To ask is thrilling. To receive…

None of us could have known what it would mean to experience a pandemic, to be asked to ‘shelter in place’, or to wear a mask when leaving home. So many of us have lost our work and income. Some of us are able to work from home, an awesome benefit, if it is possible.

For my part, I went from having a decent job, teaching arts and crafts to middle school kids, to making masks for essential workers and folks who need them. A friend, knowing my predicament, set up a Go Fund Me to help me get paid for making the masks, to help with shipping, packing and getting them into the hands of folks in need. Additionally, I started selling masks through Etsy.

Then, I put a call out for supplies and fabric donations to support these efforts. And you know what? Folks are helping! Folks are enabling me to make masks and give them to those in need!

Look at at all of these supplies!!

Asking for help is hard! It is embarrassing. On the one hand, I want to do this work for free. I want to be a hero who asks nothing of others, but does the thing and gets it done. On the other, I need contribute to my household without placing additional strain on our finances.

I find, asking for help to be a blessing. It contributes to my sense of community and group effort. It reminds me that I am not alone. I am supported, cared for and I know that my efforts and skillsets are valued. And then the verbiage turns to, ‘we’. We are working together to offer masks to local NYC essential workers. 

Because of this, I have had the opportunity to experience my fellow New Yorkers in new and beautiful ways.

Like 2sailingchefs, who works with a local business called Naturally Delicious. Herve, as I have come to know him, received a farm print mask and geez! This print is a perfect pairing for him (click the first link in this paragraph to see Chef in his mask)! Herve went on to purchase masks for his workplace, and you, helped UP his order, with my Buy One, Give One program! We gave three additional masks to this local business.


Thank you for helping me make a difference. Thank you for affording me the opportunity to create goodness. Thank you for allowing me to ask you for help then and providing it. Pins, bias tape makers, sewing machine needles and friendly, caring connection.

Thank you.


#MellyMasks-Buy One, Give one.

#MellyMasks are made using the Nurse Made pattern, with the benefit being that it can be worn over the N95 mask, extending its use. They are made using two layers of quality quilter’s cotton and can be washed and dried. 

There are several ways to purchase or donate masks. 

I am offering masks for sale through my Etsy shop! When you purchase an individual #MellyMask through my Etsy, you are purchasing two masks, one for yourself, and one that I will give away to local essential workers. Check my artist insta to see the giveaways! Right now, my Etsy contains masks made of my own fabric lines, Meadowlark by Windham Fabrics and Florabunda! by RJR fabrics.  

Monetary donations to my Go Fund Me will help me to make, ship and give masks to medical workers, bus drivers, park workers and grocery store employees. My current goal is to get 12-24 masks into the hands of my previous employer (I was let go, but hope to get called back after all this is over). Please consider donating in support of this next push to mask my local peeps! 

It thrills me to be able to give masks to essential workers, I am thankful for your help and support. Being able to stay centered in gratitude, while giving thanks, one mask at a time, is a beautiful thing! 

If you are willing, please help me replenish my art supplies through my Amazon Wishlist.

 

 

Gratitude, Donations, More Masks

This mask making endeavor is enabling me to remain centered in gratitude, giving, and appreciation for the labor of ‘Essential Workers’.

Please check out my Go Fund Me.

I get to do this work, while also navigating my response to living in Brooklyn, New York during a pandemic, in a hot spot. Making and giving masks out is helping keep me steady and focused on a task. Living in a tiny apartment, with no access to private or easily accessible outdoor space, while experiencing intermittent access to a laundromat is quite a challenge. This weighs heavily on me, I often feel hemmed in. Mask making is a fitting distraction.

Plus, I GET TO give good quality cotton masks away for free! (I am pretty sure you should order too many masks and try giving them away yourself!!) We could make the thrill a trend! And get all our friends behind masks while we do! 

Also? Masks require smize! Practice your smize, today!

So, this is how it works. If you would like masks for you and your family, consider this pricing structure for your donations: 

10$ per mask

1-5 masks ship in USPS Flat Rate envelope for 7.75$

6-10 masks ship in USPS Flat Rate small box 8.80$

25+ masks ship in USPS medium box 15.$

If you live outside the United States, contact us for a shipping estimate.

We (Flat Retreat and I) are asking for additional donations to ensure Essential Workers, including mental health care workers, produce delivery, postal workers, grocery store employees and park workers, get masks free of charge.

I ship masks from this post office twice a week. Each time I drop of masks to be shipped to individuals, I drop masks into the mail slot! I hope the postal workers can use them.

I have put together an Amazon wishlist of supplies. Some of these supplies will help replenish my personal stash, others will help me offer new and improved designs with cinch toggles and nose bridge strips. And, well, I put two items in there because I really wouldn’t mind having them. A person can dream. 🙂 

I am extremely grateful to Leslie Tucker Jenison, who donated fabrics from Urban Garden by RJR Fabrics for this effort. And, I also give thanks to Lyric Kinard who donated some great thread and more fabric to the cause. And to Jeannette, I have more Snoopy and John Deere to sew! That has been fun to blow through! Thank you. I am glad beyond measure, to use as much of my own stash as possible! I love being able to trim my stash back, but it is great to receive donated cloth too.

Please, if you have yardage you would like to donate, please contact me.

And, last but not least, I can do special orders. They take longer, but I will do my best to accommodate your requests! Specific fabric requests are not always possible. The mask you see above, a neat shield style mask, was made as a special order, using a pattern made by Judy Coates Perez for Makers Space.

Thank you for helping me get masks into the hands of Essential Workers. Thank you for keeping me occupied with good work! It feels amazing to be working with you to get this work done. High five.

Mask making for you and Essential Workers!

Four weeks ago, I was let go from my job as an Arts & Craft Specialist for a local after school program. Covid_19 has arrived and New York City is in lockdown. I have time on my hands and am in need of serious distraction.  

Being a creative person who likes to make things to occupy my time, I began making cloth masks. As I did so, I noticed that my best friend, an Essential Worker, working in a mental health facility, was not being properly supplied with protective gear. My awareness of this need grew when a therapist I know told me she was exposed to Coronavirus in a session. Then my friend, Stacey a mental health care worker and organizer of Flat Retreat, did a jig on Facebook, in a mask, which I had heard, were being rationed by her employer. And I realized, mental health care workers need masks too. 

So, I set out to make masks for those people that I could. So far, I have mailed out 90 masks and I am now receiving requests for even more!

After receiving some of my masks, my friend Stacey wanted to make sure that I could continue to make and mail masks to those in need, so she set up a Go Fund Me, to enable my mask making endeavor. Now, I am requesting your help, by way of monetary donation. 

These masks are made to fit over N95 masks, prolonging their efficacy. Cloth masks are recommended for use by the general population by the Center for Disease Control  in controlling the spread of Covid-19. Please inform yourself as to the benefit and limits of cloth masks. Here is an article titled, How NOT to Wear a Mask. And here is a User’s Guide to Face Masks. 

Please enable me to make masks and distribute these masks.  

When you make a donation, let me know if you need #MellyMasks for yourself or if you would like to supply masks to Essential Workers-or both! Please donate extra money, so that I can make and give masks to the Essential Workers I rely on each day. If you would like to arrange for shipping outside of the U.S., please comment. If you cannot afford a masks, but would like them, please comment. I will do what I can to ensure each person can get a mask.

1 mask 18$ (1 mask and flat rate USPS shipping envelope) each additional mask, 10$ each. So, 6 masks 68$ This is a ballpark figure, to give you an idea on pricing, it isn’t set in stone.

Mask making keeps me indoors and focused on working for the greater good! Living in New York City is not easy right now! So far, I have made and mailed 90 masks. I have 140 masks cut and ready to be sewn. Some are John Deere fabrics!!! I function better when I am driven to an end. Right now? I want masks on everyone I see.

I plan to food shop this week, with the intent to donate 24 masks to my local Whole Foods. Last time we shopped, I saw so many employees with NO masks. If I can bridge that gap? I want to! I am lucky enough to be able to stay home and I have both the skill and the time to make masks and help others. 

Thank you for helping me fund this endeavor!! Thank you for keeping me busy and in a few boxes of pasta, while trying to make a greater difference!! Let’s spread color and good care to the faces of all who contribute and beyond! If you receive masks from me, please post a selfie with the hashtag #MellyMasks and show me your mask wearing mug!!

If you would like to donate cloth, please comment. I prefer yardage, 1.5 yard cuts of quilters cotton, if possible. 

Please, help me get these masks onto the faces of the Essential Workers in my orbit.

 

My NYC and Covid-19

Amidst the wale of sirens, an aerie, unnatural silence has fallen, here in Brooklyn, New York. Covid-19 is here. We have been asked to refrain from non-essential travel, to #stayhome and when we need to go out, to ‘social distance’ or pass our fellows with at least a 6 foot berth. We carry hand sanitizer, keep our hands away from our faces and we leave our houses at a minimum, in order to exercise and food shop. The subway continues to run with a modified schedule. The roads are clear of most traffic.

The birds are building nests and singing to attract mates. Trees are blossoming. Daffodils are breaking ground and opening their bright yellow trumpets. All while some neighbors shutter their homes and others come down with the virus. My Man, thankfully, is able to work from home, and I was temporarily let go from my part time job. And while I can apply for unemployment, the NY state unemployment website has crashed and the phone lines drop calls, just before the final filing step. So many people are trying to apply at once, and the system cannot support it.

Going to the grocery store feels like a threat, as everyone needs food and there is no way to tell who might be infected. This is when the numbers and statistics begin a cacophony of warnings and protective barking. 1 in a 1000 people are infected. 27,000 people live within a square mile of space, here. The mayor suggests that 40-80% of New Yorkers will become ill. NYC needs ventilators and our hospitals are running out of much needed supplies.

I continue to Dance Walk, leaving my home early. Walking the less trodden areas. Crossing the street upon coming up on a fellow. Unfortunately, the gateway to viewing the Lady Liberty has been locked, for the time being. I will find a new way to visit her, she is my balm. This is the last image I took of her:

In the meantime, my Man and I are doing well enough. My city doesn’t sound right. This does not feel like  the hope that spring usually embodies. None of us know how long this will take. All we can do is take care, wash our hands, be brief in our outside endeavors, while we remain in good cheer. 

Melly’s Fitness Hack: Joy in Sets and Reps

We are in the midst of a monumental moment. We are being asked to stay inside as much as possible, due to the possibility of catching Covid-19. If we go out, it is suggested that we stay a distance of six feet away from our fella beings. But getting some fitness on can help lessen anxiety, provides a change in scenery, and well, it’s good for you.

Enter, Dance Walking.

Using a great playlist, put your headphones on, get out there and throw some caution to the wind! You can keep your distance, of course! Crossing the street to keep space provides an additional distance and more time to do those dance moves!

When you don’t care what you look like, and you are dancing for the fun of it, you will attract some attention! Make eye contact! Smile big. Spread your joy, like butter, on hot and crispy toast. 

Since the virus has been a concern, I have noticed folks are less willing to make eye contact. That’s not good.

This morning, during my dance walk, I made sure to say, ‘Good morning!,’ with a big smile and a friendly wave, whenever possible. Fostering interaction while dance walking is a point-making endeavor, if you ask me! One woman received my greeting with a huge smile, saying, ‘Someone looks happy!’, and I was.

Folks need to see joy right now and I am happy to be that for my fellows. Points, point, points!

 

 

Handprinted Quilt Tops meet Angela Walters

I have been hard at work, printing, and piecing quilt tops made of my hand printed cloth. I have about 12 tops ready for machine quilting. And you know what? I can’t just make quilt tops!! I need to finish things!! And, my handprints deserve to be seen, shown and sold! Its time for me to remedy this bottleneck situation.

I haven’t done much machine quilting geared to more traditional quilting in a long while. In this time, free motion quilting has had a renaissance, it seems. In trying to navigate this new world, I have come across Angela Walters, Quilting is my Therapy and her set of rulers, put out by Creative Grids. Angela Walters has an extensive learning library in support of ruler and free motion machine quilting. I feel honored to be learning from all this free content! I have also joined her Free Motion Challenge Quilt Along group!!

So, I am going to upload my own series of videos to show off my newly acquired skills! Here is my first!

My Sew Perfect Table

I really couldn’t be happier with this purchase. It took much consideration to purchase this table.

My machine has been a ragtag mess in the last year. My old table was shaking the machine too much! The lightbulb within the machine burned out, I was busy printing fabrics. So when it came time to use the machine, I realized how difficult it is to sew on a table top.

We live in a tiny New York City apartment. In researching sewing machine tables, I have found that most tables are ‘convertible’, so that you can hide the machine from sight. Most are made with pressboard and aren’t all that aesthetically pleasing. Having bought the same table twice over the last 15 years, I didn’t want to purchase another table that would last 5 years. I know that a convertible table isn’t right for me, I want access to my machine all the time, I don’t care who sees it. I wanted to buy the last sewing machine table.

I decided to purchase an Original Sew Perfect Table. This table is, effectively, an industrial sewing machine table, geared toward the domestic sewing machine. Win!!! This is a table made for a power tool, my Bernina 1001!

I made the assumption this table would be made of pressboard, it isn’t! This table was Made in the U.S.A. and is made of laminated wood. It lends a great deal of stability to my 1001, which runs so much quieter now. At 20×48″ this table provides a bit more space than I was used to previously. It was easy to assemble! We mounted a sewing machine light and its up and running!

I also purchased a new insert, which I am really excited about (but have yet not received). And the reason I am excited? The insert is CLEAR, which means I will be able to see my bobbin casing.

I hadn’t named my sewing machine prior to this, but I am not introducing Miss Mae, the power tool of my most creative moments, mounted in a chariot of my dreams.

 

Piecing Unicorn Prints!

I really could not be happier. Last year, I printed gads of cloth. While my new color triangle is not yet complete, I do have Unicorn Feather Prints, Fleur de Lis Prints,Unicorn Prints and more fabrics to be cut and pieced.  I  love making  quilt tops  from my handprints.

During holiday break, I cut Fleur de Lis fabrics for a Mini Double Wedding Ring quilt top and a mixture of Feather Prints and Fleur de Lis prints in Drunkards Path. On the horizon, I will be cutting down more Unicorn Prints for a Florrid Bloom quilt top that I have deemed, ‘too small’.

In the meantime, I have found out that Double Wedding Ring blocks take great care and attention, while Drunkards Path blocks are quick, fun and um, addictive. 🙂

I do need to substitute in one semisolid single color print, and one new unrelated print, in order to have a rectangles worth of Drunkards Path blocks.

So, you can see I went for a textured yellow. You will need to wait to see what print I subbed in! Please stay tuned! Also, Happy Holidays! I hope yours were fun, you ate good food, hugged good people and did good things!

I am excited, because I await the shipment of a new sewing machine table! Gratitude!!!

And hey! I discuss these prints in my new offering, Motif Maker’s Zine. Get your copy today!!