tentatively venturing out...

Well another week has gone by.  Tokyo is opening up a little, which is a good feeling.  We continue to be cautious, but we've gone out for meals a couple of times.  And,  I did venture out to the fabric store Yuzawaya, where, apparently, it is now ALL about making masks:

Liberty is expensive but so nice for masks:

I was super careful the whole trip (2 trains, each way, and I didn't touch a single thing the whole time) and of course every single person I saw was also wearing a mask.... but it still felt a little nerve-wracking because the store felt crowded.   I got there and back home as quickly as I could. 

I'm not quilting much but here's how my "Soft Quilt for Hard Times" blocks are shaping up:

The very dark bits might be *too* dark.

And yes ongoing mask making, now and then:

Mostly I'm GLUED to FaceTime when the time difference allows.  Baby Charlotte on the quilt I made for her.  Melt my heart!  I'm a Grandma!  It's a total thrill.  I thought I'd spell it Gramma  and be called Gram but I just think now, Grandma, and maybe things will evolve. 

xo
Cynthia

Blursdays

The days are blurring.  I heard a joke that in between Monday, and Friday, we have three "Blursdays" - so true.  I suppose Sundays still feel somewhat different but what is a Saturday anymore?

Social distancing at the dry cleaner:

Grocery store finally on board with some distancing measures while in line .... but it was still uncomfortably crowded while shopping, so crowded you couldn't help but bump into people, I mean that crowded!  And transactions are in cash.  Oh.... the germs. 

Meanwhile, I'm not sleeping well and my concentration levels are just shot.  But, once I finally got started, I'm really enjoying working on my Humble Quilts doll quilt swap.  I have a very limited stash here so it's a challenge but a fun one.

Since ALL our meals are at home now, I am finding it tedious to clear off the table (or at least half of it) over and over again so I threw together several small "flannel boards" to help me corral pieces and transfer them to and fro.  Nice use for all that Amazon cardboard.

Also still making masks.  These for Kazuko K.

During the day while David and I are sharing the same space but in our own worlds, I've been listening to books on Audible.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - loved it.



Trevor Noah's Born a Crime was excellent (language/content warning though.  He has a separate version for children)



Have you seen  John Krasinski's YouTube show Some Good News?  So inspiring, funny, touching, real, and just good through and through.  The latest one made me equal parts proud and homesick for Boston.  It's the best thing on the internet right now!

xo
Cynthia

masks

My friend Kazuko K. was so generous in sending me this pattern, marked with some hints in English, as well as some double gauze.   

Mask wearing is part of the culture here already.  Paper masks are all but impossible to find in the stores, and so I've been sewing up a storm, for ourselves, our kids back in the U.S., and for a couple of American families we know here.

The standard here is to use double gauze, but I have layered it with quilters' cotton or heavier cotton.  And in some cases using quilters cotton, including Liberty, which is a tight weave and so soft.  Just experimenting.

I enlarged the pattern a bit for our bigger faces.   This Japanese pattern is a lot like the one by craftpassion. I used 9-10 inch elastic.  If you decide to make masks, make one at a time as you figure out your pattern.

Thank you Kazuko!

I dug into my stash and made some for our kids - hope they fit -

I also experimented with this other style - for us and for a couple of nearby families.  They are reversible and have the sleeve for a twistie or pipe cleaner to shape the nose (put your twistie or pipe cleaner BEHIND the sleeve). 

I started with the Deaconess tutorial and changed up the size a bit.  Here's a great simple tutorial from Made Everyday.

For adult size, I used 8.5" x 8.5", 1/4 seam allowance.  For kids, 7.5"x7.5" or 7".   About 4 pleats (not fussy about the pleats).  7" elastic (attached the Deaconess way).  Nose sleeves: I started with rectangles cut on the bias - 1 3/4" x 4.5". 


I added a little tuck to the bottom of some of the masks to tighten up the under-the-chin area.  It's all trial and error.

It's finally official now, a state of emergency in Japan, although not much changes for us.  We are expected to wear masks outside, which most people do already anyway.  David is officially working from home 100%.  We are being insanely careful, since there are multiple cases of COVID in our little building of about 80 apartments.  Clorox is a theme in my life now. I do not want either of us to end up in a Japanese hospital.

The Governor of Tokyo setting a much more elegant example in her cloth mask - as she tells us what's what in Tokyo.

One way I'm trying to keep it together - working on my geneology every single day...

My great grandma Una Fisher and her sisters Ruth, Fannie, and Wilma.  Una and Frannie quilted together.  I remember Una (we called her "Two") well but I wish I'd known her sisters.  They all lived through big challenges (don't we all?).

And here we are now, globally, with just a massive, mind boggling, scary challenge.  Let's sew on, keep positive, be generous with ourselves and each other when we fall apart.  Yes, I'm talking to myself! ;).

xo
Cynthia