping up to be a really strange Summer.  Even those temperatures are strange for this time of year here.  We have some more daytime temps of 50s and 60s coming up after today, with upper 30s for a few nighttime temps.  Seesawing, just like my thoughts.  

This is the time to be slow, 
Lie low to the wall 
Until the bitter weather passes. 

Try, as best you can, not to let 
The wire brush of doubt 
Scrape from your heart 
All sense of yourself 
And your hesitant light. 

If you remain generous, 
Time will come good; 
And you will find your feet 
Again on fresh pastures of promise, 
Where the air will be kind 
And blushed with beginning.

John O'Donohue (From Benedictus)

First Day of Spring

I really didn't think life could get any stranger than this last year (2019) was for me. I was wrong. These days are really, REALLY strange---and scary. Marlee and I are knee deep in fabric and 'social distancing', 'staying at home' for my protection and every one else out there. I try to be fully present to all that each of these days hold, no matter how desperate and dire the news is with each new day.

“Oh my God, what if you wake up some day, and you’re 65, or 75, and you never got your memoir or novel written; or you didn’t go swimming in warm pools and oceans all those years because your thighs were jiggly and you had a nice big comfortable tummy; or you were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing that you forgot to have a big juicy creative life, of imagination and radical silliness and staring off into space like when you were a kid? It’s going to break your heart. Don’t let this happen. Repent just means to change direction — and NOT to be said by someone who is waggling their forefinger at you. Repentance is a blessing. Pick a new direction, one you wouldn’t mind ending up at, and aim for that. Shoot the moon.”

- Anne Lamott

It's Been A Year Since

Randy died.  What a strange year, full of extreme changes in my life, it has been.  I'm still quite numb, and still slowly finding my way in a new landscape.  I am beyond grateful for all of the loving support I've received over this year, debts that can never be repaid. 

Marlee and I are well.  Needless to say, I don't know how I would have made it without my Marlee.  She has been, and is, my main anchor.  She keeps me from drifting totally away on these seas of uncertainty.  What does one do without a little four-legged to keep one on some sort of daily routine?  She is definitely a creature of habit. 

I still have my love of fabric, but I haven't been able to focus long enough to really do anything with it.  I still pick up pieces, and lay them down again.  I hope to be able to gradually find my way back to playing in the fabric.

It's unbelievable to me that we are heading into Spring 2020.  We are having 60s temperatures all of this week, and the Daffodils and Forsythia are in bloom.  I'm focused on embracing each day as it comes, one day at a time...

Heart-broken

This is the hardest, most surreal post I have ever had to make.

My beloved husband, Randy, died on February 26, 2019.  I am totally lost.

December 30th Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

So, today marks 25 years of our commitment to each other.  The last four years for have been a kind of turbulent that I could never have imagined, and especially this year that is drawing to a close.  Dissension and hostility on both parts have marked this last few days.  R will be released from Rehab on Thursday, with home health.  He was seen and treated at Wound Care by Dr. Greenfield who is a wound care specialist, but is also a thoracic surgeon.  He did surgically removed dead tissue from all of the wounds, but did what I call an excavation on one of the wounds on R's left foot, and ordered that he have a Wound Vac attached.  He does have cellulitis in both feet.  We have no idea how long he will have this device attached to this wound, but I've been even more insistent that we stay in Kingsport at least for the 4-6 weeks that Home Health Nurses will be coming, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  He's insisting that he is going home---with or without me.  I have told him to go---and let me know how that is working out for him.  Total Impasse.  Happy Anniversary.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Wishes, everyone!

R Update

Tomorrow will be a week that R has been in the rehab facility.  He will be staying there until January 3.  Yes, Christmas and New Year's.   It seems he takes one step forward and 3 steps back.  He felt really bad yesterday and today.  He had a  couple of days when his legs weren't so swollen and weeping.  The wounds are slowly healing , but today his legs were weeping really bad again and he's very swollen.  I'm sure they will have to give him lasix again, and that will put more strain on his kidneys.  I feel so bad for him, and sad, and I'm trying so hard to keep his spirits up.  He's depressed over being there, and especially so because of the holidays.  He becomes very frustrated by all of it, and especially his inability to get his legs to work.  He said they feel like he has weights attached to them.  Between the cellulitis and the renal failure,  his body is having to fight so hard.  He's a very sick man, and this is such a vast, scary landscape that we find ourselves in. 

Update

R was finally transferred to the rehab facility yesterday evening .  He was surprisingly compliant with the move.  I think he is in the right place for him as they have skilled nursing, wound care, and three hours of physical therapy a day.   However, I'm as concerned about his mental abilities now as the other physical issues.  He seems more like himself earlier in the day,  but day draws into evening it's almost like he has sun downers syndrome.  So scary.  He qualifies for a 20 day stay under Medicare. 

Marlee and I are still with my sister, but had cleaners in the rental house yesterday,  and we started taking a few necessities in today.  We may spend our first night there tomorrow night. 

Really? It's December 12th? Really???

R has been in the hospital in a city an hour away from our home since Monday, December 3.  He is still in the hospital, and will be transferred to a physical therapy rehab facility tomorrow.  He may be there 3 days or 3 weeks.  I am hoping and praying for the longest time possible in hopes that he will recover some of his physical body strength, and that his open wounds will completely heal with the help of daily wound care and long-term antibiotics.  He has a yeast infection (candida) which the doctor says is hard to get---and hard to heal.  He also has a form of a strep infection, but not the kind associated with strep throat.  He has a bacterial infection in the wounds on his feet and right leg.  He is very weak, and is extremely wobbly in trying to walk on his own.  He is definitely a fall risk.  I am so relieved that I can't even put it into words that he will be cared for by professionals for some period of time.  I am emotionally and physically drained to the point of being functional, but just barely.

I have been at one of my sisters' houses in the same city that the hospital and rehab facility are located in. She has been pampering me and nurturing me and giving me tender loving care.  We got 10" of snow this past Sunday.  It snowed ALL DAY.  I was so relieved to be here at my sister's since we were snowed in on Monday.  Marlee and I have been here since last Wednesday (December 5) and will be here until this Friday (December 14) when Marlee and I will go to a house that we own as a rental property that is vacant right now.  We will make this our camp base for the time that R is in this city.  After R is released from the rehab facility, then we will have to make some decisions about where we will be for the next 3 winter months.  He wants to return to our remote (location) home...me, not so much.  I'm afraid I will need help with him that may not be able to get to us because of possible inclement weather and the horrendous road we live on.

So, this is where we are right now.  Just Going....One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, making each decision as it arises...