MAKING THE MASKS (sigh)

I have been vacillating on the subject for a week – to make masks or not. I rejected making them for medical personnel, but the topic kept popping up on my laptop screen.

Then Saturday morning Mike asked, “Why is it you’re not making masks? I think we should have masks.” Discussion ensued. “If we have to go out, it’s better than nothing,” he said. And that was exactly my point. Is better than nothing good enough? He thought so.

And that threw my day into a downward spiral. The subject of making masks for hospitals and care centers is still controversial. The Chinese recommend that all people wear masks when they go out, but their masks might be better than ours. I read site after site with lengthy instructional tutorials, either in video or pictorial format. Frustrating! Some people would have had it done in 15 minutes. Not me!

Finally, in the afternoon, I landed on a succinct video tutorial posted on YouTube by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company (this one). “This is the easiest one yet,” she said. And it was just what I wanted – ties instead of elastic ear loops. Apparently we have now depleted the world’s supply of elastic in making these controversial, ineffective face masks -- though, of course, I have plenty in my stash.

Anyway, Jenny’s tutorial made sense to me, and I actually remembered the simple steps. Then I just had to find fabric – a step that is easy to overthink. You only need scraps, after all, but the fabric should be tightly woven. I reviewed my stash and rejected fabric after fabric until I came to a Christmas print – “Bah, Humbug!” Perfect! And Jenny suggested using leftover binding strips for the ties. Since she’s a professional quilter, she had a basketful. I only had a few -- again, Christmas prints -- but deemed this a way to get rid of them. “It’s not a fashion show,” I could hear my mother say.

So, by time to start supper, I was only halfway finished with the second mask, but I easily finished this morning. And that’s the way a 20-minute project takes all day and part of the next.

The homemade mask may be next to useless in the fight against the dreaded coronavirus, but it does keep you from touching your face, which humans are wont to do. KW