April Bee Blocks - Part 1

So, I have completed a few more bee blocks. And I wanted to share them before the end of April.

Here are the rest of the 3x6 Bee 2013 Q1 Hive D Blocks, which I finished a while back and sent off. The pattern is the Cartwheel Block by Lee Heinrich of http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com. I have to say I'm a huge fan of Nanette's yellow, orange, pink, and red block. But I'm equally enamored of the other ones as well.

Top row: Jennifer, Sara, Caryn

Middle row: Nanette, Linnea, Ursi

Bottom row: mine

 

I signed up for a month of the Sew Pieceful bee. Most of the color combos were a lot more muted and one person requested coral, which I didn't have in my stash at all. Luckily I bought some corals for the Plus quilt I'm working on. The pattern can be found at the Quilter's Cache here.

Top Row: Sara, Sarah, Allison
Bottom Row: Gabrielle, Mine, Renae

 

And finally, here is my block for Color Bee Shocked. Caryn sent these great spring prints and neutrals and asked us to make a Giant Churn Dash block. The tutorials can be found here and here.

I have to open the seams back up because I didn't read through all the pressing instructions before pressing my seams open. She wants them pressed a certain way, which I'm happy to do. I made way too many assumptions when making this block and my primary assumption was that the instructions Caryn sent with the fabric would be virtually identical to what she posted on the Flickr discussion board. Not in fact the case. Oh well.

 



I still have to make 11 Farmers Market bitties for The Bitty Block Committee and my two blocks for the HOPE do.good Stitches Bee. I've printed out the instructions for the latter and have chosen a paper piecing pattern for the former, but still need to shrink it down and re-draw it a bit to make it more manageable for the time frame I have.



WIPs

I started making myself a to do list in Word. It started to feel like I should just copy and paste the same list over and over because I have so many quilts on my list that I am just starting.

So, here is my current list and a few pictures where I feel I can share them.

Two wedding quilts. One of them I can't share, because it's a complete surprise.

The other is a yellow, gray, and coral Plus Quilt for my brother and future SIL. It's sort of a surprise, but not much of one, since I very heavily hinted like that may be happening when I asked my FSIL what colors she likes.

I started cutting the gray fabrics, before I really thought about the process. I have since backtracked to cutting one long stretch for the cross-bar and two squares for the top and bottom of the Plus. I am using two 5.5" squares and one 5.5" x 15.5" strips. I have cut all of the fabrics shown above already, and am waiting on quite a few more to come in. This will be my first king sized quilt, and I'm a little freaked out about it. Maybe I'll change my mind and make it smaller.

There is another quilt I'm making out of batiks, but everything about that quilt is a surprise. No special occasion either, just because the recipient is awesome. I am still trying to figure out which pattern to use, since it has one fabric that I want to showcase. I think I've finally settled on two possibilities.

Then there is my Japanese X and + Quilt that I am making for myself. Finally!

I have cut most of the lighter text prints into 5.5" squares. I need 56 fabrics worth, and I think I have cut 52. I have two more light text print waiting to be cut, and then I need to decide if I want to purchase a couple more or just use some of the other stuff I have. As you can see, I have a variety of things in with the text, including musical notes, keys, and mustaches. I have one butterfly fabric with a cream background that I'm considering including as well. It's basically just the fabrics that make me happy. These will become the X portions of the X and + Blocks.

I am using Kona Rich Red as the points on the X blocks. Here they are pinned onto my mustache print. 

Here the points are sewn on and ironed flat. I will be using four different text prints for each block, but the blocks will line up in such a way that the four text prints will touch. Hard to explain right now, but I'll show you once I have a few blocks done.

As I am cutting fabrics, I am also cutting 2.5" strips for a Scrappy Trip Along quilt. Right now I don't have nearly enough variety to start making any blocks (light text prints, some greys, yellows, and corals mainly), but I'll keep cutting away.

I also have my charity quilt to finish, I need to put together, make the backing, and quilt the Hurricane Sandy quilt, and then get in touch with the organizer and let her know that I just received the last of my blocks and should I still send it to the Sandy charity or pick another charity instead.

As for my UFO's, I have the Star Wars baby quilt, the Split Rail Fence quilt, and the placemats sitting around looking at me longingly.

I also need to update my WIP and Completed Pages. I'm thinking about giving them a make-over at some point, but that will have to wait.

A Lovely Year of Finishes - April Goal

I have decided to join up in the Lovely Year of Finishes challenge for April and see how it goes. I do well with deadlines, and thus far I haven't had much luck doing that.

My goal for April is as follows:

Get my Fracture Quilt basted, quilted, and bound.

This is my completed top. I also have a simple pieced back, but no pictures. The binding is cut, the batting is pre-shrunk, I even have an idea of how I want to quilt it, but no progress has been made in almost a month. This ends now. My goal is to finish this thing and send it off to its intended recipient, who was born at the end of January.

If that gets done, I'd like to try and finish cutting my light text prints for my Japanese X and + Blocks, but that's my personal goal, not for the April challenge.

This is what I have so far. The 2.5" strips to the side are for a Scrappy Trip Along quilt that I want to get started on at some point as well. I am cutting one strip for that, as well as 4 5.5" squares for the X and + blocks. I have not even begun to make a dent in my text prints. :)

March Bee Blocks

I've completed my regular slate of bee blocks for March.

Here are my blocks for Color Bee Shocked:

 

Both blocks were for Mallory, our March Queen Bee. She asked for 8.5" unfinished blocks and sent two white on white fabrics and the blue background fabric. I ended up adding in a few of my own white on white fabrics, and I think they turned out great. The pattern for the block on the left can be found here, and the one for block on the right came from Esther at ipatch.

My blocks for the Bitty Bee Committee (I signed up for both themes this month, and let's just say I won't be doing that again any time soon):

Butterfly blocks. We only had six people sign up for the group, so we ended up making two types and sending two to each person so we still ended up with twelve total. Except for the white fabric, all the fabrics for the blocks on the right came from Anna's scrap bin. Anna blogs at Hoot'n Haller. It was really nice to end up with blocks that didn't use the same fabrics over and over.

Mushroom blocks. I made three of the one on the left and 9 of the spotted ones. I was going to make them all the same, but I ran out of the spotted fabric.

And finally, my blocks for HOPE at do.good Stitches:

The tutorial for the block can be found here. The quilter for this month asked for aqua, blue, green, orange, and yellow on a white background.

I already blogged about my blogs for one Hive of the 3x6 Bee. The other bee is getting these blocks:

This one is for Ursi, who requested aqua/azure, deep dark grayish blue, turquoise/jade, ash, and ivory. And a background of the same colors. The only color I couldn't find in my stash was the grayish blue. The pattern is the Cartwheel Block by Freshly Pieced.

Liebster Award

I've been awarded the Liebster Blogger Award from a fellow blogger, Erin at Sew at Home Mummy! This is a fun award, given by bloggers to bloggers as a way to acknowledge and network other 'little' blogs... and by 'little', I mean those blogs with less than 200 followers. A huge thanks to Erin for honoring me with this award.

This is a way for all of us to discover new and up and coming blogs and bloggers, and to make new 'virtual' friends!

So this is how it works.

If I choose to receive the award, which I have!, I have to answer some "get-to-know-you" questions that Erin has asked of me. Then, I nominate 11 of my favorite 'little' blogs, and ask them to answer 11 of my questions - and they link back to me.

To participate:
1. Thank and link back up to the one that nominated you (me).
2. Answer 11 questions asked to you by me.
3. Tell us 11 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 11 of you favorite blogs that have less than 200 followers.
5. Ask them 11 questions.

Here's what Erin wanted to know about me:
1. What's your favorite movie?
My favorite movie right now is V for Vendetta, before that it was Ever After.
2. Tell me something about the town you grew up in.
I'm not sure I have a set home town, we moved around too much. But I guess East Grand Rapids, MI is where I spent most of my childhood. It was a middle class suburb of Grand Rapids, that the locals called "the Bubble." For all that it was pretty insular, I loved going to school there.
3. Where do you think you got your "quilty" or "crafty" gene?
Crafty genes I come by from my mother and my grandmothers. My mother knits, crochets, and used to sew her own clothes and doll/Barbie clothes. My grandmother's both knit. One of them also crochets and sews. I always loved looking at her ancient Singer treadle.
4. If you had to pick a movie star who's most similar to you (in any way), who would it be?
Natalie Portman. She's intelligent, classy, moved around a lot as a child, is a first generation immigrant, and has brown eyes and hair. The similarity ends there.

5. What is your most favorite quilt block you've ever made?
The applique bug blocks I made for a baby quilt.
6. Do you have a name for your sewing machine?
My new Brother machine is called Beauty.
7. How many sewing machines do you own (and what brand(s) are they)?
Two, my old machine is a Euro-Pro. And I recently bought a new Brother.

8. What kind of space do you create in?
My craft room, aka our guest bedroom.
9. What does your significant other think about your crafty ways?
I think he's bemused by it. However, he is generally supportive and appreciative of the finished product.
10. Have you ever participated in an online/virtual Bee? Which one(s)?
Several, [3 x 6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee, Color Bee Shocked, The Bitty Block Committee, and HOPE at do.good Stitches
11. If you had to pick one word to describe you, what would it be?
nerdy

11 things about me:
1. I was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, and since then have lived in 5 countries (including the US), 4 states (if DC counts), 10 cities, and at least 13 different houses/apartments (not counting multiple different dorm rooms and stays at my grandparent's while waiting for Visas)
2. I speak German fluently and enough Spanish to get by
3. My favorite class in college was Water Resources, and I currently work in the environmental field dealing with water quantity issues
4. My first introduction to quilting happened in 6th or 7th grade when my mother enrolled my sister, my brother, my brother's best friend, and myself in a sewing/quilting summer class
5. I costumed two full theater shows, one in high school and one in college
6. I read voraciously, and tend to go through about a book a week
7. We have two cats and a dog, all named after characters from the Arthurian legends (Merlin, Gwenevere, and Sir Galahad)
8. I am a night owl and generally can't bring myself to go to bed before midnight. I don't believe in mornings and think that anything before 10am is a joke on humanity.
9. I am in love with spreadsheets, science and math. I come by this love honestly: my father has a PhD in physics, my mother and brother are accountants, and my sister is a vet. I have a degree in environmental policy, but often wish I had gone the more scientific route and gotten a degree in environmental science.
10. I'm more scared about being pregnant than being a mom.
11. I hate talking on the phone, I would rather prefer to communicate with people in person, via email, or texting/IMing.

These are the 11 bloggers I've nomiated to receive this award - please, head over and visit their blogs! They are awesome people with great things to say:
1. ZeedleBeez - She makes some amazing rag and t-shirt quilts
2. With Arms Open Wide - Caryn is part of my Color Bee Shocked Bee and she does great work
3. Becky, Queen of Socks - An irl friend from high school, whose art work is jaw dropping
4. Amy & Bear - Another irl friend, military wife, and scarf knitter extraordinaire
5. A Handle On It - Fellow quilter, found her blog through the Easy Street Mystery Link-up
6. Bryan House Quilts - She makes amazing quilts, including some using only solids
7. Citric Sugar - Her thread paintings are beautiful
8. Displacement Activity - Creator of the Fracture Quilt pattern, she also has some great tutorials
9. Hobble Creek Quilts - Love her most recent finish, a "Starry-Eyed Christmas Quilt"
10. In the Desert - Another Easy Street Mystery Blogger
11. Mini-Mobile Cottage - One of the few small house blogs I follow

11 Questions for you to answer:
1. What is your "crafty" outlet of choice?
2. Who taught you the basics?
3. How many siblings do you have?
4. What is your favorite food?
5. Do you have a designated crafting area (Picture)?
6. What's your favorite color combination and is that reflected in your home?
7. Who is your favorite artist?
8. Do you have any pets?
9. What would you do with a surprise day off?
10. If you could choose anywhere in the world to visit, where would you go?
11. Did you graduate from college? If so, in what field and are you currently using your degree?

3x6 Mini Bee 2013 Q1 Hive B Blocks

Although I haven't been blogging recently, I've been pretty busy sewing. So to catch you up on a few projects, here are the blocks I made for Quarter 1 of the 3x6 Bee for Hive B - Stars. I am also in Hive D - Paper Piecing, but haven't finished (or started) those blocks yet.

Block for Jane (Colors: Red, Mustard, Dark Green; Background: Gray)

 

Block for Jane (Colors: aqua, red, pink; Background: white)

 

Block for Jo (Colors: aqua, red, light green; Background: white)

 

Block for Sara (Colors: Muted Brights; Background: White)

 



Block for Suzy (Colors: pink and white solids or polka dots; Background: same)

 

Block for Tanyia (Colors: Orange, Gray, Yellow; Background: White)

 

The two color combos that gave me the most headaches were Sara's and Suzy's. Sara's, because muted brights seems like an oxymoron to a person who loves saturated colors. Suzy's because I had all of one pink polka dot fabric and three pink solids when I saw her color request. However, after buying some additional polka dot fabric, I think that's my favorite block. Plus she's using it to make a quilt for the cancer department at her local hospital and that cause is near and dear to my heart.

Bee Blocks

I have been working on my bee blocks lately. In between I am also working on an HST baby quilt, which is my first commission piece, but I'll do a separate post for that (I may wait until it's done though).

 

My first finish was the January blocks for Color Bee Shocked. It is based on a tutorial for modified bento box blocks found here. I had asked our Queen Bee to send me fabric for two blocks. Unfortunately, she had a bit of a mishap when cutting and sending fabric, so I didn't actually have enough for both. I made it work and only had to use my own fabric for the very outer layer and the non-yellow solids in the second layer. I thought they turned out pretty good and by the second one my seam allowances had gotten so good that I think I actually ended up with a 16" square block. The left block has Kona Pomegranate and Tiny Gingham in Fuchsia by Michael Miller in the outer ring and the left has Kona Papaya and Pomegranate and in the outer layer: Square Petal in Tangerine from Notting Hill by Joel Dewberry.

 



 

Next up are the January Quatrefoil Blocks for the HOPE do.good Stitches bee. The tutorial is here. For the left block I used Kona White, Poppy, Citrus, Papaya, and Earth. For the right I used Kona White, Thistle, Pacific, Aqua, and Sprout.



Archiving My Growing Stash

Since my the fabrics I'd been getting from Joann's were really not worth documenting, at least most of them, some of them are actually good fabrics (there's some Me and My Sister, for example), I haven't been keeping track of what I've bought, quantities, or anything of the sort. Now that I am starting to amass some good quilting cottons, I want to make sure I remember what they are called, what line they are from, and who the designer is.

In the interest of doing so, I pulled out my stack of unwashed fabrics and took a picture of every single one. I have them saved to my Dropbox folder so I can pull them up from anywhere with internet, including my Nook in my craft room. The title of each picture is the name, collection, designer (and producer if applicable), they are then divided into folders labeled with the general color, since that is the way they are sorted on the shelf as well. I am thinking of also adding a spreadsheet with yardage in, yardage used, etc. Because I'm just crazy like that. Now I just have to find my receipt from Tomorrow's Treasures to figure out what some of the FQ are that I bought a while back.

I am also adding another project to my list using the fat eights from Madrona Road you see above. It can be anything, it just has to be ready to share with the rest of the DC Modern Quilt Guild by our sewing day on February 16 or by the end of January if I want it to be considered for the Michael Miller booth. I am thinking a patchwork drawstring pouch, with some Kona Snow as the liner and ties. But I have to mull that around a bit more.

Bees and Charity Quilts Galore

I was updating my Works in Progress page and realized that I have a lot of stuff going on next year.

I'm now signed up for quite a few Bees:

Add-A-Border Block Swap - which moves at whatever pace you feel comfortable. I have made several starter blocks and am actively working on one Round 2 block (it's slow, my first paper piecing pattern, so I don't want to screw it up) and have several Round 2 blocks sitting and waiting for something to happen.

Color Bee Shocked - my month as Queen Bee was in November, but it's a one year commitment with at least one block a month. I have completed the December flying geese blocks which were a lot of fun and the fabric for the January Bento Boxes is sitting on my desk

3x6 Mini Bee - I finished the first round's worth of blocks for Quarter 4 and you can hop in and out of this Bee as your schedule requires. I am hoping to sign up for 2013 Quarter 1 and have even been thinking about leading one of the groups. Each quarter is a 6 Block/2.5 month commitment, but once you're done making your blocks and have sent them off, it's just a matter of waiting for everyone else's to arrive.

HOPE at do.good Stitches - I was just accepted into the HOPE circle for do.good Stitches. This is a 1-year/2 blocks a month commitment starting in January. It's a great cause and will let me play around with the fabrics I'm slowly accumulating.

Bitty Block Committee - I logged onto Flickr today to find a message waiting for me. I had requested to join the Bitty Block Committee and after being judged by my peers I was deemed acceptable. How cool is that! This one is great because you can jump in and out at any point for a 1-month commitment. They post two themes a month and you can sign up for 12 of one type, 24 of one type, or 12 of each (24 total). The blocks end at 3.5" square, hence the "bitty."

That's it for Bees, although I had considered joining Nubees, where you sign up to make 5 blocks every month. Looking at my current list, maybe that plan will have to fall by the wayside for a bit.

I also signed up as a quilter for the Hurricane Sandy Block Drive hosted by Michele at the Quilting Gallery. I have received my first stack of blocks and plan to do QAYG to put the quilt together.

In addition, I have started a baby quilt for a Charity Drive hosted by Pigtales and Quilts. I have all of the scrappy log cabin blocks done and have even sewed on a solid purple border. But I want to do a second scrappy border and then of course it needs to be quilted and bound.

I am also working on various other projects, both quilting and others, including two baby quilts with two more planned. I'm clearly crazy! But I love it.

Fabric, Fabric Everywhere

'Tis the season... to be shopping.

I got started quilting just under a year ago and at first I would only buy what I needed for the particular project, but I am slowly building up my stash.

My first serious stash building came about because I needed unwashed fabric for my 3x6 Bee. I usually pre-wash everything the second it comes through the front door, so that was a problem. It also wasn't high quality quilting fabric, so that was another problem.

In the process, I got a chance to go back to Tomorrow's Treasures, my new favorite LQS.

Here is what I walked away with, partially for the blocks I was making and partially because I just loved the fabrics and couldn't not buy them.

The fabric I didn't use for the bee blocks is still sitting unwashed in my closet for my next bee. I also decided to stop washing my fabrics until after I had decided on what I wanted to use for a particular project so that I could use my stash for future bees.

Then came my first give-away win. Which I had previously blogged about here.

I also found a great sale at Pink Castle Fabrics, where I got the following:

I am totally in love with text prints and I love 1001 Nights, so I was in heaven all around. I have also decided that I need to start a collection of house/building fabrics as well as a text fabric collection and use both for quilts for myself. My goal for next year is to be selfish and make at least one quilt for myself (and not the cheating way of participating in bees).

Next came Christmas shopping and in the process of getting presents for a friend, I stumbled across these on sale:

I just couldn't resist. More text fabric, and I love the Mama Said Sew line. I've never tried using a charm pack before, so I decided to go for it. We'll see what happens with it. The text fabrics in the line may just get hoarded for my text quilt.

I also just ordered several half yards of fabric from LiMa Sews on Etsy. Three of the new Saltwater by Tula Pink line and three other random ones. I will post pictures once they arrive.

Thanks to a friend, I stumbled onto a nice deal for a full FQ stack of Nightshade by Tula Pink at the Fat Quarter Shop which has been on my wishlist from the second I first saw it on someone's blog. I had to get it!

Equally exciting is that the December Stash Stack Club bundle from Pink Castle Fabrics just shipped. December is brown, and I don't think I have a single bit of decent brown fabric in my stash yet. I took a look at the fabrics that are being shipped and I'm really happy that I decided to sign up. I like some more than others, but it's a great way to fill in some colors that I'm sorely lacking. They have several options for joining, and I went with the 12 FQ a month option. These are the fabrics that are winging their way to me right now:

1. Pearl Bracelet in Brown - Guising by Lizzy House (Andover)
2. Tiny Diamonds in Brown - Town and Country (Dear Stella)
3. Squiggles in Brown - Indochine (Dear Stella)
4. Dot in Brown - Fly A Kite by October Afternoon (Riley Blake)
5. Bike Path in Brown - Lucky Penny by Alison Glass (Andover)
6. Jewels in Shadow - Guising by Lizzy House (Andover)
7. Damask in Brown - Fly A Kite by October Afternoon (Riley Blake)
8. Loft in Brown - In My Room by Jenean Morrison (Free Spirit)
9. Line Work Stripe in Brown - Bukhara (Dear Stella)
10. Nap Sack in Timber - Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry (Free Spirit)
11. Nook in Tan - In My Room by Jenean Morrison (Free Spirit)
12. Spot on Tiny Dot in Khaki (Robert Kaufman)