The masked knitter/quilter/baker

Ta da!  Here I am in my first face mask, which fits the large Hubz perfectly, but too big on me.  I also needed to tie the strings tightly.

Our hospital is now asking for cotton face masks, probably for non-medical workers, e.g. custodians, or perhaps for nurses to put over their serious medical masks.  So I'm sewing.

No elastic in my house.  I did find an old queen-size flannel sheet, which I'm now using as the part of the mask which is against the face.  I also ordered 3 yards of flannel from eQuilter.com.  I should get that in a couple of days.

I am not particularly quick at this.  One mask, including cutting, pressing, top-stitching the ties, and the rest of the assembly takes me about 1/2 hour.  The Hubz, bless his sweet self, is doing the tie pressing, which makes a difference. 

The important thing about these masks is that they will NOT keep you safe from the virus.  But, wearing them over a real mask should help in this time of mask shortage.  If you wear one, place a tissue next to your face under the mask, and that will help a teeny bit.  I would also wear a doubled bandana over the mask.  So, yes I know that these are not a substitute.  BUT, when your hospital wants them, you make them.

We are to put them into a bin in front of the hospital entrance.  They will pick up the masks, sterilize them and give them to anyone who wants them.  Clearly there is a need for them.

I suspect that if you wear one to the market. people will stay away from you, which is not bad.

Stay safe, my friends.  Don't go out, chat with friends and family on the phone, eat good food, and get dressed in the morning.  Forget jammies all day.  Watch funny TV, don't watch or listen to the news nonstop.  Give yourself a break.  Tell your significant other, if you have one, when you're stressed or cranky.  And listen to others when they tell you the same.

The Spring Poem

Here it is, the annual spring poem!

High up, over the tops
Of the feathery grasses, the grasshoppers hop.
They won't eat their suppers,
They will not obey
Their grasshopper mothers and fathers who say:
"Listen my children, this must be stopped.
Now is the time your last hop should be hopped.
So come eat your suppers and go to your beds."
But the little grasshoppers just shake their green heads.
"no, no," the naughty ones say.

"All we have time to do now is to play.

If we are hungry we'll nip at a fly,
Or nibble a blueberry as we go by.
But not now. Now we must hop.
And no one, but no one can make us stop."

The end

Feels like

Spring is in the air.  Not really here, of course, but you can almost taste it. 

Here's my ode to the imminent season:  Spring Has Sprung!  Hourglass blocks surrounded by a border of green sprinkles on a white background, sort of like early grass.  Bad photography because the borders look more turquoise or blue that white with green leafy blades.  Ah well, maybe next time I'll get better pictures.

Maybe I'll even get it done by the first day of spring.  Possible.

Tropical reef quilt

Finished and crinkled!  I love this quilt.  99% of the fabrics are Kaffe and company.  The center blocks are leftovers from something or other.

Log cabin, of course, and binding sewn down on backside by hand.  Really slow stitching.