Emptyknitster

Yesterday it rained all day and gave us an inch of moisture! No better way to spend my afternoon than to finish the quilt I'd started weeks earlier. This quilt was made from leftover fabric from the puppy dog quilt, nice but not a favorite. It will keep a baby warm someday!

In my quest for boy baby quilts, I bought two puppy related fabric pieces. Little did I know how difficult it would be for me to then find coordinated material to complete the quilt. Just before we went into "shelter in place" mode, I went to the fabric store and bought fabric to complete the quilt, good, bad, or ugly! Even if it didn't prove to be a favorite, I was determined to get the puppy dog quilt made.  I like the quilt even if I'm not entirely sold on the stripe squares. The added bonus is I bought enough material to make a fraternal twin of the quilt which eliminates the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" aspect of making baby quilts on the fly!

This baby quilt was quite unplanned. After seeing a similiar quilt on you tube one afternoon, I set about making my own version. The bright little top is made of one of my favorite items - leftover fabric! The backing is a print fabric filled with dump trucks, diggers, and road signs, making it a very cute baby boy blanket.  I love this quilt and will be making others like this in the future.

Last week one of our two hospitals in town asked for donations of hand sewn face masks. These masks will be used by hospital visitors and will be washed over and over. I went to work and made forty-two masks. I used the pattern requested by the hospital and one which online says will only take fifteen minutes to sew. In reality, each mask took an average of an hour to complete. (Was it the lack of elastic requiring me to sew seventy two inches of ties for each mask, or my mother on my shoulder requiring a perfect seam? "It's not worth doing if it's not a job well done.") Not all forty two masks made it to the clinic. I kept three for us, five were sent to California, two went to my brother, and two to a neighbor. For now I'm taking a break but will probably make more in a week or so. When I delivered the masks I stopped by my brother's house and had my first face to face visit with humans other than Hubby in forty days. Seems noteworthy....

Americans were assured masks weren't a necessary item for healthy individuals. Now, just a few weeks after the social distancing, then sheltering in place, the government suggested we all use masks. The Chick asked if I'd make a couple masks and I assured her I'd have them in the mail on Monday. There are many mask patterns online which are a quick to make and seem to fit well.  I decided to use elastic rather than ties but could easily make up a few more with ties for her to try.                          Who would have thought this would be the way I spent my Easter morning? I'm anxious to hear the reviews.

I was able to make another quilt using scraps from the original fox quilt I made a couple of weeks ago. I was very happy with this second quilt until the last step - sewing on the binding. At that time I realized the white hadn't been sewn in all the places I had intended. However, two factors kept me from changing it: 1. I ran out of white material. 2. I like the maze effect.

I was happy to make a quilt for a little baby boy who will be born in ND in May. Hope to get it to the NorDakPurlGirl soon. The baby's room is going to be decorated in foxes. I had the blue flannel on hand. I went to the fabric store before social distancing to find cotton fox print and other color coordinated fabric. A book I read recently said to buy five different types of print for a quilt, large scale print with multiple colors (fox print), striped (gray), dotted (blue), almost solid (orange), small scale (orange swirls). I think it worked quite well. I bought a half a yard or each and think I'll me able to make another in a different pattern.

The California Dreamin' Gal asked if I would make a quilt for a special friend's much desired new arrival. The baby is a boy and I think I've written about the difficulty I've been having finding material for boy's quilts. So with the one stipulation daughter choose the fabric we were golden.  She brought up several batik fabrics and we strategized their placement and cut the quilt pieced out. This week I settled into the fiber room and completed the unusual baby quilt and it's just absolutely perfect!