2020 - Masks and more

[Edited - originally published 27 January 2021 but moved to December 2020 for archiving.]

I’m rather late posting this (and I will probably move it to December’s archives) but this is what I managed to finish in 2020.

As expected, there were rather a lot of masks, but I was surprised to see that I finished five quilts. There was also a bit of garment sewing brought on by the lack of shopping opportunities due to lockdowns. My tally for 2020 is:

• 1 crochet blanket
• 1 bag
• 1 quilted plant pot holder
• 2 tunics
• 3 pairs of cropped trousers
• 5 quilts
• ~50 masks

My fabric shopping has had to move online and most purchases have been successful, though one or two fabrics were not as expected and will end up being used for toiles. I did very little hand sewing and my EPP project ground to a halt. 

2020 was definitely an odd year and I do hope that 2021 is not going to be a repeat.

 

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Finishes and Festivities

I mentioned last month that I was nearly at the end of a Quilt Along – I’m pleased to say that I managed to finish it in time and it is now quilted and bound. The front is made from Liberty quilting cottons and the backing is Liberty tana lawn that I had in my stash.

 As usual there was lots of feline help at every stage of the making of this quilt.

My other finishes this month have been slightly festive and not necessarily sewing-related. I planted up a pot of winter flowers for one set of neighbours and made a quilted holder for the pot. My non-sewing project was a couple of small Christmas cakes for friends, though I did cheat and buy ready made marzipan and icing for these.

In other news, unless things change in the next week, I have actually managed to have a month without making any face masks!

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Sewing to deadlines

This month’s sewing has been all about a quilt along, with just a few masks thrown in for good measure.

I decided to take part in Coffee Rings Studio’s Everlasting Star quiltalong and it has been quite a shock to the system! I’ve done various block of the month quilt alongs before and often ended up playing catch up on those, so having to make 6-7 blocks a week for this has taken the majority of all my sewing time.

 

We are now into the final week, and “all” I have to do this week is baste the quilt, quilt the quilt and bind the quilt. I wonder if I can book some time off work …

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Cats (and other creatures) on a quilt

After making the Covid quilt for Zoom meetings last month, it was nice to make a quilt for more traditional purposes. This quilt is heading to my great niece who is now about 3 months old. 

There are lots of cats on it, along with many other creatures so hopefully when she is a bit older she will enjoy spotting them all.

I think this is my favourite square in it – cats, sheep, knitting and combinations of all three!

It is backed with fleece and was quilted in straight lines in the sashing. The binding was machine stitched so it would withstand lots of use and washing.

As usual, there was some feline assistance in the making of this quilt.

Just in case you were thinking I had managed a mask free month, I made this one for Halloween.

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Covid Creations

This is the sewing I was trying to finish last month – a quilt but not like any other I’ve made. After months of camera-off Zoom meetings for work, I had some meetings that had to be camera-on and I needed something that would hide my home (and occupants!) from view and could be put away when not in use. So, I bought a photography background stand and made a simple quilt with minimal piecing and minimal quilting to act as a background for these meetings.

 

The four coloured blocks are the logos and colours of the four research groups of my work and have been positioned to one side of the quilt allowing me to sit on the other side. The white shapes were fused to the coloured squares and then machine appliqued using zigzag. The horizontal quilting to the top and bottom of each block is in the same colour as each block (though this does not show clearly on the photos) and the rest of the quilting is in a neutral colour matching the main fabric of the quilt.

 

Below the blocks I quilted words associated with these times which explain why the quilt was made, (these will be out of camera shot during meetings).

 

The binding and hanging sleeve were made out of the same fabric as the backing so I can use the back of the quilt if I need an “unbranded” background. Hanging the quilt was a bit of a challenge as it needed more clips than supplied and the design of the supporting bar meant a single hanging sleeve would not be suitable. However, splitting the hanging sleeve into two and leaving a gap in the middle allows the quilt to be hung from the T-bar.

 

 

My other sewing this month has also been Covid-related – more masks. These are made using the pattern from Japanese Sewing Books and I like them because they don’t collapse onto my mouth when I am wearing them.

 

They also fold away very neatly and are just the right size to fit into my Grandfather’s cigarette case for storage when temporarily removing them in cafés and restaurants.

 

As you can see, I have decided to use some of my Liberty stash for these – I thought seeing as they have to be worn, I might as well make them out of something I will enjoy wearing.

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August - a mask-free month?

I thought I was going to manage a month without having to make any masks, but it was not to be - four more masks to be sent off to family.

There has been some quilt sewing, but unfortunately this was delayed by cat, so finishing will have to wait until next month.

 

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Remakes and Repeats

July’s makes have a sense of familiarity about them. First up are yet more masks – four for ourselves and four for friends.

There has also been another tunic from the McCall 7800 pattern – this time in a Liberty jersey I got from eBay. As I knew this would be v neck from the start, I decided to learn a new technique and used an overlap v neckband by following instructions from alinadesignco.com. This went well and I can see myself using this technique on other patterns. As is becoming the norm, I also made a matching facemask from the offcuts.

In a move back to days of normality, a few bargains have been found this month. I went to the silk sale at Adamley Textiles a few weeks ago and came back with a bag of silk remnants which will be useful for mask making. There has also been the chance to look round charity shops again and I found four part-used cones of overlocker thread in colours that I needed at £1 for the four.

Finally, because this month’s sewing was done without the aid of Now-our-cat, here’s a photo of him contemplating what to do about a hedgehog.

He decided to ignore it.

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