selina quilts

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.

Monday, April 17, 2023

Say What? Sew it - Show it

This is one of the most interesting hops ever. Thank you Joan for having us think about the whats, whys and how comes of our quilting.

I have a couple of quilting items that came to mind once I slowed down and thought about it.

My first topic is a quilt I made in 2008/2009. In November 2008 I had my right hip replacement surgery. At the time our home was 2 story and my quilting space was on the 2nd floor, not a place where I could readily get to during my recovery period. I was home by myself during the day so stairs and sewing were out of the question..

One of my very dear friends came up with a surprise and a plan. One evening MJ came home from work to a plastic kitchen garbage bag full of scrap fabric at our front door. My friend figured that I could sort the scraps, iron the scraps and cut scraps in stages at my kitchen table while recovering. It made for a wonderful quilty workout with no specific goals. It did get me out of bed and made me use my brain for planning.

By the time I did all of the prep and came up with a goal I decided I wanted to give running my sewing machine with my left foot a try. MJ set my machine up in the kitchen and I packed up all of the odds and ends I thought I would need ( it was like going on a mini retreat ). Slowly but surely I made blocks, (all with those cute little bees in the center) put together rows and then ta da there was a quilt top. I sent it out to be quilted .I am very sorry that I don't remember to whom I sent it but she did a wonderful job.

By the time I got it back from the quilter I was back at work. The quilt came back and was hung over the banister between my living and dinning room ( without being bound ) to be admired by all for ages.

Today, still unbound, this quilt takes it turn being hung over the back of a living room chair with other quilts I have made for me and can't bare to give away because of their background stories.

The other quilty topic I want to hit on is making Kennel Quilts for Small Shelter Pets. I started to do these several years ago. I believe I got the information about this project from someone in our qroup during one of these hops.

These quilts are pretty much like 12 x 18 placemats. They are generally requested by shelters around the country who take in pets after various natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and wild fires. I have included the link for lots of information about the group which includes a link to join. The Quilt Pattern Magazine is the group that sends out the information for where and when quilts are needed. There is no pressure from the group just the occasional notice of need.

Many of the mats pictured on their sight look like they are preplanned patterns. I generally make my Shelter quilts from my scrap box. I usually keep batting and backing size scraps cut to size and on hand so that if I'm between projects I can knock out a mat or two and set it aside for when the request comes in. I'm pretty much of the mind set that I can make 2 scrappy in the time it would take me to do 1 measured out preplanned. I'll take 2 scrappy. I don't think the dogs and cats who are sleeping on them care.

The pictures here are mats I made last week while at a mini guild retreat. (I made 8 but apparently didn't take a pic of the last 3). It's my favorite type sewing for these occasions. You know when you are doing so much talking, laughing and eating that mistakes happen. When sewing together scraps you can't find / notice the mistakes. That and sharing/swapping scraps is alway fun.

Well I hope this met the base idea of this hop. I love how open our hops are to personal interpretation.

Below is a full list of the weeks contributors. Please, if you get the chance, stop in to each for a visit and to leave a comment.

Monday April 17

MooseStashQuilting

Selina Quilts

Quilt Schmilt

Patchouli Moon Studio

That Fabric Feeling

Scrapdash

Tuesday April 18

Inflorescence

Creatin' in the Sticks