October & November Quilting Bee Blocks

I've been working on getting a bunch of new things finished up and should be able to get some pictures posted soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd catch up on sharing some quilting bee blocks that I made in late 2011.

October was my last month in the do. Good Stitches charity bee. We made string x-blocks using this tutorial with bright modern scraps for the center part of each block, and any shade of grey for the background. I had a great time raiding my scrap bin for these blocks and, when all was said and done, I wound up making seven!

I had a bit of a panic attack when Amisha requested hexagons for her blocks from members of the Bee Tweet group, inspired by Rashida's quilt from the Block Party book. I had only tried making hexagons once before, for Tacha in the bee inspired quilting bee back in 2009. Let's just say that hand piecing was not my thing, and I vowed never to attempt English paper piecing again.

Lucky for me, Amisha didn't care how we made our hexagons, as long as we just made them! So, while I was at the Triangle Modern Quilting Guild retreat at Wrightsville Beach NC last fall, I cooked up my own way of completing the task. I used cardboard templates to cut and fold under the edges of the blocks, pressed the hexagons liberally, adhered the hexagons to the background fabric using fusible interfacing, and topstitched around all of the edges. I actually kind of loved making them, once I devised my own strategy to get them done. I also LOVED Amisha's palette -- Habitat prints by Jay McCarroll against a background of Moda Cross-weave in Natural.

With my group in the do. Good Stitches officially done, my only November bee commitment was for Bee Tweet. Jen (aka bettycrockerass, my favorite Twitter handle ever!) sent us all a kind of super awesome holiday assortment that wasn't red and green and traditional, but very hip and retro cool. Here's what I came up with:

Modern and improv-y log cabin variations -- my favorite kind of block.

As you can see, my quilting bee commitments slowed down towards the end of 2011, but 2012 is a new year with some new groups that I'll be playing with! Along with the continuation of Bee Tweet, here are a few new groups I'll be sewing for:

• Free Bee -- led by the always fabulous Lynne from Lily's Quilts, this group is filled with an eclectic bunch of modern quilters with an emphasis on free piecing.
• The Bee Bee -- I'm very excited about the row robin bee, where we'll all be sewing with one of my most favorite fabric lines: Melody Miller's Ruby Star Spring. (Note: The Bee Bee got its name from that fabulous large cross-stitched bee print!)
• The Traveling Quilts -- I've teamed up with my PIC (partner-in-crime) Heather to start this new group, which is kind of a new concept in virtual quilting bees. I think it's going to be GREAT (and with the likes of Jacquie, Ashley, Alissa, Monica, Amber, Elizabeth, Faith, Penny, and Kerri taking part, how can it not be??) I'm sure I'll be posting more about the Traveling Quilts in an upcoming post.

So what does that mean? Lots of great more monthly sewing (and monthly sewing posts) in 2012!

August & September Quilting Bee Blocks

It's been a while since I blogged about the bee blocks I've been making over the past couple of months. October's will be posted soon -- I'm still working on hand sewing some hexagons, which isn't really my forte -- but in the meantime, let's catch up on August & September!

August was Amy's month in the Bee Tweet group, and she helped us all get into the holiday spirit a bit early by requesting Christmas-themed blocks. One of the ideas on Amy's wish list for a block was little Christmas houses, and I was more than happy to oblige:

The August block for the Comfort circle over in the do. Good Stitches charity bee was the Greek Cross block, made in blues, greens, and greys. Here are the two I made:

Back in the Bee Tweet group, Rachel sent out her stash of Bliss and requested log cabin / square-in-square blocks -- my favorite! I was able to make two blocks for Rachel, though the second block is shy just one log on the bottom to make it square:

And finally, Jennifer coordinated September's do. Good Stitches quilt and requested blocks made from Alissa's fantastic tutorial for July in the Modern Block of the Month, found on Sew Mama Sew! Because Jennifer was making two small quilts -- one for a boy and one for a girl -- she requested one block in pink, orange, and yellow, and the other in blue, green, and grey:

These blocks look really warped in the photo, but I promise they were straight and square!

Have you guys been having fun in your quilting bees lately?

do. Good Stitches Charity Quilt

One of my ongoing quilting bees is do. Good Stitches, which is a charity bee. Each month, a different member of the group asks the other members to make a specific block or style of block from their scraps or fabric stash. Then, the requester collects all the blocks, puts them together, and sends it off to a charitable organization.

Back in April, I asked the other members of my group to make a shoo-fly block from Malka Dubrawsky's great free block tutorial in shades of green and blue. My group members made a whole bunch of amazing blocks and sent them to me to assemble into a quilt.

I have to thank my very patient group members, because all of this happened right around the time of my move. I wasn't able to get the quilt assembled in as timely a manner as I had hoped, but it was my first order of business after getting my sewing space set up in the new house.

And since the quilt came together in a way that, to me, made it perfect for a young boy, I finished it in the way I like to make baby quilts: by using an ultra high-loft batting, sewing it together right sides together and flipping it out, and tying it instead of quilting it. The result is a super soft, almost duvet-like quilt that's great as a floor mat for baby as well as for snuggling as the child gets older.

So, 5 months after requesting the blocks from my group members -- again, thanks for your patience, y'all! -- I finally got it all packaged up and sent this week. I decided to send the quilt to a very worthy cause: my friend Victoria's Bumble Beans Basics Quilt Gather. If you have any quilts that you're willing to donate to needy families in the NYC area, please visit Victoria's site and learn more about the quilt gather.

August & September Quilting Bee Blocks

Hrm ... I notice that I haven't shown much sewing in my last few posts. I've been staying pretty busy on the crafty front, though! I hope to have some more finished products to share in the coming days, but for now I'll settle for some quilting bee blocks.

In August, I made these two Greek Cross blocks in shades of green, blue, and grey for the do. Good Stitches charity bee. We used a tutorial by Faith of Fresh Lemons Modern Quilts for these great blocks.

I'm a little ahead of the game for September and was able to whip up these two blocks, also for the do. Good Stitches bee. We used Alissa's free block tutorial for her Modern Block of the Month quilt-along, hosted by the great folks at Sew Mama Sew! The pink, orange, and red block will be used in a quilt for a little girl, and the blue, green, and grey for a little boy.

And finally, these blocks aren't for a quilting bee, but they are for a very special project. They were made for the sweet Amy Lobsiger and her daughter, Annabel. As you can read here, Amy's husband -- a prominent journalist who covered the Detroit music scene -- recently passed away. And because quilters are the most awesome group of people together, Amy's great friends Sarah and Katy began rallying people to contribute blocks to a quilt project to honor Dan Sicko.

Amy loves Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Dan loved and extensively covered the techno music scene in Detroit. And so Sarah designed these blocks -- and the quilts they will become -- to suggest the stereo bass line of a techno track.

A wonderful idea, and one to which I am proud to contribute.

July Quilting Bee Blocks

It's been pretty quiet on the sewing front around here. The move and subsequent unpacking & settling in combined with, well, the mere fact that it's summer has kept the whole family busy, and me -- generally exhausted from both all of the work associated with the move and the blasted HEAT -- away from my sewing room.

Thank goodness for at least a little bit of "obligation sewing" -- it gets me back to the machine when I might otherwise choose reruns of "The Millionaire Matchmaker" or some other such drivel on Bravo. (PS. Does anyone else fail to see any "real" in the lives of the "Real Housewives"?)

I took one evening last week and banged out two spider web blocks in a red & aqua color scheme. I know this is an EXTREMELY popular color combination these days, but I (surprisingly) had to dig pretty deep into my scrap bin to find enough pieces to make these two blocks. I guess it's not a palette that I naturally gravitate towards. Love 'em, though!

These blocks were made for the do.Good Stitches charity bee.

(P.S. these pictures were taken on my new back deck. Not a bad substitution for my old back deck, where all of my other pictures have always been taken, huh?)

June Quilting Bee Blocks

June was an interesting sewing month for me, as I tried to figure out everything I needed to finish before packing away all of my fabric and sewing materials into boxes -- which, as of the time of this writing -- are still not yet unpacked.

Luckily, I was able to squeeze in my quilting bee commitments for the month before moving.

First, Darci asked for wonky star blocks for her month in the Bee Tweet bee, made from some cuts of Kona Grass and an assortment of bright scraps -- including some precious cuts of Heather Ross' Far Far Away II, which Darci asked us to use as the star centers.

I was able to make 2 blocks for Darci, and used a square from Modern Workshop by oliver + s as the center of the block on the left:

Over in the do.Good Stitches charity bee, Jenn asked for triangular log cabin blocks inspired by this quilt (fantastic quilt, BTW -- you should really click over to check it out!)

Keeping with Jenn's requested orange + aqua color scheme, I first made these blocks ...

... which look great, but weren't yet cut to size when I took the picture. After trimming them down, I was afraid that the outer border was waaaaay too narrow and in danger of getting lost in the seam allowance, so I made two more:

And I felt much better about sending them along.

On to July, and I'm a bit worried about finishing my blocks for the month, what with all of the aforementioned unopened boxes and all.

May Quilting Bee Blocks

I don't usually venture into circular territory, but the do. Good Stitches quilting bee has been pushing me into somewhat uncomfortable territory the past few months. And I think that's a good thing.

I made these 5 striped circle blocks to help Angela realize her vision for her charity quilt. I followed her tutorial which (quite cleverly) results in these CD-sized blocks having the sticky side of some fusible interfacing exposed on the back. Angela's going to fuse all of these circles onto a solid background for a fabulous quilt inspired by Kristen's.

May was the kick-off month in the Bee Tweet bee, and Erin asked us for colorful scrappy blocks in kind of a 5-sided log cabin style (loosely based on Aneela's block tutorial). I had a lot of fun playing with some of my favorite scraps here without too much thought of matching or coordinating. This block finished out HUGE -- about 17.5" square -- and I'm so excited to see how Erin's quilt turns out.

I expect someone will ask, so I hunted down a link to the fox fabric that I used in the center of my block here. It's called "Flora Fox" from Farbenmix, and I got mine as a present from the ever-fabulous Katy.

April Quilting Bee Blocks

I hope you enjoyed the Bella Solids parade! Now, back to regularly scheduled programming. It's time for my monthly round-up of my quilting bee blocks...

First up is my block for the do. Good Stitches { Charity Bee }. April was actually my month in that bee, which means I determined the blocks I wanted the other bee members to make. I am also responsible for assembling and finishing the quilt top and making sure it gets donated for charity.

I decided to ask each member to make 4 shoo-fly blocks using Malka Dubrawsky's pattern (free pattern here), because I was so inspired by the gorgeous quilt she made that is featured in her book, Color Your Cloth. I asked everyone to stick to shades of green, blue, and purple. It's been great fun seeing everyone's fabric selection as the blocks roll in.

Here's my contribution to the quilt:

Can't wait to see this one come together.

In my other bee, Buzz Cuts, Sudi-Laura asked for large (15.5") square-in-square blocks. It's my absolute favorite block, so I had no trouble whipping up this one for her:

With this month, sadly, Buzz Cuts is coming to a close. The group has been a rarity -- two years going strong with little to no flaking or major issues. The Buzz Cuts gang included some of the most reliable and highly inspirational quilters that I've met on my quilting journey so far. Thanks to everyone in the group for all of my wonderful blocks and for letting me stitch with you. Special thanks goes out to our fearless leader, QuiltinKimmie. Love ya', Kim!

But you know what they say: when one door closes, another one opens. And as Buzz Cuts draws to an end, Bee Tweet will be getting started in May. I'm excited to join some old friends and get to know some new ones as this bee gets up off the ground.

March Blocks

Wow, March really flew by, didn't it? I can't believe it's April already. Fortunately, I managed to keep up with my quilt block commitments!

But first, an update on the Union Jack block I had so much trouble with last month. I can finally claim SUCCESS!:

Granted, it's not perfect. I am sure you can find the flaw without too much effort, but after two failed attempts, I don't really care. I'll take it!

Now on to some new blocks. This first one isn't for a quilting bee, but for a special project that's been organized over on Flickr. I can't share too much more about it yet, but I will soon ... promise! Anyhow, I was tasked with making an improvisational block in shades of yellow. It turned out to be a pretty cute block!

Here are my two blocks for the do. Good Stitches charity bee. We were asked to make "stacked book" blocks (not the official name, but it's what I call them!) in shades of blue, gold & yellow:

And finally, here are two blocks I made for my neighbor Rachel (olivethebeach) over in the Buzz Cuts group. I LOVE how these turned out! I followed a tutorial that Rachel put together on her blog -- you should check it out if you want to make something similar:

So what did you work on last month?

January / February Quilting Bee Blocks

Hi everyone! Wow, I haven't been around much lately, huh? I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I last posted. Thanks to everyone who reached out to make sure I was doing OK. Fortunately, my absence had nothing to do with my elbow -- it's almost 100% back to normal now and I officially graduated physical therapy! And with that has come a lot of sewing ... some stuff I can share, and some I can't! (eeeeee! don't you love secret surprises?)

So why haven't I blogged? A couple of reasons, but largely because Mrs. Quilt Dad dropped and broke our camera! Can you imagine what it's like being a blogger without a camera?? It's been rough, I tell ya'!

I've tried my best by taking some pictures on my iPhone but, as you'll see later in this post, it hasn't been the ideal solution. The good news is that I just got a suh-weet deal on a new DSLR camera this week ... so as soon as I figure out how to use it, I'll be back to my old tricks.

In the meantime, I thought it was a good time to catch up on my quilting bee blocks from the past few months.

These first blocks were made for my homegirl Heather in the { Bee } Imaginative group. January was Heather's month and she sent out some bits of solid fabrics and the fabulous Quilter's Tweed by Robert Kaufman. She requested mini blocks made improv-style. Here's what I came up with:

I can't wait to see how she pulls it all together.

January was Andrea's month in the Buzz Cuts bee. She sent us the grey print from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley line that you see below as the background print, and asked us to use our own scraps to complete the following block:

The block was a bit work intensive, but is also a great scrap buster and fun to put together.

Now, I had vowed to go on a quilting bee diet this year -- no new quilting bees! -- but I couldn't resist joining Rachel's do. Good Stitches charity bee. All of the quilts made from this bee are donated to a charitable cause.

The group started in January but generously gave me a pass for the first month to let my elbow heal. February's block assignment was 2 blocks made from Elizabeth's Map of the States block in shades of orange and grey. I had been hesitant to try this block pattern -- freezer paper? who needs it?! -- but I'm hooked. It's become my new favorite block pattern and I've even made a mug rug using the technique.

Cool blocks , huh? Jill has already put the quilt top together. Check it out here!

February brought a really fun design challenge from Nettie in the { Bee } Imaginative group. Take a look at the photo she provided as inspiration for her blocks. She sent some grey fabrics and an assortment of rainbow colored scraps. I made this block featuring a wonky block of color in the middle of sea of grey. I wanted the rainbow bit to stand apart from the neighboring blocks in Nettie's final quilt.

And now ... errrr ... Buzz Cuts' February block. Julie requested paper-pieced Union Jack blocks made from this free tutorial. Let's start off by saying that paper-piecing is SO not my thing. I love the fabrics I selected for this block but was doomed for disaster from the start.

Here's the travesty that I ended up with:

Clearly this isn't acceptable to send to Julie, and I need to start over from scratch. I don't think I have enough of these fabrics to replicate the block, though. And I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to start all over again. Send me strength!