Slacker!

 I know I look like a slacker since I haven't been blogging, but I have been busy!

I worked on test tatting a new Ice Drop pattern for Lynne Urwin this week. As you can see, I really messed up! I hope to give it another try this weekend.

Since I had thread on my shuttle, I decided to start Curds & Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. I love this pattern!

When sorting out my tatting bag, I found this Ice Drop almost finished. I really have no idea how long I've been carrying it around. At least it's finished now!

I've been busy making lavender eye pillows.

I've decided that the proceeds will benefit the Grant Park Drama Club. They're badly in need of new stage curtains. I sure do hope the kids get to put on a play this year!

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!

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 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!