I spent several hours on Sunday afternoon, making a few masks. Have to say I really admire those ladies who have been churning them out by the dozen, or hundreds, don’t know how you did it. Previously, I had stitched a couple with triple pleats, and my friend Dot found out about a new design, tracing a circle with a dinner plate, of all things. After seeing her sample, I decided to give it a go, luckily I still had some elastic tucked away, as it it in really short supply these days. So I made four, two for me, and two for Robin. His masks were a little small, especially with that beard, so I used a larger dinner plate to mark the circle and make two bigger ones for him.
Blue floral for me and Kiwi silver ferns for Robin
The trick, it seems is to use something across the top of the nose to keep the mask secure. Dot kindly gave me some thin plastic coated wire which (to tie plants up in the garden) she used on her masks. It just gets zig zagged in place and then you can bend it into shape over the nose.
And here we are, all masked up. Please excuse my “just out of the shower wet hair” look.
Wearing our new masks
The country is still in Level 2, so we can go out and about as long as we take precautions. Such as sign in to shops, or scan the QR codes, practice social distancing, hand hygiene, and now masks must be worn on public transport, which seems a very sensible idea. This is our “new normal” these days.
As well as mask making this weekend, there was some cooking going on. It’s still winter here in New Zealand (although Spring is not too far away) so I made a big pot of pumpkin soup, so yummy. That lasted us for several warming lunches, and it is so nice with a swirl of cream on top!
Pumpkin soup for lunch
For our Saturday evening meal Robin fired up the Weber BBQ and we cooked a tasty leg of lamb with roast veggies, so nice. And the smell…..out of this world! Even better, we purchased the lamb on special! Did I tell you I love roast lamb?
Roast lamb on the BBQ
And our Sunday mornings usually start with bacon and eggs for breakfast, our Sunday morning tradition, and cooked by Robin. Once again, the food didn’t disappoint. It’s always a lovely leisurely start to the day.
My Sunday morning breakfast
My daughter Nicky celebrated her birthday on Friday, so it was nice to have a chat with her on the telephone, and yes, her birthday parcel arrived in time. She was born 1 year and 4 days after her brother, so I was a very busy young Mum indeed back in the day!
17 comments:
Jenny, that leg of lamb looks so yummy!!
Anyone in our health region must wear masks when in public just now. I have a devil of a time hearing a store cashier who is talking to me whilst wearing a mask and behind plexiglass - even my fella can't hear them with his hearing aids turned up, lol. The good old days are looking pretty good just now. k^^
T Shirting cut across the width at 2cm or 3/4 inch works really well for mask ties and is so soft, if you cannot get elastic.
I saw that pattern, and then found another, from a NZ site, they make the masks, and sell inside lines made from merino. They have been through A Wellington public walk test, with 45 friends, and then Grandson . I made a bias strip on the outside and used Chenille Sticks? aka pipe cleaners, from the craft shop, that can be taken out for washing,. I,too, so admire those who make them in the dozens or more. At Vodafone in Whanganui this morning, one young man had one his wife made, matching fabric for each side, and a small fabric that domed onto the elastic behind his head to stop the ears getting sore. Very smart.
That leg of lamb looks good enough to eat. LOL
Cute masks, yes whiskers can be a bit of an issue.
Those meals look absolutely lovely.
Could you share the link to the "dinner plate mask" instructions?
Your lamb roast sounds delish.
I also admire you for making that mask pattern--I am not good at all at making masks,,,I have made 12 with ties and (not ear loops as they baffle me)...I made all the dbl fold tapes in matching fabrics--that was at the start of this Pandemic.
That bbq looks so yummy...our family never did much lamb so i wouldn't know how to approach it...but I do love lamb chops.
Hugs from across the world Stay safe julierose
I need to make some more masks but I keep putting it off at the moment. I'll get on it later this week. My that leg of lamb looks tasty. Lamb is my favourite.
Sew far I haven't made masks as we don't need to wear them yet !
Never know what will happen in the future...
Both your pumpkin soup and roast lamb look yummy oh and the cooked brekky.
Elastic is scarce here as well. I did manage to purchase some elastic hair ties to use. I like the idea of adding the wire to shape around the nose. My glasses tend to fog so I think that might help. The lamb roast, the soup, AND your breakfast look delicious!
While I have used hair bands and elastic for ear loops, for myself I prefer using a 50" /227 cm shoelace. I put a knot on each side after threading through the casings (sometimes I have to put a stitch in the top edge of the casings if they are wider than the knot). Then I can let the mask drop when I am driving and don't need it but want it handy. I expect an equal length of ribbon might work as well. I make the Olson style mask...somewhat time consuming but I like the fit...worse part is when the machine needle hits the word nose piece...think my machine will be going on for an adjustment soon.
I think we will be using our masks for quite a while. Great to try some new patterns. Looks like they worked well.
Yum to all that lovely food!
I'm sorry you have the need to make masks. It's a sad state of the world right now, isn't it? I know what you mean about the quilters who have made hundreds of masks... I don't know how they do it! I've made only 35, and I think that's too many. What an interesting concept to use a dinner plate for a mask design! I've been using the free pattern by Orange Dot Quilts. And a tip for anyone wanting to put a form across the nose - use those plastic bars found across the top of coffee bags. Inserted in a channel across the nose, they work too. You know, I ate lamb for the first time when I visited Australia about ten years ago. Didn't care for it, but maybe it's because I kept imagining the sheep that it came from. :-) I'm glad you enjoy it.
Right now I have 40 masks cut out to sew for our oldest sons students. The provincial government where he lives is only giving them two each so that would mean washing them every day. Not good. I hope these will help out a bit.
Your breakfast looks yummy. I have never had lamb as it is really expensive (even on sale) here in Canada.
God bless.
Good job on the masks. I still haven’t made any. Keep putting it off. That roast lamb looks delicious.
Good work, lovely patterns! We're having them made and selling them and using the profit to supply masks to people who can't afford them, so everyone wins really. The patterns we settled on are an origami style and the Twig and Tale unpleated one only we hacked it by adding 2cm each side and using those to fold over and sew a channel. We're cutting 5cm strips of top quality cotton lycra and pulling them so they roll, and selling them for masks. More comfy than elastic. Also making ties that go behind the head, because ear ones can get really uncomfortable. I mean it depends on your lifestyle of course. when I go into the office I am in and out all day so I wear it around my neck all day, but if I was at home and just popping to the shops, ear ones would be great!
There's no right design but heaps of free patterns online for anyone not wanting to risk a mishap :)
It's been decades since I ate lamb. I'm interested how a mask is made using a dinner plate template. Thanks for the tip on using the wire.
xx, Carol
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