Origami Face Mask DIY

This came up on my read one day--I enjoy doing origami and thought this was a super way to make a mask- from

These instructions and video are provided by Aplat

Patriotic Sewing!

Diary of a Quilter has the easiest way to sew a small 

patriotic US flag

these could be placemats, table runners, wall decorations.

It's quilt as you sew!

Check it out!

Here is another "Freedom" sewing adventure--designed by Charisma Horton

Love the look of this Freedom Quilt!  Why not use your stash!

Calling All Hands!

If you are anything like me, you want to help or assist during this

crisis, but you don't know what you can do?

Here are a couple of ways to assist:

If you are a quilter, check this out!

"What does love look like?

It has the hands to help others.

It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.

It has eyes to see misery and want.

It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.

That is what love looks like."

Memorial Day 2020!

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2020 occurs on Monday, May 25. 

Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.

Early Observances of Memorial Day

The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.

By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

Did you know? Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.

It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. And some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemoration was organized by a group of freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.

READ MORE: One of the Earliest Memorial Day Ceremonies Was Held by Freed Slaves

Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

Concord/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0

Decoration Day

On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.

The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I.

Confederate Memorial Day is still celebrated in several states and will be on Sunday, April 26, 2020 in Florida; on Monday, April 27, 2020 in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi and on May 11, 2020, in parts of South Carolina. The practice of commemorating the Confederacy became even more controversial after massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015

History of Memorial Day

Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.

Memorial Day Traditions

Cities and towns across the United States host Memorial Day parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ organizations. Some of the largest parades take place in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

Americans also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries and memorials. Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance of those fallen in war—a tradition that began with a World War I poem. On a less somber note, many people take weekend trips or throw parties and barbecues on the holiday, perhaps because Memorial Day weekend—the long weekend comprising the Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day and Memorial Day itself—unofficially marks the beginning of summer.

Stuck!

Yes, I'm just like many of you--stuck!  Stuck with my motivation!  Stuck with my creativity!
Stuck!  Stuck!  Stuck!  Just like the scene from the movie "The Christmas Story"


I've heard from several of my friends that they are also 'stuck'--the mojo has gone or maybe, it's just lying low till we get moving outdoors again and away from our 'stuck' in lives!

Oh my word!  There are a zillion sites with motivation quotes!  I'm pulling out my hair--none of those quotes will help with this situation we are 'stuck' with!

So,,,,,,what do I do? I sit and watch videos--not very productive for sure!  But, at least, I"m not
stuck in my world for awhile....how is it in your world?????

It's A Kaleidoscope!!

Holy Moly!  It's time to make something quick and easy--

I'm breaking out the small double pointed needles to whip out

some kitchen dishcloths to keep me clean!

I've not had my year long projects close at hand--I'm almost

going crazy without needles in my hands

Then I came across this! Knitpicks has a "ton" of free--

yes!  free! dishcloth patterns--

my stash baskets are overflowing with cotton yarns.

choosing the first pattern will be difficult--maybe, monthly theme--

like May Flowers--  Like the purple Bellflower of the bright yellow

Sunflower--there are 52 free patterns--one for each week of the year!

Anniversary!!

Today is our 57th Anniversary--can't believe we have been together this long--there are good days and bad days, but throughout those times, we have worked together to get everything sorted out.

The photo is at our 50th anniversary vow renewal!  It was something crazy we did!  and it was fun times with our family-- Graceland Wedding Chapel was the location with "Elvis" officiating!

So seven years later, we remember our day in Las Vegas and our celebration of our love of each other and our joy of God Almighty who guides us each and every day!