Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Give It A Whirl - March Blog Hop

 As soon as I saw the title of this months hop I knew where I wanted to start a project.  I wanted to make a child's quilt using this whirly gig 3D block.  I have no idea if that is it's real name but its working today.


Way in the back of my brain I thought I had made this block before but couldn't find any evidence of it.  I did find a quilt with a 3D bow tie block which I'm guessing is what was floating around in my head.  Problem was figuring out how to make the 3D pin wheel version.

I did find a few versions on Pinterest and went from there to a wonderful quilt top. 

The block was really easy and quick to make.  I wanted to make all the whirly gig parts from dotted fabrics.  I was able to find all of the fabric for this quilt in my stash. 



I now have a  new mental issue ( for about a week now), how do I quilt this without loosing the 3D effect.  I am writing this the evening before I'm due to post.  I have the finished top and 


a sandwiched quilt but not a finished quilt. 

When I realized this morning that I didn't have a finished project I decided I had to at least whip up a completed mug rug from the left overs.

Well a 3D whirly mug rug is not a safe piece of quilting to place a full mug or glass on, just a tad wobbly.



So I turned it into one very ginormous pin cushion. It's a 8.5 inch square that's about 4.5 inches high. Well if nothing else I have Given This Hop A Whirl and had a whole lot of giggles.

Well I am now heading to my quilting space to give this one more shot.  I will add the photo of how far I got before I go to bed / or hit the publish button.

9:30 PM 3/18    Well the best laid plans..... I thought I'd start the quilting process by filling a couple of bobbins and starting a new spool of thread.   Somewhere along the line I hit something and my machine just didnt want any part of me.  Turned the machine on and off about 4 times and rethreaded it 3 or 4 times and nothing.  One last time 45 minutes after starting and it ran beautifully but by then I was done.

Oh well it happens to all of us at one time or another and we get up tomorrow and start again.

Thanks to Carol for coming up with this great idea for a Hop.  I know I will be loving this piece by weeks end.

I am adding a full list of the participants in this hop so you can see how the rest of our creative minds are working.   Hope to see you next month and maybe, just maybe I'll sneak in a picture of this finish in that post.

Have a great month and for those who celebrate, Have a Happy Easter.

MARCH 18 


Thank you for stopping by!

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

It Moose Be Love

 Welcome to my stop on the Love Train.  When I first saw the title to this hop I went out and hunted down a couple of sweet Moose ideas.  I found some machine embroidery patterns and some machine applique ideas. Great, since I had good ideas I could just add the Hop to my to do list.

A couple of weeks ago I was prepping to go to a meeting and went on a hunt for a pouch to carry some stuff.  You know, search through the hundreds of pouches we have all made over the years to test ideas and fabric and construction.  

 

This is what I found.  Can you see that great fabric. Cute little moose heads.  Now my brain starts asking questions like  wouldn't  this fabric be better for the hop than the other stuff i hadn't started yet, why did you have that fabric and is any of that left in your stash somewhere, where would you have stuck it,  reds, browns, Christmas, novelty.

Well the answer to some of those questions can be seen in the following pictures. like this one. I found just over a yard in the novelty drawer.


One of my issues was to find things to make with it  without cutting the fabric into tiny pieces and obliterating the Moose.

This past couple of years I have been making the kind of gifts that you take to a friends for dinner or to greet a new neighbor or go to someone's new home,  So that's where I started.  


I was given a drying mat for a gift a couple of years ago and love it,  It's a piece of Bosal between 2 pieces of cotton and quilted. I use mine daily and it machine washes beautifully.  



When I started to make them as gifts I generally add a dish towel trimmed with the same fabric.




Depending on the occasion I will add a couple of bowl cozies, some times with matching bowls and sometimes not.




My latest addition to this goodie basket are jar openers,  fabric backed with the non slip rubber stuff used in cabinets.


They work really well at grabbing the lid as well as holding the bottle or can itself.





They are amazing and can be made in any size and shape.  I had a couple of scraps left from the previous items and that' s pretty much what determined the size of this pair



The last of the pieces I pulled together for this hop is this gift card.  I took the Hop logo and removed the dates in Cricut Design Space. Printed it and stuck it to a base card.  I will eventually type up care and use instructions for inside the card for the items in the basket.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit here and have picked up some ideas for very simple but very useful items for your home or as a gift.

I hope you have been following along on the hop so far and that you will be continuing to the last of  our talented group. For your convenience I have included the entire list below,

Monday February 19

MooseStashQuilting

Pattern Princess

Karrins Crazy World

Quilted Snail

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

 

Tuesday February 20

A Quiltery-For the Love of Geese

Quilting Gail

Quilted Delights

Words & Stitches

VroomansQuilts

Kathy’s Kwilts and More

 

Wednesday February 21

Selena Quilts

BeaQuilter

Ms P Designs USA

Kathleen McMusing

Days Filled with Joy

Quilt Schmilt


Thursday February 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Inflorescence

High Road Quilter

Just Sew Quilter

Scrapdash


Thanks for stopping by, See you next month


Wednesday, January 24, 2024

White Rabbit - Hop Hop Hop

 Another creative Hop topic is here. I love the imaginations of Joan and Carol and how they keep all of our brains running in strange and creative directions.

This month is all about Rabbits. White rabbits, rabbit fabric etc, etc,

As far back as I can remember I have been making Rabbits. Sewn, embroidered, stuffed, appliqued  and quilted to name a few.

Here is a small sampling of them before I get to the items I did specifically for this hop.

Of all of the Rabbits I have ever done this is my favorite.  I made her several years ago as part of a raw edge machine embroidery challenge.

I made her several times but this version is a block in a quilt that hangs in my Powder Room and I visit with her daily.



Last Easter I really got into WHITE RABBITS. I saw this design on JU JU designs and ended up making 6 of  them for the little ones in my life.


And this basket was made, I believe the first Easter I had an embroidery machine.


I filled the basket with FSL pieces including a couple of WHITE RABBITS


One of the most fun WHITE RABBIT projects I ever created happened the Easter during Covid when Paper Towels were at a premium.

                    I took a few of the rolls I had and made Easter gifts for a few of our close friends



They were received so differently.
The roll with the cross was taken apart after the holidays were over and the piece that was embroidered was placed and still hangs on my friends sample wall.  The bunny and duck were put away intact after the holiday to be brought out again the following year but the big roll with the 2 bunnies was ripped apart within 2 minutes of our arrival by the host even before his wife got to see it.  The concept of a roll of paper towels kinda blew his mind. DUH

OK enough of the past

For this hop I decided to make a baby quilt after shopping my stash and finding this wonderful piece of rabbit fabric.  Why do we keep wonderful fabric and not use it, saving it for what???????

I felt that having the fabric and the Hop was meant to be.  I learned how to make this block at a local quilt shop this year and ran with it.  Its 4 10 inch squares sewn and cut and sewn and cut leaving you with an 18 inch square.

I'm really not sure what I will do with it but I know of  a couple of children based organizations, one of which will benefit I'm sure.



I also found this embroidery design on JU JU designs and thought it would make for a great seasonal Tee Towel.  I will be gifting it to the couple who will be making our Easter dinner this year. (The same couple from the paper towel story. I'm sure this towel will meet with a happier ending)  


                          She is so dang cute I think I see another one on the horizon for myself.


So that wraps up my stop on yet another fabulous Hopping Event.  Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to read and comment. Sorry for the photo overload.

Here is a list of all of the other participants.  If you haven't seen there creations, go and visit, you are missing out on some great work and ideas to be added to your to do list.