Finally!

 I'm finally feeling like I'm accomplishing something!

Granddaughter Eva requested some new face masks, and I made her six this weekend: 2 green/blue, 2 green/yellow, and 2 blue/yellow. I decided to make a slightly different style this time, using a box pleat instead of three regular pleats. I found it much easier to finish, and Eva likes the look. I think I may make a few with box pleats to wear to school!

I also finished the pillowcases for my lavender eye pillows, something I really thought I'd finish two weeks ago. Better late than never!

Yes, I've been tatting...

I just don't seem to have accomplished much!

I'm working on a cross bookmark for my friend Irene. I had it about half done when I realized I'd forgotten a ring and chain section at the beginning of the second arm. I'm working in size 40 thread, and I could have untatted it all, but I didn't. I snipped it off and started over!

I'm still working on round 5 of Tat-a-Renda's Harmony doily. This round is so simple, but I keep mixing myself up!

I'm also test tatting an Ice Drop pattern for Lynne Urwin. I would have it finished, but I have lost my place in the pattern several times... not Lynne's fault. I just got distracted! Sometimes it doesn't pay to try and do two things at once!

School colors

Granddaughter Eva started her college classes today. Her school colors are blue and gold, and she requested some face masks. Those are cut out and ready for sewing, but I decided to start with tissue holders. They're fast and easy to make, and I'm sure she'll need a tissue every once in a while!

The mad monk

Last week pretty much got away from me. The start of the school year is like that, and I'm in a different role this year... something new to try out!

Friday afternoon I finished the pillowcases for my lavender eye pillows, or so I thought! Apparently, I've lost my ability to count. I only made one pillowcase for each pillow, and I had promised two. I did get the new batch of pillowcases cut out, but that's as far as it goes.

On Saturday, Mom and I did laundry, delivered produce from the garden to daughter Carol, went to JoAnn Fabrics for three yards of muslin, and then ate lunch with Carol. Whew!

When we got home, Mom took a nap and I helped Dave freeze green beans. There just was no energy left for any kind of crafting.

My brother David came to visit today. He arrived late morning, and we had quiche for brunch. I am really enjoying making and eating quiche again. I can't imagine why I stopped making it years ago. I guess it was no longer the trendy thing to make.

I finally got around to a little crafting after dinner tonight. I had forgotten to make Carol's mask with the mad monk, Rasputin. I'll deliver it tomorrow, and then she can spin her tale of how she was born on the steppes of Russia. It's a long story, and totally fictional!

Sewing in the dark

Today was a great first day of school! Most of the kids seemed happy to be back, and everything went very smoothly.

With they hybrid model our school district is using, I'm able to get home by about 12:30. Mom and I had a quick lunch, and then we headed to Kankakee so that she could register to vote. That also went smoothly, and then we hit a rough patch... a really rough patch! I was trying to show Mom around the area and I wound up driving through two slow areas of road construction (slow by small town standards) and a long stretch of country road that was being re-graveled. My car was a dusty mess!

Mom and I chose to drive to a car wash and then do some grocery shopping. By the time all was said and done, it was almost time to start supper. I did a little sewing, but not much.

After dinner, Mom and I sat on the porch for a while, just enjoying the sounds of the cicadas and the traffic going by. When we went in, I decided to finish the first part of sewing my lavender eye pillow pillowcases. Tomorrow, I plan to zig zag, trim corners, turn, and press. Then they'll be ready for delivery!

Getting ready!

Students come back to school tomorrow! It's hard to believe that this classroom hasn't been used for five months. The teacher who left really had the room in pretty good shape, but there were a few things left behind that needed to be taken care of. I spent some time in the classroom trying to make it a little more cheerful. So much has been cleared out to make it easier to keep the rooms sanitized.

Our school colors are green and gold, and I happened to have some fabric left from setting up daughter Carol's room 15 years ago.

The bulletin boards really don't have much on them right now, but I hope to add a little more interest in the coming weeks. I'm very excited to see the kids again!

When I arrived home, Mom and I had lunch together. While Mom was napping, I re-did my seating charts and took care of a few household tasks I had been putting off doing.

After dinner, I prepared the pillowcases for my lavender eye pillows. They're all ready to sew!

Nothing to show again

I'm so sorry faithful readers, but I have nothing to show.

Mom and I spent Saturday morning cleaning. Daughter Alison and my sister Janet came to visit Saturday afternoon.

Sunday I spent in bed with a sinus headache. I'd really like to find a way to avoid them!

Today was back to school day. I'm a long-term sub this year for high school science: Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, and Biology 2. I'm not actually teaching. I'm simply monitoring students while they take their coursework online. I did have to dust off my computer skills to create seating charts for each of the classes. I'm amazed at how much I've forgotten through four years of retirement!

I hope to get back to having some fun tomorrow!

Special request

Daughter Carol requested some special face masks made out of fabric she purchased last year from Spoonflower. These fabrics truly reflect Carol's personality! She has loved Claude Monet ever since I can remember. She's also a big fan of Queen Elizabeth I.

Carol teaches AP European History, and the French Revolution is one of her favorite topics. Yes, there are two Queen Elizabeth I masks!

I was able to make two different looking face masks out of the same piece of fabric. Carol is also a big Jane Austen fan. She requested that Pride and Prejudice be front and center. I was happy to comply!

Carol also loves teaching about the Victorian Era, so I'm not surprised that she chose this fabric with old fashioned bicycles and street lamps.

Mom and I delivered the masks today. As Carol was going through them, I realized I hadn't made her Rasputin mask. It's possible that I had a mental block about making that mask. I think Rasputin is one of the creepiest figures in history. However, I will make the mask because it is what Carol wants.

I hadn't touched my Pastoral Lace Knit Shawl in weeks. I made a mistake, and after two days of trying to find the mistake (with no luck) I set the shawl aside and moved on to other projects. Last night I sat down with the shawl and found the mistake after about 20 minutes. I'm now back on track!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

That's the way it was yesterday. Nothing was ventured and nothing was gained. My driver's license expired in June, and because of COVID-19 I had until the end of October to renew it. Yesterday seemed like a good day, so I headed out for the DMV. I arrived five minutes after they opened, and I could not believe how long the line was.

Rather than wait around, I headed over to daughter Carol's house. We looked through some family paperwork together and ate breakfast together. Around 9:30 I left to get some links taken out of my watch band, and then I headed back to the DMV. The line was about half the length that it had been at 8 o'clock, so it seemed like a good idea to stay.

It took three hours and 15 minutes. I sure wish I'd had a chair with me! By the time I arrived home, it was 2:30 and I did not have the energy to do anything. So... nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This morning, Mom and I headed upstairs to organize fabric. We had so much fun sorting and coming up with ideas for things to make! I chose some to take downstairs for lavender eye pillow pillowcases, and that fabric went right into the washing machine.

I did manage to fill and close 16 lavender eye pillows. The fabric for the pillowcases has been washed, dried, and ironed. It's now ready for cutting and sewing. That probably won't happen tomorrow. I have face masks to finish for daughter Carol.

After finishing the little pillows, Mom and I headed over to Carol's house so that Mom could look through some family records. We ate lunch with Carol and then headed home.

While Mom took a nap, I finished up the day's laundry. After that, we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company.

Mom and I are having so much fun together! 

Making more

I can hardly believe the positive response to my lavender eye pillows!

I've had requests for them from friends and family, so I started making more today. It's going to take me at least a week. I have some new responsibilities coming up!

School starts next week, and our school is short three teachers at the high school level. So, I'm dusting off my teaching license and heading back to the classroom as a long term sub. Our district is starting off the school year with a hybrid schedule. Students will be in attendance from 8:15 - 12:15, and then they will do two remote classes from home in the afternoon. I won't be working full time, but I will be working a slightly longer day than I have for the past two years. It's going to be a very strange start to the school year!

Lavender eye pillow day

I finished my 20 lavender eye pillows and 40 pillowcases today!

My first task was to turn all the pillowcases right side out and press them.

Next, I filled the pillows with flax seed and lavender and stitched the pillows closed.

I guess I should have checked to see if the pillowcases fit before I got this far. Luckily, I measured correctly!

They're now ready for delivery!

Mom took a photo of the baby blanket she finished for her friend Marie's new great-grandson. Isn't it a lovely pattern?

Mom finished two placemats today. She used some fabric strips that I had purchased at Hobby Lobby on clearance several years ago. I love the blue/green combination!

This afternoon, Mom and I sorted through two big baskets of fabric, thinking we would get rid of quite a bit of it... wrong! We kept almost all of it, because we started talking about what we could make. De-stashing can be very difficult!

No patience

I couldn't get Blogger to work last night. I had no patience, so I turned off my computer and went to bed!

Yesterday we drove up to daughter Alison's house for an afternoon visit. We were celebrating granddaughter Eva's high school graduation. It's hard to believe she's starting college in just a couple of weeks! We were a small but happy group sitting outside under canopies and enjoyed the warm summer weather.

On the drive up, I worked on my Harmony tat-along. I had to refill a shuttle, and I guess it took longer than I thought it did. I really believed I had made much greater progress than this!

I finished sewing and trimming the pillowcases for the lavender eye pillows. I've started turning them right side out and poking out the corners so they look nice and neat. I'll press them all tomorrow and then I'll start working on filling the pillows. This has been a fun project!

Still sewing

Mom and I spent the morning working in the sun porch. Mom has been fringing all week, or so it seems! She finished a brown tablecloth and 17 napkins. At least I think it was 17... I didn't count!

Today she fringed this beautiful blue tablecloth. There's something very relaxing about fringing!

My 40 pillowcases have been sewn, and I've started zig zagging around the edges and clipping corners. I hope to finish this part of the task tomorrow.

I think I only tatted two rings today. Maybe I'll get more done tomorrow!

A pile of pillowcases

I continue to have problems with Blogger, so I've reverted to Legacy Blogger again. I tried posting using the updated interface, but I couldn't get my text color to change from blue to black and all of my text was underlined. Also, I couldn't add multiple pictures at one time. I sure hope the new Blogger interface gets fixed soon!

Mom spent the day fringing more napkins and knitting a baby blanket. I forgot to take a picture of the blanket, but I'll try to remember tomorrow.

This morning I cut out 40 pillowcases for lavender eye pillows. I came up with a pillowcase that I really like, and I hope to show you the results tomorrow.

I have six sewn, but they're not finished. I like to zig zag the raw edges, and I've decided to sew all the pillowcases together before switching to zig zag. Then I'll clip the corners, turn them right side out, and press them.

Yes, I did spend a little time tatting today, but I haven't gotten very far with round 5 of the Harmony tat-along. I guess sewing has temporarily taken over my life!

No time for research

I hope my blog post works tonight, because I had no time for research about blogging problems!

I started off my day working on lavender eye pillows for a friend of mine... 20 lavender eye pillows! They don't look like much now, but it took three hours to iron the fabric, cut it out, sew, turn, and press. Now they're ready to be filled with flax seed and lavender. After that, I will make pillow cases for them.

When I finished my morning sewing, Mom and I spent about an hour upstairs clearing out a closet so that we can reorganize craft supplies. We're finding all sorts of treasures!

Mom has been busy fringing napkins to go with the tablecloth she finished yesterday.

In the afternoon, I finally sat down with my tatting. I've messed up two or three times, and I've only finished four pattern repeats. I think I know what I'm doing now, so tomorrow should go more smoothly!

What happened?

My pictures are huge! I guess I will have to do some more research after all. I just can't have a messy looking blog!

A productive day

Mom and I accomplished so much today! First, we spent about an hour upstairs and managed to clean off two shelves in one of the closets. Believe me, that was a major accomplishment!

I spent the morning finishing up face mask sets for family, while Mom worked on fringing a tablecloth.

This afternoon I finally finished round 4 of the Harmony tat-along from Tat-a-Renda. My shuttles are loaded and ready for round 5!

It's working!

Blogger is working this morning! I didn't change anything. All I did was read loads of complaints about the new interface. I saw no solutions. Someone must have been paying attention and fixed what was broken!

I can even upload pictures! It looks like I can get back to crafting now, and I can look for that Danish cross stitch book. Where did I put it?

Research day

I didn't manage to do anything crafty today. I researched Blogger problems, curtain rods, baskets, computer desks, and Danish cross stitch.

Sorry everybody... I have nothing to show!

Very strange

I'm still having trouble with Blogger and Safari working together. This morning when I checked my blog, last night's post did not appear when using Safari. I switched to Chrome and my post was there. I went back to Safari, tried refreshing my page, and still no luck.

I reverted to Legacy Blogger, and my post appeared in Safari. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I haven't found any solutions online other than reverting to Legacy Blogger, and that's only available through August 24 or 27.

Any help would be appreciated!

A beautiful day

We had a beautiful Sunday! The weather was perfect, and my sister Janet and brother David came to visit. Still, I managed to get a little done.

Harmony is coming along nicely. I think I might have finished this round today if I hadn't had to stop to rewind my shuttle. At least that's my excuse!

While Mom and Janet took a nap, I worked on face masks for son-in-law Jan. I now have sets completed for daughter Joanne and family and for daughter Andrea and family. I still have to finish sets for daughter Alison and her daughter Eva, as well as sets for Mom and me. We'll all be set with face masks, that's for sure!

Complete set

I finished four sets of face masks today!