Face Mask Profusion

With the constant pandemic news updates and extended quarantine announcement, there are a lot of us dealing with anxiety. I am normally a pretty stoic person, but yesterday I was feeling worried and helpless. My parents are not in great health and due to preexisting health issues, they will be at a hospital for a necessary surgical procedure. It's a really scary world right now.

One way to deal with anxiety is to do something creative or take steps to mitigate risk of a bad outcome. I decided it was time to sew some face masks, which is both creative and a positive step. Like most of you, I have seen lots of different face mask patterns and conflicting claims on which style is best, who should be wearing them, and what fabric and nosepieces are best.  I decided to use the pattern from craftpassion.com, specifically the pocket version.  I printed the Mens and Women/Teenager sizes to try. The instructions were okay and my first two turned out pretty good.

I have a big spool of 1/8 inch elastic, ordered from Amazon in February when I saw what was happening in China. The thin elastic worked great with these face masks. There are a couple options - a double strap which hooks behind your head, or loops which fit behind your ears. My husband liked the full head strap; I liked the ear loops.

So after testing the pattern, I made four more face masks.  Yes, I washed all the fabrics first in hot water.  I did not insert a metal nosepiece ... yet. (I need to find my craft wire spool)  If a metal nosepiece is needed later, I can sew a little channel and insert the metal piece through the main pocket. The mask fits nicely without the metal.

THANK YOU, dear readers, for reading and commenting on this blog. Your comments have been encouraging and downright fun to receive. It means the world to me that you took the time to reach out.  

Special thanks goes to Joy of "The Joyful Quilter". She sent a pile of orange strips so I can finish up Awesome Land. I sent back a mug rug, some scraps in colors she wanted, and a long piece of the thin elastic so she can make face masks, too. I will share a pic of the mug rug after she receives her package.    

Pandemic Update

Hello from sunny South Carolina where we are huddled in our houses and staying well within our yards to avoid the nasty COVID-19 virus. This is MY pandemic update.

My employer has divided us into two teams who alternate work days. I am on the "A Team". Yup. I hung posters of the old television show A Team in my team mates' offices.

Today was one of my off days. I am SO enjoying this new schedule, in spite of the serious reason underlying the situation.  I am able to make my weekly trip to the grocery store, catch up on housework, bake fresh bread, cook healthy meals, clean up my neglected yard and YES sew!

I dug deep into my stash and found more orange prints for my quilt Awesome Land. With this extra time sequestered at home, I finished sewing six rows of the quilt and cut enough orange scraps to add another row without repeating any of the orange fabrics. Now I just need to find more orange prints for two more rows.  My neighbor is a quilter, too. This afternoon I visited her doorway, carefully remaining six feet apart. We admired each other's quilts -- she was working on the most gorgeous batik quilt with floral applique.

Spring has sprung in my area. The azaleas are beginning to bloom. Unfortunately, so are the dandelions.  We tested the sprinkler system and repaired where our pest control guy punctured a line when burying a bug trap. A few days ago I planted seeds in my two raised beds. Today the lettuce seeds have popped up.  Maybe this year the seedlings will thrive now that I limed the heck out of the soil. It's amazing how helpful it can be to have your soil tested. The local extension office is just around the corner from my office (right now the extension office is closed).

So is anyone taking bets we will really ease up the restrictions by Easter?  Both South Carolina and nearby Georgia governors have closed schools through April 24. Most likely the federal government will ease up, but states whose peak has not yet been reached will continue with restrictions.  I guess it all depends on if New York's experiments with plasma, malaria drugs and potential vaccines prove beneficial enough. As far as I know, no one in my family has been sick. And I pray that continues to be the case.

Stay healthy, my friends! And take time to smell the roses!

Awesome Orange

February's RSC color was orange, and I finished up the month with another two rows added to Awesome Land, a quilt I am making from a Lissa Alexander pattern. I had more oranges than I ever imagined in my collection! I pulled enough to complete another two rows without any repeats, so I must have had at least 36. This pattern requires three more rows of 6 orange blocks, so maybe I could ask friends in my quilting group for a 12 x 2.5 inch strip from their stash. I would happily reciprocate!

The RSC color for March is TEAL. I can't wait to dig through my teal scrap bin and add to the little Greek Cross blocks.

On the PHD front.....no real progress to report. These darn squirrel projects have taken up my quilting time!

‘Tis Awesome

Check out the progress on Awesome Land. I am obsessed with this pattern! But I think Sue Hoover, mentioned in my last post, has the right idea of using a constant black polka dot for the monkey wrench pieces. I chose to use up my black scraps and am finding it’s a big pain to lay out the blocks so that the black sets for each monkey wrench are together. The whole quilt is completely scrappy. It feels good to use up my scraps!

Here’s a tip I read somewhere: use a cheap flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth for a design wall. It works very well. Mine is hung over a bookshelf. When assembled rows or columns get too heavy for the flannel to cling, just pin it to the tablecloth. You don't have to worry about holes in the wall or fiberboard. When the tablecloth vinyl gets too holey, just toss it in the trash and spend $3 for a new one.

Up in the Air

It was a rare Saturday - light winds, clear blue skies, no particular plans to highjack my time. So I went flying! Just did a bit of landing practice. I'm happy to say my skills have not atrophied. My airplane was very happy with the cool air. A change in the wind direction on that last pattern made things a bit bumpy so I called it a day.

On the quilting front, I finally began quilting Arcadian Chain. The chain squares will have a big chain link - that looked great sewing it freehand.  I tried a couple designs I had sketched (and practiced on a dry erase board) for the colorful spaces, but my freehand was too wobbly and the blocks are a bit too big to play with rulers on my midarm. So now I will simply do a couple passes of echo stitching and let the colored blocks stand out without excess stitching.

Do you participate in the Rainbow Scrap Color projects by Angela at SoScrappy?  For 2020 I have been cutting fabrics in January's green and February's orange colors. I was inspired by Cathy's False Positive quilt. I like the easy Greek Cross design (see my Red Cross quilt on my 2018 Quilts tab) and figured this would be a good way to use up my scraps. Eventually I will post pics of the resulting blocks. Here's is Cathy's quilt:

February's RSC color is orange, and besides the Greek Cross cutting, I have begun cutting orange scraps into pieces for Awesome Land designed by Lissa Alexander from her "Oh, Scrap" book. Both the Greek Cross and Awesome Land blocks use 2.5 inch strips. Lissa's pattern uses black prints for the secondary monkey wrench formed by the sashing, but my black scraps are pretty sparse so solid black is my choice. Sue Hoover is using this block design for her RSC quilt HERE.

PHD in 2020

You find the most interesting things randomly surfing the web!

For the past several years, the theme of my quilting plan has been to reduce UnFinished Objects (UFOs) or Works in Progress (WIPs). QuiltingGail has challenged us to earn a PHD in 2020.


PHD stands for Projects Half Done. We have to select at least 12 projects to complete in 2020, tell everyone about them via blogpost and track their progress. Okay, I'm in!

That means I need to change my game plan for 2020 a bit. Rather than making 2020 the year for Plaids with three or four projects, I will drop that idea and focus on finishing several of my oldest projects interspersed with a few 'squirrel' projects.  Here are my 12 goals:

# 1 - Arcadian Chain. This is a quilt I began in 2018 that must be finished quickly so it can be gifted. The top just needs pressing, then it can be sandwiched and quilted. I sketched out a quilting plan yesterday.

#2 - Beginning Quilt. I made this quilt from an old Eleanor Burns book back in the 1980s. It has been languishing for more than 30 years [OMG thirty?!!!].  I have decided to remove the top and bottom border and rework it so I don't cringe every time I look at it. Then I can quilt it and be done with this one. [It needs a catchy name, Cathy or Joyce--HELP!]

#3 - Winter Pines, another project from the 1980s. My late grandmother loved this pattern. It only needs a few more blocks sewn and will be ready to finish off with simple quilting. I need to find a white-ish backing.

#4 - Floribunda, a project began in 2012 based on Bonnie Hunter's design. I believe all the blocks are made and the pieced border is nearly finished. I found a great backing a few years ago at Connecting Threads. What on earth am I waiting for? Oh yeah, assembling all those blocks.

#5 - 1960's Revival, a project began in 2013 from an obsession with the Double X block pattern. I did not have enough denim blue for the background so purchased another blue. It's time to finish this up! I found a toile fabric as the backing for this one. It's the background fabric and quilting plan that has held up this finish.

#6 - Craftsy Sampler from 2015. I got stuck trying to decide on the border. Now I will slap on a 5 inch white border, sandwich with the backing fabric I chose, and play with the FMQ plan included in the class materials. The backing is a white with light blue print.

#7 - RSC15 Sampler. I made a concerted effort in 2018 to finish this top, then put it aside to focus on other projects. I need to add some plain white strips to float the edge. This is my favorite sampler and I have a cool backing fabric ready to go. Time to move this one to the Done pile.

#8 - In the 'Hood, an evapaigedesigns quilt sewn in 2017. I have the backing fabric and a great quilting design ready to go. Beth, I promise to send you a pic once it is done!

#9 - Highland Fling mystery, another evapaigedesigns quilt, this one sewn in 2019. I saw a great example for the quilting plan. It just needs a little bit of effort and I can cross this one off the list.

#10 - A Formal Affiair, using the Tessellations line of fabrics from Connecting Threads. I need to lay out the blocks again and make a few more to bring it up to a lap-sized quilt. I have no idea how to quilt it, so would love to hear your suggestions.

#11 - Crap! I need TWELVE projects for this list?  Okay, then I choose Tansy Garden, a top I made in 2018 with Pepper & Flax fabrics. It is simply waiting for me to find a backing and design a quilting plan.

#12 - Out of This World mystery by Pat Sloan sewn last year. This was a fun one to make, and the backing is super cute. It needs a custom quilting plan and that is what has been holding me back. That, and the fact that I finally assembled it only two weeks ago.

Do you want to join me in the PHD quest?

Finishing Touches

Distractions and a couple health issues derailed my plan to finish my 2019 RSC and BOM quilts by year end. Last week I finally had a burst of productivity that brought about the completion of two RSC quilts.  First one was Pixillated.

The next finish was another RSC project Extra Fancy. Both are destined for a future grandchild. (To my daughter - don’t be in a hurry! Pick out a good husband first!)

Then it was time to add borders to Pat Sloan’s BOM Out of This World. The top and backing are ready to sandwich and quilt. 

And that productive period continued. I finally decided to NOT add more rows to Arcadian Chain, which meant it was time to add the borders. The inside borders are sewn and the accent color is cut and ready to apply. 

And that’s where the productivity period ended. I dug through the UFO Storage Facility (sewing room closet) and found my first quilt top — still unfinished. Those borders are awful!  Should I remove them and “do it right” or just finish the darn thing? If I change the border, any ideas on how to add a little flair to this rather plain quilt? At minimum I would keep the cream/muslin inner border and navy outer border, removing the extra tan top and bottom piece. That’s probably the easiest. Then a great quilting design would transform this boring quilt into a beauty.

With all those projects finished or at least moved to their next phase, I rewarded myself by starting a new quilt. I am cringing while typing this, thinking of all the unfinished projects in that closet....so will set it aside until two more projects are completed. Do you make deals with yourself like that?