Adventures in Mask Making ...

Because two quilt guilds that I belong to have a call out for masks to donate to various agencies, I went on a mask-making binge this past week. Above are the two styles I favor, along with varying ear pieces. My favorite ear piece is made from T-shirt strips seen in the top two masks. A guild friend provided me with the flat white elastic seen in the middle three masks. Because elastic can be somewhat hard to come by, she was willing to share. That's my second favorite- it's covered in a silky material and is very soft. Some of these are for kids, so I made juvenile sizes and used her non-chafing elastic on them. The mask at the bottom is the three-vent style and has standard 1/4" elastic for the ears. I divided the masks and donated some to each cause. If you are not done with mask-making, and would like a link to the patterns and tutorials I used, you can go to my blog post here. There's further info there on how to use the T-shirt strips for ear pieces as well.

With all this stitching, I found some tools that were especially helpful, so thought I'd share them here. The first is a bone folder seen at the upper right. It's actually a tool for creasing paper when bookmaking, but quilters use it for turning points, too. All of the masks I make require sewing wrong sides together and turning right side out. The curve on the above mask can be a little challenging to press, so I run the bone folder along the inside seam to encourage the seamline to fold and lie flat. You can find bone folders in the scrapbooking area of your craft store. The tool at the bottom is ... I'm not sure... I guess I'd call it a ring stiletto. It adjusts to wrap around your finger and can be used to direct pieces under the machine needle. I found it on the free table, so I don't have a source for it. But it sure is handy because those ear pieces want to creep out from the edges of the mask while sewing. Next, going clockwise, is a floss threader. You can see it looped through the black T-shirt strip and again in the plastic box it comes in, above left. They're from the dental section of the pharmacy, and are a great help when threading thick yarn or strips through fairly narrow holes like in the beads. The floss threader pulls the strips right through, one at a time. The second strip is a little tighter, but it will work. The bead can then be snugged up for a nice fit. And lastly, the beads themselves. Not every bead will work given the hole size, so it took some hunting to find these pretties. More about them in the next photo.

I hunted through all of the beads on hand to try and find ones with holes large enough to accommodate the ear-piece strips. The largest I had were the acrylic pony beads seen on the right. Nope... not big enough. I finally found these large-hole spacer beads on Amazon, here. 

And here's a photo of the ring stiletto in action. There will be no escapees when I've got the strips pinned down with this tool.

Being a gadget loving quilter, what post about tools of the trade would be complete without mentioning That Purple Thang? This inexpensive tool does a multitude of jobs, including assisting with turning and smoothing seamlines in this case. Would it surprise you to know that the internet is full of reviews, tips and hints for using That Purple Thang? I guess it's a "must have" for those who sew! And wouldn't you know it... I found a Purple SewEZ FingerThing while looking for a stiletto like mine! Likely made by the same company, but I don't know that for sure.

The "adventure" part of this post came when Scooter and I drove to meet up with the guild member who is spearheading the mask collection. We met up at a dog park just behind the agency where our daughter Joanna works. She was able to come out on her lunch hour and we took Scooter into the park. We've decided this is a fun get together for us and plan to meet again from time to time. Abby, our other dog, will get her chance next. Eventually, both dogs can go, but first they each need to experience it to see how things go.

Scooter did well off leash. he met a new pal about his size named Vito. They romped and played until Scooter flopped down for a cool-off. He had surgery for a torn CCL last year, but has recovered beautifully. A DNA test gifted to him by Joanna for Christmas revealed that he is part Pit Bull (not hard to come by in Florida), part Jack Russell (can't see it myself), and part Weimaraner! That one surprised me. I thought he'd have Doberman or Rottweiler in him. But if you look up a Weimaraner online, he sure looks quite like one, apart from being brown rather than gray. He just turned 8 and has been with us since he was 12 weeks old and showed up at our barn one cold fall morning. Of course he got to stay and we are so glad he found us!