Covid19 Masks

I never thought I would ever make a mask, I mean it never entered into my vocabulary.  A mask?  Only heath care professionals wore masks, right?  Fast forward to a global pandemic.  I would be working from home and being asked to use my simple sewing skills to make masks.  I started with a very simple pattern that I read about on the internet.  I decided that not only was it not very cute but it just didn't work for me.  I next turned to my favorite crafting machine, my Cricut.  Cricut was offering a free pattern so I cut out the pattern and went to work.  The mask was a more fitted piece that was made from 4 pieces of fabric. I did ties on most of my masks because I wanted the customization that ties could give you.  I only made elastic ones (because elastic is so hard to find for one reason, the other because I heard it wasn't very comfortable) because my daughter needed elastic ones in order to go back to work and after her being out of work for 2 months I was going to do whatever I could to help her get back to work.  

My son had to wear a mask to his high school graduation, which seemed a bit odd, but the graduation ended up being very special and unique. Now he wears the graduation mask to church.  

All in all, I made about 75 masks.  I didn't sell them, but I did take money, fabric, and thread donations so I could keep making masks and get them to people that needed free masks. I donated some to the homeless, some to a nursing home, and many to friends.  Some gave me cash to buy more fabric ($1-2 per mask depending on how much I paid for the fabric), some food, some fabric, and others thread. 

 I only have some bunny fabric left as of 6/12/20 so if I have to make you a mask you will wear bunny fabric or you will get me some fabric.  :) 

Happiness at Ole Miss

About 5 years ago, John asked me to go see a UK game with him at a little school called Ole Miss. No, I had never been there, never thought of going there and really did not want to go to the game, but he said, "I will take you shopping after the game." Well, that is the way to my heart, so off I went to this little game. It was ok I guess, I remember NONE of the game. What I remember is going to Wal-mart. And in Wal-mart was this little machine that I had wanted for a LONG LONG time, well, not that long because it had not been out that long, but long enough in my eyes. It was a scrapbook machine that would cut out die-cut letters and shapes with the touch of a button. You would buy cartridges and put them in the machine and you would expand the base of what the machine could do. WOW!!! It would be great for someone like me...but alas when they came out they were like $300 and that was NOT going to happen for me. I would watch the infomercial and dream of the day that I might have one...dream a long shot dream is what I did. Well, we are just basically killing time in this Wal-mart, picked up a Yoda bubble bath and a few other things and there on an end cap was this machine, the CRICUT!!! Oh, it was lovely, I went to pet the box and drool over the instructions (this was the first one that I had seen in real life). And low and behold on the corner of the box was a clearance sticker! Now mind you, these machines were still NEW, I mean they were a hot item with the scrapbook world....so this was like finding a gold necklace in the bottom of a shoe box. It was only $145!!!! Less than 1/2 what I had priced them for. No brainier, it was going home with me today!!!!!!!!


Well, here we are all these years later, you have not failed me in any way. I still use you often, never traded you in or dissed you in any way. You have proved worth every bit of the $145 that I paid for you and have saved me more than that in die-cuts alone. I thank you for being so loyal, true and all mine. Thank you, Wal-mart near the campus of Ole Miss for giving me such a great gift. Thank you Provo Craft for making such a great product. My first generation of cricut is still amazing!!!!