Monday, September 23, 2024

Bee Kind Blog Hop! It's my day! 🐝





Welcome to Day 2 of the Bee Kind Blog Hop!
This is a bzzzzy week of bee-utiful projects lined up
to inspire and entertain you.

🐝🐝🐝

Joan, our bee-loved host, from Moosestashquilting is so kind 
and patient to make this happen!

🐝🐝🐝


In late summer, I decorate my kitchen and dining area with sunflowers. I knew that bees were very attracted to the pollen in sunflowers, so it just seemed natural to put them together in a mini wall hanging. 





Flirting bees!




Sunflower petals were stitched down with Sulky 12 wt. thread.

This thread was glorious to sew with!




Small pieces of lace were used for the bee's wings. 

I really like the texture and appearance it gives my sweet bees.




Beads came in handy for the eyes and sunflower seeds.



More photos below taken in the backyard.








Bee sure to follow along with the other bloggers this week!






....aaaand because this hop is all about Bee-ing Kind, I am adding a giveaway!! 
Raise your hand if you like quilty giveaways! I see you...and you...and you!


I've gathered a few items from my stash that I'm hoping someone could use. Even if you'd like to pass them on to someone else, go for it! 
It's all about being kind, right? 

In order to be in the draw, just leave a comment and
 include the words "bee's knees" in what you write.

If you are a no-reply commenter, be sure to leave your email addy too, or I'll have no way to contact you. If I receive no response after 3 days from the initial contact, I will need to draw another name. 

I'll draw a winner this weekend after the hop! 









Tuesday, August 20, 2024

It's A Jungle Out There Blog Hop...my day!

 



Welcome to Day 3 of the It's A Jungle Out There Blog Hop!
We are here because of our gracious hostess, Joan at Moosestash Quilting
There are always so many talented bloggers who stitch along and provide incredible inspiration.


This month's challenge is to create a project centered on animals, plants or trees.




It all began with the background piece here that's filled with woodland animals. 
I pulled from my stash an assortment of coordinating fabrics. 

Not knowing how big I wanted this...more likely reason is that my math skills suck...I simply cut a whole lot of 5" squares. The solids would become HST's. 



If you squint your eyes juuuust enough, you can see that there's a secondary pattern going on.
Behind the diagonal rows, there are vertical stripes of green, then blue. 
Raise your hand if you see the stripes! 🙋




There is one big disadvantage to having a design floor. 




After piecing all the blocks together, I quilted the layers together using the wavy stitch that's on my machine. 
I've used this stitch many times and really like how it looks. 




Now how in the world did this batting scrap get sewn onto the back? 
At least I had only sewn one pass before finding it. 
Ugh. It's a jungle out there! 




A striped binding provided the look I was going for!




The leftover small scraps were sewn into rows and quilted onto batting.




And it soon became a matching bib! 




It is Jax-approved!


Now for some final photos of the quilt...all taken in the jungle we call our backyard!






Now I have a gift for a baby boy all ready to go! 
This quilt measures 38" square. 


Please follow along the hop and see many more fabulous projects!

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

A Quiltery

Quilted Snail

Selina Quilts

Hazel’s Daughter  < << you are here!

 

Thursday August 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Scrapdash

BeaQuilter

That Fabric Feeling
















Monday, July 22, 2024

Something Smells Fishy Blog Hop

 

There's a whole lot of fishy stuff happening this week on the blog hop 

and today's my day to show off my crab!




When this blog hop opened for contributors, I asked Carol (our fabulous blog hop hostess) from Just Let Me Quilt if a crab project would fit the parameters of "something fishy".
She was quick to say yes!


I don't care much for seafood besides the occasional can of tuna or tilapia filet, so making a fish-sort-of-anything gave me the willies.

Fortunately, my zodiac sign is Cancer and a crab is the symbol!

Besides all that, I have been known to be on the "crabby" side a time or two. 
Very fitting, eh?

I found a great crab applique on Etsy and shrunk it down to 80% so it would fit on a towel.
I'm wishing I had shrunk it down more, but it is what it is!



I pulled out my blue batik strips and sewed them together to resemble water. 




Curvy organic stitching gave the strips some movement. 
A navy ric rac was sewn beneath the strips on top and bottom. 


The crab applique pieces were ironed in place, 
then I used the blanket stitch in reverse to give Mr. Crab some texture. 




He was looking pretty good, even on his crabbiest day!
Flat white buttons topped with black beads gave him that "I'm watching you" kind of look!


Gold colored beads were added to make his treasured starfish sparkle!


This is a photo of my kitchen where my new crab towel hangs on the oven door. 
It is clearly a hands-off towel and since I'm the only cook in the house, I respect that decision!

Just yesterday, I found the coolest crab plate that sits just right behind the cooktop.
It was a steal at the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in town....marked down to $3!





Now go visit all my fishy friends on the hop as they show off their awesome projects!


JULY 22





Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Hello Summer!

 


Summer's here and the living is easy, as George Gershwin once said! 

As much as I love summer, spring will always be my favorite season. But the former kid, former teacher, and former public pool season passer in me, there is always a reminder of the sweet warmth that the hot months of summer bring.

My latest project was inspired by June's theme of "watermelon" at The Joyful Quilter's Table Scraps Challenge. Watermelon = Summer to me, so it was a no-brainer to put these 2 ideas together. 

I found a tutorial among my Pinterest boards for a mini banner that fit the bill perfectly! 

You can find the Summer Fun Watermelon Applique Banner here

created by Amy Chappell. 

I added the cursive text of "hello summer", which is pretty darned close to my own handwriting!



Cutting out the text was the hardest part of this project. Ugh. 
No wonder cursive is becoming obsolete!




Add the binding was not a part of the original plan or tutorial. It became necessary because of the vintage linen fabric I used as the background. It has a loose weave and became wonky and not fun to play with. 




I made 4 tassels from embroidery thread and a few beads
 to add an extra punch of color. 





This will hang on a narrow wall in my bedroom. 

Hello Summer!
Enjoy your easy living! 

Thanks, Joy, for your encouragement and support to keep this blog alive!

Linking up with: 







Wednesday, June 19, 2024

For The Birds Blog Hop

 


Today is my day on the For the Birds Blog Hop!

This hop is hosted by Joan at MooseStashQuilting, and it is here that you will find a wide array of bird-themed projects to keep your wings aflutter! 


How's that saying go? Birds of a feather flock together?

Well, if that's true, this funky bird is in the right place! 

I hope you've been following along with this blog hop and have enjoyed the creative bird projects!


When I'm looking for inspiration, I often get caught going down the rabbit hole of Pinterest. I found enough ideas to fill my bird-brained nugget so I could get pecking at my new project!


I gathered my brightly colored strip scraps and sewed them together for the background. 

Knowing this was going to be on the smaller side, I chose strips no longer than 16" in length. 



With scraps of fabric chosen and hand-drawn templates, I used Heat 'n Bond Lite to prep my appliques. 




All appliques were cut out and laid in place.
I had a keen liking for this bird already!

She seemed to be going places!





Back to the background piece, I laid the applique templates aside and added a batting to the sewn strips.  Organic wavy lines became my quilting choice, using different colored threads.



The flowers were ironed down first, then edged with black thread in a narrow stitch.


Her groovy, skinny legs and bird boots are perfectly in fashion for heading to wherever!



And in her beak, she carries a purple string!
She knows that a string always comes in handy!


I had so much fun making this little bird wall hanging! 

Thank you, Joan, for hosting another great hop!

Here's the week's full blog hop schedule for your enjoyment:


June 17

MooseStashQuilting

Quilting Between the Rails

Selina Quilts

Quilt Doodle Designs

 

June 18

Homespun Hannah's Blog

BeaQuilter

Words & Stitches

High Road Quilter

Quilted Delights

Quilted Snail

 

June 19

Patchouli Moon Studio

A Quiltery

Ms P Designs USA

Stitching Farm Girl

Scrapdash

 

June 20

Just Let Me Quilt

Isabella’s Whimsy

Quilting Gail

Hazel's Daughter (you are here!)

Songbird Designs