Anne's b-day, borders on feathers, NEW and different mask tutorial

I snuck out very early Wednesday morning (4/29) to deliver a birthday gift from Michael and me to Anne…..see if you can figure out what it is:  

After Michael left for golf, I SKYPED with Janice for over an hour, and got to show her the new mask!  We solved many other problems of the world before we got off about an hour later.  I had a bit of breakfast before heading to the studio.  

My goal was to get borders on the ‘feathers’ quilt, and by the time Michael was done inputting his golfing score to the computer, I was done (I really am not crazy about borders....so I do a lot of procrastinating :~):  

I spent a bit of time after that on the phone with June, who wanted the particulars on the new mask, and I thought I would try to put together a tutorial.  

Michael bought me these hair bands at the Dollar Store (where they are 3 for a dollar):  

they are about 1/2 '' wide

Based on BG’s suggestions this morning (we emailed back and forth about the masks), I cut a 2-1/2'' by 12’’ strip of fabric: 

wrong side of fabric

and folded and pressed the edges under a scant 1/4 ‘’ along both of the long sides:  

then folded it in half, wrong sides together and press:  

Now cut a piece of vinyl, 12’’ by 9’’, and sew the fabric strip along the long edge of the vinyl, keeping the vinyl edge at the top fold and stitching close to the bottom edges:  

Now, thread the headband through your casing and you are good to go:

Come home after using, whipe with disinfectant, and you're good to go again!!!

After that, I went on to make 9 more of them:

And in other news.....BG's king sized One Block Wonder is back from the longarm-er and it is magnificent!!!!!

scones, feather quilt, new mask proto-type!!

Tuesday morning (4/28) I made white chocolate/raspberry scones:

before heading out to the chiro, ALDI’s (there was plenty of toilet paper, paper towels and paper napkins if anyone needs them) and Publix.  I was finally home by 11 AM and had a small bit of breakfast before heading to my studio.  

Since my feather block rows were strung over XENA, my first task was to sew them all together.  That took quite awhile, but it was finally done:  

I just need a 3’’ black border all the way around and this top will be done.  

I even had enough blocks left for the beginning/inside of a new Prayer's & Squares quilt:

Michael and I headed to the Lake House at 2 PM....the Maryland Crab Truck was there, so we decided to get crab sandwiches for a late lunch and have a light dinner (we split one of those small bags of chips):

**********  So, remember that quiche I made over the weekend?  I meant to tell you that Michael said “that quiche looked REALLY good….EXCEPT for the onions…..and the sausage….and the asparagus’’!!!  Needless to say, he didn’t eat any of it  :~).  *****************  

After my feather rows were finished, I started on new mask production.  I had an idea for something and Michael went shopping for birdseed, dog food and proto-type materials for the mask and the rest of the afternoon (until 7:30 PM) was spent on a new mask.  There is a lot of hand sewing, but I LOVE this idea:  

Easier to put on and take off than tie mask....and didn't interfere with my eyes so much (although I would never drive with either mask on).  I'm going to make a few more.

We decided we should have movie night, so Michael made popcorn for dinner and we settled in to watch FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.  Unfortunately, an hour into it our disc went completely wonky  :~(.  So we ended the evening with a couple of episodes of AS TIME GOES BY…..the perfect ending.  

And I had 3 masks hand sewn before bed....they are really doing a job on my hands, but my friend Susie was right.  I put aside my 'big horse needle' that I thought I would need to get through the vinyl, and instead used a smaller needle....MUCH easier.....thanks Susie!!!

new quilts, quich, kitties, getting caught up

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in....we have a lot of catching up to do!!

I went bike riding Saturday morning (4/25) and was home before Michael left for golf at 8 AM.  After that it took me quite awhile to get my blog out before making my morning tea and heading to my studio.  I wanted to get backing loaded up, so pulled 4 yards of 108’’ wide purple and got it loaded up:  

It took a long time because the fabric was not square at all (even though I rip my 108'' wide and don't cut it), but eventually it was done.  After that, wrestling a 40 yard, 108’’ wide batting onto the pool table and out of the cardboard box for subsequent measuring was…..I’m gonna use the word ‘interesting’  :~).  

But finally it was done and I was able to layout and baste another quilt:  

This was a pattern that BG saw that used charm squares, which both of us had (some company had sent them to me in error, then said 'keep them' when I reported it), and we both thought it would be fun to do together at retreat over a year ago.  After completing it, we both said NEVER AGAIN!!!  While I was stitching, Lucy was keeping me company:

And I got another label completed (for my recently quilted Prayers & Squares quilt):

Michael and I decided Saturday night should be date night, so we watched A MIGHTY WIND (which we both love) and Michael made popcorn.  

Oh, and remember that cardboard box the batting came in?  It has become a much loved refuge:

The kitties dash in and out of it all day long and are frequently found sleeping in it way at the back.

Have you ever watched the MSNBC Cornona virus briefing from NY Governor Cuomo and contrasted it with the presidential briefings???  WORLDS APART!  Governor Cuomo is articulate, clearly intelligent, is speaking off the cuff, answering questions, making sense, does not need to rely on other health professionals as he has already been briefed and has been LISTENING and learning, and does not lead with his gut feeling on every issue.  He is talking about the stress this is causing on the people in his state and he is not afraid to admit he doesn't know everything.  He is everything that Trump is not.  Although the topic is horrendous, it was absolutely refreshing to watch his briefing today.  

I took a bike ride Sunday morning (4/26) and came home to find a dead computer  :~(.  That was very disappointing, but since I couldn't do anything about it, I decided to make quiche for breakfast:  

onions

sausage

asparagus (thank you Paula!)

cheddar cheese

eggs

yum!!

It was yummy and I'm hoping to have 2 pieces left for lunch on Thursday with Paula.  

Michael and I spent a bit of time getting our tomato plants and basil seeds into pots before I headed to my studio.  I went back and forth on thread color for the newest quilt (which I'm calling BG's Diamonds) and I think I made the right decision.  I am using white, but I never buy stark white thread....I always buy a shade darker.  I don't think it is distracting on the colors, but it adds a lot of interest to the white parts of the quilt:

And Paula, I can't wait to show you this quilt in person as I used different whites in it.

My honey decided he wanted a grilled ham/cheese sandwich for dinner, so he made one and we shared that with a few chips and pickles:

My Monday morning (4/27) consisted of driving back and forth to Waxhaw twice (once to drop off my computer and once to pick it back up) as it refused to come on Sunday morning.  I have no idea what the problem was, because once Michael hooked everything back up, it came on like a champ!   Thank goodness as I haven’t backed up in forever and if it had crashed I would have been seriously bereft.  I added ‘back-up computer’ to my list of monthly chores (which is actually getting pretty long!)….so hopefully I will get back into doing it regularly.  

After I picked up the computer, and got Michael’s yoghurt all into containers (it was fermenting overnight in the crockpot):  

I finally hit my studio after NOON and continued to quilt on BG’s Diamonds.  Lucy was visiting again today:

While XENA was stitching away, I made a chart (my design wall was busy and I didn't have room to lay the quilt out): 

and started to sew together my newest rectangle blocks:  

Considering it wasn’t on the design wall, I was very pleased that I only made 2 mistakes in the sewing…which were easily corrected.  I was worried about this quilt…I only had 3 colors to use…and they’re not 3 colors I would normally put together, but the fabric is so rich looking that I think the quilt will be gorgeous:  

And by dinnertime (leftover halushkis) the quilting was done as well:

I just had to show you what it looks like on the back