selina quilts

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange

This is always such a fun hop but this year it will also be a sad hop knowing it's our last.

Thanks so much Carol and Joan for the years of fun, learning and sharing with friends.

On to our cookie Exchange. Over the years I have participated in this hop but it has always been a major test of my Dessert making skills cause I don't bake because I'm always in too much of a hurry to follow directions.

This year I am serving Christmas dinner and decided that I was going to have dessert but I was not going to bake it. When I am not doing quilty things I do Cricut crafting things. Right now there are a lot of Cricut groups doing daily ideas to Cricut for Christmas. So pretty much every night I find myself trying a small idea that was posted during that day which gave me a fun idea to use my Cricut and some of these great ideas for dessert. I even decorated the paper napkins.

WARNING This is a bit picture heavy:

I did attempt a new dessert idea. A friend made chunky apple sauce and gave me about a cup and a half of it to try. It was wonderful but too much for me to use in a timely manner. I had a brain storm. I got a piece of Pillsbury Pie Crust, laid it in a pie dish, placed the apple sauce in the middle and rolled up the sides of the crust. Baked it for 40 minutes and got this beauty for my troubles. It was wonderful.

It is sitting on a muffin tin to cool. Once it was cool enough to eat, I did and forgot to get another picture.

I did do a little quilting for Christmas. I am in a Scrappy Pot Holder Hop. I did the main one in Court House Steps but included a smaller one of a Gnomes from last hop so I had to come up with something sewing/embroidery machine driven for this event.

I saw these on "OMA'S Place" embroidery Designs and fell in love.

Then my "baby" sister, she who talked me into machine embroidery in the first place, saw these cute fella's that she would like me to make and mail to her ASAP. She only asked for 14.

I did start making them. The design is from GG Designs.

This is what you get when you don't have any Candy Canes handy. It's OK , she offered to supply the candy canes to cut down on my shipping expense.

And no she will not be getting 14, I think she was joking and just being a "little sister".

That brings me to the end of this post and this wonderful Hopping Relationship. I will miss you all but will check in on you to see what you are up to. Of course you may or may not see my name as Blogger keeps playing its mind games with us but I will visit.

Thanks once more to Carol and Joan for playing with us for so long. You are loved and appreciated.

I am including a list of all of this hops members, stop by and leave a sweet comment

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good life.

December 2

December 3

December 4

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Quilt Schmilt

December 5

DecembeMooseStashQuilting

Bumbleberry Stitches

Sew Many Yarns

Days Filled With Joy

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Gnome for the Holidays

Time to be Thankful for so many things. Thanks to Carol and Joan for all of the hard work they have put in over the years keeping this wonderful group of creatives together. Thanks also to the crafters/quilters for keeping all of our minds challenged when interpreting our monthly topics.

I tried to figure out when I started with this group and the earliest post I could find that I participated in was The Ghastlies from October 27, 2011. I am still using some of the items I made for that post :-} I really love that fabric still.

OK so on to this months challenge. For me this was a very hard topic. I am not into Gnomes and that being the case I almost missed signing up. Somewhere in the back of my memory bank I remembered that I have only missed one hop intentionally since I started. I didn't enter the hop where there were several cups and saucers stacked. I think I didn't join because it was applique and I didn't do that. I will admit that I regret that miss. It was an opportunity to learn and I passed it by. Over the years I have learned so much from the hops and the very generous participants. To this day that miss still bothers me.

So once I signed up I went on a Gnome search. I found these 3 fellows who are so into the season of Thanks.

I loved how the fall designs pop through their hats.

And here we are back to applique, NOT.

I cheated, My guys are actually Heat Transfer Vinyl.

I was so Thankful when I found this wonderful Batik, that in my opinion, was just perfect fall and wonderful for peeking through the designs in their hats.

The hop timing was perfect. I had a mini quilt retreat 2 weeks ago and got this runner totally finished.

Not only did I get it finished, I Thankfully found it a loving home. One of my fellow quilters mentioned that she always went away for Thanksgiving and really had no Seasonal decorations. Ta Da.

I belong to another group of crafters and this week at our meeting we are bringing in the unwanted crafting supplies we no longer use or want to house. We can take what we want on a first come first served basis and the left overs will be taken by a volunteer to a local charity.

With that incentive I spent a good bit of Saturday sorting through the forgotten. Found some great stuff to work on like a couple of quilts that only need binding and lots of stuff I have no idea where it came from including a pattern for a Christmas Gnome Potholder. Weird huh? Gnome how odd found 4 days before this Gnome event. Not only to have found the pattern but I have no idea where it came from. The pattern mentioned a shop hop that I have no idea about going on. but I took it as a sign and sat down and whipped one out for this hop.

Well we all know that I don't have any idea of how to make one of anything so on Sunday morning after breakfast I made him a buddy.

I'm not sure if I think he looks like a Gnome but that's what it is called on the instruction sheet so I'm running with it.

The main problem I had with them is that the pattern was marked for Christmas and at 9PM on Saturday my brain was so happy with a an additional item for this hop it wasn't grasping that just because the pattern said red and red print I should have switched the colors to fall. Didn't catch it on Sunday morning either when I went green.

So time to wish all of you who celebrate, a Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you all for being a part of my quilting/crafting life.

Here is a list of all of the participants this month. Hope you have a few minutes to visit them all and leave a word of kindness.

Hope to see you next month.

Monday Nov 18

Tuesday Nov 19

Wednesday Nov 20

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilted Snail

Selina Quilts

Thursday Nov 21

Just Let Me Quilt

Patchouli Moon Studio

Songbird Designs

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

WICKED HOP

Gosh I'm gonna miss this annual hop the most. Thank you Joan and Carol for the many years of creepyness.

I love October and all it brings with it especially Halloween. Lots of us are already working on Christmas but I'm not there yet. I see something Halloweenie and I drop everything to give it a try no matter what craft type it falls under. So while this hop is generally a Quilting group I will be tossing in a couple of other ideas with my quilted stuff.

Last month one of my crafting groups picked an easy table runner from Jenny at Missouri Star from 2011 to work on. The group in general picked Christmas as the theme. Not me I started with a fall leading into Halloween theme

I finished it and decided that I needed to make one a bit more Halloween based. One of my nieces ( the one who also loves Halloween) just moved into her first house and I decided she needed it to start the Creepy season off right.

Ok, I have a few non quilt things to toss here in the middle of this posting including a small give away.

This month I got dragged into Rhinestones. The group I mentioned earlier is having a mini retreat and the big item on the to do list is learning to add Rhinestones to a tee shirt. I was the test subject. I never liked shirts with Rhinestones so I didn't enter into the test with a great attitude. Well I got hooked on the process if not the Tee Shirt concept. The test was for a Christmas design. it was successful. I left and tried my hand at a more ME idea. The design for this Batty Tee were cut on my Cricut.

I couldn't let it go and tried it on a card (several actually, but the others weren't Halloweenish)

It was suggested that I try Holographic Vinyl instead of real Rhinestones so that's what I used on my cards.

Before I get back to quilty stuff here are few of the other Halloween goodies I have been up to.

How about a creepy candy holder

Or maybe a lollipop holder or 2

Oh and then there is my tiny give away, I have 5 creepy book marks to send to the first 5 of you who request one. Just make sure I have a way to reach you for mailing info. I was amazed at how many of my friends requested them, I didn't think that many of them still read real books.

So lets close with a couple more of my sewing machine projects

This sweet Trick or Treat bag was a combo of sewing and Rhinestones. It was made for me to use in Disney World last week for our annual visit for their Halloween event. Didn't get to use it due to MILTON shutting down the parks and the Event.

Did you notice that the tee shirt above has Mickey Mouse Bats. I made it for the trip too.

This is the second year of making and posting my ghosts. Last year I posted them hanging on my front door. These ghosts are brand new for this year. I was requested to do a demo on them for another group I quilt with. They are actually meant to be mug rugs. I'm glad I still have the ones from last year as these have already flown away to friends.

the difference in size is due to the thickness of the rope I used. the instructions can be found on the Bernina web site.

Wishing you a very happy, creepy, scary, treat filled etc. etc. Halloween. This hop is a great start so be sure to visit everyone and leave a note, even a creepy one would be appreciated. Here is the whole list of Hoppers to make it as easy as possible.

OCTOBER 21

Just Let Me Quilt

Just Sew Quilter

Sew Many Yarns

Patchouli Moon Studio

OCTOBER 22

OCTOBER 23

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Beaquilter

Homespun Hannah's Blog

OCTOBER 24

MooseStashQuilting

Ms P Designs USA

Quilted Delights

Quilting Between the Rails

Monday, September 23, 2024

Bee Kind Blog Hop

Thanks Joan for yet another very interesting and wide open to interpretation Hop Topic.

For me to talk about my Kindness I need to share a little of my current lifestyle.. We are retired and living in an adult community in Central Florida with a population of around 150,000. Yes that number is correct. While not all of the residents are retired the large majority are and they are very, very active. We have any physical activity you can imagine available including but not limited to golf, bowling, tennis, pickle ball, bocce ball, bicycle riding at many levels, walking, swimming, dragon boats etc. etc. We also have well over 2500 different registered clubs covering any and everything including any craft you can think of.

Many of the various groups support in one way or another a charity either locally or nationally. I belong to 4 different craft groups, quilting, embroidery, yarn work, and cricut . All of which support many groups in need including but not limited to NICU's and Cancer care.

By now you should have a picture of how and why I am able to be kind and share that kindness. It's just pretty much everywhere you look.

This community also boasts a huge US Veteran population. Two of my favorite areas to show kindness are associated with the Men and Women who are putting or have put their lives on the line for us.

I am an active member of Operation Shoebox, a group that sends goodie bags to active troops around the world. This year the group is on target to send 30,000 bags out to the troops. The bags contain hand written Thank You notes, HBA items, cookies and snacks, puzzle pages from the local papers, paracord bracelets and various other small items.

The group has several hundred members broken out into multiple sub groups each with a specific job. I belong to 2 groups and do occasional work with 2 more. My main table is Paracord Bracelet's. The photo above shows 50 bracelets, my labor contribution most weeks. I aim to make 10 each night during the week after dinner. The group is made up of cord cutters, bracelet (macrame) makers, the folks who seal the ends of the bracelets, fund raisers etc.

I also work with the misc. craft makers fund raising group. We make assorted items for sale to earn money to pay for shipping the bags around the world. It is a perfect group for me as it gives me an outlet for all my misc. crafting ideas. I am one of those crafters that never makes one of something if I can make 5. These trays and pot holders are my current contributions.

I also work with Honor Flight. That's a National Organization that takes Vets to Washington DC to see the Veterans memorials, National Cemetery and the changing of the Guard. Sorry but I'm not sure what else they do on the trips. The local chapter makes 4 trips per year with 64 vets per flight. Part of what the local chapter includes in this 24 hour event is that each Vet gets a RWB quilt at least 40 x 60. Most of the quilts are made by members of the Quilt Guild of the Villages either individually or as chapter group projects. Quilts are set out and each Vet gets to choose one from among the 80 or so that are available for each trip. These quilts were my contributions for this year.

So what I take away from all of this is that kindness is a 2 way street. Yes I give but what I get back, on so many levels is incalculable. I have made so many new friends and learned so many new things working with these groups and what positive things we are able to accomplish. I feel that I have received back so much more then I give or I could possibly have imagined.

Now on to the Bee part of this hop. I assume that most of you have seen the zip pouch made from Dollar Tree Dish Drying Mats that have been all over YouTube. A couple of months ago I saw a video (by Chelse at She Sews Seams) and made a couple for the fun of it. They came out fine and took less than half an hour.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a Drying Mat with Bees and Bee Hives at I think Hobby Lobby. The mat was much larger then the one from $tree and I thought it would be a great extra for this hop. I sat down the other night to knock one out and realized that this was a directional design going the wrong way for it to be used for the quickie pouch. Very annoying to say the least. I left it and came back to it the next morning and decided that I could cut it up and put it back together again and all would be well.

Ta Da and I still half of the mat left to do it again. The mat was really a lot bigger than my original mats from $ tree, thankfully, and did allow me to get a usable pouch made. The inside isn't as neat as an uncut mat but I'm not going to advertise that fact.

So it's time to say so long for this month. I hope you will follow along and see just how much kindness this group provides. Here is a complete list of all of all of the participants for this month.

Oh and BEE KIND and leave a sweet word or two for each of them if possible.

Monday Sept 23

Tuesday Sept 24

Patchouli Moon Studio

Wednesday Sept 25

BeaQuilter

Karrin's Crazy World

That Fabric Feeling

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilting Between the Rails

Thursday Sept 26^th

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE -

It's that time again. Time to Hop along with this fun and creative group under the leadership of calicojoan.

The brilliant idea for this month is to create something that relates to the jungle. Sounded like fun when I signed up and it stayed fun from beginning to todays posting. I didn't have any plan up front but I think "jungle " as beautiful greenery or adorable animals. Yea I grew up in a city type environment.

Last month I participated in a Quilt Shop Hop and this wonderful fabric jumped off the shelf into my cart at one of the stops.

Absolutely perfect for this event. Now that I had the beautiful jungle background I needed to find some adorable animals. I have gotten very dependent on Creative Fabrica for lots of my crafting needs. I headed in and asked for ideas for machine embroidered animals.

So how did I do finding occupants for my little jungle? I love them to pieces. Our local Quilt Chapter of the Quilt Guild of the Villages, throws an annual baby shower for the Children's Home Society, as a group we make things for children under the age of 5. Lots of quilts and blankets, pillowcases , stuffed animals and the like. We also give things such as diapers and baby products.

So this is the fun blanket from the jungle. that I put together for the event. Sorry I couldn't get the blocks to show in detail but they are the same blocks from above.

I also felt that a small child could use some personal jungle fun and came up with the idea of a back pack with a fun jungle buddy. I tossed in a coloring book and a pack of crayons.

Well I hope you enjoyed your visit to my jungle. I enjoyed having you come. Have you visited with the other Jungle stops. Well if not, here is a list of the other locations. It will be worth taking the trips.

Monday August 19

MooseStashQuilting

Ms P Designs USA

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilting Between the Rails

High Road Quilter

Tuesday August 20

Patchouli Moon Studio

Karrins Crazy World

Quilting Gail

Quilted Delights

Wednesday August 21