BOMs Away - Hello to a fun old friend!

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

Hey! While I've been periodically searching-SEARCHING for Wherever-The-Heck I hid my Jacqueline de Jonge "Spring Fever" kit that I wanted to get washed and start prepping, I found this little guy!

Blue Bear of High Hopes

He is the second bear from Dione Gardner-Stephen's Beary Colourful BOM that she ran for 2018. Today I marked his background grid and pinned his layers for satin stitching and quilting. I'm doing those steps at the same time on this quilt, on my domestic machine, and when the bears are all made, I'll join the quilt-as-you-go sections with sashing strips of the Winnie-the-Pooh novelty fabric being used for the backing.

I had an extremely full plate that year, but I loved these guys, so I dug from my stash some scrappy gray backgrounds, a remnant of soft gray Minky, and some fun Winnie-the-Pooh yardage for backing and sashes out of my stash. Then I went to town with my scraps tubs to make the first, and then the second bear. I figured if I wasn't buying any new fabric, it was fine to add the project into my mix.... right?   lol! We are such excellent justifiers, we quilters!

Red Bear of New Beginnings

And then I had to clean up for company, and confounded myself with Where-The-Heck I hid Blue Bear. Red Bear has been cheering up the stairway from the main floor to the sewing/exercise floor all this time, poor lonely guy.

(Hmmm.... does that mean I should start another new project, hide that beginning from myself, wait a year or so, and then when I'm searching for that one, I'll find "Spring Fever" . . . ?) 

Ha!Ha!  

~~~

I'm feeling mighty lazy today, though, so I'm not going to do Blue's work just yet. He's waited two years - he won't mind one more week, now that he's back in action.  :) 

And now I'm feeling the gears of this project again, and looking forward to doing the rest of the bears in the upcoming months. I'm not ready to halt the momentum on my paper-piecing quilts - in fact, since I couldn't find "Spring Fever," I pulled out my long-ago purchased "Feathered Goose," and got that all cut out and ready to slip into the workbox for when my "Thistlepods" units are finished. 

By the way, this week I finished that quilt's serpentine flying geese border units:

Getting closer to a finished top! And, man, do I love the background fabric on these.

~*~*~

Have you been able to work on a BOM? Sure would love to see.  :)

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up, 

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

BOMs Away - Masks, Astrodelic, and Thistlepods

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

Another week where I did not get any BOM work done. . .

But I did finish the last set of 50 masks for the county first responders today!

And because I needed SOMETHING quilt-y to accomplish after so many days and days of nothing but masks, I put the borders on this top that I'd sewn up a few weeks ago.

This is "Astrodelic" as done by a shop in Estes Park. I totally loved it up on their wall and bought the kit.

That was something like 3 years ago. Heh!

Today it looks pretty crazy-busy to me, but I'm looking forward to seeing if it's something that once I get the quilting done speaks to me again. It's pretty cool when that happens, and it happens more often than not. 

Even if it still fails to float my boat when I do quilt it, my daughter thinks it's really pretty, so either way it'll be loved on.  :)

Oh!  and I also laid out the central blocks for my Thistlepods so I can get back into that project again with the new week!  This is the arrangement that Navarre approves:

~*~*~

Have you been able to work on a BOM? Sure would love to see.  :)

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up, 

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

~*~ Speed-Sew Ties for Masks Hack ~*~

I shared the hack for setting uniform pleats in masks the other day: Uniform Mask Pleats

Now:

Have you seen this hack for speed-sewing ties when you can't find (or don't want) elastic?! Total game changer!

(and note: this is actually straight-cut double-fold tape, not bias tape)

Thank you, Phoenix Chen!!

I do prefer ties that are only 1/4" (I am not sewing the mask style that needs taping on the upper and lower edges), so I'm using paper folded for a 1" starting strip.

BOMs Away - Making Masks-Masks-Masks, with a wee work on blocks

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

I've been making masks for our county's first responders.  

They sent out a request for area sewists to make masks to hold the medical filters they were able to obtain. They gave us the fabric, elastic, and nose wiresd. I did get approval to supplement with a certain fabric from my stash as a lining (instead of folding over their fabric), so that I can double the masks from their material. Adds a seam for me, but hey - it's worth it.

Lots and lots of masks.

The only work I got finished on my quilt was to connect the star corners to the 36 arcs for the completed central blocks:

~*~*~

We would love to see any BOM work you're done lately.

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up, 

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

~*~ Uniform Mask Pleats Hack ~*~

Hi! Our county put a plea out to area sewists to make 6000 masks for our first responders, as they were able to source medical grade filters, but not masks, for their use. 

They delivered kits with fabric, elastic, and nose wires, to keep the masks within a professional parameter.

So. . . those pleats. . . There are several fantastic hacks out there for creating the pleats very quickly as you are edge stitching the mask, using a seam ripper, or a fork, or some such handy repurposed tool. Completely skip the marking stage for speed-speed-speed!

But when I do that, the pleats are never uniform from side to side, slanting this way and that, and not being evenly spaced. For these masks professionalism is prioritized over super slick speed. Straight and uniform placement is wanted, but I don't want to sit there measuring and marking each of the 165 masks I've been making!

Enter this hack, which I saw shared on Facebook last week, but apparently failed to bookmark. And, of course, I can't find it now. So here's how it's done:

Cut a piece out of a manila folder (or similar paper source) that pretty much matches your mask size.

Mark the spacing of the pleats and fold them into the cardstock, THEN cut the form in half vertically so that you have two identically folded pieces. Mark the bottom.

Sandwich the mask between the two pieces.

Starting at the top, hold the sandwich pieces together and fold the pleat. Pin the sides.

Repeat for the center and bottom pleats. Pin each time, and just keep your hand on the center as you're working to stabilize the process until the pins are all in. (Here you can see that the bottom form failed to follow the final pleat in, but it still worked fine, so I didn't sweat it.)

Take the forms away, and:

Voilà! Ready for edge stitching, and it didn't take long at all to process a stack of 25.

(Those pins at the top show me where the nose piece ends, so I can go around it as I edge stitch instead of killing a needle.)

P.S. The pattern I was asked to use is basically this one: DIY Mask with Nose Wire and Filter Pocket

With the sides done this way, instead: Missouri Star video for mask with elastic

Notes: Flannel isn't ideal, as the moisture in your breath will pool faster in it and make the mask less effective, and pipecleaner fuzz is not happiness at the nose wire. Use twist ties, instead.

BOMs Away - Thistlepods & Water Reflections

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

Oh, man, where is my head these days?? Here is this week's BOMs Away post!

I got the 36 arcs and arch sets put together this week for my Thistlepods project:

And I finished prewashing the fabrics for my Water Reflections BOM, which will look like this:

Unfortunately, I can't cut it out just yet, as my cutting table got temporarily taken over by Scott for his work from home. I'm almost finished clearing off an old table in the basement where I can do a little cutting, so next week I should be able to do this one!

~*~*~

We would love to see any BOM work you're done lately.

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up, 

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter