Posted on by agilejack

Another Vacation Starts With Covid

I’ve been looking forward to my friend arriving this week to start our 16 days of vacation together. The night before she was supposed to fly in she called me to let me know that her husband had tested positive for Covid.

I just couldn’t believe it, after having my last vacation completely derailed by my own case of Covid.

So, what to do? She called the airlines. We talked several times. I messaged someone I know who professionally and educationally knows shit about Covid and she suggested that my friend get a hotel room for five nights, and that we hang out in my back yard keeping our distance, wearing masks when we’re indoors together for limited times. So that’s what we’re doing.

We were so bored yesterday, I brought out to my back yard piles of fabric from my sewing room that needed to be folded, organized, and put away. My friend sat and went through a sizable pile of fabric and got it all organized and put into bins. Today we drove to a friend’s place to pick black berries — both of us wearing masks and with all four windows open as we flew down the freeway! Raspberry picking was a bust but at least it got us out of the house for a couple hours.

She’s taking a Covid test every morning and is nervous as hell until she sees that the T line doesn’t appear. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can resume our normal activities and she can move into my guest room on Sunday. Send positive (or negative!) thoughts for us!

After I took my friend back to her hotel tonight I decided to hit my sewing room and get a little bit done. My friend had brought me some KFC fabric that she’d found on sale and I thought this piece would go really well with a nice blue piece of denim I have.

The denim is much bluer than it looks in that photo. It really looks much closer to the blue in the lining fabric.

I decided to cut out the pieces for a shoulder bucket bag. I got the outer bag and lining pieces all cut, fused and sewn. I decided to stop there for the night.

And what’s that brown strip across that photo you may ask. Well, I decided to try some of the biothane I purchased a few weeks ago for the handle of this bag.

But in looking at the bag pieces I realized that the denim with the woven interfacing was pretty thick. It would be VERY thick at the point where the side seams of the bag and lining all meet. And in looking more closely at the biothane I could see that, although it’s about the same thickness as the handles I make for my Frankenbags, it’s much more dense.

I was worried that it wouldn’t all work out very well with all that thickness. I decided to do a test handle installation. I grabbed the small squares I cut out for the gussets, and I mimicked the handle installation to see how it would go.

I was right. That denim is really thick. I was pretty happy with how my machine sewed through it all. But I could see that I’d never be able to do the topstitching at the top of the bag that would go over the handle. There was just too much thickness.

So I did the topstitching about an inch from the top of the test piece, which put the line of stitching below the interior end of the handle.

The stitching isn’t very straight. I will do a better job on the actual piece.

Here’s a photo from the lining side so you can see it better.

It feels strong and sturdy. I’m very interested to see how it turns out and how the handle feels. I’m thinking it might be a little narrow for a shoulder handle. We’ll have to wait and see. (As I’m typing this, I just realized that I should use my quarter inch foot to get that stitching just a little closer to the top of the bag… it will allow me to put my line of stitching much closer to the interior end of the handle. Oh, maybe even use my zipper foot to get even closer!)

My dogs have been quite happy to have my friend and I hanging out in the shady part of my back yard all day. Rico keeps bringing toy after toy to my friend who is more than happy to indulge him.

Bender has found new and interesting things to do with a nasty old frisbee.

I left the boys at home while I ran to the grocery store the morning of the day my friend arrived and came home to this.

That kid really knows how to keep the heat at bay. He’s a cool dude.

My boys are exhausted tonight. They didn’t sleep at all today. They usually nap quite a bit during the day. It’s nice to have them ready to sleep in the evening!

42 Replies to “Another Vacation Starts With Covid”

  1. Oh Ann! What a total pitb! I am sending all the vibes for negative tests continuing , and that you’ll get the lovely break with your friend you were hoping for. Fingers and everything crossed.
    My crumb piecing is looking good and I’m using the process as a way to test an idea I have for the final project on my diploma course in patchwork and quilting so feeling very pleased about that!
    Lovely pics as always.
    I’m off on holiday next Sunday so am avoiding everyone like the plague…
    Lindy

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    1. Oh, I love that you’re really going for it with the crumb piecing! I’d love to see what you come up with!

      Good idea to stay as safe as you can prior to your vacation! You don’t want to have Covid come along!

      Anne

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  2. Ladies, am praying for negative swabs all round. What a bummer to have Covid plotting against you again! Great idea for the hotel room. I do hope that you still enjoy your well-earned break.
    And can I please adopt Bender? I love him (and Rico too!). Very wise doggie ! x

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  3. Positive thoughts coming your way that your friend’s Covid tests continue to be negative. It sounds as though the two of you are making the best of the situation. I hope you enjoy your well deserved time off.

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  6. So, so sorry 😣! Prayers she will be well and move into guest room! At least she stayed and didn’t have to go home. Are y’all planning on going to the coast with the boys? Word on the street is they need to go swimming 🤭

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    1. We’re thinking we may go to the coast next week. Might take a trip to the river before then. These boys do need a nice cooling dip. They haven’t been swimming for months.
      Anne

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  7. Covid continues to pop up everywhere around me, but—ironically and worryingly—in people who have been safe from it for more than two years. Almost no one wears masks in public here in my area, now, and I wonder if our relaxed vigilance is the cause of the new cases in my extended “bubble” of friends and acquaintances. I. Am. So. Tired. Of. It. Fingers crossed that you get that vacation that you deserve with your good friend!

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    1. I’m tired of it too. Very few people around here continue to wear masks. But i’m one of them. I still have a few friends that haven’t gotten it yet. But it’s likely their days may be numbered.
      Anne

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  8. I hope you and your friend will be able to have fun the rest of you vacation in good health. I’m sending a picture of my first Frankenbag that one a Red Ribbon at the Maryland State Fair. (Please excuse if I had sent this before.) I’m so excited about it and have another in the works already. Love your blog! Patsy from Baltimore.

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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  9. Hi, set up the sewing machines and sew outside. My best friend and I sew outside at home on the patio during our short summers in NH. We call it quilting al fresco. Have a great vacation! We took our machines on vacation to Ogunquit Maine this week too. Beach in am, sewing in pm. We’ve made totebags, tablerunners and many Kaffe Fassett blocks for 2 new quilts.

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  10. So sorry to hear that your friend has Covid. Life these days is challenging at times. Hope your friend is Covid free soon. Love your franken bags. I have yet to make one but trying to work up the nerve. I did make a bucket bag and they turned out great. It sounds as though you and your friend are making the best of a not so good situation

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    1. Well, my friend doesn’t have it. Her husband does. We’re hoping she doesn’t test positive in the next few days. We should be in the clear if she can make it to Saturday or Sunday. then the normalcy can resume!
      Anne

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  11. Wow I’m wondering how you can catch a break? But snart idea for not having to cancel the whole trip. Still no late night gossip fests or actual sewing room organization. But prayers that it will all work out. Every picture of Bender just makes me smile. Yes Rico too but if you were looking for a retirement home for Bender I’m your gal!

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    1. Yup. Even after organizing my fabrics the other day, I think my sewing room is messier than it was last week! It’s getting a little oppressive! Hoping we can get to it this weekend.
      Anne

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  12. So glad you and your friend are able to spend some together – at long last. Damn Covid! It’s around here – again – also. Two cases where I live. I’ve just decided to live my life and if I get it again, so be it! Where will this end … What’s next? Meanwhile, I do some sewing almost every day and enjoy every minute of it. Be safe!

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  13. Enjoy (as much as possible) your friends’ visit.
    Maybe you could put a rivet through the bottom of the handle above the stitching? I just got a rivet press and it’s great fun! I added purse feet to a carry on I made out of vinyl for my husband-easy peasy!

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    1. I thought about a rivet but I don’t know how I’d get a hole poked through all that thickness. I think the rivets I have are too small and I haven’t gotten a punch tool yet.
      Anne

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  15. Oh man!!! I know you were looking forward to your vacation so much. I like your solution and hope, hope, hope your friend continues to test negative. Hopefully you will soon be doing more normal activities and going where you want to go, wherever that is! Have fun in spite of your restrictions–I know you are and will!

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