Helping

The most precious thing you can give someone is your time because you can never get it back.
When you don't think about getting it back, you've given it in love.
~Mitch Alborn in Finding Chika

Quilting

Just a bit of quilting this week. Sort of. No sewing, only arranging the arcs. They required lots of moving/adjusting. Because the values occupy a narrow band, the colors blend into grey-ness. {That's not a word but you can see what I mean. The greens and reds seem to blend rather than contrast.}

Arranging the wheel blocks into a quilt

But now... the original background doesn't work. It's much too strong against the sewn arcs. And there's nowhere near enough yardage either. Darn. This shot cotton in grey and brown has been pulled for every project for the last three years and never fit. Such a funky non-color. Of course I cut several before figuring this out. Audrey mentioned how much waste arcs leave - big melon shaped lozenges. She saved hers for an appliqué project. Mine are going into a bag for the future, too. They are simply too good to toss.

This grey-brown is too dark for the background

Masks and Gowns

I made fourteen more masks and am almost out of cotton knit for the lining. Then a friend asked me to join a non-profit group sewing isolation gowns. There is little I can do to help right now other than stay home so I was honored to join. The group provided the fabric, velcro, and elastic. We provided polyester sewing thread. I sewed twelve this week. They need 10,000.

The design is very basic but the protective treatment on the fabric means we cannot iron it. Finger pressing bias strips for necklines and ties while wearing masks and gloves. The masks aren't difficult to use but I have trouble pinning and finger pressing in gloves.

The good news is this first batch is on its way to a New York hospital. Even though new cases are declining, staff is seriously short of gear and these should help until commercial manufacturers can ramp up.

Coronavirus Study

Stanford Medicine started a daily survey to predict future outbreaks and help direct medical resources. You can help if you live in the United States. Here's the link for more information and to sign up. It took me about two minutes to fill out the original questions and less than a minute for the daily update.

Reading

Once the gowns were finished I was, too. For relaxation I read The Secret Commonwealth, the second book in Phillip Pullman's Book of Dust series. When Pan witnesses a murder the victim entrusts him with his wallet which brings echoes of their old adventures. The clues lead twenty year old Lyra on a search for a city haunted by daemons.

Enjoy the day, Ann