Non-Quilty Sewing

This is one of those weeks that is deceptive. It feels like I didn't get much done, because I don't have any serious progress done on a quilt. The thing is, I was busy all week. 

I made 16 new fitted facemasks. Most of the fitted masks I make have a casing, and when I give them to people, I just include a length of elastic. They can decide if they want ear loops or around the back of their head, or if they want it to tie I just tell them to use shoelaces. I find the fitted facemasks quite fiddly to cut and sew, so these actually took two days to make. 

One of my grandsons is autistic, so it's an extra challenge getting him to wear a mask. I did some fussy cutting on his masks so he could have some of his favorite things on them. 

I needed to get some burp rags made so I could mail the second baby quilt. I spent some time making burp rags this week. I ended up making 23, which is more than I needed right now, but I spent the time to sew up some that had been cut out for a while. I try to keep a stash of burp rags and a couple baby quilts on hand, to give as quick gifts if the need arises, Those closest to me, usually get a specially designed baby quilt, but sometimes I am just too busy to fit it in, so having a stash of finished baby quilts comes in handy. 

I had purchased the burp rag die for my Studio cutter, and this was the first time I got to use it. The shape is the same as the burp rags I've been making for years, but the dimensions are a bit different. I'll be cutting more burp rags soon, because I pulled out all my flannel not large enough to back a baby quilt, but large enough for burp rags. I was thinking about the flannel scraps as I was cutting the burp rags this week, and since I'm wanting to simplify my scrap system, I've decided to only keep 4.5" squares of flannel scraps. It's really hard for me to toss fabric scraps, but I decided that since I don't make very many flannel quilt tops, and most of those are for babies, that size square was adequate. I've successfully mixed regular quilting cotton and flannel in the past, so If I want to do something else, I'll just mix it with quilting cotton. I'm not a big pre-washer or quilting cottons, but I ALWAYS pre-wash flannel, so the fact flannel shrinks more than regular cotton isn't an issue for me. I feel pretty good about my decision to simplify the flannel scraps as well. I have always kept my flannel scraps separate, and now I'll only need one container for them. 

I realized I was still procrastinating on assembling the quilt on the design wall. Now I've given my self a deadline. I need to have it a completed top by next Friday. DH has most of next week off, and he'll be busy painting his office and putting his new desk together (I can finally get my desk back!!!) 

Yesterday I finally finished the first of five rows.

The table it's on is 8 feet long, So you can see this quilt is a monster! 

I could have chosen to put the blocks together without sashing, but I like the look of the secondary churn dash blocks with the sashing and cornerstones. Once I had assembled the blocks with sashing, I was committed to sashing the entire quilt, or it would have looked weird. Since each of my pineapple blossoms is color controlled, I need to use sashing in the correct color family in each spot, but not the same fabrics as those next to it, so it's a tricky thing to do, and laying everything out is a necessity. It doesn't actually fit on my design wall though, so that makes it even harder. Once this is a quilt top, it can hang in my quilt closet for another couple years, I don't care, I just want it a top! I also need my design wall back for the next few quilts, and I refuse to take this quilt down without having it sewn together. 

My latest project to work on in the living room is rough cutting my sisters shirts so I can feed them though the Studio cutter easier. I'm finding the Stripology ruler a true blessing for this. Since these are knit shirts, I have to deal with stretching, and all the grip on the back of Stripology ruler that I normally don't like, is a huge help in this case. 

This is a step I could totally skip. It will make it easier to run them through the Studio cutter, but I  could just leave them and run them through that way. Making these quilts from her clothes is part of my grieving process though, and I need to do the process. If I rough cut the flannel layers and the shirts, I can layer them the way they'll go in the finished rag quilt, and then cut one block at a time, and stack them exactly how I need to sew them. It's worth it to me to do do some extra cutting now to have it easier later. 

I was feeling like I hadn't gotten much done, but I actually did. I also have another quilt over half quilted, so that's a win too!