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

Just Let Me Quilt

Karrin’s Crazy World

Scrapdash

Quilted Delights

JULY 23

Patchouli Moon Studio

Words & Stitches

Quilted Snail

Quilting Between The Rails

Sew Many Yarns

Hazel’s Daughter

 

JULY 24

A Quiltery

Beaquilter

Quilting Gail

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

That Fabric Feeling

 

JULY 25

MooseStashQuilting

Ms P Designs USA

Quilt and Color

Selina Quilts

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: 

June's Table Scrap Challenge

Wednesday Wait Loss @ The Inquiring Quilter

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

May Flowers Bring Roses

 

Who doesn't love roses? Keep your hands down, if that happens to be you. You might end up liking them enough to enjoy this project! 

Once again, I was prompted to create a project for Joy's Tablescrap Challenge...this month's theme being Kentucky Derby. I'm not a horse lover, although I do appreciate their beauty from afar. (I had a bad experience with a big "gentle" one back in Girl Scout Camp many moons ago.) 

So no horse, of course, in my project.

But with a winning horse in the Kentucky Derby, one may come home with a garland of roses.

Or perhaps a few roses on a pillow.

That's the squiggly tale of my thought process, anyway.

Among my many pins on Pinterest that will keep me busy far into my afterlife, I narrowed it down to the vintage scrappy rose applique using my batik scraps and a small piece of Kaffe Fassett flower fabric.  No pattern or template used, just free form cutting.

Multiple layers and 3 flowers later, I found a piece of white-ish upholstery fabric in my stash.

I had just enough for a small pillow, front and back...woohoo!

I layered this with batting and a muslin on the back to quilt in a big grid back and forth, then used some batik strips to make some fence-like posts. I was short on the purple strips, but I thought that just gave it more interest!

I stitched down each layer of the flowers close to the edge, as well as the leaves.

A simple 12" pillow form was made using muslin and poly filler.

The pillow backing was one that has the opening to sneak the insert pillow inside. Easy peasy.

And then, a pretty little rosy applique pillow was created!

Linking up with: 

The Joyful Quilter Tablescrap Challenge

The Inquiring Quilter Wednesday Wait Loss

April Showers!

 

I know, I know...it's already May, but it's still raining in my corner of the world!

Besides, I wanted a mini quilt for my wall to celebrate Spring.

I was inspired to make this as I looked on Pinterest for a quilted piece that included an umbrella. 

Why an umbrella? So I could link up to Joy's Table Scrap Challenge at The Joyful Quilter!

I started with this background fabric that I bought at a 2nd hand shop in Missouri on our way to see the last solar eclipse. The tag is hard to read, but I snagged this 2 yard piece of Art Gallery newspaper print for $1.99!! Someone surely didn't know it's worth!

I printed off an umbrella template and found this perfect scrap of bird fabric that was exactly the right size. Sometimes things just work out, don't they?

A few steps later, I had my tulips, stems, leaves and grass cut out and prepped with Heat n Bond Light. 

Getting everything placed and stitched down is the fun part! 

A striped binding and she's done!

April showers really do bring May flowers!

The daffodils are already faded and the tulips are in full bloom!

May your gardens bring you joy this season!

Linking up with:

Joy's Table Scraps Challenge

Wednesday Wait Loss @ Inquiring Quilter

Midweek Makers @ Quiltfabrication

Project Quilting 15.6: Irish Chain

 

This is the final challenge of Project Quilting's 15th season. It makes me a bit sad! 

This week's theme is Irish Chain. While the Irish Chain design is quite simple and makes a great impact when made into a large quilt, I was thinking to make one on a smaller scale. I didn't like the idea of a simple block being flagged by a 9 patch on either side. 

So, I followed the Number One rule this week:  Your project must be inspired by the traditional Irish Chain quilt design.

I pulled out a bag of batik scraps and a few FQs that I won from Preeti at Sew Preeti Quilts earlier this year. She was so very generous in sending more than I expected...especially these gorgeous purples!

Having no idea where this was going, I started with making eight 9-patch blocks...this block is almost always present in the Irish Chain. 

Next I did what Preeti would likely do: Ask her husband, Paul, what she should do next.

Fortunately for me, I have a husband name Paul, too, and he is pretty good at giving advice!

I showed Paul several examples of the Irish Chain design I found on Pinterest to pre-load his brain. 

Me: Now that you know what an Irish Chain project looks like, what can I do to these 8 blocks to accentuate a chain look?

Paul: What if you cut small whitish squares and added them on top in the arrangement of a chain?

Me: Ok, so what do you think of this idea? I'm not feeling it.

Paul: Nope, me neither. What about a ribbon running cross-wise to get the chain effect?

Me: Hey, I think this idea is getting closer!

Paul: Great! Can I get back to taxes now?

Me: Yep!

Instead of ribbon, I cut 1" wide strips of coordinating purple batik fabric and sewed it on top of the squares to make the Irish Chain effect. I decided not to top-stitch the strips because I liked the floating look.

Next came the quilting which is just straight stitching to mimic the purple strips.

This purple swirl backing carries a lot of history! It covered many bulletin boards in my days of teaching. It has war-wounds of staple holes and some fading, but it's perfect for backing small projects. 

Hand stitching the binding to the back while watching the evening news seems to take the edge off the catastrophes of the day. Notice sweet Sophie in the background snoozing away!

I am just tickled with how this project turned out! 

My Irish Chain-ish table runner measures approximately 13" x 25".

Thank you, Kim and Trish, for another wonderful season of creating things I would never have thought of on my own!  And, thank you to Preeti, for supplying the beautiful batik fabrics for this project!

Linking up with:

Persimon Dreams: Project Quilting 15.6 Irish Chain

So Scrappy

Free Motion Mavericks!

Favorite March Finish @ Quilting Jetgirl