July Bee Blocks & Polaroids Update

First up is this log cabin in bright colors.  The center is a Hello Pilgrim butterfly.  So much fun to make and choose all the fabrics!

Next up is a stained glass block using Kona medium gray and also bright colors.  This was fun to make, too.

A few weekends ago I made about 120 polaroid blocks for a swap.  Somehow, I misplaced about 60 of them and looked high and low and everywhere in between and couldn’t find them.  I finally got over it and made 60 new ones.

Well, yesterday I smelled burning in our bedroom.  I quickly ran all over the house looking to see what it could be.  Finding nothing, I took the kids out of the house and called 911.  The fire truck and hoses and everything arrived a few minutes later.  Turns out a lamp had malfunctioned and the bulb was brown and smoking.   I was just thrilled that my house wasn’t going to burn down!

When the firemen moved our nightstand to unplug the cord from the outlet, someone must have pulled on a knob that opens an extension table that I rarely use…and in there were all the missing Polaroids!!!  God works in funny ways sometimes! 

Today is the last day to mail them to meet the deadline. I never would have found them otherwise!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced.

Polaroid Quilt Block

I made stacks and stacks of polaroid blocks to swap via the Flickr Picture Perfect Polaroid Swap.  Then I lost half the blocks (no joke).  But I got my mojo back and cut out a new stack.  Then I sewed a few together to see how they look.  I followed the tutorial found at capitolaQuilter.

I found that you can use 2” strips to make the background, and I have one tip for making your blocks tip (ha ha).

Whatever direction you angle your ruler, your finished block will tip the opposite direction.  Leave 1/2 inch at each corner so you will have at least 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Don’t angle your ruler too much (see my block above—look closely at the tomato—it’s too tippy and a little corner was sewn off), or you’ll sew through the corner of your picture.

Now trim to 4 1/2 inches the other way.  Again, make sure you leave 1/2 inch at each corner.  Then you’ll end up with a perfectly wonky block like this.  And yes, I use a broken ruler.  Also, it is not the only ruler my kids have broken in half.  

I try to be organized, and I found that it was easiest to sort my pictures into two stacks of blocks—ones I wanted tipped one way and ones I wanted tipped the other way.  Then I just remembered to tip my ruler the opposite direction.  Sometimes I would get confused (especially since I had all 3 kids in my sewing room) but I’d just remember it would go the opposite from how I cut.

I finished up two blocks with 12 pictures each today and also my bee block for July’s Beejeebers.  Here’s a sneak peek, but I want it to be a surprise.

I also mailed out this vendor apron I made as a custom order for a local jewelry seller.  She saw my apron at the Maker’s Market last summer and asked me to make one. 

The front is separated into three pockets and the back is lined with denim. 

Picture Perfect Polaroid Swap

I saw this swap yesterday, and I knew I had to join up!  When I painted my sewing room and reorganized my stash a few months ago, I realized I basically had a collection of novelty fat quarters.  Hardly any solids, no blenders, and a few polka dots.  Since then, I’ve made some major fabric purchases to round out my stash.

When I saw this swap, I knew it would be a great way to use some of those fun novelty fabrics I have a preference for.

I just love those turtles.  I used them to make a zipper pencil case as part of a birthday gift for a friend’s daughter, along with this great book called The Girls’ Doodle Book.  I highly recommend this book for any girl ages 8-11 who likes to draw.  Now I only have scraps of the turtles left.  Perfect for this polaroid block.

I have relatively few “boy” fabrics in my stash, but the cowboys were just a perfect fit for the 2 1/2 inch center.

And you can’t go wrong with ladybugs and garden gnomes!

I wonder who will end up getting these guys???  Also, I’ve been thinking, how cute would a polaroid quilt be with Aneela Hoey fabrics?  I guess I’m going to have to pull out some of my Sherbet Pips and Little Apples scraps and make a few more…so far I have 50 done!!!

Bea and I finished her quilt for Ronnie and will be taking photos today!  Stay cool!!!