It's time for this month's bee blocks! I'm glad to have them done on time... woo hoo! First up is a block for Leanne "shecanquilt" in the Modern Blocks Bee. Leanne asked us to make the "Stonehenge" block, designed by Amy Ellis found on pages 182-183. She sent us fabric from Tula Pink's Birds and Bees line, oh so pretty! I love the simplicity of this block and really look forward to seeing what great modern quilt Leanne creates with them. This block measures 12.5" x 12.5". I will start by saying that these blocks were a little time consuming and on the "harder" scale of blocks, but I will say the effort was worth it and boy these are stunning. "Watch Meesh Run" asked us to create two New York Beauty blocks in the Always Bee Learning group. I think I remember these being blocks number 1 and 7, and you can find the patterns for them HERE. This is going to be an all purple quilt and I think it is going to be FABULOUS, especially since purple is my favorite color, just saying. These blocks measure 8.5" x 8.5", and are paper pieced with the exception of the curves. Last but not least are three simple Snowball blocks for a special charity project. You can find the tutorial HERE, these blocks measure 8" x 8". We had the option of using green, red, or black fabrics, which I thought for sure I had plenty in my stash. Well you can see from these three blocks that apparently I only have black in my stash, no true green or red. I guess I know what I need to buy next...
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Only two bee blocks this month, one a tad bit easier then the other, but both a little challenging, which is always a good learning experience. The first, a String X block for "QuiltGenius" in the Quilting newBEEs group. Overall this block is simple, but I find you have to be pretty precise on the final construction to get those "white" lines to make good points. Two of my points are good, but the other two, not so much. I think my problem was that those lines that are supposed to measure a precise 1/2" weren't quite that. Oh well, hopefully she doesn't mind. Interested in making this block? Tutorial can be found HERE. This finished block measures 14.5" x 14.5." Oh and those "white" lines aren't white, but rather a nice light mint green, which is an unusual contrast to all those deep reds. Really a stunning quilt block. Next up are Pod blocks for "spontaneousthreads" in Always Bee Learning. Since this group is based on all of us learning a new technique each month, Stephanie really came up with a good technique for all of us to learn. This technique can be found in the book "Quilting Modern" by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen. I honestly haven't had much time to really study this book, but after trying this one technique, I really want to go through the book, step by step. The technique for these blocks is really well described and easy to understand. The top left hand block is the first one that I made, and you can see that I was able to make one with no problems, first try! These are a variety of sizes, but the average is around 5" x 10." Stephanie will have quite an amazing quilt and I can't wait to see what she does with all these blocks!
It looks like I will be making some New York Beauty Blocks in September, I am really looking forward to that! Tune in later this month to see them! I ended up having a smaller amount of blocks to make in July, but alas was completing them last minute, or should I say mailing them last minute, which seems to be the hardest part for me, getting to the post office. Does anyone else hate that place, or is it just me? First up is a block for Debbie (flickrdeb50) in the Modern Blocks Bee. She chose a rather simple block named Binary and found on pages 22-23. She stuck with all cool colors and I think this quilt will be simply beautiful. I can't wait to see how she designs this quilt. Next up are two partial blocks for Kristina (kristina.withak) in Always Bee Learning. Her main block for the month was a simple log cabin like variation, but alas my packet was missing two central pieces, so I wasn't able to put the block together for her. Here it is below in pieces. She also asked if we were willing to make some more hexagons for her, which is what we did for her turn last year, and I was more than willing to help out. I love English Paper Piecing! You can see those Amy Butler hexagons below too. Last but not least, it is my turn next (August) in the Modern Blocks Bee, and I have chosen to have the group members make Stargazing found on pages 178-179. I know this block looks really crazy busy, and honestly this one that I made will be the most visually busy. I sent the group a variety of fat quarters from Swanky by Chez Moi for Moda fabrics to use as the background, and the turquoise stripe is a JoAnn's print by Denyse Schmidt to be used as the stars. I can't wait to see what each block looks like since all of the backgrounds will be different!. Now that it is August 1st, I guess the next round is on the way to me now! Am I the only one totally freaked out that it is already August? Where is the year going?
Oh yes friends, I am aware that we are a hop, skip and jump from August, but I promise, none of these blocks were actually late, I just don't have the blogging time that I wish I had, heck any free time these days would be so nice. Oh well, someday... enough whining, on to the blocks! The first two are Tokyo Subway Map Blocks by Elizabeth Hartman, tutorial found HERE. These blocks are for Megan "hehehe922" in Always Bee Learning, who just had a darling baby boy, congrats Megan! She was so smart to have bee members put together these blocks for her, if I had to make this quilt, all those squares would drive me NUTS! These square blocks are for Valarie "Between Quilts" in the Modern Blocks Bee. She let us pick from 4 blocks in the Modern Blocks Book, and I chose Pinball Machine found on page 136-137. The block looks kinda wonky in my picture, but I promise, it isn't, maybe it is just an optical illusion? The three little ones below are just free form blocks that I made for her in various sizes. Her finished quilt will be for her son and will consist of lots of these types of blocks. I think it will be so adorable and grow with him so well! Last up are these two Granny Square blocks, tutorial found HERE. They are for Hilary "kalanchoe612" in Bee Connected. I honestly wanted to keep these blocks so badly, they are gorgeous! She had us leave them untrimmed, which I honestly thought was GENIUS! This will be a beautiful quilt, can't wait to see it finished, and now I want to make one myself! Hope you are having a wonderful summer!
Well folks, this is the bee blocks post that has my first real mess up in it. So lame. Let's get it over with... April was "sewtobed's" month in Quilting newBEES and she requested this simple block that was supposed to be 25 squares with a simple wonky star placed anywhere in the block. Simple right? Yes, it seems the simpler it is these days, the more I mess up. I had it in my head that it was a 16 patch, so I started making 2 wonky stars in order to make 2 blocks, only to realize I didn't have enough solid purple to finish the second star...what was going on? Oh crap. So I did what I could and am one row short on the block. I am truly sorry, and hopefully you have plenty more of this awesome Kaffe Fasset fabric in order to finish it up. On the bright side, using the pieces I made should make that next block go together really quickly right? Now that my mess up is over with, here is a graphically stunning Carpenter's Wheel for "Mad Maddy" in Always Bee Learning. It measures a large 24.5" square and the color scheme is one that I have not worked with before. Very pretty! Does this block look familiar? I made one in March for another member! It is called "Potager" and is from the Modern Blocks book, and can be found on page 146-147. Requested by "marycatharine" in the Modern Blocks Bee, she sent some Nicey Jane and asked us to make this one block! Easy peasy, it measures 12.5" square! These two lovely blocks are for "wendydi1" in Bee Connected. She requested two asterisk blocks, and we were given the freedom to make whatever we wanted and were able to work with these wonderful Reunion by Sweetwater fabrics. I am especially proud and in love with the first one. The second one was a challenge to squeeze another block out of the fabric I had left, but I had just enough. This quilt will be so great, and I have decided that I love when we get to be creative with the blocks! Now it is time for May's blocks! This is the Greek Cross for "tadams in texas" in Quilting newBEES. Simple enough, measures 12.5" square and is made of some lovely Batiks. This is the first time I worked with Batiks, and I loved the "crisp-ness" of these fabrics. So fun! The Single Girl by Denyse Schmidt! I always wanted to make this block, but not the whole quilt, so this block scratched the itch for sure! "Watch Meesh Run" painstakingly cut all the pieces for us and all we had to do was sew them together. We had the easy task, if I do say so myself. Cutting all those 31 different pieces was the hard part. This block was part of the Always Bee Learning group, and we learned curves with this block. For some reason all my blocks look way more wrinkly in photos than they really are, I promise! This block should also look familiar, if not, you should check out my Bloggers' Quilt Festival entry! The "Set Sail Block" from the Modern Blocks book, found on pages 166-167 was requested by "Jensen.elizabethann" in the Modern Blocks Bee. It measures 12.5" square, and she sent the sky and water fabrics and asked that we use our scraps for the boat. It is fun to see how different everyone's blocks are turning out, and I can't wait to see this quilt as a whole when she is done with it. Last, but not least is a gorgeous Swoon block for "Meredith Daniel" in Bee Connected. She sent us this lovely Echo fabric and requested one block. I believe Swoon measures 24.5" square and is a rather large block. i took my time and tried my best to orient all the fabrics in the correct manner, and was totally successful with the purple stripes! I love this fabric line, and think this will be a stunning quilt.
I know this was a super long blog post, and appreciate you hanging in there and checking all these blocks out! Yes, I am aware that we are now well into April, it seems that I have no problem actually sewing and getting things done around my house, but as far as blogging, returning emails and computer time...I am seriously lacking. The good news is that I mailed these blocks weeks ago, and all the owners of these blocks have actually received them, so I'm not really delinquent, just delinquent in posting photos of these lovely blocks. Sorry for that peeps. On to the blocks... First up are two blocks for "Kritta22" in the Modern Blocks Bee. She sent us two solids and we were allowed to make any blocks from the Modern Blocks book that we wanted to make. We were allowed to add our own fabric just so long as it fit in with the color palette. I picked these two lovely blocks, both of which were fairly easy to construct. The first Front and Center on pages 74-75, and the second Potager on pages 146-147. My husband really likes the first and made the off hand comment that if I ever made him a quilt, it should be in this color palette. Well, now i know, and knowing is half the battle right? Next up is a great mosaic block for "QuiltGenius" in the Always Bee Learning group. She requested a free form block and to just start constructing and not to stop until you ran out of fabric, which is the lovely Plume by Tula Pink, just in case you were wondering. The block is rather large, like 18" x 20" and I think this will be an amazing quilt. The tutorial for this block can be found HERE. I certainly don't have a problem making wonky blocks, I just hope she likes it! Last, but not least are two great blocks for "kintx" in the Quilting newBEES group. This block is called Attic Window, and the tutorial can be found HERE. I think these are the first bee blocks that I really messed up, and honestly had to rip seams three separate times. After ripping seams that many times I seriously was beginning to think that maybe I shouldn't be sewing anymore. No, not seriously, but man, I was frustrated. It was all my fault and the mistakes were made from simply not reading the directions thoroughly. Thankfully I was able to salvage the blocks and if I weren't confessing now, no one would have ever known! I have to admit that this will be one stunning quilt, and I can't wait to see how she lays out these blocks!
Now I just need to work on April's Bee Blocks! Here's hoping you have a great weekend! It is March! Do you know what that means? It is my month in the Bee Connected Quilting Bee! If these blocks look familiar it is because I made one a few months ago for a member of another bee, and I fell in love with the block. So simple, but stunning, and a great showcase for some fussy cut prints. The block is named "Quatrefoil" and is from the Modern Blocks book, and is designed by Solidia Hubbard. I chose Aneela Hoey's "Little Apples" line of fabrics (I found a fat eighth set for a steal) and Kona Charcoal for the solid. Each block will be completely unique, with different fabric prints in each block. I can't wait to see the blocks my bee mates create for me!
I was bound and determined to get my bee blocks done for the month of February. I know that everyone in my quilting bees totally understood that I just had a baby, and were in no means in a rush at all, but since I committed to all these bees (with the exception of one) before I was even pregnant, I really wanted to have them done in a timely manner. Every second of free time for the past three-four weeks has been spent steadily cutting, sewing and putting these blocks together, and boy was it nice to have a little sewing time. I honestly think I needed it to stay sane, and I'm totally not just saying that. I think sewing is in my blood. The first block is for "alixbroadfoot" in my newest group, Modern Blocks Bee which is the group based on the Modern Blocks book. Alix chose "Boxed In" on pages 34-35, and used the new fabric line Stitched in Color, which is so vibrant, so much more than my picture depicts. It will be a striking quilt. This block was actually very simple and went together really quickly. I love it. Next up are two string blocks for "aPlayOnNature" in the Quilting newBEEs group. Judy sent us a great selection of Christmas Fabrics, and I can't wait to see how this quilt turns out. It will be so festive, and I love the selection of Christmas prints, so fun! This one was a bit of a challenge for me. It is a Supernova block designed by Lee over at Freshly Pieced. It is for "hettie k" in the Always Bee Learning group and she chose two Lizzy House lines of fabric for this quilt, 1001 Peeps and Castle Peeps. I honestly think this is one of my favorite blocks I have made so far, but I struggled with it quite a bit. It really isn't that difficult, I just didn't want to mess anything up! I really spent some time making sure the directional fabrics lined up correctly, and that all those diagonals came out right also. Though it was a challenge for me, it really was fun, and I know that this will be a gorgeous quilt. I didn't want to send this block back, but rather fancied keeping it for myself, but alas, I was a good girl and sent it to live with Hettie like I was supposed to! Last but not least are some simple wonky crosses for "sternwerfer*" in the Bee Connected group. She sent a great selection of prints, and only requested two blocks, but once I realized they were so easy and quick to put together, I cut some of each fabric print and ended up making five blocks. I love the red, aqua and white combination of fabrics, very pretty! These are currently traveling across the ocean to go live in Germany.
I am quite proud of myself for getting all of these blocks done, plus I finished three other blocks that I will share sometime this week. March is my month in the Bee Connected group, and in addition to sewing up these blocks, I had to make packets to mail out to the group also! I am so happy to say that they are mailed and my part is done, yippee! _I decided as soon as I started receiving my bee blocks in the mail this month to try and get them done as soon as possible as to not have them sitting here after baby comes. Lucky for me, I was able to finish all of January's blocks and get them in the mail! Woohoo! I am excited about this, and no, it doesn't take much to excite me these days! First up is the first month in my brand new bee, Modern Blocks Bee, this block is for "fordcowgirl_85." Every block that we will be making this year comes from the 99 Modern Blocks book that I reviewed briefly a while back. I love this block and the fabric line, so pretty, and this block was really easy to whip up! This block measures 12.5" x 12.5", as do all of the blocks in this book. This block is for "jdderrick" in the Quilting newBEES group, and is a Dutch Pinwheel Block, the tutorial can be found HERE. Another stunning block, and the fabric she provided had such a great feel to it, unfortunately my iron didn't think so, and I couldn't get those darn wrinkles out, or heck, maybe the iron made them, I don't know, sorry about that. This block measures roughly 17" x 17". The next two blocks are for "hehehe922" in the Bee Connected group, and honestly are some of my favorite types of block to make, wonky stars. Simple enough. She asked for all sizes and shapes, so for the first I stuck with a regular 12.5" x 12.5" block, but for the second I went a little wild. I don't remember the exact size, but it was somewhere around 4" x 6" small, and I based this block loosely on the tutorial found HERE. I really like it, and think a whole quilt with these minis would be fabulous! Last, but not least are some awesome word blocks for "Kreated by Kari" in the Always Bee Learning group. She is making a word quilt for her husband that features the Clemson Alma Mater song, and I think it will be spectacular! These blocks were challenging, but honestly a lot of fun, and now I want to make a word quilt! They measure 5.5" tall and the length varies with the word. When I opened the packet, I honestly was a little frightened with this project, but jumped right in and it didn't take long to figure out how to make them, kind of like paper piecing, but not if that makes any sense, and to me the only difficult letters were the "r" and "n" simply because they featured angles, and honestly it took my brain a while to wrap around that, simply because pregnancy brain is in full force right now! I hope Kari likes them and can't wait to see the finished quilt! Oh and why the second "s" in greatness turned out smaller, I have no idea, but I hope it adds to the charming-ness of the quilt!
Maybe I should say bee block, because there is only one. I think I finished one early back in November, so with the other groups taking breaks, it only left this one, and honestly I can't really call it a block, but rather a really long strip! The strip above is an example of Seminole Piecework, and there are a ton of different techniques, this being just one of them. This strip is for Stephanie at Spontaneous Threads, and she plans to use them to add little special details to individual projects, from my understanding. Once you understand the technique, it flies together in no time, literally I had this baby done in 10 minutes. It really is intriguing and the possibilities are limitless! So what is with the pouch you ask? Yeah, Stephanie is pretty darn amazing and she made every member of our group a pouch as a thank you and a little Christmas present! Oh my goodness...AWESOME! I had to include a close up detail of the Seminole Piecework that is on the center of this pouch, so tiny and amazing! I love it Stephanie, and I'm sending a super huge thank you your way!
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Marci GirlA feisty mom designing, sewing and blogging her way through everyday life!
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