Face coverings/masks - best pattern?

 Which pattern are you making for your home made face coverings?

I did not like the folded as it did not look like a tight fit.  So started with the pattern on the Big Community Sew promoted by the lovely Patrick from the Great British Sewing Bee.

Designed for two layers and to be tied on round the head. My quickest make using left over Scrubs material was overlocked. Under constant revision as I wore them I tried elastic round ears and elastic round the back of head. But mostly I could not get the 3rd layer in to this pattern comfortably and that was at one stage recommended. Plus tying the long strings round the back of my head was too awkward. 

I have now found a pattern on the WI site. 

This is much more shaped for the nose and has a flat bit across the bridge. It also comes further round the face for a tighter fit. I am dipping into my Fat Quarter stash sent to me as an Xmas gift which I think one of my sons got it in Aldi at a very reasonable price.

Again some experimenting. I found a way to stitch in a third layer by cutting a spare copy of the pattern down a bit and then sewing an extra bit (for any spare material) into the lining before constructing. 

Its been extra hot this week and I found 3 layers just that bit too stuffy. Possibly I could go that far in the coming winter?

Then there was the fastenings. I have really, really small ears, longer lockdown hair and I wear specs. I just don't have room for the wider elastic I have at hand!! Trying out the round the back of the head loops more which means you can keep round your neck and pull up when needed. 

My next experiments will be:

• thinner elastic
• stretch material possibly taking the side pieces to form loops which I have seen on the natty face coverings on Grand Prix F1 drivers. Not seen a pattern for it yet.
• Third layer in some sort of interfacing.
• Find a neater way to make the ends flush with the elastic firmly attached. The short bit of overlook is OK to seal but not catch the elastic. Found I had to go back and stitch the elastic down with a straight stitch and it likes jump out of the way from the machine foot!

So what are other people making?  Any shared wisdom?

Still making simple little fabric bags to carry them round in. Leaving some in car and some in each shopping bag or rucksack (for when I cycle locally to the shops) so I will not be without!

Bunting

Was not going to do anything for VE day as a child of a Burma Campaign airman I resent the way my Dad was part of the "forgotten" who went on for 6 months more and by the time he got home all the attention, and housing, had gone. My parents started married life sharing with her sister and 4 boys in a bomb damaged house then in a Nissan hut vacated by Polish POWs till getting a council house in 1952!  Still I put my feelings aside when I found I had lots of triangles of blue all over the table from cutting the V necked scrub tops for the NHS. Roughly joined them to a left over strip, added a couple of white and a red triangle and hung on the garden gate to join my rainbow just to cheer our road up.

I had to bike round the village today to get some milk( about 2 miles) and in that distance only counted 5 other bunting efforts. Could have been more on the estates and closes off the roads but I thought there would be far more considering this is supposed to be a "retirement" village.

Perhaps I will do a display for VJ day in August!

Meanwhile lockdown drags on a bit for us. My husband decided he wanted to finish a boat model project he started 20 years ago. He dragged out the hull and the wood for it from storage but could not find the plans. Hardly surprising as we have moved at least half a dozen times since then! He went on a boat model forum and someone in France offered him the plans within 2 days! Marvellous thing this internet, and, Google translate!  They apologised (in French) that he may have to wait 2/3 weeks and he replied that after 20 years that would be fine!

First two tops for Scrubs NHS

Finally got the first two scrub tops done for Norfolk Scrub Volunteers. They supplied the fabric which was a nice stable poplin linen and pattern. 

I suspect I was being slow as I wanted to be very accurate and clean and tidy!  The trousers have side insert pockets that I have not done since 1971 when I made a maxi (long length) coat for my A level Needlework project.

First rain for a month here so I am using the wet days to do this and trying not to think about the weeds popping up in the garden meanwhile!

Christmas game for grandkids = no/low cost

My crochet efforts have led me to my first make! A basket! It was actual a pattern for a storage  pot from my library book on mindfully crocheting but mine was so wide I decided it needed handles added.

I used some wool left over from an abandoned attempt to learn to knit years ago and it was really suitable for using "doubled up" as in the pattern instructions, pink and blue, as one was too thin to be much good.

What should go in it?  I was reading a book last week about re-wilding an historic farm estate in west Sussex and the author explained dealing with the conservation agencies was like trying to get a lot of frogs all to hop into the same pot. Which made me think of a bean bag game the little ones might like as an indoor activity when the weather was bad. So off to the sewing cabin to look through the fabric stash and to look on the WWW for a frog pattern.

Found an 80p bag of cheap rice in the supermarket to fill them and now we have a nest of frogs!

I will let the 6 year olds make up the "rules" of the game and find some sweet treats to be prizes. I was thinking if you get two frogs in a pot you could get a human sacrifice ie a jelly baby?  It sort of leads into a climate emergency theme! 

I shall pop it into the Xmas gift bag - made out of on old pair of their pyjamas!

Cracked it!

A few weeks later.......

A daily try, practice, unravel, start again, re read, look at another book, watch another video and finally I can produce an even shape and evenly (just about) tension crochet square/oblong with 4 different stitches.

Never to old......

Learning to crochet

Earlier in the month I wrote that I was teaching myself to crochet. Using library books, Youtube, £1.69 hook and a bag of unwanted double knit wool.

How am I getting on?  Have a look!

 Everything seems to have a bend?

Why cant' I make a square?  Is that suppose to petals on that circle?

Terrible.

I am now going to concentrate on forming a straight, even edged large square with the simple stitches. I may unpick all the early attempts and reuse the wool. Once I have got single chain, double stitch and possibly treble stitch under control I may consider the experiment done. I don't think I will ever get to be the fancy crochet or even the granny square blanket person!  My eyes feel permanently crossed.

I wonder if my grandson (6) will teach me more ukulele at Christmas?

Meanwhile, I am learning how to be a YouTuber and an Instagram-er!!!! More another day.

Yes. You are right. I am BORED.  And there is a long Parish council meeting to sit through tonight.

Just had our first frost. So its cold (-2C this morning), but pretty when the sun is out during the day. The first Vs of geese have been passing over us most days on their way back and forth between the marshland edges of The Wash and the sugar beet fields. Their noise is very distinctive and lovely in the cold crisp air.

Savvy Shopper cookbook

Book review

I picked this up in the library for a quick browse this week and I quite like its philosophy which is to have a simplified, scaled down approach to shopping, cooking and eating. It is based on using discount stores.

I am not a discount supermarket user, they are simply too far away from home, in a town centre with awful traffic snarl ups and a series of 12 traffic lights to go through!! I will stick to getting groceries delivered once a fortnight for under £2 a time.  Also my meal planning is around what is growing in the garden and ready to harvest rather than what I go our and buy.  But I liked some of the ideas.

• There are lists of regular buys suggested in this book. I have my own  next to the computer for everything that regularly appears in my store cupboard or fridge/freezer. Its a great way to cross check yourself and keep well stocked so you can cook from scratch easily.
  
• I am not a fresh herb user as suggested, even though I have the space and ability to grow them I still reach for dried from choice (a habit?). But Amy suggests a good mix for curry powder you do yourself using all the store cupboard herbs thus saving buying another jar specially!
• I agree with using olive oil. If you get at right price. It cooks better and tastes better.
• Her meal plan is quite simple but mine includes far more soups - they make filling and cheap lunches and use up veg really well.

I enjoyed the recipe ideas. At least 6 were in my own regular dishes book, but there were 12 I was willing to try out like Homity pie, sweet chilli mackerel pasta, sweetcorn soup, vegetable korma.

If you see it then it is worth a peruse.

My other library choice from non fiction side was Beginners Guide to Crochet. I have been promising myself to master this skill for ages. I got a hook on the way home for £1.65. I am not getting on very well at all. I don't seem to have the right kind of hands........

Few flurries of snow

It is cold but our frosts so far have been light and the snow no more than one 20 min flurry.  Still cold out there so been trundling around indoors for what feels like days and days.  Except when I went to post a birthday card and took the opportunity to go up the footpath through the village churchyard. Bit muddy but could be pleasant in the summer.  Next time I will take my camera.

For Xmas we were given 4 of these micro-wavable bowls with plastic lids. They have pop up round bits that let out the steam.  Reheated some shepherds pie and some sponge pudding and custard yesterday and they worked a treat.  Must write to the person who gave us the gift with thanks.

We have had a curtain across our front door for ages but it really was not a good fit and this last week the drafts were noticeable.  I remembered I had a length of not very exciting stone coloured upholstery fabric stashed away so I dug it out and made a new curtain.  Not quite enough matching ribbon for all the ties to go round the curtain pole above the door so reused the old blue ones until I am in town again.

I have been taking 20 to 30 minutes out of the day to put a second coat of white emulsion on the walls of the kitchen.  I have been doing it in sections as doing any thing in a kitchen is disruptive to meal prep!  We still have not got the tiles for the windowsill and I was fed up with the grotty bit of plastic protecting the sill and splash back.  I decided to sacrifice a length of a wipe clean PVC coated tablecloth we use on the dinning table (its too big anyway) and it makes a very pleasant alternative to the missing tiles.

My laptop is getting worse. (nearly 10 years old) Its right click to do spellcheck will not load, Soon my posts will be gibbberish.

Owl recycling

Another rumble through the box of worn out 2/3 year old clothes from my grandson and the internet for ideas I came up with an owl cushion pattern.

I have used mostly two cute sports kits from (expensive) rugby for toddlers club he did for a while. The wings are the sleeves of two of those all in one swimming costumes ( whatever happened to swimming trunks?).

The pattern was a free download through Craftsy .  I went wrong with the wings but achieved a rescue.  I also used batting to quilt the features on the front to give it more shape.  I thought the 4 inch wide band that joins the front to the back owl shape would be the most difficult but it turned out to work really well.

As it was a gift and not being sold I did not have to do the safety checks on children's toys. Though I will warn the parents that it is not fire proof (non smoking, underfloor heated house so no real risks there).   I cut an old pillow in half expecting to use the foam or fibre filling as stuffing and found it had a thick foam layer in the middle.

Never seen that before. No wonder this old pillow had been shoved to one side as uncomfortable. Still this foam layer was actually just right for giving the owl a move rigid structure.

So some more recycling achieved and a cheerful cushion on the spare room bed ready for their next visit.

Painting

Our big task this summer has been to paint one of the sheds and my log cabin. At last they are all done and looking pretty.

We have added a clock over the door.

I redid the window frames, door and bits round the roof of the machinery shed with a dark green which gave a nice contrast.

Then my husband decided to make a new shed for the storage of his dingy.

He has cut out the base and will put gravel over it to make sure it is well drained. Not that we have seen much rain in the last 5 months.

Not to waste the nice grass that was there we took it up the field to the veg garden to make a new path. We have decided to reduce the area we grow veg in and paths help divide up the veg garden so we (actually, me) will find it easier to weed the small sections.

Now we have finished painting outside for the present and I am taking some time to get back to some hobby painting.   I needed some inspiration so ordered a few library books. One called Daily Painting suggested setting yourself a target of doing 4 small paintings every day of absolutely anything. That helped.

I then found this book by Fiona Pert whose style I liked. One of her exercises was a multi coloured sheep.  How come my sheep look demented or cartonish?

I will bear with the instructions and keep trying !