If you are one of the thousands of quilters giving time and fabric to make lifesaving masks, thank you. For me, making masks is not only a good deed, but a powerful way to reduce anxiety in a tragic time.
You may also be putting mask scraps aside, to someday make a quilt. Here’s one idea that you can work on as you continue to make masks:
And here's what it would have looked like on white:
It's not finished - it's just a top - because as I continue to make masks, I will grow it. The mystery, of course, is how all this will turn out - not just this quilt, but our lives.
UPDATE, 11/19/20 - I've finished this quilt and written up the pattern. The digital pattern is for sale on Etsy, here. All money raised from this $1.99 pattern will go to my Los Angeles Regional Foodbank fundraiser, here.
Here's one fabrics I used in lots of masks - a purple batik featuring lots of birds:
...And the hexagon I made from a scrap:
Button eyes are optional. Next, masks I made for border collie parents:
And its hexagon:
A different purple batik mask:
The hexagon
A stylish saw-blade fabric mask:
The condensed version, with button eyes, appears sweet but startled:
After making a pile of masked hexagons (most without button eyes) I decided to to socially distance them. I was heavily influenced by lines marked on store floors, and social media photos of kooky/brilliant people wearing hula hoops, pool noodle hats, inner tubes, and even wildly-oversized Burger King crowns, to keep their distance. So I gave some of my hexagon rows protuberances.
No need for big decisions yet about the ultimate size of the quilt - you can grow it as you make more masks and hexagons.
Solid colors on the upper portion of each hexagon represent faces; the prints on bottom are cut from my mask scraps. Button eyes are a good choice if you’re making an anxiety-reducing quilt for a youngster. We've all heard of Sunbonnet Sue - how about Pandemic Pat?
Find my follow-up blog post, with lots more photos of masked hexagons, here. The digital pattern is for sale on Etsy, here.
Of course, I have hexagons and English Paper Piecing on my mind because my new book was just published, Hexagon Star Quilts: 113 English Paper Pieced Star Patterns to Piece and Applique, available from Amazon (here) and wherever fine quilting books are sold!
