Planet Nice Crafts

Hello Everyone. This month has been an actual blur. I feel like sewing has not been the focus. Looking at my notes and photos, however, I must have done some sewing because I did make a mask drop-off. I can’t recall it at all. The mask grand total is 361. My last mask sewing machine needle broke this past week so I did switch to a little garment sewing with a specially reserved needle. The machine was actually singing for a recent change. Multiple layers of fabrics, incorrect needles, and edge work have given it an interesting repertoire of sounds. This coming week I am looking forward to shopping for some machine supplies. For today, I was going to focus on a garden update. There have been successes and failures. Luckily, I think the successes edge out the failures. The latest challenge has been pests. I mentioned to you last month that I had to protect the sweet corn very soon. This is what I came up with. It worked fairly well. I did lose about three primary ears to foraging ani...

The weather during July 2020 in Chicago has been a textbook example of summer. Lots of heat, humidity, and sun – short on rain, but not too bad. The garden plot has been basking in this weather and much prefers the dryness to the excessive rainfall of 2019. The day after the last blog post was the first day of the Poppy Show. The first bloom was observed June 29 and for about two weeks, the flowers were magnificent. They only last a day or two before the petals fall. As maybe you could see in the above picture but definitely below – the bees thought they were magnificent too.  After the blooms, I let the stalks turn brown. I brought a few home for photos and to collect the seeds for baking. The seeds could be collected by shaking as they disperse naturally through the vents on the top. I probably waited a little too long as I think the maximum number of seeds can be collected before the vents open up completely. You can also open the pods up – th...

Hello Everyone! The popular refrain to stay safe and sane continues. June has been an incredible, momentous, and exhausting month. Planet Nice Crafts has felt the emotion of these times. It has spent time reflecting, but also continuing to stay the course. As of today, 257 masks have been delivered to the MasksNowIllinois group and others in our orbit. The MasksNowIllinois group in totality has completed over 15,000 masks with almost 29,000 requested – so the group is more than half way there. It has been asked where these masks are going. According to the updates, before the beginning of June, healthcare facilities and disabled/senior centers were the main recipients. Now the focus has changed to non-profits and under-resourced places such as orphanages, safe havens, homeless shelters, food pantries, and child care services. This affects Planet Nice Crafts because now only the 2-layer masks are sewn instead of a mask that has a pocket for a filter. The sewing of masks is one of ...

Hello Everyone! I hope everyone is staying safe and sane. Since the last post, temperatures have warmed up, the sun is higher in the sky, and the trees have flowered and are now almost in full leaf. This is significant as there is not much natural light filtering to the workspace now but the trees do keep the temperatures cool. What hasn’t changed is facial mask production. At the time of this post, 180 masks have been completed with another 25 waiting to be sewn. This is a picture of the last drop off a couple weeks ago. The actual sewing is going well. It has been interesting to handle so many different fabrics from iron clad cotton (perhaps due to high thread count?) to stretchy knits that I think are the most comfortable to the standard, reliable quilting or bedding cotton and cotton/poly blends. There was an opportunity to take a pause from the masks to sew up some pillowcases. Pillowcases are a standard beginner level sewing project and I have been sewing them...