Sometimes I'm a little sad because I feel like I'm the only quilter on the planet who will not finish a quilt (or even a dress!!!) during the official calendar quarantine (my state's ends this week). This week I saw a meme thanking those who stopped whatever they were doing to make masks. That really cheered me!!!
I had planned to finish my gorgeous green leftovers quilt last weekend, but eight more out-of-state family members needed masks. I've been dropping whatever I've been doing, not just sewing, crocheting, quilting or other crafting, since March 16 to make masks for my loved ones who needed them. I may not have finished a quilt, but I finished about 100 masks so far. Nothing compares to the 500-mask-making challenge finishers crafting for hospitals, third-world countries and the Navajo nation. But I'm overjoyed I was able to help with some of those projects by donating a huge portion of my elastic stash.
I like to make scrunchies to match the clothing I make. I must have bought a package of elastic every single time I bought fabric in a store. Every single time I thought I gave away the last of my elastic, including two huge hanks to crafters taking on the 500-mask challenge (which both successfully completed last week!!!), I'd find another package of elastic hidden somewhere.
To all those who hoarded toilet paper, making it so people like me had to ration for four weeks or longer beginning mid-March, take that!!! I must have hoarded elastic all these years!!! I can proudly say my stash went to much better use than the hoarded toilet paper. Take that!!!
Another Dallas Cowboys fan in the family asked for four masks, including yet another NFL-themed pair. Ouch. None of my remnants was big enough, and most were too small even to patch. I decided to venture down into the basement one more time and see if there might be just one more 8x14-inch piece. Then I could slice it in half and make two. I also wasn't sure I had enough elastic left for the eight total masks I'd been asked to mail out last Monday.
Not only did I find three leftover quilt blocks from the 2015 Christmas gift Lizard made for the very same grand nephew who now wants a mask just like his grandpa's, I found three more packages of elastic (plus another hank of waistband elastic, which will be awesome for the shorts I plan to make for this summer)!!! I'm set for a while longer!!!
My grand niece wanted a musical mask to match her aunt's, and my niece wanted high school colors, which match mine because we graduated from the same high school, about 20 years apart, of course.
Incidentally, when elastic became more valuable than toilet paper and crafters realized hair bands worked just as well, resulting in a shortage of those, too, well, I have a good stash of these, too. I used to use them to teach Activity Days girls to crochet scrunchies.
On the bright side, I finished putting together half of the quilt-as-you-go blocks. I'm doing the finishing by hand, so it's taking a little while. But I think it will be worth it in the end.
Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
I love that quilt, all that green is so pleasing to the eye. The last of my mask making was a couple weeks ago and it wouldn't make me sad if I never see another mask. TP and elastic were the hardest things to find here. If it weren't for my sister being over 60 and allowed to hit the stores with freshly stocked shelves I would have been using quilting fabric. Thank you for stopping by my blog today. You may not have a quilt finish but 100 masks and the elastic was a huge contribution and you should be proud.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Denise. I don't know if it's a good thing to say I am old enough to go to the senior hours at our local tiny little grocery store. :) But it's so tiny, it doesn't have the big buying power of bigger, metro stores, so it took a very long time for them to finally get TP, and then it was limited to one per customer. Some customers would bring in their whole family and each buy one of everything that was limited, and then they'd do it again on the next senior hours. I had to leave my husband at home because he's immuno-compromised, so I couldn't cheat. I thought I was going to have to use quilting scraps, too!!!
DeleteLove your green leftovers. I had green leftovers too and made a Pea Soup top and that is not finished yet either. One day at a time...
ReplyDeleteI made masks but not a lot of them. I enjoyed picking out fabrics to suit the persons who requested them. (One of my own is made of bacon fabric). I was fortunate in that I had a lot of elastic on hand. I guess it is left over from clothes making days. I don't have any elastic now!
Thank you! I'm with you, Cathy. I'm not sure I will come up with any more elastic after I finish what's shown above. But perhaps we won't need masks by then... I can hope, right?
DeleteBacon mask... too funny! Mine has my crocheted butterflies (I had the fabric printed at Spoonflower), and my husband's has lizards. I, too, have fun picking out fabric for those who don't have a special request.
I can't WAIT to see that quilt completed!!! SEW funny about all of your elastic. Found ALL over the house!
ReplyDeleteMaybe next week, Joy! And yes, how did I happen to "hide" elastic all over the house?!? I think it's because I at one point was raising kids and because stuff got packed away each time we moved. Whatever happened, it worked, and I'm grateful!
DeleteYour green is coming along so nicely!! and its okay - It will get finished when it needs to be finished. 100 masks in NOTHING to sneeze at - that is a great accomplishment... I love that you hoard elastic thats the best!
ReplyDeleteI had to make cloth ties for masks because my elastic stash was all waistband elastic! I loved hearing about your stretchy hoard. 100 masks is fantastic.
ReplyDelete