Day 6 lockdown sewing

Today's sewing involved a pattern I loved the look of but am not impressed with on the drafting side of things and some fabric from deep, deep stash.  It's some mesh knit that I bought over a decade ago and I'm glad I used it cos it's pretty, but it's not something I'd buy again.
The pattern was Bella Sunshine Designs Sahara Dress/Top in the tunic length.  It looked super pretty on the website, but the front and back are the same size.  I'm pretty sure that most of us are the same front and back; in my case I'm bigger on the front due to the surmeno tummy.  When I sewed this up there was a good fit in front and a waterfall of excess fabric on the back.  I ended up putting in 8cm worth of darts!

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The other issue is the shoulder shaping is odd, it's a 1cm seam, but the shaping of the edge of the shoulder is as you'd expect for a much wider seam.  I won't be purchasing any further patterns from these guys, but I'm happy with the other brands I've used so far so one lemon isn't going to put me off indie designers.

Day 6 of the lockdown

I've been keeping reasonably busy over the last few days.  I've made masks, bread, buns and workout pants plus done some xbox gaming too.  The boys are on holiday at the moment, but I'm still getting youngest to do some maths each day and eldest is apparently working on his biology assignment each evening.  Hard to tell, he keeps the door shut so he doesn't have to hear youngest's You Tube videos.

our tomato haul the other day, I'll pick again when it dries off

One of my masks, there's some copper wire over the bridge of the nose and it's lined with cotton flannel.  Won't be as good as proper PPE, but I don't need that sort of protection anyway; this will stop any hayfever sneezes from escaping and making people panic.

Made buns for dinner on Sunday night, we had burgers; yum!

Greenstyle Tempos for me for my workouts in athletic fabric from MarbleNZ fabrics

More Tempos, more Marble NZ fabric; super comfy for working out in.

I'm taking advantage of the workouts on TV1 in the mornings at the moment; can't do the full hour yet but am working to do longer each day.

Today I'll either work on Gran's chair or do more sewing, not sure which yet.

Covid-19 lockdown in NZ

So on Monday it was announced that New Zealand would be on a four week lockdown from midnight on Wednesday (today).  Essential services are still running which includes food supplies, pharmacies, doctors (though not face to face unless absolutely necessary).  There's been some bickering over what constitutes an essential store, last I heard The Warehouse was saying it'd be open; our Prime Minister wasn't convinced since they are a general store who happens to have some food stocks; they're not primarily a food shop.   Bunnings was also saying they're essential and I can see some sense in that, a hardware store could be handy in a plumbing emergency; though plumbers and electricians will still be working.
We've had our chimney clean postponed until who knows when; pretty sure it was cleaned last year so should be safe to use and it's only a couple of years old and we've only used dry wood which reduces creosote risk.
I really hope everyone takes this seriously and doesn't go out and meet people outside their own home.  I also hope that the government takes sufficient measures to ensure people don't lose their homes over this; they have taken some for people with mortgages but not much for rental properties aside from a rent freeze.  For those who've lost their jobs a rent freeze isn't sufficient help unfortunately.

I've just checked my essential supplies and I'm good for elastic and for interfacing and I have enough fabric for a lot of sewing, plus yarn, fibre and haberdashery supplies are all good.  Food is also fine for at least another week and a half so we can hunker down till that runs out.  I'm starting to cut out fabric to sew so that I can give Dh back his whiteboard gaming table for work.  He does know if I run out of things to sew I'll need it back to do more cutting out though.  He should be ok with that, the first two things I've cut out are for him!

This pile has 2 pairs of cargo pants cut out, both primarily corduroy but one is using some wool flannel that wasn't enough to do anything with by itself; there's some piecing as the corduroy wasn't quite long enough to make pants for Dh either so the knees are flannel along with the pockets and belt keepers.  Should look good I think and gets 3 lots of fabric out of the stash.  I'm also looking for shirt fabric for Dh, according to my very out of date spreadsheet I have some possibilities so I don't need to go out looking which is good.  Even though there is a fabric store open today I'm not keen on going out if it's not necessary.

My other project will be to work on the chair; I now have some cotton batting courtesy of a guild friend so it's possible to actually get it finished; no more horse hair available, but we will make do.

One thing I've done that I shouldn't is to give into the stress and buy sugary snacks.  Will have to make sure I don't get more next pay since they do affect my health.  I already have the post nasal drip which they cause for me and a throat pressure issue (this is standard for me when I overindulge).  I still have some left but after today will have to stop completely and eat fruit instead.  Much better for me and our local fruit and vege shop will be available so I can stock up there if I run out.  We've offered to let our front neighbours pick some of our pears if they want; they just need to let us know so we don't get close by accident; their son loves pears so it'll help them out and us since we can't keep up with the tree.

It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine

At least for the moment, aside from high stress levels of course, but there won't be many people out there without stress issues right now.
I am still having health issues, but things are slowly improving, my cubital tunnel issues aren't improving for some reason but I'm also low on estrogen which might be affecting healing and inflammation.  I'm seeing a physio, though next week it's a different physio as mine came into contact with someone with Covid-19 so he's stuck at home for 2 weeks; assuming he doesn't get it.  It's possible I may be referred for further investigation, but who knows how that'll work with the current situation.

I'm still knitting of course, but this year I only tried to get in as a cheerleader for Sock Madness rather than a team; a team would have caused greater injury, so not worth it.   I've also been sewing, but the dress I made is now awaiting next summer to get finished, it's a touch snug right now but I don't want to make adjustments just yet.

1st Sock Madness sock, size L with 7 repeats of the pattern on the foot; so much larger than required, but it fits youngest.

My next projects will be more workout gear for me as well as casual trousers for Dh and sweat pants for eldest in a merino sweatshirting to keep him warm at school.  He's now in Yr 13 so doesn't have to wear uniform any more; he just has to look tidy.
I'm also going to do more work on the chair, a friend at guild has some cotton wadding her father bought 45 years ago and she's giving it to me to help out; if I bought some it'd be way too expensive so she's a lifesaver.  I have one horsetail, but can't get any more, the business I got it from (our cat food shop) is closing down so instead I'll be carding it with wool and keeping my fingers crossed it works.

I'm still cycling, but have taken a few days off after getting a cold, no one else in the family has it but me.  It's relatively mild but blocked a tear duct, haven't had that happen for a while, don't want it to happen again.  I've been massaging it and using colloidal silver to help clear things up and it has improved.  Looking forward to getting back on the bike.

On the Covid-19 front things aren't too bad here in NZ yet, our borders are pretty much closed, people who've come in from overseas are self-isolating (mostly, there have been a small number of tourists who were a bit cavalier in their attitudes and got caught out by that) and as far as we know there's no community transmission; we're all hoping it stays that way but of course there's a fair chance it won't.  Supermarkets have been hit with the stupid panic buyers.  I was lucky enough to be able to get everything we needed for the fortnight by going to 3 different places yesterday and got a wee bit extra to see us through a touch longer if needed.  I didn't go overboard though, got one bag of flour, not 2, the usual amount of bread etc.  Gatherings over 100 people indoors are now prohibited, guild is still meeting tomorrow, but I suspect that may go on hiatus for a bit shortly.  My husband's Judo club has closed down for the moment; not a sport that can do social distance easily, plus they have kids classes and don't want to spread it that way either.

One thing, the yarn community and also now some of the sewing community have been offering patterns free to help people stay sane while they're stuck at home; I thought that was a wonderful idea so I also put my one and only pay for pattern up free till the end of the month; hopefully it will help someone else stay sane through this.
Lace Chain Baby Socks the code to get it free is "AsWeKnowIt" without the quotes.