Rain and cold have kept me inside far too long.
I have surrounded myself with bright colors and pleasing objects on cloth.
The threat of new variants has kept me sewing masks longer than I had intended.
When the weather improves, I will be in my garden.
That is where I belong.
FLOWER
I sincerely hope that Mrs. Pibwib will make an appearance today.
She has been gone far too long.
The house is in complete disarray.
The chaos and clutter are beginning to be a distraction.
Things are not where they should be.
Only she can sort out mess of this magnitude.
Only Mrs. Pibwib has the skill to Put It Back Where It Belongs.
If you see her, please send her my way.
She is desperately needed here.
FLOW / no feng shui
You can take the biologist out of the classroom, but she will still find a way to put it on a mask.
FLOW
I wasn’t expecting witness pandemic porn on my outing to buy mask materials.
I was innocently looking at sturdy 100% cotton cloth, when I noticed another customer chatting it up with the employee who cuts the fabrics.
The employee’s face was my first clue that something was amiss.
The older, hefty customer was buying a lot of lace and tulle’.
I had to do a triple take after glancing at her face.
Where there should have been a full coverage mask was a tiny patch of black lace.
Her nose played peek-a-boo as the air from her nostrils blew the lace up and down.
I felt as though she had exposed herself right there in that store that plays Christian music.
Her husband silently stood by her side in his whitey-tighty mask.
I couldn’t just whip out my camera, so I tried to discreetly peek from behind a 30% Off sale sign.
I wanted to remember every detail so I could draw one when I got home.
No! I will not be making Covid thongs to give away.
Maybe someone will pass along the idea to Victoria’s Secret. They are experts at making things that don’t cover what they are supposed to.
Maybe that woman was Victoria? She was buying quite a quantity of lace!
Fleur
Here are the steps I go through to make masks.
MATERIALS: cotton fabric(9′ x 15′), polypropylene(8′ x 12′), elastic straps (8.5′-9.5′), pipe cleaners, heat bond, threads, toggle beads.
Sew the two sides of the gap. Then take it to the ironing board to iron along seam, shift seam down 1/2 an inch and iron again.
The space you created is where you will glue the nosepiece / pipe cleaners.
I WASH THE WHOLE MASK.
STAY SAFE and STOP THE SPREAD
FLOW on the SEW
I hope you have noticed my absence as The Flower.
I have been dealing with the pandemic in my own way.
Since proper PPE has been so hard to procure,
I have been manufacturing it in my basement.
I have my own cold little “sweatshop” which I call Purgatory.
I have been making masks and sending them where I think they are needed.
I have designed them to be comfortable and beautiful.
I am trying to curb the culling of Covid-19.
This is what I am doing instead of being an epidemiologist.
Flow…biologist turned seamstress.
Who knew? Nobody. That’s for sure.
Flow
These waves
random yet relentless
dark and blue
knock me down
again and again.
I must
fight to stand
over and over.
I wonder
what would
become of me
if I
stayed down
and let
gravity win.
Would I drown
or could I rest
from the wrest?
Hurry spring!
Bring your
bright sunshine
to warm
my face
as it
breaks through
these waves.
Flow
My quest started when I ordered masks for Rose to take to college.
I let her pick out what she wanted.
The masks were delivered.
I was aghast.
Most were only one layer. Most were stretchy.
NONE complied with the CDC and WHO recommendations.
I contacted two of the suppliers and sent them links to proper mask requirements.
They both disappeared off the student website.
A mask is PPE not a fashion accessory.
That is when I started making masks for my family, although I hated sewing.
I did research on the best materials and patterns.
I intended to share this information earlier.
I thought others might find it helpful.
Then I began to notice what others were covering their faces with. It seemed anything would do if it seemed like there was some effort. It occurred to me that maybe folks only wished to APPEAR to comply.
The event that pushed me to the edge of the crazy cliff was a visit from my dead father’s financial advisor. Here was this man, standing over my grieving mother wearing a DIRTY, OLD, USED, WELL-WORN disposable mask. I whisked masks onto my mother and sister and discreetly squirted Germex onto their hands after using his pen. (Don’t mess with my family!)
Ever since that day, I have been broadening the circles of safety around my family and friends.
Which brings me to the POINT.
REAL MASKS have at least three layers. (See links at the end of this post)
It is best to have POLYPROPYLENE in the middle.
Polypropylene is a nonwoven plastic.
Here is what it looks like through a microscope.
I think of it as “virus velcro.” It has a charge that traps and holds the virus.
Not all of it is the same. Here is a thinner version.
This is what the mask filters are made of.
I put two layers in most mask. Some thinner masks get three or four layers.
Real masks only work if worn consistently and properly.
Tired of hearing about masks?
I have friends with a dead parent, huge medical bills or residual health problems.
This virus is real so…
Wear a REAL MASK.
Love Flow
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html
My family ended our holiday with a trip to the White’s to see the lights.
It was the perfect ending.
This is no ordinary light display. It is over the top.
We could see the lights from several streets away.
Their yard is a beacon from the Interstate.
Colored lights flashed, white lights twinkled, stars sparkled.
There was even music tinkling in the background.
This trip was a bright spot in our darkened holiday.
I stood in their driveway, happy to be with my two friends.
I looked up and realized I was under the biggest tree of all.
It lit up the sky above me. I was surrounded in light and love.
Thanks to M and S for the most magical moment in 2020.
Be the light in someone’s darkness. Be the beacon that gets them through.
Let the lower lights be burning!
Send a gleam across the waves!
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman,
you may rescue, you may save.
(Hymn by P.P Bliss 1871)
HAPPY NEW YEAR from Flow and family and friends
floweralley 