2BB (Two Bee Blocks) Part 2

Got two more bee blocks to share.  This one took a little time & patience.  I also switched around some fabrics and changed my mind twice, but fiddling around with the placement and fabric choices really paid off and helped this star shine!

The block is called Supernova and the tutorial is found here.  After sewing together the first two pieces unsuccessfully lining up the angles, I basted all the other seams before permanently sewing them together.

The next block is a modern house.  We could pick whatever design we wanted to make in a specific color palette (green, gray, orange), so I looked around online and settled on trying to mimic the lines of this house.  I wish I had tried to make it more two dimensional, but hey, it’s done and looks like the photo.

Have a great weekend!

2BB (Two Bee Blocks)

I sewed curves!!!  That’s the beauty of bees, trying something new.  Maybe there’s a block you’ve been wanting to make—the x & + block for example, but you just don’t have the time to make a entire quilt of the block.  I’ve made it twice this year already, without the commitment of making an entire quilt top and actually quilting it.  I love picking the fabric for a block, sewing it up, and mailing it off.  All in one day! 

Sewing these curves was easier than I expected.  In fact, I’d say it was easy as pizza pie (which is what my daughter nicknamed this block).  This block finished at 24” square.

Don’t you just love the crossword puzzle fabric?  The recipient requested fabric appropriate for a young boy.  I had so much fun picking fabrics that are outside my usual girly tastes.

And this is my blocks for Make It Modern.  I used some of my all-time most favorite fabrics including Farmdale, Washi, and Flea Market Fancy.  What a great scrap-busting take on the snowball block!

Are you in any bees?  Two bees I’m in are on hiatus after this summer, but after a little break I’ll be on the lookout for another one to join.  Any suggestions?

Life’s Little Victories

#1  Needing a new ironing board cover and your cousin calling to say Ross has pretty Laura Ashley shabby chic covers…for less than $10.  Score!  Makes me kind of want to press some seams!

#2  Mentally debating whether or not to trim your latest bee block before you mail it--not because you are lazy, but because you want the recipient to have more to work with than less if possible.  Then, a few days later, reading on another blog you were supposed to leave it untrimmed!  I am a rule follower!

#3  Ordering a bunch of DS Quilts fabrics from Joann’s online and waiting more than 2 weeks for it to ship.  Finally receiving it and discovering almost 5 yards of extra free fabric was included!  Ok, now I don’t hate you anymore, Joann’s.  Sorry, I couldn’t get a photo of all the fabric still in the bags because, you know, I had to rip into them like immediately!

I’ve got two quilt finishes to share, but unfortunately the photographs I’d taken are not as good as I hoped, so I will be retaking them tomorrow morning and trying again.  For now I will leave you with two sneak peeks.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

A little bit of sewing…

I was sick, now 2 of my 3 kids are sick (the third probably will wake up with a fever tomorrow), so I have not had the time to do much sewing the past few nights during my down time after (or if) the kids go to sleep.  Anyone else get cranky if you don’t get your “me” time?  So in between kids waking up and crying every few hours the past few nights, I’ve managed to get a few things crossed off my list.

These super modern wonky crosses are in the mail to Beky.  I loved making these blocks.  They were easy to do and pack a visual punch.  Can’t wait to see the wedding quilt she makes!

This is not my first x & + block I’ve made for a bee.  It’s a popular block and relatively easy to make, too.  I could just imagine making several versions of this quilt in different colors and fabrics if I had the time…

This star may be the death of me.  And the reason I might not sign up for another bee.  It literally took about 7 hours, which is a huge chunk of my weekly sewing time.  And it’s not perfect, kind of irritating after I spent all that time on it.  I realize some people adore paper piecing, but I now know I am not one of those people.  This is the second time I’ve had to make this exact block for a bee, so it was late going out in the mail because I basically procrastinated until the very. last. second. and then couldn’t get it finished by the end of the month.  But it was mailed on Monday and should be to its new owner by now.

 

This block I made recently but never shared on my blog.  It’s an Anna Maria Horner tutorial which I’m sure you’ve seen if you look at quilts online.  I found it to be pretty easy to make, but my block finished up a little shy of the measurements, so Jen kindly let me add a strip to the top and middle to even it out.

Here’s another x & + block in pretty blues and yellows.  I think this block is hypnotic with the relaxing colors and that Tula Pink wavy line fabric.  Look away, look away!

And then this is another bee block that’s rectangular and made from diamonds.  Loved it!  Probably because it was a challenge I was up to and purple is my favorite color.

This block is called a Bento Box I think.  It was fun picking aquas and oranges from my stash to include.  That orange/aqua strip is one of my favorite fabrics ever.  It’s Anna Maria Horner (I think LouLouThi).  It comes in other colors, but I really like the color combo in this version.

And this is one more block—I Spy Mittens—for Laura. 

We have been having many insect visitors this year.  My kids raised two batches of American Beauty caterpillars into butterflies and one group of ladybug larvae into ladybugs.  Then we collected every single tent caterpillar within a 1/2 mile radius of our house and had to feed these beasts twice a day with fresh leaves from a specific tree for almost 2 and a half weeks before they all finally made cocoons.  Now they are hatching into brown moths my kids love to hold, carry around, accidentally release into the kitchen where they scatter to the ceiling and I can’t get them down without a ladder.  But most notable are the cicadas.  This is the 17 year brood and it’s pretty darn crazy how many fly by every day.  They are not the most graceful flyers, and I laugh every time I see their romantic pursuits, unless it ends of course with one or both of them getting annihilated by the front end of my minivan going 60 mph on the highway.  Yes, they are everywhere, flying in front of traffic non-stop.  Climbing up and dying on my front porch by droves.  Luckily it’s almost over because the noise is unbearable some mornings.  Can’t even have my tea out on the front porch.

Here you can kind of tell they have bright red eyes.  Their legs are strong for clinging to your hands and clothes, but they don’t bite so my kids aren’t afraid in the least.  I was going to include a couple photos of all the holes they dug in my yard, but suffice it to say there about a million tiny holes the size of a pencil eraser in every conceivable spot in my yard.  Not a big deal though—their tunnels help aerate the soil so I don’t mind.

And here’s of those little brown moths that came from the tent caterpillars.  About 40 of those have hatched so far, and we might still have twice that many left to go.  I’m not kidding when I said my kids picked up every single one of the caterpillars.  For some reason, like clockwork the past three years there has always been a super HOT day after the caterpillars first emerge and if they spend too long on the blacktop road in our neighborhood, well they just dry out and get crunchy.  So my kids take it upon themselves to save them all.  So we did.   I will be happy when I can finally put the mesh butterfly habitats back away in the garage!

My caterpillar loving child, Bea!  This caterpillar is named Zig for the one bold zig zag on his back.  I thought we should send the photo off to Denyse Schmidt so she could use that idea for her next line of fabric.

Got a few other personal things going on right now.  The big dance recital is in two weeks and there are extra practices, plus I am a room mom for one of Bea’s classes (she does ballet, tap, & hip hop).  Esther is in tap & jazz, and little Ronnie just does the  minis.

And a few days ago we acquired a new pet.  Esther finally got her cockatiel.  Her name is Rosie.  Esther is ecstatic and so far has done an outstanding job taking care of her new charge.  She loves to read all about cockatiels and read to Rosie, too.  She even colors some pictures of cockatiels to decorate the wall next to the cage to welcome Rosie.  So we are now full up when it comes to pets.  “No vacancy.”

So between a new pet, everyone being sick, and the big dance recital coming up, I don’t think I”ll be getting a lot of sewing done.  I’m just going to concentrate on a new quilt I started. 

I’m going to call this quilt “taxi!” (imagine Carrie Bradshaw hailing a cab) I picked this yellow/black combo for my block for the Make It Modern bee, so hopefully with those 12 blocks and others I have been working on, I will have enough for decent sized quilt.

Enjoy your weekend!!!!!!!  Thanks for visiting!!!!!!!!

February Bee Block Recap

February was a great month for bee blocks!  I have been wanting a design wall for a long time now, and I finally dusted off my hammer, found some tacks, and made it myself.  Seeing my bee blocks up there brought a smile to my face!

I ended up making the chevron block twice due to reader error on my part (the request was for solids, duh!).  So I took lots of photos the second time to write a tutorial for the block which hopefully I will post soon.

And I got some improv practice with the blocks for Make It Modern and Stash Bee. 

Notting Hill fabric was appropriate in the Pippi Longstocking block since its recipient lives in a town called Nottinghamshire in England!

I can’t wait to see what March brings!

Scrappy X Block Tutorial {perfect for a bee}

Hi there!  In December, I needed to make a scrappy rainbow block for a bee and we could come up with anything on our own.  I had an idea for a scrappy x block and saw something I liked in the book Block Party by Alissa Haight Carlton. 

The version I came up with is easy peasy and requires no special piecing skills.  The points line up virtually by themselves and this would be a perfect block for a bee.  Plus the only fabric you need besides the background fabric is your scraps!  It doesn’t get much better than that!  Here’s how to make your own.  The final unfinished size is 16 1/2” x 16 1/2”.

***I starch my fabrics before I cut them.  Before cutting, I lightly spray the fabric with starch and then dry press them (no steam).  I have learned over time that if I starch the fabric after cutting or sewing a seam, the fabric might spread out and become slightly bigger than the size I cut, or I get wrinkles. 

Materials:

• rainbow colored scraps (no white background fabrics, browns, grays, or pastels)
• four 8 1/2” Kona white squares (you could cut these from a 1/4 yard of fabric)

Steps:

From your white solid fabric, cut four 8 1/2” squares.  Then cut these on the diagonal so you end up with eight triangles.

Cut your scraps into rectangles that are at 2 1/4” wide.  Most of my rectangles were between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2” long.  Vary the lengths so your x looks scrappy.

Sort your scraps into 4 columns about 14” tall.  Sew your rectangles together to make a strip that measures 2 1/4” by about 12 to 13”.  Press the seams open.

These strips need to measure at least 12” long.  Now, trim each strip to measure 2 inches wide.  My thinking here is that you could start with 2” wide rectangles, but sometimes the strips can get a little off when you join the rectangles, so you have 1/4” to play with to make your strips straight and exactly the same width.  Trimming them down perfect will help your points line up, too.

I like to lay out my strips to see what the x is going to look like and make sure the fabrics in the center aren’t too similar.  You can just flip a strip if two of the same color meet up in the middle.

My layout changed when I sewed mine together.  I made this layout at night and then switched it around the next morning when I sat down to sew it.

Pin a strip to the white triangle.  Try not to pull on the fabric as you sew it because the edge of the triangle is stretchy and can become distorted if you pull on it.  Since I starch my fabric I don’t seem to have as much problem with the fabric stretching.

Now, this part is important for getting the points to line up.  Press two quadrants with the seam allowance toward the strip.  Press two quadrants with the seam allowance toward the white.  I did mine in groups of two so I remembered to press the correct way.

Here is a photograph of what the back of the block looks like.

Trim each block 8 1/2” square.  My ruler has a straight line on the diagonal that I just line up down the center of the strip.

The seams will nest up really nicely when you sew two blocks together.  Just press your center seams in opposite directions and those will nest together too.  Press your final seam either up or down and your block should have perfect points and be flat.

Your block should end up 16 1/2” x 16 1/2”.  If you’d like to use this tutorial for a bee, feel free to link to it, but please do not copy this tutorial to your blog.  I’d love to see this block in a controlled color scheme, too.

I’m using this tutorial for Beejeebers this month and can’t wait to put together the blocks to make my very own rainbow scrappy x quilt!

Swaps and Blocks

I just finished up my first bee block of 2013.  Only 5 more to go!  I may go a little overboard with signing up for these things and also volunteering to make angel blocks.  This block is called “birch trees.”

It was fun to pick the scraps to create the tree trunks and I loved working with Connecting Threads solid in persimmon—it’s such a pretty color.

I love to swap charms too!  So before Christmas I signed up for the Low Volume Charm Swap and just got my fabric ready to mail out today.  It was a great activity for my 4 year old to help with.

All the prints are Dear Stella.  The butterflies are my favorite.

Working on a few projects right now before I fly off to the Happiest Place in the World to enjoy some time with my family.

January’s Just Three

I’m so glad TraceyJay Quilts is hosting her monthly Just Three linky party in 2013!  Last year I tried to play along, but I wasn’t always able to do a post in a timely manner.  I’m going to give it another try this year and see if I can keep up!  Here are this month’s goals.

1.  The local quilt shop has a “PhD” (projects half done) program.  You can win a gift certificate by sending in a photo of your quilt or stopping by for a show and tell.  I sent in 10 projects and the first one picked is #6.  I’m sad to say that although I’ve cut out all the fabric, I’ve never sewn one block together.  This quilt is called “Pave the Way” and it’s from a magazine.

The fabric I chose for this quilt is Kona sand and some fabric by Carolyn Gavin. 

2.  My second goal is to finish a quilt I’m calling “Easy As Pie” since it’s made with a layer cake of Aneela Hoey’s Little Apples line.

It’s pieced and I just picked up the thread to quilt it this weekend.  Only problem is I had a shot this morning in my arm and I can barely move it now.  I get shots pretty often and never had this happen.  Here’s hoping some Motrin relieves the pain!

3.  My last official goal for this month is to make a Valentine’s pillow or something sweet with these beautiful Pam Kitty fabrics.

They are from the Pam Kitty Love fabric line (except the red pindots and linen floral print) and all of them come from the Etsy store Donna’s Lavender Nest.  Donna is the sweetest lady and got my order mailed out on the same day.  She has some beautiful Lecien prints in her shop, too.

Now for two “unofficial” goals for this month.

4.  I also have a super-secret project in the works making something with an Aurifil thread pack that will be revealed in the middle of this month on Lily’s Quilts.  Yay!

5.  I may be spending an entire weekend making bee blocks this month.  I am signed up for Beejeebers and Stash Bee again this year, doing an angel block this month, and helping lead Make It Modern.  I am excited about all the blocks picked by the Queen Bees this month (read:  no paper piecing or crazy complicated blocks) so that is half the battle!

Finally I wanted to share one of my Christmas presents to myself.

You may recognize the style of these little girls as Tasha Horsley’s designs (she just recently had her first fabric line out—The Simple Life).  When I saw this print in her shop I knew I had to have it!  She personalized the girls’ nameplates with my own daughters’ names and even matched up their hair colors!  I got it framed and it’s hanging in our guest bedroom (which is painted pink and makes the frame look pink—but it’s white).

Another log cabin quilt!

It seems that lots of people are having baby boys this December or January, so I’ve been working on some quilts for gifts and just finished this one up last night.

Now you may have noticed that this quilt looks a lot like my past few baby quilts.  I really have a thing for log cabin and am a serious creature of habit.  I didn’t use Kharma Baby for the fussy cuts this time—this fabric is Alexander Henry with an assortment of jungle type animals.

The log cabin fabrics are all from my stash (which surprised me that I had enough blue and green) but I relied heavily on DS Prints and used the coolest dark blue with egg shaped dots for the binding.  It frames the quilt nicely.

Esther enjoyed being the quilt holder!  The finished size is 41.5” square which was a tad large for her to hold up.  The sashing is Kona ash.

I used up the rest of the dog and frog fabric in my stash to piece the back.  The colors go perfectly with the front and this quilt is going to a little boy who has two older sisters, so he needs as much blue and green as possible to balance out all the pink!

I free motion quilted squiggles with contrasting green thread from Connecting Threads.  I made a set of  flannel bibs to give with the quilt. 

My stash bee block for November was sewn and mailed in the nick of time.  The points lined up perfectly.  Last time I made this block there was a little hiccup at one of the intersections.  Making all the different bee blocks this year has helped my piecing skills immensely.   I’ve tried some things I never would have tried without being in the bees and every new experience has helped me figure out a new skill.

A package from Connecting Threads coming in the mail today or tomorrow.  I’ve been stalking the tracking info.  I ordered a tool called the Angler 2 for sewing hsts and can’t wait to try it out!  Hope you have a great Thursday!