Quarantine Sewing.. or Lack Thereof...

More masks were made... a coworker of my husband wanted masks for his family so I made 5 for them... they were delivered this morning (I assume) when DH went to work.  That was my Wednesday goal and I finished them last night, washed and dried them, then pressed and bagged them this morning.  Whew... I think I'm 'masked out' ... My husband's coworker is under a strict gag order not to say I made them for him nor how much he paid for them (nothing).  It was bad enough making them for the whole company, I don't want to have to fulfill requests for all them for families too.  Anyway, hopefully mask making is done for a while.

Last night, after the masks went into the washer, I decided to make Pat Sloan's 'Childhood Games' block for this week.  It's all about the Playground!

Fun block to make... can't wait to start putting it all together!  I have the layout but until I see all the blocks made, I'm not sure where I will want each block. 

In the meantime, I'm trying to keep busy during the quarantine, but it's hard... I frequently fall asleep while contemplating all the quilting and sewing I could be doing... I've got 2 bindings I've got to finish up as well... and LOTS of UFOs. 

Today I'll be stepping away from quilting much to play some Pathfinder (like D&D, but a little different... it's still a fantasy roleplaying game, or frpg).   This evening, while my husband and I watch TV, I hope I can make some progress on one of those bindings...

April Heat Wave Progress

Ok, first let me start with a disclaimer... In my defense, I was scheduled to take part in an online convention this weekend, which would keep me busy from 9am til 10pm from Thursday morning thru Sunday night. So Thursday night, after my online obligations, I decided to make Friday's Pat Sloan quiltalong block.

Then it occurred to me that I might be too tired to make Saturday's block or Sunday's for that matter, so might as well just make them, too. So I made those... that left me with just 4 little squares for next week and the corner pieces for them, and I thought, 'Gee, these could get lost on my sewing table between now and then' and in my foggy 2am brain, I thought it would be a good idea just to finish them all. 

Next thing I knew, it was 3 am and I was sewing the blocks into rows because they were taking up my whole design wall (well a big chunk of it), and I had another quilt I had to lay out there. Once I got the rows sewn, I had no place to put them so I sewed the rows together.

The center of the quilt looked so lonely and unfinished there, so I picked a bright red for the inner boarder, cut some 2 1/2" strips and sewed those on to square it all up.

And there I left it, heading to bed about 3:30 am...

I got up at 6:30 this morning, and I have to wait an hour between morning meds and something to eat (a requirement of one of the meds), so I went to the sewing room and picked out some fabric to border the quilt with. I cut the border strips, and decided on cornerstones, cut those... sewed the side strips on the quilt and suddenly it was time for breakfast and my morning convention meeting.

Long break to be online...

My group and I finished our meeting at 3:30 in the afternoon, some 6 1/2 hours earlier than the published time we had to finish in... So I went to the sewing room, put the cornerstones on the top and bottom borders, and then took a break to watch some tv and feed my animals. After the break, I went back to the studio, sewed the top and bottom borders on and voila! A finished top!!! I was excited..

.

... Until I remembered, this was supposed to be a daily stitch-along that would last til Thursday.  Sigh.

But all that work did result in an empty design wall, so, with the help of my DH, I pinned up the blocks from my Thimblecreek semi-mystery 'Stay Tuned'... it's all ready to be sewn together. 

Maybe tomorrow...

Thimblecreek is starting a new mystery quilt... but I'm not sure if I'm gonna do this one... I'll wait til a bit later and catch up if I need to... I'm a feeling a bit overwhelmed with stuff right now.... Not that this one wasn't fun, but the new one is more 6 1/2" blocks (not a problem in and of itself), and they are doing them all in civil war fabrics and shirtings, and I might want to see more before jumping on the bandwagon.

I'll figure it out... until then, I've got plenty of sewing to do... and an order for more masks, too!

WTH? and more masks, more blocks....

So I visited my blog today and pictures are missing that were there previously... I have no idea what happened to them, and not sure if I should edit those pages and re-upload them, or just wait and check back in a few days to see if whatever happened has worked it's way out.  I think I will opt for the latter - for now.

Last week, I made 35 more masks, and I have 6 more in production this week... I think I'll be taking a short break from mask-making after these... I'm starting to feel burnt out and I don't want to get there.  But these are promised already so I have to finish them.  I delivered the last 10 to my husband's company yesterday....

I made Pat Sloan's 'Childhood Games' block 12 this morning, as well as her Stay-at-home stitchalong block #21.

Block 21 of the stitchalong:

Blocks 1-20 of the stitchalong:

And then there's the Murder Mystery 2020 project... Here are my blocks for month #4:

They are really some pieces added on to the three blocks from month three, but they are done... I REALLY want to see how these blocks will all connect up in the final quilt!  I should catch up on reading chapters of the mystery too.... I haven't read since chapter 2, which means I'm behind 2 months.  That'll give me something to do tonight anyway- or tomorrow, since my surgery for Thursday has been cancelled, I don't need to go in for more tests tomorrow.

I understand the need for distancing and all, but this surgery is more than just elective... I'm in constant and debilitating pain and they are calling it elective surgery, so for the time being, no relief, sigh. 

Making Masks and Catching Up...

Yesterday and this morning, I made 2 more Pat Sloan Quiltalong blocks... Easy-peasy and quick to make.  #12 is on the left, #11 on the right.

Two days ago I cut fabric for a couple of projects.  One was for month 4 of the 2020 Murder Mystery Quilt.... blocks are still not done yet though.  The other was for the Thimblecreek Mystery Quilt 'Stay Tuned'... Last night I managed to finish the last of the piecing and pressing to make the units (HST's and FG) that make up the block, but got too tired to sew more than one block (there are five each week).  So this morning, before I started in on more masks, I sewed up the other four blocks... Here they are:

This coming Tuesday, we should be getting the finishing instructions on how to put it all together.  Looking forward to that!

After finishing these two parts of quilts this morning, I worked on more masks.  I got 26 blanks done, and about 13 pairs of ties ready for sewing onto the masks... which means I need another 13 pairs - for this batch anyway... Time to make more bias binding I think (which is what I make my ties out of).  Until now, I've been using leftover bits of binding for ties, but this time, I had to cut new binding strips... It feels like such a chore, but it has to be done.  Back to work for me!

Catching Up Again...

I'm trying to catch up again... I fell behind while making all those masks, and I've got to make a lot more, but first I want to catch up on my daily, weekly, and monthly blocks... Tomorrow, I've got appointments all day, so I decided to sew a few blocks tonight.  This is 'Paper Dolls' for Pat Sloan's Childhood Games quilt:

The blocks for this quilt are not representative of an image of the game or pastime, so don't look for anything to do with paper dolls in the block....   It was fun and easy to sew... Can't wait for next week's block!

I also sewed tomorrow's block for Pat's stay at home quiltalong.  Since the blocks are all the same (different fabrics, same design), easy to sew ahead.  I'm trying not to do that, though the urge is to chain sew all of them!  But tomorrow's back-to-back appointments will prevent me from sewing much tomorrow.

Now to get some sleep... I've got to be at the doctor's at 7am for a CT scan.  Then another appointment at 10am, another right after that, and then a little free time in the evening to sew masks.

Stay healthy.

Making Masks and Trying to Keep Up

Wow... so much happening in the world... this virus sucks, staying home all the time sucks too.  But you know, the people who lived and died through the flu epidemic last century probably thought the same thing.  The men and women who fought WWII or endured the hardships and rationing and such at home during WWII probably thought the same thing... And all we are asked to do is stay home.  I think we can endure... But it sure is a pain sometimes.  I went out to do my daily tasks for Pokemon Go and Harry Potter tonight at midnight and got followed by a Police cruise - the guy probably thought I was driving suspiciously - very slow and going from the park to the church to the theater to an office complex... and pausing at each place long enough to spin a pokestop or catch a creature or put something in a gym.  I think he finally decided I was no threat and he turned right when I turned left.. whew...

Now I'm home.... finished up 25 masks for the folks at my husband's company (I'll be making about 35 more total for them, but 25 was all I got done in 3 days, so they are being delivered tomorrow, while I start more).  Yeah, I'm slow, but mine are pleated, bound, with bias ties not elastic... they take a little longer to make.

And I made "'tomorrow's" block for Pat Sloan's 'Stay at Home Quiltalong'.  Technically it's today, but it's 1:30am, so it still feels like part of yesterday.

Of course, somehow, I"ve managed while making masks, to fall behind on my Murder Mystery 2020 blocks, my Thimblecreek mystery blocks, and Pat's Childhood Games quilt... Maybe tomorrow before I start making more masks, I'll work on those Because:  Tomorrow I'll be... let's see.. um... oh yeah.... STAYING HOME! 


sigh.

Mornings are for Making

I love sewing in the early morning.  I'm rested (at least somewhat) and raring to go...   After breakfast today, I managed to make a couple more hexagons, cut and piece my second 'Stay at Home Quilt Along' block, and inventory all my scissors and cutting tools.

This is my Sew Along block... much like the last one, but with black corners, and different cats.

My Scissor Story:

This is my favorite cutting tool.... that little blue thing at the top that these thread snips hang from clips on my neckline and I wear it everywhere, all the time, even to bed... after all, I must have it with me in case of an earthquake.

This is the mess that my scissor drawer was in when I opened it...

I cleaned out all the scissors and just left the rotary cutters and blades:

I laid out all my loose scissors, including my grandma Fan's Wiss pinking shears, (long since gone too dull to cut fabric):

And there's my new Tula Pink tool set, including lots of scissors and a rotary cutter:

I've got more than three 60mm Olfa ergonomic rotary cutters not pictured here - One at my cutting table, one next to my sewing machine, one in my sewing 'go-bag' and one unopened that I bought when I thought I lost one of the others... someday I'll see about exchanging it at Joann's or gifting it to someone.. we'll see.  There might be more, but I can't remember.  I do tend to lose things, buy replacements and then find the original.

So kudos to all the quilters who are organized and always know where every tool is... I'm not one of you... LOL.

... A Dollar Short...

Okay, just a day late... no money involved.  I woke up early this morning... something just got me up, so after letting the dogs out (they were a little desperate to get out after a long night in), I decided to put the time to good use.  I cut and sewed a block for the Childhood Games quilt  by Pat Sloan.  This one is called 'Kick the Can' (her blocks are not representative of the game - they just have names of games).  This is the block... I love the fabrics I chose for this one.  After a great deal of agony over which fabrics to use, I found the leaf fabric hiding under my aquas and the black with aqua dots just sort of fell into my line of sight after that.  

Last night before I went to bed, I also made Pat's current block for 'Out West'.  This is block #4 for this mystery quilt.  I found this cute cowboy kids fabric at an online shop (Ladybutton Fabrics), and they had the horseshoe fabrics to go with it... so this is my block:

I've still got my Stay-at-Home block to make this morning, but my husband is making me breakfast, and it's calling to me... so maybe later...

Finding Time to Sew

After a few days of no sewing, I have finally pulled myself out of my funk and sequestered myself in my studio for some hardcore piecing.  It felt good and right and normal and things have been far from normal of late. I managed to make 5 more blocks for the Thimblecreek Stay Tuned Mystery... and one block for Pat Sloan's April Quiltalong.  I am HOPING that tonight I get to make a block for Pat Sloan's Childhood Games and maybe her Out West mystery as well.  We shall see.

These are the five 6.5" blocks for the Thimblecreek Stay Tuned Mystery:  I'm not crazy about the middle one in the top row.. it looks 'washed out' compared to the others, which are all bright.  I'm NOT remaking it.

This is my block for Pat Sloan's April Quiltalong... This one is not a mystery, all the blocks are the same pattern, just different fabrics.  I have decided to use all cat fabrics for my main fabrics, and alternating black and white corners:

And now I'm off to the studio to cut more fabric...  Hope you are staying well, staying safe and following all the health protocols.