Happy New Year?!

2022 started with a thunderstorm here in Georgia. While I watched the festivities around the world on TV, the skies opened up and we had a deluge, pounding on the roof and scaring Penny onto my lap. Mr Wazoo retired to bed at 8:30, and I watched the videos of the first month's block construction of the Quilt Show BOM. It will be a lot of work, but it sure is a lovely quilt!

The plumber came yesterday and installed my Christmas gift...a swanky new faucet for the kitchen.We finally have a sprayer! It has a magnet that holds the head tight to the stem, three different spray patterns, and a soap dispenser. Yowza!!

Brushed nickel finish and a sleek design.

Pump up some soap for the many hand washings each day.

I didn't waste time on the last day of 2021, I was in the studio with the music playing and the sewing machine humming. First up, I hemmed the three new pairs of pants I got for Christmas. My legs are too short for the regular length, and too long for petite! Easy peasy fix.

Two pairs of jeans and one pair of corduroy.

Next, I finished up four more masks to send to family members. Two Wisconsin Badgers ones for Carolyn and two for little Dechen.

Happy dogs and Marvel heroes for the grandson.

This is the best pattern yet. It has a nose wire and is adjustable. No glasses fogging, either.

It starts with two flat pieces of fabric. No curved sewing.

It hugs the face and sits under my glasses for the no-fog action.

The ear elastics are adjustable, even fit my giant head!

Here's the link to the YouTube tutorial. I got the wires with the sticky side from Amazon .

https://youtu.be/qnyhsj21qrk

I have a bundle of lucious plaids coming this week from the quilt shop in Jasper, and I knew just what I want to make. I found this picture on Pinterest and have figured out how to make the blocks. I thought I would make a charity quilt to test the block size and construction, so I got out my 2 1/2" strip bin and began to play. I started the cutting at noon and quit sewing at 5:30! I think I will like the quilt when it is finished. It will be the first quilt of 2022!

This is the Pinterest quilt. I love it!

What's more fun than digging into a bin of colorful fabrics?!

I made some blocks and arranged them on the design wall.

Half of them were sewn wrong! I was in such a hurry to get something done, I failed to notice there were two different blocks. Oops. I took half of the blocks down, unpicked them , and re-assembled them correctly. No photos of the mistake...here is the corrected batch.

I picked some color-on-black fabrics for the squares, and randomly sewed the strips in pairs and cut them to fit. The block ends up a workable 8 1/2". Here, you can see the two different blocks.

This is the third iteration of the layout. 

I thought it would be a bit small when finished, so I did some more digging in the bin and cutting more strips. I made one more column for width.

I think this will be the final layout. I had to make four more blocks to make it a nicer size. The Pinterest one has 8 blocks across and 10 down and that's the size I'll make the plaid one.

This one, at 6x7, will be a nice lap size, finishing at 48x56.

 I'll get it sewn together, and maybe even quilted, today.

Our Texas trip is in jeopardy with the latest Covid surge. Mr Wazoo is worried about traveling and spending the night in the hotel. He also wonders if the visit would expose us, and my family there, to someone with Covid. We have a bunch of KN95 masks for the trip, as well as the homemade ones for while we're there. I  really want to go to visit my 99 year old Dad, but we'll have to see what the numbers are in a week. 

I wish all of you out there in the blogosphere a better year in 2022. I'd like to think it can't get worse than 2021, but I fear it could. Stay safe, and for Heaven's sake, GET VACCINATED!! Happy New Year? Let's hope so.

The after Christmas lull

There isn't much action here at Wazoo between Christmas and New Year. I am making masks for my friends and family again because of the rise in Covid cases across the country. Unfortunately, I live in northern Georgia, where people are resistant to vaccines and especially mask wearing. I'll never understand how so many people could risk their lives and the lives of everyone else by demanding 'freedom'. I have little sympathy for folks who defy the precautions and end up with Covid. They definitely have the freedom to choose to be ill or die.

Okay, I'm done ranting. It's just that our lives are turned upside down again for a preventable spike in cases. Anyhoo, I gave masks to my Christmas guests, and have made 20 more that will be sent off to family and friends soon. We also ordered some N-95 masks for our trip to Texas.

Here is a sample of the masks. The small ones are for kids. There are another 15 in the works down in the studio.

My daughter has been on a short vacation to Maine with her boyfriend. Every day she sends beautiful videos and pictures of there places they are visiting while there. His parents live in Maine, and that is the home base while they are there.

I like this selfie with a Maine lighthouse in the background.

A sliver of the setting sun shone on the top of the lighthouse making this pretty shot.

It looks cold, doesn't it?!

Meanwhile, back in Georgia, we have been having warm days and rainy nights. So weird! I finished quilting and binding another Christmas quilt I had on the hanger, and will put it away with the others until next year.

I like this collection. It has a retro feel to it.

This panto is included in my Handi Quilter software. I'm still learning how to size the patterns appropriately. This came out too big. Darn!

Backing fabric from the sale room . The binding is the same fabric.

I finished it last night while watching the Two Set Violin virtual concert.

Back to the studio for me. There are masks to finish before I start the Quilt Show block of the month this weekend. I'm excited about it and hope I can keep up. Here is a picture of the quilt. Cool, huh?!

Lots of appliqué and some tricky piecing. It will challenge my skills, for sure!