selina quilts

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Polar Plunge - BRRRRRRRR and a mini but warm give away

I've always been amazed by the people who participate in these Polar Plunge annual events around the country. I have never had any desire to participate at all, brrrrrrr but I do admire those who do.

When this hop was announced by Joan (thank you, oh creative one) I knew it would be a super creative experiment for one and all.

What I discovered while coming up with an idea for this event is that living for the past few years in Central Florida I wasn't really Feeling One with The Polar Air anymore but I did want to do something Polar vs doing something in winter blues.

One of my favorite sources of ideas is Clip Art. While out there searching I found these adorable models who perfectly depicted the message I wanted to share. The Florida version of Polar Plunging.

Once I had the idea for the design I had to come up with an idea for its use. I have used this idea before but at least it isn't my usual fall back mug rug. This time I'm using the design for a kitchen drying mat.

oops I hadn't done faces yet.

so much cuter

I have an old friend moving down to Florida this year from the North East and I thought that the mat with a couple of dish towels would be a great welcome to your soon to be new home gift and not to big to add extra boxes to her packing up. Actually she is the one who introduced me to the drying mat concept last year.

Last minute addition

So living in Central Florida is mild to very warm most of the year. This week we got down to the 30's and we had lots of frost. Sorry I didn't get to take a photo Monday morning because it actually looked like a light coating of snow.

But what it did do was give me an idea for another item for this hop, not polar bear but the warm blues. On Monday morning, yes 3 days ago, when we saw the frost we were on our way to the vets. My car has heated seats but not a heated steering wheel and by the time I got home my gloveless hands were frozen. The best way I could warm them up was using a very, very old rice bag.

It did still do it's job and I was grateful but I decided it really was time to make a new one but then I had a better idea.

I decided that maybe making 2 smaller ones, hand size, would be even better.

Here is the rice bag, easy access pillow cover front and back

bag half in its cover

2 completed bags

bag (5 x 5) in my not very big hand

So on Monday night of this week I whipped out these blue checked ones.

And on Tuesday night I made this set for a friend of ours who has neuropathy issues in his hands and is always complaining of the cold. For the record the set takes less than 30 minutes to make. They are made of 100% cotten, inside pillow, washable outside pillow case and all thread with uncooked rice filling so that it is safe to micro wave. They are about 5 inches square.

So now that I have hopefully warmed you up some, please continue visiting all of the participants of this COOOOOL Hop. Here is a handy dandy list of all of us for your viewing pleasure.

Oh I almost forgot I have a pair of these to give away. If you are in the US I will send them finished including rice. If you are international I will send them without the rice and you will need to fill and add that closing seam. Just leave a note in your comment that you would be interested in being in the draw that I will be doing on Monday.

Monday Jan 24

Creatin' in the Sticks

Samelias Mum

Purring Cottage

Patchouli Moon Studio

Scrapdash

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Tuesday Jan 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Beaquilter

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Wednesday Jan 26

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Hazel’s Daughter

Words & Stitches

Kathleen McMusing

Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!

Thursday Jan 27

Friday Jan 28

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Small Kennel Quilts 2022

I've kicked off my 2022 crafting. I've seen and heard over and over about 100 day challenges and decided to use the concept for myself to start the year.

I'm not sure if I want to committ to 1 per day for 100 days or 100 over ? days.

They are Small Kennel Quilts for animal shelters in areas that are in need as in after the fire in Boulder or the Tornado's in the mid west etc. etc. This link will take you to additional information from Quilt Pattern Mag. on the national group

In addition this is a 2 for 1 project for me because I am working the tops of these 12 x 18 kennel quilts solely from my scrap bin. I found some very large scrap pieces since I'm not one to cut my left overs into traditional sized blocks or stripes. Trim from backs are amazingly big as in the white and navy polka dots

So far I'm right on schedule. I tend to do my sewing after dinner. I have my batting and backing cut for the first 10. Thought that would help keep me on track. Time will tell. I'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange

Thank you once again goes out to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for coordinating this wonderful annual event.

For me this is the most challenging hop of the year as I don't bake, not even virtually.

In addition to being a quilter I play at a lot of different crafts. One of my favorites is etching glass. During the summer I saw on line somewhere an etched mason jar. As you all know once you see something and start hitting buttons and reading and hit more buttons and reading you veer off the original track and end up at a spot that takes you in a totally different direction. This particular journey took me to a no cook recipe that I immediately marked for this hop.

It was for a no cook pumpkin pie in an individual serving mason jar. Yes I made this and yes the jar is not etched. When I went shopping for plain jars the week before Thanksgiving there were none, only these pretty ones.

When I offered to bring dessert for Thanksgiving for 6 people ( I needed to do a sample for these pictures) my hostess looked skeptical. Ok, she has known me for 30 some years and she always does dessert even when she does the dinner as she was doing on Thanksgiving.

Apparently no one had any faith in me since in addition to my pumpkin pie there was an apple pie and a walnut coffee cake for the 6 of us..

The fun part is that you build the pie layers, put the lid on the jar and store in the fridge till you are ready to eat it.

Crust

Cream cheese and whipped cream

Pumpkin

One of these layers also had pudding.

The pie was really easy peasy to make. I don't even own a mixer and was able to get the desired result by hand. This is where I found the recipe

Then when you go to serve it you open the jar and add the whipped cream and enjoy.

And would you believe, she asked me to make them again for Christmas. HA

Thanks so much for stopping by. I wish you and your family the very Merriest of Christmas's or the Happiest of the Holiday you celebrate this time of year and a healthy New Year.

Please take time to visit the other cooks ;-} participating in this fun hop and maybe you'll find a few great virtual ideas. For your convenience here is a complete list of the hop members.

December 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Inflorescence

Quilt Schmilt

Sew Many Yarns

Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting

December 7

Life in the Scrapatch

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Samelia's Mum

December 8

For The Love Of Geese

Days Filled With Joy

Food for Thought

Karrin’s Crazy World

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Stitchin At Home

Words & Stitches

Colletta's Kitchen Sink

December 9

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

No Ring November - Mug Rug Blog Hop

When Carla posted the notice for this hop my brain kicked in and I got the giggles. So thank you Carla for not only coordinating yet another wonderful hop but also for putting me into such a fun mood.

I decided from the very beginning that I needed to design my own fabric for these little but mighty projects.

Mug rugs are a very important part of my daily routine. I do get the occasional ring but I use them more to blunt the noise of smacking my mug on the table in the morning, waking up the house.

Well I did print my fabric and had a great time doing so. I actually hated to cut it up, so silly.

One morning I got up and dug out some white largish scraps of fabric.

I then spilt some coffee into a saucer and dipped a few mugs into the puddle and then stamped them onto my white scrap.

I must admit I didn't foresee the amount of spread I would get or how light black coffee would appear on my fabric.

Next up, after supper that evening I repeated the exercise using red wine.

Much happier with that outcome. I will admit that I modified my approach using much less liquid for dipping.

I will admit that I should have had some paper towels handy for this process, but no, I had real need of mopping up what went through the fabric and picked up a cloth napkin, DUH

Thankfully it was a very busy napkin.

Picking out a Mug Rug designs was tough. Wasn't sure how big I wanted my Rings to be. Did I want my rings to look like I really needed the mug rug or did I want it to be just a fun use of home made fabric.

Fun fabric won out.

Well this was another great event. I enjoyed it from the beginning and am sure I will continue enjoying it until I view and comment on the last post on the following list.

Thanks again Carla.

Please visit and enjoy all of the posts for No Ring November. Also please have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Holiday.

Monday, November 15th

Just Let Me Quilt
SameliasMum

Tuesday, November 16th

MooseStashQuilting
Words & Stitches

Quilting Gail

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilt Schmilt

Selina Quilts

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Wednesday, November 17th

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Thursday, November 18th

Creatin' in the Sticks
Sew Many Yarns

Beaquilter

Songbird Designs

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Scrapdash.com

Creative Latitude

Friday, October 22, 2021

Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop

Welcome, welcome, welcome foolish mortals to this our Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop being coordinated by our lead witch, Miss Carol.

I've been blogging since March of 2011. One of the earliest blogs I participated in was The Ghastly Blog Hop in October of that year. I was as extreme overachiever for that event. I had something like 8 different ideas most of which were made in multiples and shown over and over again. (I've slowed way down over the years, this year only 5 different items, tee hee)

My favorite piece from that hop was this sweat shirt that I upgraded for the event with a fully lined pocket on the front and the sleeve for the cool NJ fall.

Or maybe it was the quilt. Either way I still have them both and they come out to visit this time of year, every year.

Well when this Hop was announced I went hunting for my Ghastly scraps. My niece who I mentioned back in 2011 had her birthday last week and I thought she might enjoy a new piece of Ghastly to celebrate with. This is a Machine Embroidered piece using the free design from Kreative Kiwi

The design comes in 4 sizes and was really easy to whip up. This is the largest version.

The pattern has the option to add a pocket for a gift card. I have made a couple that way but when I went to add it to this Ghastly gift box I didn't have a scrap of fabric that I could get to match my front or back choice and I didn't want to take away from them. I included the gift in an envelope. It worked.

While I was in the Kreative Kiwi site I tripped over another freebie. This one was for machine embroidered redwork haunted houses.

Couldn't pass them up. There are 10 diffferent designs. Each worked up in 3 - 4 minutes. I stitched them all out without a plan. They were all so cute I needed to make something using them all.

I can't decide what I want to do with it, table runner or wall hanging.

Fun fact about this runner is that I didn't have the oomph to hand stitch the binding down. It is currently being held in place with Elmer's glue. My best guess is so long as it works it will never be hand stitched.

And then because I can never do one of something and these were so quick to stitch out I had to try a couple of my more traditional quickie projects.

Again no oomph so the opening on the mug rug is also closed with Elmer's help.

And of course what collection of mini projects would be complete without a pin cushion

The opening on the pin cushion is closed with a pin (not the first and surely not the last that I complete that way).

And then last but not least are my Halloween greeting cards.

Stitched the designs directly on the card stock. Then added the Happy Halloween in permanent vinyl and colored in the bat and moon with colored pencils.

I now live in a huge retirement community and have gone from 400 trick or treaters to 0. I am considering my ideas in this hop as my idea treats going out to you my new trick or treaters. Please have fun pondering what you can do with my ideas and the ideas of all of the participants.

I am gathering all sorts of ideas for future projects on this hop. Here is a list of all of the players. You'll be so glad to visit them all.

OCTOBER 18

Creatin' in the Sticks

OCTOBER 19