Irregular zig-zag quilt

This top was quilted on the longarm quilting machine at the Framingham Makerspace. It's 90" x 108". It's not even trimmed yet. I just finished quilting it last night and had to get home for dinner. But I'm really proud of it! It's a replica of a quilt from the book "Cultural Fusion Quilts" by Sujata Shah. Edited on July 21st to say: the binding is finished, and it's on my bed!

Red Reversed Squares

 

I finished this today - except for the label of course. The Framingham Makerspace, of which I am a member, built a fiber arts lab with a longarm quilting machine. This is the second quilt I quilted on it. I started it quite a while ago, about 30 years ago.

Here's a link to a blog post from 2011. (link) That's when I cut apart the big top and added a border, and sent it off to donate to Bastrop relief. Then in 2016 I took the rows that I cut off of the original top, added some blocks and reformed it to look like this. You can read about it at the end of the 2016 wrap-up here.

Now in 2022 it's finished. It's small, good for a kid. I'll put it in the grandkid pile for now, until I have some grandkids.

Year of 22 Projects - Project #2, knitted socks

 

I thought I had my fill of knitting socks. Actually I have had my fill of knitting socks. But I fell in love with this sock yarn, and I bought it. There was nothing else to do but knit a pair of socks. I finished the pair on the way home from a vacation in Puerto Rico on March 12th. Yarn by Karen Adams, sold at Tierra Wools, Chama, New Mexico.

Year of 22 projects - Project #1

I wanted last year to be another quiltwrapup year, a year in which I "wrap up" one unfinished quilt a month. That didn't work out too well. I finished two quilts, which is great, and I made some progress on a few more, but I didn't come close to finishing one quilt a month. So of course this year I'm going to be even more ambitious and finish 22 projects. They don't all have to be quilt projects, and I'll include projects that I abandon forever. Abandoning projects is very unusual for me, so that's a legitimate rule. So here is project #1. It's pretty awesome, and we've been sleeping under it all winter long. Soon it will be time to put it away. It's a crocheted granny square afghan using acrylic yarn, joined with the continuous flat braid chain by Cypress Textiles. I started it in 2021 even though I had vowed not to start another afghan until I found a job. I had an interview with Amazon in October and I didn't make the cut, so I drowned my sorrows in yarn. To add insult to injury, I set a goal of creating and joining ten squares a week. This made the process stressful. But my bedroom looks like a beautiful storybook now, so it was all for the best.

Color Cube (rotate me!)

First Quilt of the Year

 

Here we go! I wanted this to be a special quiltwrapup year like 2011 and 2016. Maybe it still will be. But January, February, March and April quilts are still in progress. This is the May quilt. I haven't chosen a June quilt yet, and it's already June 22! But this one is finished. It's a queen-sized quilt for my kid Carter, for the future when she has a bigger bed.

Face mask with slits

This mask has a slit on top for a piece of wire that can be folded to conform to the nose. It also has a pocket on the reverse side to insert a filter. This is a simplified version based on the one in this video.
This face mask is not as safe as an approved medical mask, but not everybody can get the more effective ones.

Cut a piece of tightly woven fabric, 7"x17". Cut a piece of bias binding 2"x7" and two pieces of binding 2"x36". The strips can be cut straight (as opposed to bias cut) if necessary.

Finish the short edges with a zig-zag stitch or a serger.

Fold the fabric in half and then fold center up to 3/8 inch below raw edges, and press. Bottom fold will be the top of the mask.

Press sides to center of short strip, then fold in half and press.

Line up folds and pin.

Top stitch the edge of the binding closest to the short edge of the fabric. Leave the other end loose for now. Fold the fabric in half with the right side facing in.

Sew 1 1/2 inches in from either end, 3/8 inch in from raw edge.

Turn inside out, open out seams, fold back open edges, and press.

Fold top and binding along fold lines and press.

Fold in half and place pins half an inch away from center on either side.

Pins should be one inch apart.

Top stitch along the edge up to the first pin. Backstitch and skip to the next pin, backstitch and topstitch to the end. There will be a gap in which a wire will be inserted to conform to the nose.

Turn the fabric over. With the bottom edge on the top, pinch up a 3/4 inch pleat slightly below the slit.

Fold upwards and pin in place.

Make similar pleats above and below, and pin.

Sew 1/4 inch along raw edges.

Fold short edge of long strip in 3/8 inch and press.

Fold long edges towards center and press.

Fold in half and press again. Turn over and press, using steam or spray bottle. This will help keep the strip in place for the next step.

Fold strip in half and align mask with center.

Open the binding and tuck the mask up to the fold.

Pin in place. Top stitch the entire strip from start to end. Turn the mask over and make sure the strip was stitched down on the back. If not, stitch the back part of the strip.