selina quilts

Thursday, September 21, 2023

It's A Dog's Life

If only we had the life my Benny is currently living. Pretty much heaven on earth. Loved by everyone he meets.

Oh you didn't mean we should include photos of the sweetest, cutest dogs you ever met? Tough, this stop is all based on Benny.

For those of you who don't know, Benny is a rescue. He was found abandoned on the streets of Sarasota, Fl. Probably abandoned due to medical issues that were mostly resolved before he came to us this past June.

When Benny first arrived we had some miscommunication regarding requests to go out doors. On the first Sunday evening he was with us he wet his bed. My quilt group had been making dog beds stuffed with quilt scraps for some time, so I went to the scrap box and knocked out this bed for him.

I remember hearing that one of the local rescues didn't want them because they were difficult to wash. Well when I washed this one I understood the problem. Once it got wet it beat the daylights out of my washer. dropping from the top of the washer to the bottom every time the washer spun. Drying was a nightmare. After an hour plus in my dryer it was like I never tried to dry it. It took 3 days outside in very hot Florida to dry.

It is here still for emergencies but will be tossed when it needs to be washed again.

I ZOOM quilt with several people once a month. Some are local, One is on the west coast and one in Scotland. Throughout the year we come up with Group To Do's. Our summer project was to send each of the other members of the group a sewn Post Card. Delivery was tentatively scheduled for early September.

So what do you think? Wouldn't you have loved to find this version of Benny in your mail box?

I finished them in 2 different ways. 2 with stitching around the edges which didn't do anything for me.

and 5 with picture frame edging after a friend said she would frame it if I made her one.

In total I made 8 of them. 5 for my zoom group, 2 for my friends who have declared themselves Benny's Godmothers and 1 for the couple who fostered him while he recovered from his medical issues and waited for adoption.

If you have never done fabric postcards, the amazing part is that they were mailed just as they were made. No envelopes, no plastic coverings. I took them to the post office and asked that they be hand cancelled. They were all received intact with no damage. I even spoke to the gal in Scotland and hers was fine on arrival too.

Lastly, when I got the bright idea to use the postcards as a jumping off point for this hop I down loaded several embroidery designs from Creative Fabrica. My first choice was too large for a post card, and could only be reduced so much, but it was a great size for a tee shirt.

The shirt is a very soft lavender and the embroidery is a medium brown. Hindsight says it would have been better on a black shirt. Or if I used black thread but see, Benny is dark brown.

Well A Dogs Life is pretty decent here.

On a more serious note, there are lots of dogs and cats whose lives aren't great.

I made this group of of 18 x 12 quilts (pretty much like placemats) for the group Kennel Quilts who receives requests from all over the country for these little quilts to put in cages at rescue centers. Usually these requests come in after disasters that displace pets such as Hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires and the like.

If you go to the link it explains the what and how. It also gives patterns if you want to use them. Me, I just use up scraps and strips I find hanging about after other projects.

Well it's time to say so long til next month with a great big Thanks to Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt for hosting and coordinating yet again another wonderful creative event.

Here is a list of all of the participants who are sharing their vision of A Dogs Life. Enjoy

SEPTEMBER 18

SEPTEMBER 19

SEPTEMBER 20

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

SEPTEMBER 21

Monday, August 21, 2023

Call Me Crazy Hop

Generally I'm just a normal wonderfully sane individual, but like everyone else I have the occasional horrible days when your mind is wondering or isn't fully awake and you commit to something you would have run away from on any normal day. You know, A CALL ME CRAZY day.

The timing of this hop coincided with one of THOSE days.

I live in a ginormace retirement community in Florida. There are over 2000 groups you can join that cover pretty much anything you can think of...crafts, sports, nationalities, schools, biking, music and on and on. most of the groups have some tie to doing something charitable at least once during the year.

Earlier this year I joined a Machine Embroidery Quilting group. In May they announced that the charity they would support this year involved a group that annually holds a charity auction of Christmas Trees fully decorated by different organizations. At the meeting (which started at 8:30 AM) they had a list of things needed to be done by the members. Things like ornaments and tree topper and tree skirt. Members were raising their hands as different items came up on the list until they got to the tree skirt. Nobody raised their hand. After the request was made for the 3rd time, sleepy me raised my hand. After all how bad can it be, I've knocked out several tree skirts over the years.

They wanted specifics for the next meeting. When I raised my hand I didn't take into consideration that this was an "Embroidery" group and the skirt needed to represent that fact.

I googled embroidered tree skirts and found a beautiful pattern. Problem was that I looked at it and thought it was an applique with some embroidery pattern. Found out after purchasing and downloading it that the only applique is the snow everything else is embroidered.

Each of the 12 panels is done individually and then they are sewn together. The last part stitched in each panel is the satin stitch outline. If you don't have the piece hooped to the max this is the result

5 bobbin changes and 83 minutes of stitch time for this panel and it needs a do over. Calling me Crazy at this point is an understatement.

This issue happened to me 2 out of 12 times. The one panel was lite on the embroidery compared to the others so I guess I got a little cocky (yes more crazy). and not as careful in hooping.

Ok, off I go to the next meeting to find out that these trees have to be presented to the auction committee in early September to be voted in or out. I'm doing all this crazy stuff for something that may or may not happen. Told my sister about it and she volunteered to take it if we don't make the cut, actually she begged for it either way.

Next I have to sew the panels together. The instructions suggest using a zipper foot. The problem was that when you stack satin stitch on satin stitch the 2 pieces don't stay stacked well. I tried pins, clips and tape to no avail. I ended up hand basting the pieces together and then going back and sewing with the zipper foot. Yes, more CRAZY.

I am writing this on Sunday morning the day before I post this. My goal is to sew the backing on and finishing this up. I have been at this step all week and can't seem to get my crazy self motivated to just DO IT. Probably because I'm afraid of what the next unforeseen issue will be.

Yes there was another issue found today. The instructions said to attach the panels in order. I numbered them on the back as I finished them. There was another sentence after that, that I reread this morning after I was finished that said something like after she thought about it she left an opening to wrap it around her tree. I had thought that and left an opening between panels 1 and 12.

Well I did all of my work from the back following the numbers. Laying out my finish carefully you can't tell where the opening is but panel number 12 is the front of the sleigh therefore the opening falls between the sleigh and the first deer. DUH

So I guess this was the absolute perfect project for this hop

CALL ME CRAZY

(but finished)

OK so I want to thank Joan for the push to get me this far with this project. I do better with goals and due dates.

I can't wait to see what makes us call the rest of this group crazy. Please join in and find out. Here is the list of Crazies participating. Have a great day.

Monday August 21

Tuesday August 22

Happy Cottage Quilter

Wednesday August 23

MooseStashQuilting Guest Post

Thursday August 24

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Picnic Party Blog Hop

When I hear the term 'picnic" my brain pictures ants and watermelon and blankets on the ground with warm food in a basket. I don't think I've ever been to that version of a "picnic" so I don't know why it comes to mind. I grew up in a house where for a picnic we went to the backyard and had food from the refrigerator. We sat at a picnic table in the yard or at the kitchen table.

So thank you Carol for having this wonderful event where we can share our experiences with our quilting buddies.

On July 4th we went to a friends house for a barbeque ( doesn't that equal picnic? ) . My type of eating, we sat at a table and had hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on a George Forman with Potato Salad and Cole Slaw from Publix. I actually made the dessert that failed miserably.

The success was the table topper I whipped up.

Yep, slices of watermelon cause it was a picnic.

Since I think Watermelon and Ants I felt the need to bring ants to the party too.

I did make these also but they are not stitched therefore they don't actually count for this hop. They are made from the cutest clip art ant I could find and cut form HTV and then were ironed onto paper napkins.

Well then I needed to add ants officialy to this event. I found this great design for my embroidery machine that was a perfect fit.

The problem was that I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. Table runner or placemat.

Now, I'm running out of time. The first time I ran the design I didn't have it set securely in the hoop and decapitated my ants.

?? placemat ??

No big deal except that this design took about an hour to stitch out. I figure that I will need 3 to make a runner and 2 for placemats not to mention finishing something.

?? tablerunner ??

I think I'm leaning toward the table runner and using the decapitated ants in the center.

I always try and finish my hop projects the weekend before the hop. This hop kinda snuck up on me because I had a little bit of reality use up my time in a very good way but unexpectedly .

I want to show you what my little bit of reality looks like

This is our newbie, Benny.

Benny came into our life last month and has been one very energetic addition.

He is a rescue that we think is close to 2 years old. He is extremely nosey. He wants to be everywhere and do everything and we love him to pieces.

He wants all of the attention I was trying to give to the ants, he won.

Well thanks for visiting and please take the time to visit all of the other wonderful participants in this hop and leave them a good word of encouragement. Here is the list of all of us.

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

When Pigs Fly Blog Hop

When Pigs Fly - great idea for a get together with a deadline. When Joan came out with this title which includes things like PIGS ( projects in grocery sacks ) UFO's ( unfinished objects ) and WIPS ( works in progress ) I'm sure we all did a little happy dance. These items are all things we have kept around with the best of intentions but have not gotten them done. This hop gives us a reason and a deadline, what could be better. The only problem would be what PIGS, UFO or WIP to choose. If you have 1, you definitely have several to choose from.

I chose 2 right off the top of my head from the many. The first is a memory quilt I made for one of my cousins using her fathers old flannel shirts. The centers of the stars are the pockets from the shirts.

I got off to a great start but then we couldn't come up with a date to get together it ended up on a shelf waiting for the binding to be cut and attached. No reason for me to actually finish it before its actually was going to go to its home. Why?????????????

Now with the proper incentive (thank you Joan) I have things moving right along

And TA DA, a finished PIG ready for delivery.

Next up, not quite what I thought. Last year one of my relatives moved and I thought some quilty goodies for her kitchen would be a nice idea.

You know, bowl cozies, jar openers, matching dish towels etc. etc. etc. I found fabric that I loved that would go with any kitchen, I finished and mailed them and they were well received. At that same time I decided that my current cozies were looking pretty ragged and could stand to be replaced. That and as I mentioned I loved the fabric.

When looking for the cozies that I thought I had started way back then, the ones I thought were cut out and ready for the machine, what I found was the folded fabric, the special batting and the pattern in a baggie. That actually makes this part of my submission not a UFO but a UFT , an unfinished thought.

This is what I thought I had done, and where I would start, HA

Since it is the thought that counts here are my new cozies and while I was at it I made a set for a friend that I had lunch with last week who I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Her comment was to the effect that her current cozies were just about shot too. Perfect timing.

So this sums up my original plans for this hop but sometimes things happen out of the blue for no reason but fit the times perfectly.

My quilt group Big Cypress Quilters tries, on a regular basis, to have its members share their talents and skill sets with the other members of the group. This week one of our very talented members Linda, of flourishingpalms did a class on Kawandi. This is a hand quilting process done in India. Linda's current post gives a more info on the process with pictures from the class.

3 years ago we both took a ZOOM class on the process. Linda as of last week has completed 14 Kawandi pieces. Up until last weeks class I had started 2 and finished 0.

I was very amazed that I was able to find my starts and take them to class. I was even more amazed that this all came about just before this hop needed to be posted and gave me the incentive to get my larger WIP completed, ya hoo.

So thank you Joan for this great hop and the incentive to get a few things off my shelves or out of a drawer.

Everyone else, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a sweet comment. Please stop by the rest of the group who are posting their PIGS, UFO'S AND WIPS. Here is a convenient list of all of us who are posting this week.

Monday June 19

Monday, May 15, 2023

Rose (Rose' )Colored Glasses - Blog Hop

Saw the title for this Hop and knew I had to sign up. I had an idea or two and had so much fun bringing them to life, thanks so much Carol for taking on yet another fun week of amazing quilty ideas.

My first idea was to personalize an eye glass case using a neoprene zip case I picked up at our local Dollar Tree.

When I went to find my glasses I was able to locate my last 3 frame purchases which covered at least the last 10 years. The big hoot is that all of them are Rose Colored so YES I do view the world through "Rose Colored Glasses".

I went to an embroidery retreat in March and one of the hosts had this idea for doing machine embroidery on these $1.25 cases.

This case went together with no issue and I can tell at a glance that the glasses inside won't be my sun glasses.

The sun glasses will be in this one

Then I realized that I had read the title of this hop incorrectly. It wasn't about eye covering, it was about wine, DUH!

I planned on making a wine bag using some of the embroidery designs I found. When I was discussing this hop with a quilty friend she suggested coasters. I made quilted coasters several years back but didn't remember the details on construction.

My first attempt was after 9PM and I ended up with this sad little thing. It may work as a coaster for a traditional shot glass but probably not. Don't have any idea why I was using an oval instead of a circle for it.

Changed up to a circle but not quite big enough. If you placed a wine glass on it perfectly center you would be OK but off center at all and the glass would probably tip.

Finally went and found a "real coaster" and measured it to make one the correct size.

Finally success.

I had to do something with the little guy, somehow I felt guilty about how sad he looked so I turned him into a drunken pin cushion. I felt better immediately. By the way, that is the back of the coasters. The front background isn't showing up well. It is a pale pink with white clouds.

When I do machine embroidery the part I dislike is changing thread.

See this shot of the 4 of them with all of their Rose' done with no thread changing. I love it when a plan comes together. I spent some time figuring out how to do my 4 dfferent coasters together so I could cut down on thread changes. That would have been 8 color changes if I had done this the suggested way.

I've had such a fun time helping to kick off this hop. Lets go and visit the rest of the group and see how they define Rose Colored Glasses or is it Rose' Colored Glasses, tee hee

Here is the list for the entire hop for your convenience. Please stop and visit and leave them a note about their work. We love hearing from you.

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