Sandie's Specialties Part Deux

One of the first batches.
All silly &'no two alike

    This is a crazy, scary, different time. We are living through this pandemic
in a way that  we have never done before. My personal experience has been a little different. I am working more hours than usual, 6 days a week. I don't really know what it is like to stay home all day and my "family" is the people I work with in a close space every day. I never ever imagined myself in a job where I am considered "essential".
      When the governor said he was asking everyone to wear masks in public I realized that I could make myself and my co workers masks to wear. After all, I have hundreds of yards of fabric, lots of leftover bias tape, and some elastic. Well....thanks to the magic of Facebook it has turned out to be a huge thing. People are coming to the pharmacy for free masks all day long. I have completely used up dozens of packages of bias tape from a past life, all the elastic I can find, cutup t-shirts, and even ace bandages. Strangers have brought me elastic, given me money to buy more (which I will use as soon as I find a place to buy it!) I am completely out of cream, beige, and dark gray thread and am resorting to using pink thread! Can't even get more on Amazon! On the other side, I have not even made a dent in my fabric stash!
       As I am sitting at the machine for hours a day, I am having flashbacks to the old Sandie's Specialties days when I would sew as many free hours a day as I could then spend the rest of the time trying to sell the stuff. I would do a show and if something was selling well I would go home and sew until midnight. Now I am sewing before work, coming home, and sewing till I can't take it any more. I am proud of myself that I am able to still do it, 40 years later! I am very happy that I had that drawer full of bias tape from the 80's which has finally come to a good use. At the moment I am taking a night off because I have no elastic left and just needed a break. I feel like the women during the war rolling bandages for the troops, doing what I can for the cause. Who knew that sewing would become an essential skill in our times? People everywhere are digging out their machines and helping out. It is kind of exciting to see my favorite pastime getting its due and quilters and seamstresses are suddenly important.
      I am doing it because I CAN. It is something I can easily do and even though I am physically aching most of the time ( I ain't as young as I used to be!) I feel better than I have in months. I am busy all the time and have a purpose every day. It embarrasses me to be congratulated for doing something that I am getting so much out of. I was pretty depressed and wasn't doing much every day, so this is very good for me.  Yes, I still sneak in time for Pokemon Go and Animal Crossing every day, I have a TV right next to me and am constantly watching something. That Tiger King got me through an entire Sunday! Big Brother Canada is an every day go-to. My house is a mess and I don't care. No one but me will see it.
       We're all in this together and I hope others find something that gives meaning to this craziness. Keep on keeping on!