
I love this Easter graphic (I got it from the Graphics Fairy website several years ago). First because the girl is dark haired (most Easter graphics I have seen feature blond children) ... and then because she is handling violets. Here in my front garden, in eastern MD, the violets began to bloom this week. I adore violets - first because they are beautiful but tough and can grow and reproduce in hard scrabble places and second because my niece Amy (whom I adore) loves them and I always think of her when violets are near. :)
If you can't read the fine print at the bottom of my image, it says 'love and peace reign at Easter'.
Spring is my favorite season and I adore all the pagan Easter icons - bunnies, eggs, violets, lilies, etc. Happy, happy.
We don't celebrate Easter here chez Schiffer as we are not church-going Christians. I respect all religions (well, almost all - I draw the line at Satan worship and other such negative outlooks:) ... and cleave to none, truthfully. If I had been born 20,000 years ago, I would most likely have been the clan shaman or maybe healer ... spirituality but no doctrine. My daughter says I am philosophically a Transcendentalist (from the school of Thoreau and Walden Pond:).
I have been busier than usual this weekend. I got up yesterday (Saturday) morning full of ambition to work hard in my to-be sewing room (my son's now-abandoned bedroom). My physical state is such that I work hard for a half hour and then sit to rest for a half hour or more ... then back to work. :) I made considerable headway (three large black bags of trash, two of clothing to donate, etc) ... but did not have the energy to finish completely.
I _thought_ I'd go back to work today ... but I discovered multiple muscle pains and decided to let my body rest today. I had exactly the opposite of my normal sleeping experience last night - I could not sleep. Sigh. I woke up 'blink' at 7 a.m. and got up ... ate breakfast ... and gathered my tools and fabrics to hand sew.
My son, husband and I desperately need masks for wearing when we go out, so I set down to sew them. I decided after reviewing umpty-leven versions of masks to make the sort that is fitted to the face (as opposed to the rectangular pleated ones) - pattern C. What swayed my choice was the fact that the more fitted masks are supposed to be better for not fogging up your eyeglass - all three of us wear them. Also I enjoy fussy cutting and the fitted mask lends itself more to that fun. :)
I still don't have my sewing machine set up so I hand sewed everything. I enjoy it as meditative work ... but found myself being pretty clumsy for the first hour or so today. It has been at least a month since I sewed anything and my hand muscles apparently needed quite a bit of warmup. :) I started out listening to an audiobook while I sewed (Bunnicula, one of my favorites from my kids' younger years).
My niece Stephanie called sometime early in my working and that distracted me ... I never went back to listening to the story after I finished chatting with her. :) I most often work with silence - I LOVE music and books but somehow sewing is such a zen experience for me that I rarely get into a mood to have sounds in the background. Shrug.
Anyway, I chose two positive/negative batik prints - I _think_ they were one of the special fabrics we had made for Quilters Quest one year - for my husband's and son's masks. Here is a photo of my son wearing his (fwiw):

Yes, he does need a haircut - don't we all? :)
I thought this photo showed the fabric better - it's a patriotic style design with wingspread eagles, American flags and firework bursts. The outer print has a navy blue background and the lining print has a sky blue one.
I found some very nice leather thongs in three different colors (brown, gray, olive green) in some stuff I sorted in my sewing area so I used those to make the kind of ties that go all the way around - you situate the middle of the single length at the back of your head then gather up the ends and tie them behind your neck. I thought that would be easier than having separate ties for the top and bottom of the mask ... and I don't have any elastic on hand. I do have some coming in the mail from a friend so I might change the mask mounting if Hugh decides he'd rather have the elastic. :)
I completely finished his mask (he is going out walking early every morning and I feel some pressure to be sure he is covered:). I am almost finished with my husband's (I thought I'd finish sewing it this evening after we ate ... but my short night of sleep is catching up with me so I guess I'll do that in the morning:). I have the pieces cut out for mine but haven't started sewing it.
I did find that my accuracy, comfort and sewing speed increased quite a bit as the afternoon went on. Muscle warm-ups I guess. :)
I cooked dinner this evening which we have all come to enjoy as a treat. When we bought Seminole Sampler (May 1st, 1999), I told my family I was finished being the chef. Previous to that I had been chief cook and bottle washer for about twenty years ... and it was not a duty that I enjoyed most of the time. Things change ... now I am finding cooking relaxing and it's fun to find new recipes. 'Course, I still don't do it every day and I _definitely_ do not consider it my personal chore even now. No doubt that helps my attitude. :)
I had a phone call from my daughter this afternoon just as we were sitting down to eat dinner. Both of her boys were looking tired - they were quietly sitting with Eva and watching tv (Octonauts?). Love my peoples! :)
Tomorrow I hope to finish getting my sewing area set up to function (it will be ages before the room is completely cleaned and decorated as I am imagining it, but I will take a functional sewing machine right now with joy!:) ... then I owe a Stash Bee block and want to work on the pattern testing of Julianna's butterfly wreath. Exciting times ahead.
:) Linda