Carm the ripper

Headline tonight: USA expands social-distancing guidelines until April 30. Ontario extends state of emergency for 2 more weeks. There are a total of 7,427 (6,280 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 86 (65 yesterday) deaths to date.

It lurked at the end of the table, the lone needle glinting in the overhead light. Fabric draped across the chair like a sinister cloak. It repelled me but duty forced me to its side. 

I’d stayed up past midnight watching videos and searching for mask patterns, finally settling on directions that seemed reasonably simple. I downloaded the pattern and sent it to Carm for printing.

With the fabric laid out carefully on the floor I positioned my patterns and almost started to cut. Adia stepped on the fabric and was then ‘thrown’ into her crate. I finished the cutting and sat myself before my nemesis and started sewing. I sewed another seam. I sewed two long edges together. I held it up to see my progress. WHAT THE HELL!!! I had sewn the wrong things together. I threw it down and swore. Carm stepped in to rip the seam.

Another try. It seems to be working. It might actually work. Or not. I couldn’t get the elastic through the pocket. Carm tried. I ripped out the stitches. I sewed again. I threw it down in a blind rage and stormed around the house.

I knew I had to do this, so took a few deep breaths and started over, this time after watching the video again and with a clearer plan in my head, I sewed the first seam. WTF! I sewed the wrong side. Carm stepped in again with the seam ripper. Back at the evil sewing machine I saw that I had done it right. Swearing. The rest of the steps went well and the mask turned out okay although one fabric was too heavy and bulky.

Mask #3… no swearing!

I’ll tackle the machine again tomorrow.

“Helen Keller became deaf, dumb, and blind shortly after birth. Despite her greatest misfortune, she has written her name indelibly in the pages of the history of the great. Her entire life has served as evidence that no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as reality.”

~Napoleon Hill