Friday 28 January 2022

Polar Bear Plunge

 This week Joan from MooseStash Quilting is hosting the Polar Bear Plunge blog hop. Thank you Joan for organising the hop, they are always such fun to take part in. 


Since life has been a little bit hectic recently with my brother being in hospital over Christmas and New Year, work being vey busy and Scamp needing extra care, I decided to keep this really simple and make a mug rug. I spent quite a bit of time checking out pictures of polar bears and enjoying videos of them frolicking in the snow. I needed to keep it simple so decided I wouldn't try making a picture of a whole bear but rather a head and upper body shot. I'm quite pleased with the result.  Here he is climbing out of the water onto the ice.   I used embroidery thread for his nose and eyes but I wish I'd done the same for the outline of his muzzle as it doesn't show up very well.


The remit for the hop said polar bear or something blue. Over Christmas, whilst tidying my sewing cupboard I found an orphan block. I made two of these blocks using the same fabrics but putting them in different positions. The second one I made was well sewn and was finished into a cushion cover and gifted. The orphan block in my cupboard was a mess. The points are all off and some of the seams (lots of the seams) don't match very well. I like the block and didn't want to throw it a way as that seems such a waste. I decided to do some work on it to tidy it up a little and quilt it. The tidying up was very basic as I didn't want to take the block apart. I decided to quilt it by stitching round all the seams and I made a game of trying to complete each round without cutting the thread.



You can still see where seams don't meet properly but it doesn't look too bad. Over the weekend I'll add the binding which is the same fabric as the binding on the polar bear. For the back I used a brighter and sparkly blue fabric I had in my stash. I couldn't use it for the binding as it doesn't go with the blues on the front. Whilst most of the quilting was straight stitching I did do some zig zag stitches around a couple of the squares.


Here are the rest of the blogs taking part in the final day of the hop. Why not pop over and visit them to see what they've made.

 

Friday Jan 28

Sew Many Yarns (you are here)

Inflorescence

Lianne Makes Stuff

Stitchin at Home 

Quilt Schmilt 

Lynns Beauty

MooseStashQuilting


I'm going to make myself a cup of tea and settle down to visit all the blogs taking part in the hop. 

Take care

Lyndsey


23 comments:

  1. simple is good in so many ways I hope your orphan block gets out of the cupboard now

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  2. I like your cute polar bear mug rug.

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  3. Oh my goodness that little polar bear is just the cutest and your orphan block is absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for playing along in our Polar Bear Plunge hop.

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  4. Your polar bear is a cutie and I like the mug rug a lot.

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  5. Your little mug rug is perfect for this hop. Simple is sometimes so much better. Getting to find a home for your orphan block is also a great feat! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Your mug rug is sure to bring a smile to your face each time that it is used. Thank you for sharing.
    Connie

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  7. The polar bear mug rug turned out so sweet! I love how he's peeking over that ice as he's climbing out of the water. Your orphan block is beautiful! I'm so sorry about your brother being sick and hope he's doing better now. Being in the hospital is hard enough without it being over the holidays. Take care, Lyndsey, and thanks for sharing your icy projects. xo

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  8. Both projects are very nice,Lindsey. I really love your mug rug!

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  9. I love your polar bear peeking out over the ice. Love the colors in your orphan block. It was worth saving! Thanks for sharing. Hope your brother is doing better.

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  10. This is a very nice mug rug Lindsey. I could feel the cold of the snow and icy water when i was looking at it. Thanks for your shares, and certainly don't give up on a lovely block

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  11. Cute mug rug for your Hop project and beautiful blue quilt block, Lyndsey!!

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  12. Ever so cute Lindsey & what will become of the orphan block I wonder. Take care & hugs.

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  13. I like to hang cute mug rugs - who wants to mess them up with a spill. I like to challenge myself with that 'no thread cut' as well. Sometimes it works out and then sometimes you share your head.

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  14. I love your mug rug design. He is a sweetie. I love salvaging blocks and you've done a great job on this one.

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  15. Your mug rug is very cute, and I love the blue fabrics in the block. Thanks for sharing!

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  16. Cute mug rug. Great use of an orphan block.

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  17. I always think something left for a bit magically becomes almost beautiful. That's the way I looked at your block - much prettier than the day you made it, right?

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  18. Your mug rug is so sweet. Love the blues in the block and the way you brought it back to life.

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  19. Your mug rug is cute. The orphan block is so pretty with all the blues.

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  20. Lyndsey your polar bear is so cute. I really like your orphan block, too! Something about blue is so cool and calming. 😉

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  21. I love your mug rug, the polar bear is so cute! And your orphan block is gorgeous! xx

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