Category: sewista stuff

You will NOT be missed. Never forgotten, but never missed. So far we’ve had Covid-19 running amok, wildfires burning up the western US, flooding in the eastern and southern US, earthquakes in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, super-sized hurricanes and so many of them that we ran out of names and had to use Greek letters. And almost ran out of them.

Was it really June when I last posted? I knew I had been busy, but not how much. Let’s see. Besides everything else going on in the world I’ve been in the hospital with bronchial spasms where I was in ICU and the staff was covered with every conceivable PPE, the ER with a dislocated thumb, and then had an allergic reaction to some new blood pressure meds and was covered with hives from top of head to end of toes. I did not use my Epi-pen, but came close. What a fun Summer and Fall. I have also started on Medicare and Social Security. Bad year for that. I made it into the SS office before they had to close because of Covid.

Now, it’s almost Winter, when Jupiter and Saturn will appear as one joined star in the sky overhead on the solstice, and I will be outside on the 21st to try to witness that, as long as it’s not a rainy and cloud-covered night. Mercury is in retrograde right now. That’s supposed to bring changes. Hope it works.

Let’s see pandemic, politics (even weirder than usual), natural disasters, life changes, social distancing, mask wearing…whew.

The e key on my keyboard only wants to work some of the time. I often have to go back and delete and rewrite several times to get the e where it belongs. This is the first Apple product I have not been deliriously happy with right out of the box. Although the last laptop’s whisper keyboard quit working after awhile, but was replaced free by Apple. I did have to go to the much-hated mall to take it to the Apple Store. I loved malls as a young person, but they just represent too much useless hunting to me now. I think online shopping has spoiled me. It reminds me of the old, old Yellow Pages (told you it was old) jingle, “Let your fingers do the walking…”

I also had to replace my recliner when the old one fell apart. The new one was defective and the store offered to replace it, but had to order one. Their truck got a flat tire and they had all of them replaced, but their corporate headquarters didn’t want to pay for it right away so the tire company held the truck until the bill was paid. I got the first chair on September 24 and the replacement came on November 10. By the way, it works great.

I’ve made umpteen cotton fabric masks to give away, sell, and wear. I’m still making them. I started in May and now it’s December. I keep looking for new and better patterns and tweaking the ones I already have. I’ve adapted a few that I found on videos from India too. Some fog my glasses less than others. The ones I made for the Tennessee School for the Blind were interesting. Since they lip-read the masks needed clear vinyl windows. Kind of fun. I meant to make some for men with beards, but I haven’t. I always get distracted by more urgent things.

One of the shops I sell my things in has an agreement with me that lets me keep up the website in lieu of working 4 hours a month on the desk. It’s a 70-75 minute drive for me one-way. That’s a lot of gas, so it helps them and it helps me. I still have to take things in now and then for sale or go to a meeting a couple of times a year, but it has saved me much time and money. I’m very grateful for this agreement now that the pandemic has hit. I don’t have to worry about catching viruses.

One of the sub-committees there has been working on changes to the website in order to incorporate an online shop. I tried 3 different versions of online shops and it got a little (lot) overwhelming for me so they got a web guru to make it over. He’s done a great job. We have been studying SEO and how to blog effectively and we each have blog articles to write. I have a couple under my belt, but there are many more to do and I’ve been working on that.

Meanwhile, back on the (windowsill) farm, there were ten little orchids in one straight line and the smallest one was…putting on a couple of buds! I must name her Madeline. Several of my orchids are putting out bloom spikes. My husband says that their timing is off.

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My sales for the year have been slow, so I’ve been making lots of smaller things to sell in the shops. Tree ornaments, masks, card cases, mug rugs, and some baby things. I’m also making clothes for myself and the grandkids. One grandson, my daughter’s, only wants unusual things like a kilt and a safari hat in mint green. Now he needs a new sweatshirt for Christmas. I made him one last year or the year before. It’s been a long year and I can’t remember, but he’s outgrown that one. I had already planned a new long-sleeved T and corduroy bib skort-type outfit for his sister from two Violette Field Threads patterns. The older of my son’s kids needs new clothes too, so I have a shirt and sweatshirt cut out for him and a sweatshirt for his little bro. Can’t leave out the baby, even when he gets all of big bro’s hand-me-downs. He gets a little jealous now and then, but isn’t a tantrum-thrower or anything.

I’m working on decorating the house for the holidays. I don’t know if anyone will see it besides my husband and me, but we will enjoy it a lot.

One of my favorite groups of people is four-to-five-year-olds. My youngest grandson is four. I love how he pronounces things. The subject of skunks came up the other day. He went on and on with his knowledge of what “stunks” are and how they act. He was very accurate. I like his version of the name.

Youngest Grandson also loves Thor: Nagornack. You know, the one with *sigh* Chris Hemsworth.

Husband and I took him and his older brother to the Smoky Mountains a few weeks ago. We spent some time exploring the river bank and watching for wildlife, but the highlight was the visitor’s center with all the stuffed real animals of the park. They were so excited seeing creatures they had heard about but never seen. And Older Brother kept saying, “Nana, did you see the owl?!?!”

His new favorite animal is a wolf. This is a big shift from tigers, which hold the record of being favorite for 3+ years. Cheetahs held the title for about a year. We bought him a toy wolf at another visitor center in Townsend and youngest got a bag full of plastic animals. His choice. I tried to buy him a stuffed toy but he loves making landscapes full of small animals, so the plastic toys were very well suited to his personality.

The funniest thing Youngest Grandson said that day, though, was, “Nana, somebody threwed trash in your hat.” This statement came from the backseat while we were driving home.

I thought hard for a minute and asked, “What hat?”
“This one back here.” Well, I should have known that.
“What does it look like?”
“Ummm, it’s big.” I do have a large head, but I still don’t remember having a hat in the car.
“What color is it and where do you see it?”
“It’s black and it’s right here by my feet.”
“In the floor? That’s a trash can, honey. It does kinda look like a hat, though.” A stovepipe hat without a brim. Hahahahahaha. I explained how it was a collapsible trashcan for the car while my mind played with visions of me wearing the “stovepipe hat” and making speeches from a caboose. Carrying an axe. In a suit coat with tails over a long skirt.

On another note, I’ve been busy, but not necessarily with creative pursuits. My health seems to be improving a little. I actually had a polyp removed from my vocal cords today. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, although I had to be knocked out for it. I hope that it will take care of the periodic loss of my voice and constant hoarseness. Now I’m on total voice rest for at least 5 days. That means that I can’t speak. I’ve done it before when I’ve had laryngitis, but then it hurt to talk. Now it doesn’t hurt much and occasionally I forget. And Husband forgets and asks questions. We really are getting old.

I did have a commission for a denim newsboy-style hat for a lady who had one when she was a teen or twenty-something. It had a zipper in one crown piece. I think I got pretty close. I added zippers and pockets. She was a very happy customer.

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Denim hat lady loves hats as much as I do. She even knows the series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. The costumes on it are phenomenal. We are kindred spirits. She bought the darker hat. The lighter one is at Locally Grown Gallery in Oak Ridge. I have got to make one to fit me. And not allow anyone to put trash in it! I’ll let Youngest Grandson guard it!

Yesterday, I went in for bloodwork and a followup appointment at my doctor. I turned off my phone as is appropriate at the doctor’s office. The nurse called me back, made me weigh and took all my vital signs and drew blood. A lot of blood. That’s my excuse–well, part of my excuse.

She then said, “Okay, I’ll see you next time,” and walked out the door, closing it behind her. I was a little confused. I had thought that I would talk to the doctor that day, but I’m used to just doing tests and leaving too., so I walked out and drove to my friend’s shop to visit with her for awhile. Of course, I forgot to turn my phone back on.

After several minutes I took my phone out to show her a picture and saw that the doc’s office had called 4 times. Before I could call them back my son called and said, “Your doctor called me and asked me why you would leave their office. They said you checked in and then left without seeing the doctor.” I told him what had happened and wondered why they were forgetting all those samples I left them.

I called them back. They said, “No, you were supposed to see the doctor today, but you left before she could get there. Did you have an emergency or something?” I explained.

So I drove back to their office and talked with the nurse practitioner who just went over my meds and sodium levels, etc. Everything was normal. Why all the fuss? After the nice man at the checkout desk gave me an appointment for mid-May, he said, “I saw you leave and thought you must be a family member of a patient.” Then, quieter, he said, “I tell her all the time that if she doesn’t start saying something other than ‘I’ll see you next time’ we’re going to have patients walking out.”

I told him, “Yes. I swear I thought I was done. I’ll try to remember next time that she does that.” And I didn’t say it, but I’ll probably leave my phone on.

When I went back to visit my friend, I showed her the photo of the dress I made for an Indian wedding. She referred the lady to me whose child is getting married.

This project was an adventure. That’s all I’m saying about that, but it turned out just fine.