Critter damage at old church storage, leads to new plans

 

After finding squirrels had gotten at our roll of batting at our old church mtg place, I decided we needed to think of seeing if a move to my new church could accommodate our group. After meeting with Rev Anne, we found we might possibly be able to have a double closet that could suit our needs. Yippee! Looks like we could make that space work. AND it's on one floor (important feature as our group ages)! I'm excited, ladies!!

However, making another trip to our old storage, lead me to finding 'mice poo' on some of the fabrics that weren't in a closed plastic bin. Since the 'poo' was only on one set of cabinets, i moved all our finished quilts to my car (to be washed and not returned to that space. I also, emptied the 'poo' cabinet things to my trunk to be cleaned and resorted into sealed bins. Some that were sealed got moved to the clean cabinet. Onward to purchase bins and wash/sort thru fabrics.

Two days later... 

So far, one more load in the washer (washing all the fabric from our storage, since they seem to smell 'stale'), then I can sort and pack it away in plastic 'sealed' tubs. I havent ironed this much in forever! After 2 days worth, I figured out how much my back hurts. Even sitting down to iron doesn't always help. (Tough to get old...lol). Really pleased to see all the beautiful fabrics we have at our disposal... I want a "Fabric Review" with all the ladies, when we get to meet again, in person. It tends to inspire us on future projects.

What's next to iron

Black yardage to iron

Washed, ironed and sorted into multi-floral, purple, bindings, blues ,and strings- by color

Mice poo on the open bins

This dresser may be able to come with us...

This is in the 'poo-free' cabinets

This is all the finished quilts and fabric that I'm bringing home to wash and sort.

New ideas to try

 Here are some quilt patterns that we could work on...thanks to Heartstring quilt project for these easy patterns.

Four tops made while taking a respite from masks

 

Ripple Illusion for quilters family member

 Was able to hand-pick a quilt for a relative of one of our members. He had an issue with ulcerative colitis. Many more surgeries to come. She will deliver to him in MI. Thanks Maria! Sent him "Ripple Illusion" made by Kathy.

Comfort for cancer patient

 Sending "Medieval Crossroads" to a classmates brother, dealing with stomach and esophageal cancer. This quilt top was made by Mary Ellen, and the back was pieced by all the small beige/cream scraps we had. Finished in 2018, it's just been waiting for the right person to go to. Glad it has a new home. Hope this brings some comfort to him.

Making masks with 3 layers

 While this has been suggested by CDC as better protection, we know that good quality fabric is still protective when made with only 2 layers. 

That being said,  I'm posting a tutorial for making masks with 3 layers, showing how to eliminate the "bulky" fabric in the side seams (when implementing the folds into them).

Cut fabric 8" wide, by 21" long. Fold into thirds so its 7"x8". Open the bottom third and leaving 1" or so at each end of that third... cut out arcs (this removes the bulk of the sides, while leaving the edges that will hold the elastic edges.)

Fold the "arced" third up to cover the middle third (wrong sides together).

This shows the acrs cut out (I used a rotary cutter).

Fold 1/4"-1/2" of the edge on the opposite end of the arc.

Lay your 7.5" elastic strips on the middle third. The right side is folded with the arced third underneath.

All three layers... fold top third over middle third and pin elastics into corners.

This in the mask, pinned elastics within the folds.

Sew along sides that will catch elastics , going back and forth over elastics, to reinforce the stitching.

Turn inside out (arced sides will end up being the middle layer.

Bottom end is open. I pin this closed, before making my 3 folds and pinning them in place.

Folds pinned, ready to sew all around.

Stitching along folded edges only without the bulky middle layer.

Finished 3-layer cloth mask!

Mask-making is still continuing

 We have continued to make masks for the community, after fulfilling the medical requests... so far we have made and donated freely over 4700 cloth masks and well continue to do so until we cant.

Thank you ladie

s.... you're the best!!

Pre-covid quilts finished

 

Sister quilt finished!! All that I brought home from our last in-person mtg are finished. Now just to get them Blessed.

Back side of "Floral Garden"...

"Floral Garden".... 

It needed a back made (pieced from leftover svraps), machine quilting and, while I had a binding cut for this, I decided to save it, as I has enough of the backing to roll over and bind.

Sister quilt... green border had to be attached, backing was too narrow, but was able to diagonally cut and stretch then rolled it over for the binding. "Flowers in the Grass"

"Shoe Shopping" may be the name of the shoe quilt... had to piece the back from leftovers... 

Guess what finally got finished!! I finished embroidering (spiderwebs) on our jar quilt. 

We could call it "Grams Canning Jars"... we started this 7 yrs ago as a homework project. Everyone made "jar blocks" then we 'free-designed' the top, which is why it took so long. The last year, we made a vow to do some work on it every time we met.

Making Masks for COVID-19 workers

While we haven't keep this blog up in the last year, we have been working continuously on quilts for those needing comfort. HOWEVER....

Because we've not been able to meet to work on quilts due to the pandemic, I was contacted by a member of St. Peter's Episcopal church, Karen Kubica, who asked if I thought we could make cloth face masks for staff at the medical facility where her daughter works. I sent an email to the PBPQ ladies, mentioning this idea, which took off like a bullet!

Members (and nonmembers) started working on masks mid-March and as of May 2nd, we have made and donated 1419 masks! 


These PBPQ quilters are Nancy Eaton, Kathy Siddons, Jane Perrin, Donna Indomenico, Maria Michele, Marcia Horan, Brenda Knickerbocker, and Dee Lotz in addition to Shirley Zeidler and Karen Kubica from St. Peters and Nancy's sister, Janet Urgo, who learned how to sew so she could help out.. They are from Manchester, South Windsor, Glastonbury, Columbia and Tolland.


Our masks have been donated to people and organizations across Connecticut. They’ve gone to nursing homes, medical practices, more than 80 group homes, home health care nurses, clergy, several hospitals, workers at “essential businesses” such as pharmacies and home improvement centers, postal workers, mental health clinicians, veterinary practices, friends, families and strangers. PBPQ masks are in multiple states, including Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, Florida, New York and Massachusetts.


These have all been DONATED. FREE.



While the toughest hurdle is finding elastic (quilters always have lots of fabric), we've figured out that girls’ thin headbands or even shoe laces could be substituted (thank you dollar stores). "Yankee ingenuity"? This is where we know God steps in.


I also MUST thank over 60 individuals who have offered donations of money, elastic, hand sanitizer, (yes, even toilet paper!), spools of thread, tea, muffins, sharpies, zip-lock bags, gift card to a meal (God stepped in. After all, we’re sewing!), more money, use of and a purchase of an iron (God stepped in) since one died, tuna fish (Don’t ask. God stepped in.), furnace filters, cookies, donuts, candy, plants and the many grateful hearts of those who benefit and my grateful heart for these ladies who are invaluable to me and the causes we give our gifts to. 


I'm not sure how long this virus will continue to ravage our world, but I know I can count on these ladies to step up to the plate and be there for whatever is needed! I am truly blessed. Thank you everyone! God stepped in...