Making Masks

Hello Everyone,

 

I dropped everything over the past two days and made masks for my family members.  I'm following the directions from Kaiser Hospital.  The directions add an extra pleat so the masks wraps around the nose a bit better.  They would have been so much easier if I'd had elastic.  The straps are the most time consuming element of the mask.

 



I had this great fabric in my stash to make masks for all of my granddaughters involved in FFA.  The fabric is from the Land That I Love collection by Deb Strain for Moda.  I think the girls will be more apt to wear them since there's a pig on it!

 

The five turkeys are no longer running amok in my daughter's garage.  They were able to make a pen at the school farm to house the little guys and girls.

Raising animals for FFA is quite the commitment for the girls.  Feeding times at the school farm are staggered so the kids aren't congregating at the same time.  It's a very real possibility the county fair will be cancelled this summer.  If that's the case, the girls will not be able to show and sell their animals.  We may have an entire pig in our freezer!  Maybe a turkey or two also.  But I refuse to buy and eat a goat! They are just too cute and have so much personality.

We've been digging our way out again.  We received another foot of snow over Sunday and Monday.  It is beautiful, but I'm so over the snow, and look forward to Spring.

This is day #23 of our self isolation.  I loved this quote that I saw on FaceBook.  Be grateful today, and be grateful that you have a today.

 

 

Soon,

Lynn

Autumn is Calling

Hello Everyone,

I'm putting on my Madam Ambassador hat for Henry Glass & Co. for the next few weeks.  My fabric shipment arrived a month early. since life it a little upside down right now, and all shipping schedules have been thrown out of whack.

This gorgeous fabric, "Autumn is Calling" by Color Principle for Henry Glass & Co. was is the shipment.  Yesterday I sat down and designed and made a couple of leaf blocks.  I LOVE them!  They look a little bit lacey and are very leafy.

Feast your eyes on this fabric palette!  It is so rich and luscious.

The line comes with three panels too.

I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do, but I drew out one design already.  I know it's going to have leaves.....that's a given.

I'll be switching gears this week as I stop to make masks for our entire family.  They are going to be their Easter presents.

Mr. Joe has been baking again.  This time he made sourdough Babka.  It was delicious.  He made sourdough pancakes yesterday for breakfast.  I've had so much sourdough lately that I may turn into an old gold miner since sourdough bread was a staple during the 1849 California Gold Rush.

I hope you are all staying home and practice social distancing when you are outside.  We won't be going outside today since we are in the grip of a major winter storm.  It is supposed to rain all day and snow all night.  We've got our firewood at the ready on our front porch so we don't have to venture out too far.  However, Mazey still has to go out occasionally.  Friday night, during last potty call for the day, Mazey and Mr. Joe beat a hasty retreat back into the house when they both heard a bear growling.  That growl got both of their hearts pumping a little faster!  I didn't know Mr. Joe could move so fast.

Soon,
Madam Ambassador

Moda Blockheads Block #12

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm back on the Moda Blockhead bandwagon.  This block was introduced by Janet Clare for Moda.  Janet featured several different layouts on her blog.  My block will finish at 8" and I'm only using fabrics by Betsy Chutchian for Moda.

 

I made my components and then started playing.  Instead of making a ton of half-square triangles, I made Flying Geese. This eliminated so many extra seams in the block.  If you click on my Virtual Classroom at the top of my blog, you can see how I make my HST and Flying Geese. 

I make my HST 8-at a time, which is so much easier than making them one at a time.  I make my Flying Geese 4-at a time.  If you want to see videos of how I make these components, you can watch my videos for FREE on The Quilt Show by clicking HERE.  In the videos I go over the formulas so you can make the components any size you want.  My HST finish at 1" x 1".  My Flying Geese finish at 1"x 2".  I made a Square in a Square for the center instead of making 4 HST.  The construction method, and formulas are in my videos or in my Patchwork Math book.

 

I can see an entire quilt made with this block.  The hardest part is deciding what fabric goes where.

 

I was off of the Blockhead bandwagon for a couple of weeks because the blocks were simplistic.  The intricacies of this block intrigued me, and I knew it was a perfect fit with the rest of my blocks. 

 

To get this block together, I started at the top row.  I stitched the solid square to the HST.  Then I pressed before I stitched the other solid block on.....and sew forth.  Stitch, press, stitch, press.  Don't wait until you get the entire row together before pressing. Before I pressed, I used my special pen filled with Best Press, and put starch along the thread line. I pressed with a dry iron.

This is self-isolation day 18 for us.  Thank God our governor implemented this early in California.  I sincerely believe his early, decisive actions have helped contain the virus, and has saved lives in our populous state.  Yes, we have a lot of cases, but it could be so much worse.

I look forward to the day when we can all be together in our quilting groups, laughing and hugging.  That day will come, we just need to be vigilant now, and stay put in our homes!

Soon,
Lynn