H2H 2015 Commitment Completed

This year I committed to making 3 quilts for the H2H 2015 Challenge.  I am happy to say that last night at 10:45 I completed the third quilt.

Of the 3, this one is my favorite. So bright and cheery.

I wasn't sure I'd be finished with these in time since over the past 2 weeks I've flown back and forth to NJ twice. 2 weeks ago we went back for a memorial service for MJ's side of the family and while there signed off on the house we were selling. 

We got home for the holiday weekend and I quilted these last 2 quilts, only the bindings to go and a full week till the linky party.  Best laid plans.

Monday night I got a call that my dad's youngest sister had passed away. Wednesday I was back on a plane to NJ. It was a bitter sweet trip. With all of the sadness of her death and the beautiful funeral service ( she worked for NYPD for many years so there was an honor guard and bag pipes) came the up side of seeing cousins that sadly to say we are seeing more and more at funerals than family reunions.  I have 30 first cousins on this side of the family spread out over 7 states. 17 of us made it to the funeral.

Came back Friday and started on the bindings.  This picture is of the backing for quilt one.  Too much sun, the fabric is more pale yellows and pale bright pink than this photo shows.

This was the second of the quilts bound this weekend.

Here is a close up of the bird houses that comprise the centers. It is from the same line of fabrics as the first quilt I finished for the challenge.

I missed taking a photo of the back which was a Target sheet patterned with pale gray and white tiny chevrons

This is the first quilt I finished for this years challenge it is made up of various birds in the center.

I backed it with polka dots.

I hope to get them in the mail this week.

Thanks need to go out to  Sarah for coordinating and guiding us through yet another great Challenge year.  Thanks also to all of the other participants of this years challenge.

Sew Busy couple of weeks

I've had a pretty productive couple of weeks.  Several weeks ago I had the privileged of winning the latest pattern by Christina Cameli of A Few Scraps,   Magic Carpet. 

It is a stunning modern quilt which I had to make almost as soon as I received it. Chritinas quilt was done all in solids. My version has a great monster novelty fabric down the middle instead of another solid. I also modified her version by dropping the last column on either end and one row in the middle.

Her pattern finishes at 69 x 75 which was a wee bit to large for the child's version I was making.  Mine came in at  57 x 62.  The pattern was clear and easy to follow. It included  a grid where you could note or clip your fabric choices for a quick reference as well as a coloring page where you could try out your color choices.

Thank you so much Christina, I am sure I will make this pattern again.

Next up are these neat little bags on ribbons.  My guild makes them for woman to use after breast cancer surgery. They are to hold the drainage tubes and keep them out of the way. We make them and donate them to local oncology units at area hospitals.  They are quick and easy to make. I believe they averaged about 10 minutes each to put together.  They might go a bit quicker but I did french seams because I don't have a surger. Actually it took me longer to attach the ribbons then to make the little pouch.

I also managed a couple of place mats for the guild which I forgot to take photos of.  I believe the guild gives them to members who are in need of cheering up. I'm rather new to the guild so I'm a little fuzzy on the details.

Last but not Least is my 3rd quilt for the Hands 2 Hands Challenge 2015. See the button to the right. This pattern was showcased on Mother's Day over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

The tutorial was by Joanne  It is a really quick and easy quilt and her tutorial was spot on. I did it using 2 1/2 inch strips.  I used a Jelly Roll which contained 20 strips that I got on special at my local JoAnns plus a few additional from my stash.

This is the block the quilt is made up of.  A great chain piecing event. I finished the top in a weekend. 

So my current status on the H2H 2015 is one quilt totally finished and 2 tops totally finished.  I believe I'll be done with these 2 on time.

So off I go to sandwich.  

H2H 2015 Quilt number 2 - ALMOST

Three or four weeks ago I saw a sweet quilt posted on thecolorfulfabriholic  by Jan.  She is making it for this years H2H (see the button on the right).  I figured I had enough stash to make a similar one for the same cause.      

This is my version, entirely from my stash. It finished at 48 x 64.  

The ALMOST I ran into was that friends of ours came for dinner the other night and fell in love with it. Please, please can we have it.  It walked out my front door so fast I never got pictures of it.  These are the pictures of the quilt from it's new home.

Inside and out.

Front and back.  

I'm thinking that my problem is that I am ahead of schedule this year on my H2H quilts. Oh well, that's what retirement is all about, right.  

Meanwhile I'm more than sure that I have enough stash to get another one done in time.

Baby Quilt for MJ

I left Jersey in February knowing that I had to make a baby quilt for a friends first grand son. I knew I had plenty of time. Ha, ha, ha.  Last week a mutual friend called to tell me the baby had arrived. I hadn't started  the quilt yet.  so much for lots of time

A few years ago I saw this idea all over the blog world.  I am very sorry but I never noted the pattern designer or the actual name of the pattern.  This version is from my memory.  I have no idea if the letters of the original were appliqued or pieced, if the quilt was rectangular or square etc. etc. 

Last winter I joined in the Little Letters sew along at Temecula Quilt Company.  I used those letters for my quilt. I did it over the course of 5 evenings and a quilt morning. My version ended up as a 48 inch square. 

I backed it with a cotton sheet of white with blue pin dots.  It will be mailed this week and this child will get his quilt before he's a  month old.  He won't know it's a wee bit late. 

Fun Quick Bag

On a daily basis I get ideas from Sewcanshe.com.  A new idea every morning. The ideas are all over the map, clothes, stuffed animals, household items, bags, pin cushions etc. etc. etc.  All come with instructions. I have gotten ideas for several gifts from this site and would recommend it.

A couple of weeks ago the great Easy Peasy Backpack  was the item of the day.  It may have taken me 2 weeks to try it but I've now made 4 of them in 5 days.

What I love the most about them is that you don't need anything beyond your fabric stash, no hardware required.  I believe it takes about a yard of fabric which includes the lining and the draw string.

The blue with pink bag was made following the instructions with only one exception.  The instructions call for the drawstring to be tied in a knot and I sewed the ends together.  It took roughly an hour and a half to make it (with no interruptions).

I then made another for me in a dark print that I have been hording for years.  I ended up using the trimmings for simple interior pockets.  That bag, that I made for me walked out the door with a friend the next day. She saw it hanging on the back of the chair after the photo shoot.

Bag 3, a twin to bag 2 has also found a new home.  On to bag 4 which is close to bag 2 and 3 but not a triplet. This time instead of making the draw string I used store bought cord which I had in my stash.  This really sped up the process. The draw string is about 3 1/2 yards long and required a lot of ironing which is not my favorite thing to do. Easy but not my cup of tea.

Tied knots this time, knots seem to go well with the cord.

Again used the trimmed off pieces to make pockets.

I will, no doubt, make these again.  I think they would make a great gift bag and I have plenty of time left before Christmas not to mention the Christmas yardage in my stash. ;)

Have a Latte

When I saw this fabric line  by  Dan Di Paolo, "Have a Latte" I signed on immediately. Loved the dots. Once the fabric got here I didn't want to cut it up.  The cups are a pretty good size and I did want to see them mostly whole  which show cases the dots on the cups, in whatever I finally decided on making.  The dots were a good size also so I didn't really want to chop them up either.

We recently got a new kitchen table. I found these wonderful place mats for it at BBB at about $1.50 each after coupon.  Wonderful yes, but not made by me.  The mats were a perfect color way for my eating area and lo and behold the fabrics I had purchased contained the same base colors.

I didn't have a pattern. I just measured the store bought mats and improvised with the sole goal of leaving the fabrics in big pieces.  I made 6 in total, 3 with the black and cream dots and 3 with the red and black dots.

On to the backing or the flip side.  I had lots of the dot fabric left because I bought twice as much of it as the cups and stripes.  I also had a bit of the stripe and a bit of the cups fabrics remaining. I will admit to being a bit of a hoarder when it comes to dots so I opted to finish off the cups fabric on the back and fill in the difference with the dots.  I measured what cup fabric I had left and divided it by 6. 

I had just enough of the stripe left to do the binding.

What I ended up with is a set of 6 reversible place mats for me. Not to be given away this time. I'm so happy with them that I've even invited friends over for dinner tomorrow evening to break them in. Not sure which side I'll use, maybe both, one side for the gals and the other side for the guys.

Not only do they look great on my kitchen table, they look pretty terrific on my lanai table too, all ready for an afternoon snack of Latte and cookies.

Again my thanks to  Dan Di Paolo for designing this wonderful line of fabric "Have a Latte",  M Samm for her idea of using this line and CalicoJoan  of  moosestashquilting.blogspot.com  for coordinating all of the  participants into this hop.

If you haven't done so already, please stop in and visit the other very talented ladies who are presenting today.

        April 14

How Art You?

Stitchin By the Lake

Selina Quilts  (me)

Beads and Birds

Thanks for stopping by and thanks also for any comments you took the time to leave.  Have a great day.

Easter Goodies

I am participating in a post card swap coordinated by Sheila over at Sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.com.

the theme is Spring/Easter.  I had such fun making this post card for my swap partner Sunny,

that I made 2 additional ones.  I don't know why some of my pictures twist. Kindly turn your heads.

Then I made 4 more.  

I tried taking the photos using different configurations but still twisted.

But they are still cute as (dare I say it) a bunny.

I'm heading out of town to have Easter with my family. I'll be home in time to post my Latte offerings on April 14. 

 Leaving Michael and Nettie home to fend for them selves.

I'm thinking that they'll be just fine.

To one and all, Enjoy your holiday.

And the Winner is:

The winner of the giveaway of my left over bird fabric is Nancy A.  I have contacted her by email for her mailing address.  Congratulations Nancy, I look forward to hearing from you.

This was such a great hop and had such wonderful support.  Thanks everyone who participated and to those of you who cheered us on.

My Lovely Birds - Tree Bird Blog Hop

We recently moved to sunny central Florida. Need to learn the area and where best to get out door shots of my quilts.

The area is beautiful, Water and plants everywhere.

My big problem is that while it's all beautiful it's all overwhelming and not meant for background for small things.

This is a picture of one of several trees that were in what I thought would be a wonderful location.

Anyway back to the quilt.  I am not generally a panel person because I don't have a big imagination regarding what to do with them. But the panels in this line  Beautiful Birds  at Elizabeth's Studio designed by Tracy Lizotte. 

immediately made me think of one of my favorite go to blocks, Garden Fences. 

The block is generally a square but I didn't want to cut off any of the detail so I recalculated the block and away I went.

My backing is 2/3 of that wonderful polka dot and 1/3 Kona White.

A little more scenery

And as good a close up as I could fit on the screen.

I finished the quilt, the only thing I planned on making for this hop, with a couple of days to spare. 

Once I finished it I determined that it would be a great quilt to contribute to the 2015 Hands To Help Charity Quilt Challenge - see the button on my side bar.

More Scenery

I then thought that I had another panel of Bird Houses from this line that would make up into a great kid quilt for the Challenge too.

I managed to get the top finished in time for the photo shoot. The entire line is very peaceful to look at.  Really not kid oriented at first glance. But I personally think that if you add enough polka dots to anything a kid will love it. 

You really can't see them all but the blue and yellow boxes are dottie fabrics.

I'm pretty sure when I get around to backing it, there will be more dots of some kind or another.

Now to the important stuff,  thank yous... Madame Samm our lead cheerleader and Lana the cheerleader for this hop have both been marvelous at keeping us on track and motivated.

Please take the time to go and visit all of today's hoppers, so much talent. See the list below.

Oh and if you are interested in my left over bird fabric I will be having a give away. I will pick a name from the comment list from those of you who mention that you would like it.  I'll ship worldwide.

Friday, March 20

Freemotion By The River

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Tea Time Creations

Baa's Amazing Adventures!

Selina Quilts

Ramblings of a Quilter

Busy Bee Quilts

Quilted Delights

Grandmamas Stories

Thanks for stopping by.