Scrubs bags

I know a few people making Scrubs bags for the NHS, bags that can be used to put uniform in when nurses or other NHS staff come off duty. Once home they put the whole lot, still inside the bag, in the washing machine. Safer way to keep germs confined.

I’ve made two for two nurses on the same ward as my nursing friend.

I used the video by Six-Penny Memories on YouTube. Easy and quick to make.

I’ve had this piece of fabric in my stash for several years and it was just right for the purpose, the exact size to make two bags. And, best of all, NO SCRAPS left!

A sign of the times

Wearing masks is not yet compulsory here in the UK. Scientists seem divided on the matter although it is recommended to wear a mask in shops or on public transport.
My husband and I fall into the Self Isolating group so we are not going into shops or travelling on public transport. Whilst we are out having our daily walk everyone we meet is complying with the Social distancing rule of being 2 metres apart. Makes walking quite entertaining as people dodge and dive into driveways, suddenly  cross the road to the opposite pavement, walk in the middle of the road and so on. We passed one elderly couple in the park the other day and the lady said she didn’t think anyone would be able to walk in straight lines anymore!
However, our family does do some food shopping and, in anticipation of things changing in the next few months I decided to make some masks.

This was a pattern recommended by a neighbour, a retired GP, who thought it was a good design. The mask has a pocket for a piece of kitchen paper filter. She is wearing hers and says it works well because the kitchen paper stops the mask getting damp.
One each for my husband and I, and two each for our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.
I also made 5 two layer pleated ones based on Mary’s blog: Making scrap quilts from stash. So we have one each of this design.

Last of the April RSC blocks

I’ve made 4 Roman Stripe blocks for this month’s RSC blocks

I decided only to make one set of Ship blocks using light/ mid blue but have made an extra set in green.

Linking with Angela’s SoScrappy blog
Waiting to hear what May’s colour choice will be. Pink I hope!

How one Angel became three

Some months ago - many months ago probably - one of our members suggested we use a discarded Block of the Month pack which another member no longer wanted to make. It was suggested we each take a block and turn it into a Premature Baby quilt for our local hospital.
Time went on and everyone was busy with more urgent projects but when eventually people started to look at the Block pattern they had we discovered all the blocks were a different size, significantly different. Mine was very narrow with the Angel flying sideways and I couldn’t think how to expand it to make a quilt 15” x 20”. Then (obviously I wasn’t thinking straight that day!) I thought if I made two more I could have three Angels flying one above the other, the original Angel in the centre, the other two made in matching fabrics and flying in the opposite direction to the Original Angel. So I painstakingly made two more blocks. THEN I started to arrange them together and realised I hadn’t worked out the Maths correctly and three Angels would make the quilt far too long, so, back to the drawing board.

Starting with the Original Angel I added rows of 2” squares and rows of appliqué hearts and created this little quilt.

Then I used the same method to make two more little quilts:

All hand appliqué with blanket stitch and hand quilted with a pale cream Perle thread.

As if by magic......... One Angel became Three.

Of course with the Covid19 lockdown these quilts will not be delivered anytime soon. Perhaps not even this year?

A walk in our Bluebell Wood

Yesterday my husband and I did our allowed daily walk to our nearby Bluebell Wood. We actually have a choice of three within reasonable walking distance.  We visited one on Monday and this one yesterday.  We saw nobody else all the time we were in the wood. Spotted a woman jogging with her dog as we left the wood. Such a magical experience. Thousands of wild bluebells, birds singing like crazy, stunning blue skies and sunshine. How it lifted us up during this time of lockdown and isolation.

Then on our way home we spotted this rainbow on a garden gate post. Made from painted stones. Made a lovely cheerful finish to our beautiful 2 hours walk.

Blue sails for RSC 2020

One of the RSC 2020 blocks I’ve chosen to make this year are Sailing boats, in three different sizes.
My aim was to make two of each style blocks. However, as we have already used Teal and now it’s light and mid blues I’ve decided only to make one set of three this month. Mostly because of the style of blocks it is there is a lot of blue already in the blocks before I add the sails made in the chosen colour for the month. I had a piece of batik from a friend which I think works well for “sea” and I’ve been able to change up the sea colour a little by picking out the blues, green and purple sections of the fabric to vary the sea colour. Important when the sails are blue too.

Not so keen on the smallest ship block, not enough contrast between the sail fabric and the sky but I hope when it’s all sewn into a quilt top that will look OK.
Linking up with Angela’s Soscrappy RSC2020 blog

Teal Twinklers

I love making these Twinkler blocks - Cathy’s name for the blocks but I guess they are Friendship Stars. But I love the name Twinklers, because they do twinkle don’t they?
I was tidying up my 2.5” teal squares and thought I could manage to make two blocks, squeezing them in before the end of March.

Here they are: