Tuesday, July 26, 2016

And The Winners Are...........

The winners of my 12 Days of Christmas 2016 Blog Hop are:

Michelle of Crayon Box Quilt Studio who won the Pot holders


Monica of I Can Quilt 2 who won the Hand Towels


Notes have gone out for mailing addresses.

And now just a final thank you to Sarah for all of the time and hard work she put into organizing this fun event and for the Christmas QAL

Sunday, July 17, 2016

My day - 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop



Welcome to day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop.  We have been prepping for this showcase for months. So, so glad that Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict had this wonderful idea and gathered us all in for this summer rush.

The photo above is a warm welcome using my version of the quilt that Sarah is doing as a quilt along each day of this hop in 1 hour increments.  I was priviledged to be a tester and Yes it is very doable in 1 hour segments. Her tutorial is spot on to follow.

I have a collection of small quick gift items.  I use them not only as Christmas gifts but also as hostess gifts throughout the year.  Even though these are all being presented in Christmas fabrics there is no reason not to make them, for example, for your Thanksgiving hostess in fall fabrics, there is plenty of time. So lets get started.  Oh and if I used a tutorial I have the link in the title of the item.

The first item on my list would be the ever popular 1 Hour Basket  


After all you need something to put all these goodies in.  This basket can really be whipped up in an hour. When making multiples at one time they go even a bit quicker.



Now this wrapper for a bottle of wine takes about 20 minutes to sew up. It is as simple as it looks. A tube of fabric with a ribbon in the side seam and a boxed bottom.  It's all in the fabric.


                                        

This little envelope contains


a gift card, again great for any occasion.



This is a fun gift that I started making this year,  coasters made with coiled rope and some fabric scraps.  


Takes less than 15 minutes per coaster to make. Made the little  Catch All Tray  just the right size to contain them.





This Hexi pattern for the Pot Holder / Hot Pad was new to me. I really enjoyed making them.  I list them as / Hot Pad because I forgot to put the traditional hanging pot holder loop on and didn't notice until picture time.



Last but not least are my dish towels/hand towels.  


All depends on where you hang them.  These are another under an hour project. 



In some of my pictures you will see assorted holiday candy tins or  a box to keep with the  Christmas theme. I live about 10 minutes from a Russell Stover Warehouse store.  It's huge and the selections are endless. We just had to go this week cause I needed Christmas props. Oh yeah, not only do they sell candy but they also have an ice cream stand.  Wowzer.




This is the background quilt for lots of the shots. It is a very enlarged  Swoon Block (king size) that I made in the summer of 2012 for the first Christmas in this house. This particular version of the block is an 80 inch square before the borders. Can't find the posting of the finished quilt. The front side of this quilt is made of 16 regular size scrappy swoon blocks.

And keeping with the theme of this event I am linking you to a post I did last year for another fun hop that has my tutorial for the Quickest Easiest Fudge Ever


I hope you have enjoyed your Christmas visit. I enjoyed having you, so much so that I am having a give away. I am giving away both the Pot Holders and the Hand Towels to 2 of my visitors at the end of the Hop.

Here is a list of all of the participants in this wonderful hop.   So many great ideas with so much time to get them started  for Christmas.

Merry Christmas,     Selina

July 14th:     Sharon Vrooman @ Vrooman’s Quilts
                    Carole Carter @ From My Caroline Home

July 15th:    Yanicka Hachez @ Finding Myself As An Artist
                   Chris Dodsley @ made by ChrissieD

July 16th:     Marsha Hodgkins @ Quilter in Motion
                    Leanne Parsons  @ Devoted Quilter

July 17th:     Tonia Conner @ All Thingz Sewn
                    Selina @ Selina Quilts

July 18th:     Lara Buccella @ Buzzin Bumble
                    Soma Acharya @ Whims and Fancies

July 19th:     Joanne Harris@ Quilts by Joanne
                    Suzy Webster @ Adventurous Applique and Quilting

July 20th:     Vicki in MN @ Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
                    Jennifer Fulton @ The Inquiring Quilter

July 21st:     Michele Kuhns @ Crayon Box Quilt Studio
                    Jan Ochterbeck @ The Colorful Fabriholic

July 22nd:     Alla Blanca @ Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.
                     Zenia Rene @ A Quilted Passion

July 23rd:     Joanne Hubbard @ Everyone Deserves a Quilt
                    Paige Alexander @ Quilted Blooms

July 24th:     Carolyn Jones @ …by CJ
                    Tisha Nagel @ Quilty Therapy

July 25th:     Susan Arnold @ Quilt Fabrication
                    Beth Sellers @ Cooking Up Quilts
                    Linda Pearl @ One Quilting Circle

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Count Down to Christmas in July Hop

Only 2 more days and it begins. The Christmas in July Blog Hop kicks off bright and early Thursday morning with postings by Sharon over at  Vrooman’s Quilts and Carole  From My Caroline Home

                                                  The full list and links are noted below.

 Every day of the Hop will also have steps to a Christmas Quilt Along by Sarah (the wonderful creator and coordinator of this Hop, over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I was thrilled to be part of the test team for this quilt. I took pictures of some of the steps as we went along.



This was the start. The fun part, picking just the right fabrics.


Then came the making of many HST's and my least favorite but very important step, squaring up.


The results were worth it.


It's coming together now.


And here is my finished top.  It is on the floor for this picture as it got to big for my design wall. Sarah will give you a step a day.  Work on it step by step and you'll have a Christmas Quilt done in plenty of time for Christmas.

I'll be seeing you on Sunday the 17th.


July 14th:     Sharon Vrooman @ Vrooman’s Quilts
                    Carole Carter @ From My Caroline Home

July 15th:    Yanicka Hachez @ Finding Myself As An Artist
                   Chris Dodsley @ made by ChrissieD

July 16th:     Marsha Hodgkins @ Quilter in Motion
                    Leanne Parsons  @ Devoted Quilter

July 17th:     Tonia Conner @ All Thingz Sewn
                    Selina @ Selina Quilts

July 18th:     Lara Buccella @ Buzzin Bumble
                    Soma Acharya @ Whims and Fancies

July 19th:     Joanne Harris@ Quilts by Joanne
                    Suzy Webster @ Adventurous Applique and Quilting

July 20th:     Vicki Schlimmer @ Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
                    Jennifer Fulton @ The Inquiring Quilter

July 21st:     Michele Kuhns @ Crayon Box Quilt Studio
                    Jan Ochterbeck @ The Colorful Fabriholic

July 22nd:     Alla Blanca @ Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.
                     Zenia Rene @ A Quilted Passion

July 23rd:     Joanne Hubbard @ Everyone Deserves a Quilt
                    Paige Alexander @ Quilted Blooms

July 24th:     Carolyn Jones @ …by CJ
                    Tisha Nagel @ Quilty Therapy

July 25th:     Susan Arnold @ Quilt Fabrication
                    Beth Sellers @ Cooking Up Quilts
                    Linda Pearl @ One Quilting Circle

Monday, July 4, 2016

In my post of May 31, I posted a picture of this quilt as a finished top. At the time I thought I would get it quilted and bound that week.  Finally got it done this week. It's for our local Honor Flight Chapter whose next trip will be in September.


Front


This is the back.  

I finished it at a quilt in with my local guild.  When I showed off the final quilt  several of the members threw out the idea that the block would work up into a great table runner.

I took it as a challenge. 


Turned out that they were correct.  I had some Christmas fabric out for another project that I am working on so I made a Christmas table runner.


This is the back of the table runner.  I always try to make the back of a table runner or topper as an independent item.  This one will work well for Valentine's Day. It's the heart pattern by Cluckclucksew.


Yesterday was my sisters birthday.  This is what she got as part of her gift. It was the "packaging" for her gift card.  Sure had more appeal than a cardboard box covered with paper.

I also did several hat and scarf sets and am working on projects for the Christmas in July hop.
Looking forward to seeing you here then.  In the mean time, enjoy summer.