Canadian Indigenous residential school quilt project

 I was trying to think about what block pattern i could make for our "fall project" for the Canadian residential school survivors, when I came across the "orphan" block box! What a perfect choice!! Any of the "orphans" that had orange/rust in it, 

I pulled from the box and tried to pair it up with others and then add a border if needed. I finished 4 blocks this morning and have a few more to figure out how to make them "find a new home"/purpose. Feeling pretty accomplished and very excited!!

Update: finished the other three orphans I had to make them into 16.5" blocks.

I'll send some orange with the middle one, in case the 'unbalance' bothers Vanessa (woman in charge of the donations).

Trip to Mardens!

 MARDENS!!!! MAINE DINER, lobstah rolls/ seafood chowdah...YUM!!! Oh yeah, AND FABRIC! 

 What a great day to travel...great friends, great snacks (thank you Jane)  and very interesting conversations! Maybe we DO need to go back next week for "Christmas in July" sales (bringing out their NEW fabrics!!- do we really need more?!) And hubby said GREAT WHOOPIE PIES, for only $1 ea, from Mardens! Here are some of our acquisitions! Enjoy the photos!

Donna and Jane Checking out my pile, more in the carriage.

Diagonal backing on left

My favorite

This selvedge belongs to the panel below, "

Backings!

More backings

Pillowcase fabrics for me

, 

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!