Making Masks from Panels

Hey all!

I am back to making masks!  I am going to fit in more time for piecing but I thought that I would share a way that I made a couple of Christmas panels into masks!  Please excuse the lack of before pictures but I didn’t think of it until after I had cut up the panels!

I had this Christmas panel with angels on it that I was able to cut apart and piece together to make beautiful angel masks!  I cut the angel sections out of the panel and added fabric onto the sides, so that the pieces would be large enough to cut into mask halves.

I held up the masks to the window to match up the angels so that they would be spaced evenly.  Really high tech LOL!

This way I got two mirror images of the angels that I was able to sew together.

And, I was able to make a few masks, insides and out from the same panel!

Pretty nice I think!  If you want to see these angel masks you can check out Sunshower Masks on Facebook! 

And, I was able to do the same with this section of a Santa panel to make a possible custom order.  You can see the chunks of fabric I added onto the sides before I cut the fabric.

A little outside of the box thinking resulted in some pretty cool masks!  I am in love with how these turned out!  And, I used some panels I had in my stash to do it as well as using the surrounding fabric to make the filter pocket and mask insides!  Win win!

I Pieced!

 I am more excited about this than I can tell you!

Since the pandemic started I have been sewing nonstop.  But what I haven’t been doing is piecing anything for myself since I started to make masks.  Do not get me wrong.  I am grateful for the ability to sew and make masks and to help people in the community by making masks that are effective, well made and comfortable.  But, this has certainly been filling my days!!

This weekend, we went to the cottage, and, I didn’t take my big sewing machine with me!   I need the extras strength of my big machine to get through all of the layers of fabric - so not bringing it meant not working on masks!  And, believe me, I have brought masks with me to work on every single time we have gone to the cottage!  I am grateful for the work but it has been unrelenting!

So, instead, this weekend I brought part of a Sew Kind of Wonderful project that has been ready to be worked on for over 6 months!  I ONLY brought that.  This was pretty big for me.  And, as the weather wasn’t great - I sewed!  I put on a couple of movies and I pieced!!!

I know it doesn’t look like much but MAN it felt good!  It felt good to piece, to rotary cut, to trim, to press and it get this done!!

The old saying - if you do what you love you’ll never work a day in your life is true!  You will never work A day - you will work EVERY day, ALL day, non-stop LOL!!  Good thing I LOVE what I do!

2” Square Bethlehem Star is Done!!!

It’s done!  What a process this was!  So many years in the making from start to finish and I can say WAHOO!  Done and bound!  They last time I posted about this was the end of January in 2019 when I was trying to get the pieces organized and cut to see if I had enough and now - here it is!

These are all 2” cut squares, 6” finished squares and 6” finished half square triangles (HST).  Yes, the whole quilt. 

Three units.  Simple idea, but, a bit of a beast LOL!  I do like it though now that it is done!  I quilted the star points in a different thread to match the Kona solid (Paprika I think) in straight lines to give them a bit of definition. 

The rest of the quilt I used Glide 40wt Sand in sort of a Paisley, Floral Swirl.  I did pay attention to the tan coloured points and quilted in the ditch and echo inside for some emphasis.

Sand is a go to colour for me since it blends and shines against so many fabrics!

On the back I used a brown flannel wide-back for extra warmth and softness.  I do love the wide-backs!  plus, look at how the threads just pop!!

 The inspiration for this quilt was the Swoon quilts that were all over social media a few years ago.  I looked at them and thought - that’s the Bethlehem Star that’s been around forever!  So instead of using a jelly roll and cutting 2.5” squares I reworked the math and used my 2” squares and made 4 blocks!  I didn’t need a pattern - I just drew it out on some binder paper - old school! If you want to check out the original sketch you can see it here. And then I made it into a Leaders and Enders project. 

Needless to say - this project was about 5 years or so in the making and I couldn’t be more thrilled that it is done!!  I have more leaders and Enders projects on the go and I am ALWAYS cutting up more 2” squares!

I Joined the Dream Big Craze!

 I finally joined the Dream Big craze!

I finally got one of the panels quilted that I bought a few years ago.  I don’t know why I put it off so long!  These are nice to quilt and you really can’t go wrong!

I love taking photos right here, at the cottage, it is the perfect place to show all sizes of quilts; and, if they are small enough I can can even pop my head in! 

I also have no idea why I chose the tone on tone cream to quilt for my first one when I bought so many of the colour ways!  But hey!  It is done, bound, photographed and now blogged on so it is a win!

I do love the low tones though - so soothing to the eye and perfect for a bedroom against the wooden walls.

This one gives a bit more details if you want to see them.  I did a simple feather, echo and pebble to quilt.  I used 40 weight Glide thread in Sand with the matching pre-wound bobbin.  Sand is a favourite of mine!

Not a huge blog post but I am proud of this quilt!