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!

This month's bee blocks contained quite the variety of blocks and techniques, which was really nice.  First up (above) is for "Bannermkr" in the Quilting newBEES group.  This block was so easy and utilized a really cool tube sewing technique, the tutorial can be found HERE.  It was so easy to construct and seriously was the simplest block I have made in quite some time.  This will be a lovely Christmas quilt.

Next up are two blocks for "justabitfrayed" in the Bee Connected group.  This is a pattern that I have had "favorited" for a while called Garden Fence and I wanted to make myself, the tutorial can be found HERE.  These blocks were simple and straight forward, and she used the lovely Ruby line of fabrics, that I have now fallen hard for!  So pretty! Oh, and I swear these blocks weren't that wrinkly in real life!

Last but certainly not least, these lovely hexagon flowers are for "kristina.withak" in the Always Bee Learning group.  I have basted hexagons around a template before, but never actually hand sewn them together.  A great tutorial can be found HERE.  I was quite pleased with my results and you can't even see the stitching from the front (which is the point, but I was excited that it actually did turn out that way!)  I made these in two nights while watching TV and they provided some great hand work while zoning out in front of the boob tube!  The fabric for these flowers is Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms and this will be quite the stunning quilt.  I do know for sure now that making a few of these babies is great, but the idea of a whole quilt makes my head hurt, and I highly doubt I ever will be trying that amazing feat!

This month I only ended up having to make one bee block (not quite true, I made one really early back in September.)  This block is for Megan (hehehe922) in the Quilting newBEES group and is a modified Carpenter's Wheel, free pattern can be found HERE.  This is a 24" block and if it looks familiar to you, it is laid out just like the Swoon pattern by Camille Roskelley, though it looks the same, the construction is completely different.  This block is constructed purely of half square triangles and squares and that is it!  It honestly went together way quicker than I imagined it would, and is quite the stunning block!  Megan is going to have a fantastic quilt!

While photographing this block, my husband caught sight of it and said "Wow, that is an awesome block.  Do we get to keep it?"  I explained to him, that no, it wasn't for us, and was shipping off to one of my bee members, but I can honestly say this is the first time he has expressed that reaction.  I might just have to make some blocks for us!

On a random side note, the other night we were traveling home from the in-laws and upon seeing this glowing sight, I made my husband pull over to take pictures.  Yes, these people have their yard decked out in nothing but Halloween decorations.  I have to admit, my son and I were in awe!  That is a lot of work for Halloween, but it was really neat looking!  Can you imagine trick or treating in a neighborhood decked out like this?  I think that would be pretty cool.

Even though I haven't been doing a lot of sewing lately, I have managed to keep up with my bee blocks, and this month's were considerably easier than last month's and I was able to whip them up pretty quickly, which was a nice change.

First up is for "Mad Maddy" in the Bee Connected group.  She requested these lovely paper pieced sailboat blocks for a baby quilt she is making for a friend.  These blocks were rather easy (thank goodness I have done paper piecing before!) She requested two, and the only real rule, was to use the cloud fabric as the sky, and that the clouds go in the right direction (a.k.a. not vertically) and even though that sounds simple enough, amazingly it was quite challenging.  I felt the first two blocks I made for her weren't wonderful, so I added some of my own fabric and made her a third block just for good measure.  I hope she likes them, it certainly will be an adorable quilt.

The next set are for "bluebirdluxe" in the Quilting newBEES group.  She used the Taffy Go Round pattern from A Crafty Fox, tutorial HERE.  These blocks were really easy to put together, and feature a raw edge circle in the middle, which was also really easy to do.  These are stunning blocks, and are going to make a lovely Christmas quilt.

This last set isn't for September, but rather October, and it is really nice to get them done super early!  Erin "toerintx" sent her fabric off early, and since I was on a roll, I went ahead and got these done too!  These blocks are part of the Always Bee Learning group, and Erin wanted everyone to try triangulations.  If you haven't heard of that before, go look it up, because neither had I, and honestly I don't want to try to explain, but basically it is another neat way of making a lot of half square triangles.  I really like this method and feel like these blocks are the most accurate hst I have ever made.  Erin only had one real rule, and that was to use one brown print and one cream/white print in each block, but we got to decide on the layout of both blocks.  Since I was feeling rather brain dead the day I put these together, I decided on a super simple layout for both, and hope my other bee members go a little more adventurous than me!  If not, it will still be a stunning quilt!

for Bee Blocks.  Pure coincidence led to almost every block this month in my quilting bees to be the most complicated blocks I have ever tackled.  I'm not complaining, no wait, I am, it stunk.  Though on the bright side I learned a lot of new techniques, and I also learned which quilts I NEVER EVER want to make myself!

The first set was for "domestiCass" in the Christmas Fabric Bee, and honestly these weren't hard, I've done circles quite a few times now, and I was quite pleased at how these babies turned out.  These were the only ones that I would label as "quick and fun."  Cassey let us decide on the decoration for the center of the white circle, so I chose to make some Christmas hexies and machine stitch them, creating a nice star in the center.  Pardon the fact that I photographed that block upside down.  Oops! 

The second set was for "flowerbirdquilts" in the Bee Connected group, and she requested quilt as you go log cabin blocks.  Though I do love the look of the densely quilted blocks, they took SO MUCH TIME to make.  Thankfully, these blocks were not complicated to put together, it just took a lot of time to quilt all those lines, though I do think it will create one stunning quilt.  The fabric is sewn directly onto the batting and quilted as you go, so all Cathi has to do is connect the blocks and add the backing.

The third set was for "Kreated by Kari" in the Christmas Fabric Bee and she requested these nice and pretty super complicated blocks.  She was SO SMART to have others make these blocks for her.  I can not imagine the time it would take to make an entire quilt by yourself.  Don't get me wrong these blocks were very difficult to make, required a lot of brain power and reading the directions 100 times, but I loved making them.  It was like a super complicated puzzle that every single side is straight.  I loved the challenge, and was so excited to create such a visually appealing block.  Kari was nice enough to cut all the fabric for us, so all we had to do was to sew them together.  Thank you Kari, that made these blocks so much easier to tackle.  I can not wait to see this finished quilt!

Lastly, the most complicated block of them all goes to the lovely "hehehe922" in the Always Bee Learning group.  I have always wanted to do a Cathedral Windows quilt, and was so excited to make this block and learn how it is done.  I am so glad to have tried this technique, but it has cured me of wanting to make a quilt myself, maybe a pillow someday.  Oh my goodness, the work, weight and sheer amount of fabric needed for these blocks is UNREAL, something like 35 yards of the solid color are needed to make a whole quilt.  35 YARDS!  This block that I have pictured here is HUGE, and I know that you can not tell scale from my photograph, but it is somewhere around 24" x 24" and was heavy!  Megan was also so smart to have others makes these blocks for her, though I can not imagine the work it is going to take to connect all these monsters together once she gets them all back.  Good luck Megan!

On a closing note, this month is the end of the Christmas Fabric Bee (insert sad face here.) Though I was a late addition to this group, added because another member dropped out, I truly loved this group and this group of ladies!  It was so fun creating and getting to know all of you.  Thank you for welcoming me to your group, and for helping me to create my very own Christmas quilt!  It was fun ladies, Thank You!

Yesterday I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but thankfully today I apparently woke up on the right side of the bed, in a great mood and ready to accomplish things (even if it is only the laundry!)  I have been a little (or a lot) lax on my WIP Wednesday's lately, and I am pretty sure that I have decided to either just do them one or twice a month from now on.  I don't need any more pressure or stress than I already have, and honestly I just can't get things accomplished like before my preggo days!  That being said, here is what I have been up to during the last few weeks:

I finished a lovely pinwheel star for "time2sew" in the Quilting newBEES group.  I had a lot of fun making this block and it went together really quickly!  Though, it does look rather wrinkly, which isn't cool.

I finally finished my Kaleidoscope quilt top!  Hallelujah!  I wasn't in love with this one, honestly, but now seeing it hanging from one of our oak trees and being able to "step back" I do like it a lot more, and it is my favorite colors! Now I just need to get a back together for it!  I may set aside this project for a while and work on other things.....

I was also able to finish up a few projects hanging over my head:
You can read about my Pretty {little} Pouch Finish HERE
The Amy Butler Style Stitches Key Keeper/Coin Purse HERE
And today is the last day to enter my current giveaway, to read about and enter to win the Amy Butler Style Stitches Teardrop Bag, click HERE.

Finished Projects:
Quilt Bee Blocks
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Teardrop Bag
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Key Keeper/Coin Purse
Pretty {little} Pouch Swap - Round 2

Ongoing Projects:
Kaleidoscope Quilt-Along
Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (95% complete)
Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape Quilt-Along (5 of 16 blocks complete)
Lily's Quilts Quilt-Along  (Using Sherbet Pips)
Making a Light Box & Photographing 150+ Items (Supplies bought, partly assembled)
Sewing (for myself) a few tops/shirts. (2 down, several more to go!)
Sock Skeletons
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Fringed Hobo Bag - NEW
2 Uber Large Handbags (cut out)
Quilt Bee Blocks - NEW

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 2
Completed Projects - 4
Currently in Progress - 10

Dream Projects On Hold For Now:
Sock Monkey Quilt
Denyse Schmidt Home Dec Fabric Wall Hanging Quilt
Making a bunch of clutches.

Head over to Freshly Pieced to have a look at what everyone else is working on!