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!

I don't know about you, but I've had quite the productive week!  I am finally caught up on all my bee blocks! Yippee!  All my Kaleidoscope blocks are sewn up, and I have parted ways with a huge box of fabrics for trading!

Bek [dreamfctry} ended up in two of my bees, she had July in both, and chose paper piecing in both bees.  The top photo is a design from Quilter's Cache, and the bottom two blocks are of her own design, so cool!  This was my first time paper piecing, and after getting the hang of it, I think I love it.  These are the most precise blocks I have made yet!  Don't get me wrong, I love paper piecing, but good gosh it is time consuming.  Way more than I would have ever thought.

I finished packing up my box of swap fabrics for the Stashtacular! Swap, and have sent them off!  It feels good to clear out some fabric I know I won't use!

As of last night, I finished up all 30 of the blocks for my Kaleidoscope Quilt.  All I have to do is sew the top together!  I was pleasantly surprised at how well my points matched up (not perfect, but good enough for me!) and how flat they actually did lay.  Can't wait to see what this quilt top looks like all sewn together!

I added a few more projects to my ever growing list, and have come to the realization that I will never be "finished" with my works in progress.  Oh well, I'm OK with that.  Well folks, that about wraps up my week.  How was yours?

Finished Projects:
Quilt Bee Blocks

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 Teardrop Bag (cut out)
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Key Keeper Coin Purse (cut out)
Pretty {little} Pouch Swap - Round 2
2 Uber Large Handbags (cut out)

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 2
Completed Projects - 1
Currently in Progress - 12

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!

Hello everybody!  Did anyone miss me on WIP Wednesday?  I've been absent for about a month now!  Oh goodness!  I wish I could say that it has been a super productive month, but alas, from vacations and summer activities, the work just hasn't happened.  Oh well.

I spent about a week getting bundles of fabric together to mail to two of my online Quilting Bees (this process took WAY longer than I ever thought it would!)  They are mailed out, and I am slowly getting blocks back in the mail.  It is so neat to see what others will create for you!

I finished some Bee Blocks for others, one early, and one super late.  The first one for CNSnow was the early one, a fun improv block that whipped up so quickly and is a LARGE block measuring in at 16.5" x 16.5"!  The second set for prsd4tim2 will be what I consider a bee fail on my part.  This has nothing to do with construction, the construction of the blocks is fine, but rather my dissatisfaction with trying to translate what was in my head to fabric!  Oh and the fact that I sent these blocks about 2 weeks late....boo! on my part, and I am sorry about that.  The first block, though cute reminds me of Smurf houses, with a huge off-scale snowman who apparently is the evil over-lord in the village.  A bit creepier than I intended.  The second block was supposed to be a simple house highlighted by two candy cane columns, but instead just appears to be a Chinese Food Restaurant, and don't even lie to me, you know it looks like that.  All it needs is a sign that says "Golden Wok."  I just hope she doesn't hate them!

No real finishes, though I have made quite some progress in my fabric organization, and can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel!  My one new project is the Kaleidoscope Quilt-Along hosted by Don't Call Me Betsy.  All my pieces are cut, all my hst are sewn on, and the real piecing has started.  I actually put together two blocks last night and was pleasantly surprised at how flat they laid, and miraculously the inside points lined up pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!  Pictures to come at a later point!

Well folks, that about sums it up!  Here is to a productive and new crafty week!

Finished Projects:
Quilt Bee Blocks

Ongoing Projects:
Kaleidoscope Quilt-Along
Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (90% 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!)
Quilt Bees
Sock Skeletons
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Teardrop Bag (cut out)
2 Uber Large Handbags (cut out)

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 1
Completed Projects - 1 (This will stay on the list because I have more to make!)
Currently in Progress - 11

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!

July is my "month" in the Christmas Fabric Bee and after sorting through my piles and piles of fabrics, I chose to use the Candy Land Christmas line of fabrics from Moda with a few random add-ins.  There will be two different centers, this gold print shown below and a white on white snowflake print from Kate Spain.  It really didn't take me long to whip up this block, and I think that was because I used a wonderful tutorial from {House} of A La Mode she made the directions so easy to follow, such a great tutorial, you should check it out!  I just hope my bee mates think it was as easy I did!

Wednesday again?  It seems to come sooner and sooner....  I was on vacation for the majority of this past week, so I'll keep it short, since I didn't accomplish much! Which is a good thing sometimes.  We all need a break once in a while!

I finished bee blocks for "justabitfrayed" in the Always Bee Learning Quilt Bee.  She sent us Anna Maria Horner's new line of fabrics louLOUthi, and we all did Quilt As You Go blocks for her.  I made her two, and am quite pleased at how pretty these blocks are!  They are trimmed to 12.5" x 12.5" and ready for her to put them together, no quilting needed!  I included a back shot, since so many have asked how the back looks using this method.  When sewing I left the back tails long, and then once I was completed, I threaded each tail on a needle and wove the thread back in, came up and trimmed it, this way the ends are "more complete!"  I hope she likes them!

That is it folks, I told you I would keep it short and simple!

Finished Projects:
Quilt Bee Blocks

Ongoing Projects:
Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (65% 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!)
Quilt Bees
Sock Skeletons
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Teardrop Bag (cut out)
2 Uber Large Handbags (cut out)

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 0
Completed Projects - 1 (This will stay on the list because I have more to make!)
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!

My month in the Quilting newBEES is quickly approaching (July) and will be here before we know it!  After much deliberation and hair pulling, I decided to use the Denyse Schmidt Picnic and Fairgrounds collection, with a few matching solids, and a few matching Denyse Schmidt prints from her other previous lines.  I also added in several matching prints from my stash that had that "feed sack" feel to them.  I decided on a log cabin based block, nothing wonky, just straight lines, but the members will have a lot of freedom with these blocks.  Logs ranging in size from 1/2" to 3", and the blocks themselves ranging in size from 12.5" to 16" will allow these "newBEES" the freedom to create something totally original!  I whipped up these two blocks as examples, and both ironically measure in at 13".  I can not wait to see what my group members whip up!