Last year, a sewing friend of mine who adores Christmas (I mean she starts planning in JULY), announced she wasn’t going to buy Christmas craft magazines any longer. Publishers seemed to be recycling previous content. There wasn’t anything new for her to get excited about.

I thought about what she said.  I also chuckled as I remembered back to Christmas time with my 13 year old niece asking for t-shirts with 80’s bands logos on them. I listened to those groups when I was her age. The old adage, “what’s old is new again” certainly rings true.

I love Pinterest and am inspired by many designers, but here again, many things I like are simply a “refresh” of an earlier project or idea. There’s usually no need for me to buy every single pattern I see.  Why?

• I already have an extensive pattern and book library at my fingertips.
• I use EQ8, which comes with a number of ready-to-use quilt designs.
• Similar projects/tutorials can be found online for free.
• Like Ma Ingalls, who made Laura Ingalls Wilder’s wedding dress without a pattern in These Happy Golden Years, I’ve been sewing long enough that I can figure out basic quilt/home dec projects merely by looking at a picture and the pattern envelope.

I actually still buy books, patterns and magazines, only they must be something geared to a more intermediate/advanced level sewist or be by a designer I like (e.g., Lori Holt).

The world is a crazy place right now.

Online videos show people are fighting over everyday items at big box stores to the extent someone was injured enough to require ambulance transport to a medical facility.

In my area, it’s eerie to see grocery store shelves literally bare. It’s not the usual bread, milk and eggs run we see when a dusting of snow is forecasted. People are frantically buying up whatever they see. Produce, meat, bread, paper products, frozen foods, milk, canned biscuits – all gone.  Hubby’s employer has now curtailed all travel, so my road warrior hubby will be at home for a while. This meant a trip to the grocery store last night for milk. We got the last 1/2 gallon of 2% milk and managed to find substitute brands for other items we typically buy for weekend breakfasts.  Makes me ever so thankful for my stocked pantry and freezer (Mrs. Schubert’s cinnamon rolls in the freezer section are a good substitute for the Pillsbury canned version).

Local schools are cancelled for the foreseeable future. I’ll be teleworking 3 hours per day to support digital learning initiatives, plus compiling book orders and conducting library database maintenance. Reading new books was on my list, but now that the libraries are closed, I’ll have to borrow/buy ebooks or visit the local bookstore.

What this does mean is that I will have some time to really organize my sewing studio and actually finish some of those UFOs languishing on my work table.

Keep calm and quilt on!

The past couple of months have been a blur:

• Hubby has returned to work full-throttle, including all of the insane week-long travel.
• Boomer nearly bled to death and required several days in hospital at the ER vet. Thankfully, he’s made a remarkable recovery and we’ll be resuming limited therapy dog activities later this month.
• Sadie, the Labradoodle we’ve been keeping, is now officially a member our family.
• I severely sprained my right ankle about 3 weeks ago and am still recovering.

My sewing studio hasn’t been touched in a couple of months, except to hand sew on a couple of buttons. It shows.

I celebrated National Craft Month by sewing today. How about you?