handmade by stefanie

...Because the pandemic isn't over. Even though a lot of people seem to be bored with it . A friend of ours shared this song on Instagram recently and I think it totally sums up where we are as a country (unfortunately): And so, I'll keep staying home, sewing masks. At the end of July, I sewed my 100th mask, and set a new goal of 200 - which I think I'll meet pretty easily, now that I have figured out an efficient system that works in our new apartment. And I keep ordering fabric because I keep finding more fun prints that I want to wear on my face. Attention, mask-haters: it's actually kind of fun if you can express your personality with your face mask. I believe that's what's known as making lemons out of lemonade?! I mean, look at these two nerds doing a drive-thru coffee pickup: We keep all of our clean masks hanging by the door so that we can grab & go on our way out - and then I also keep ziploc bags with clean masks in my purse and, now that...

It's been a while since I've blogged - almost 3 months, to be precise. Sorry for running silent, but during that time, we were in the process of relocating from Chicago to Kansas City. If you think that moving to a new state is stressful under normal conditions, then you can imagine how fun it is during a pandemic. There were many factors that went into making this decision - which, of course, was not easy. However, COVID-19 made it pretty darn clear that we needed to be closer to our friends and family in KC. Perhaps the most undeniable sign was when a dear family member died suddenly right before the virus hit -  literally  right before, as in the very week before the state of Illinois began its Shelter in Place order. He was a very private person who didn't like social media, so I don't feel as though I can share the details surrounding his death, but it was not COVID-related. I wish we were the only ones who have lost a loved one during this time, but of cours...

Let me preface this post by saying that my sewing skills are just so-so (sew-sew?)....in fact, at the beginning of March a friend had sent me a link about sewing face masks and all I could think as I read it was, "never in a million years could I do that!" But now, two months into our SIP, I have a new obsession: sewing face masks for virtually everyone I know. It started with my sister, who lives in Portland, OR, asking if I would mind trying to sew her something she could wear on site visits (she's an architect) - she'd been wearing a bandanna because they live in a hot spot and face masks are in short supply. Since I own a sewing machine, I figured it was worth a shot, even if it was a huge disaster. So I dug out my meager fabric stash, found some elastic tucked away with my other notions, and watched some the video tutorial which accompanies this free sewing pattern . Then I dusted off my sewing machine to make her a mask....and while I was at it, I figured, why...