12 Years of Getting by With a Little Help From Friends- Day 3

After a couple of  year in our original location, we moved from the main highway to Spaulding Avenue.  That was a great move, because it has given us a better opportunity to take advantage of town events.
 
Then… enter the year of 2020. The year of germs and smoke.
 
First comes Covid.  In Oregon, our governor pretty much mandated everyone to shut down for two weeks (at first). At the start, I did so with great delight.  The last time my husband and I had that much time together was because we had new babies.  So two weeks off with some sleep?  I was in!
 
But the shutdown was extended. (for months!)   By now, I was in a little bit of a snit. We had the worry of making sure we didn’t give any of our germs to the elder people in our lives, and I felt selfish for being concerned about the store.   But I was!
 
Our bacon was saved for two reasons.
Thing Number One (oldest “kid”) had joined the team and had created our website. Previously, we had received business advice that pretty much told us to ignore creating a website, and just concentrate on enhancing customer experience.  Boy, were we glad we ignored that advice!  It’s the only time in history that our webstore has had more sales than our physical store.
 
The other thing we were able to do was allow customers to make “appointments” to come shop. This is the part where we got by with help from our friends.  So many people chose to do just that!  They made a concentrated effort not just to help our store, but so many other stores in the Willamette Valley.  They all stated the same mantra.  “When this is over, we want you to still be here to come back to.”
 
And we are!

Eventually, we were allowed to be open normally, but with class size restrictions, always masked, and keeping people six feet apart, and other guidelines I have chosen to block from my memory.   But we were still open, and grateful for that.
 
Then the ring of fire occurred.

Several fires happened all at once all over Oregon, creating a perfect ring of smoke all around our town of Brownsville.  We were officially at “level one”, which is when you’re supposed to maybe pack a go bag, along with your bank information and bills ( let the bills burn!) and be ready to leave town.
 
So, we had to close the store.  Five people volunteered to come in and help us pack up all our fabric in their horse trailers.  We didn’t end up having to do that, but having people offer this to us made our day.
​
Eventually 2020 ended, and three years later life is closer to normal.  But we know that we would not have survived 2020 without…help from our friends.  

Day three Piecing: Pieced Triangles

​Half Square Triangles: D/E Version

​On the wrong sides of the squares from E, draw a line from corner to corner.  Pair up, RST, with the squares from D.  Sew a quarter inch seam on each side of the line.  Cut on the line, flip triangles back, and press. Trim/Square to required size. 

---

Half Square Triangles A/D version: Make Sixteen

Now you're going to be making some bowties.
​
Bow Tie D/E combination: 

​Sew the squares from D to the right sides of the sixteen HST.  Press seams.  Now you will be sewing those units into eight bowtie units. 

They Will Measure

---

Time to build the Pieced Triangles:  Make Eight.

Grab fourof the sixteen A/D HST.  To the right of them, sew the squares from A.  Press seams.
 
Grab the four Bow ties to the right of them, sew A/D HST.  Press seams.

You will have four.

---

Now repeat the above instructions- but mirrored- so they resemble the image to the right.

​You will have four.

---

​They will Measure...

​That’s enough sewing for today.  See you tomorrow!