Bee Blocks...

This month we made these funky maple leaf blocks for That Stash Bee.  I don't have much in the way of Halloween fabric but I did find this pumpkin fabric and then used some Sketch in black, Pearl Bracelets and some chicken wire from Moda to round out the block.  The blocks came together quickly and I think they look pretty cool pinned to the old wire fence leaning against one of our out buildings.


Boo!

Bee Blocks: Pineapple Blossom

I took care of my bee blocks right away today.  They were blowing a bit on the barn wall.  This is Pineapple Blossom and is a free block pattern at Quiltville.  The block pattern is available in two sizes and Michonne asked for the biggie size.  So fun!  The block tutorial gives a little hint for using up the corners that you cut away so I did that and I have a small stack of completed hsts as a result.  This block is a super great stash buster as the bigger size uses 2.5" strips.  

And here is an example of Toni's finished quilt using the same block.  It is gorgeous!

There you have it.  Bee Blocks for That Stash Bee September.  Check.

Picnic Anyone?

   Name: Picnic Anyone?

Design: St. Louis 16 Patch (tutorial at Sew with Sass)

Size: 56" by 68"

Pieced by my buddies at That Stash Bee

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white on either side of each square

Binding and Backing:  Blue and white stripe from the stash and backed with Ikea Britten Numbers

I asked my bee mates in That Stash Bee to make St. Louis 16 Patch blocks in happy colours for my month this past May.  And they delivered!  I put this together last week and quilted it the other day.  I love the transformation that happens when a quilt goes from flimsy to quilted.  All of a sudden it becomes something different.  A quilt with substance and texture rather than just cloth put together.  It turned out exactly the way I hoped and I will be donating this to a fundraiser for at risk youth.  I think it is a perfect picnic quilt but it would be equally happy on a bed or to snuggle under while watching movies.  I think it would make awesome blanket forts.  Just saying.

This is a fantastic block when you need a quilt in a hurry.  Check out the tutorial and keep it on your must make list.  These blocks come together quickly and before you know it, you have a quilt.  I have thought about making the strips smaller too for a fast baby quilt.

I quilted on either side of the squares in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  The simple patchwork asked for simple quilting.  The quilting shows up really nicely on the giant number print from Ikea that I plopped on the back.  I have been collecting stripes to have on hand for binding and used a royal blue on white stripe for this one.  I like it!

Linking up on Friday with Amanda Jean for Finish it Friday.

On the Design Wall...

May was my month for That Stash Bee.  I asked for St. Louis 16 Patch blocks in happy colours with low volume prints.  The blocks have been arriving over the past few weeks and just like that it looks like a quilt.  So wonderful!  These blocks whip up so fast.  Have a look at the tutorial over at Sew with Sass.

Bee Blocks.. That Stash Bee

I made 8 little churn  and dash blocks for April's That Stash Bee for Ginny.  The block pattern came from the great little book, 500 Quilt Blocks by Lynne Goldsworthy and Kerry Greene.  They are pretty darn cute and finish at 6.5".  Ginny thought she would play an April Fools joke on us and suggested she would like 4 New York Beauty blocks.  Har har har.  Too funny.  Churn and dash blocks on the mossy lawn.  Perfect.  Now I just have to get them in the mail.

Bee Blocks... Cross patch

Kelli asked for Cross Patch blocks from the Vintage Quilt Revival book for February's That Stash Bee Blocks.  (Did I tell you how much I love this book?)  And this block was quick to put together and it looks awesome!  I am going to put this on my must make list.  So with the Family Day long weekend, I was able to take care of a few things on my list and I still have another day of sewing ahead of me.


Yippee!  I will be popping these in the mail tomorrow.  Done!  Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Bee Blocks on the barn wall...

Here they are!  So pretty!  I made these Kaleidoscope blocks for Nicole  for That Stash Bee.  This is a free block pattern from Quilter's Cache and Nicole's colour choices just sing!  I have to say that I had moments of frustration when making these.  Lots of gnashing of teeth and grumpy stomping.  The really silly thing is that it was not about the block or the sewing it was about the darn printing of the template!  Seriously!  If I opened up the template and printed it, then I got the template at the size that Nicole wanted.  I did that and made one block which is 4 little blocks.  Then I went and printed out 4 more templates.  When I printed more templates, I saved the pdf file and printed it from my saved copy.  I happily made 4 more sections, making one more block.  But it was so much bigger!  OMG!  Are you kidding?  Simply by saving the template, the template became about 25% bigger and since I made the second block the next day, I did not clue in until the block was completed.  Long story is that I now have 4 of these blocks finished.  2 of them will be popped in the mail and then the super sized blocks (not that super sized but bigger) are the start of a really awesome quilt with a great colour scheme!!!

That is the story.

On the design wall... I mean barn wall

My bee blocks for September for That Stash Bee.  The pattern for the block is Fresh Lemons, Lemon Squares.  This is a very familiar pattern for me as I have made quite a few baby quilts with it. And it is a great pattern because you make a bunch of different blocks and the centre square can be fussy cut for interest or not. Michonne asked for a few blocks with a palette of mint, celery, brown, white and perhaps true green.  So that is what I did.  This is the first time that a car has been a colour inspiration for blocks that I make but what the heck.  Apparently the recipient of this quilt has a vintage car in a fabulous mint green.  Bee blocks in the mail.  Yum.  Linking up with Judy for Design Wall Monday.

Black and White TV... all done!

Name:  Black and White TV

Design:  Depression Blocks in Black, grey and white for That Stash Bee

Size:  approx 60" by 70"

Fabric:  scraps from my bee mates stash, Kona White, and bound in Kona Charcoal, Backed with Ikea Number Print

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

I made this quilt with the help of my awesome bee mates at That Stash Bee.  My month was May and I asked for Depression Blocks made with black, grey and white prints.  I asked them to think of Black and White TV.  And they did!  I was quite happy to open up all the soft and squishy packages of quilt blocks over several weeks.  Then I had to get busy and make some blocks myself to make the quilt big enough.  

I quilted three rows of straight line stitching on each side of the blocks.  I used Aurifil 50 wt in white of course! It gives a really nice texture and there is a nice break in the quilting at the centre of each block.  I adore straight line quilting!  I love the scrappiness of the blocks and oh, did you notice how one little red triangle snuck into the quilt?  I couldn't resist.  

I backed the quilt in the fabulous number print from Ikea with a strip of grey solids and bound the whole thing in Kona Charcoal which is such a fabulous deep grey.  All finished.  Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday.  

Bee Blocks and stuff...

This month we made Arkansas Traveller blocks for Kelsey using the tutorial at Freshly Pieced for the That Stash Bee.  She wanted us to think bright and scrappy so that is what I did.  I have to say that the blocks went together quite nicely.  The first one I made was not nice enough.  I sort of messed up.  Sometimes directions tell you to take the paper off before you sew the quadrants together and other directions tell you to leave them on.  Let me just say that leaving the paper on for these blocks is a good idea.  Yep.  So I made another one, leaving the paper on this time.  Much better.

Other than that I received a lovely email from Rachael who blogs at Rachael Rabbit.  She was wondering about the fabrics I used in my I Spy quilts.  This can be a challenge if you don't have much of a stash.  I have been very lucky with blog friends sending me I Spy type fabrics over the years.  I was helped out initially by Riel when I won a giveaway of her scraps and Jan-Marie in Australia sent me a stuffed envelope of scraps which I still use in my I Spy quilts.  I also happen to have a really big stash with lots of novelty fabrics.  And just recently, Brenda, offered to send me some of her I Spy squares.  So I thought I would help Rachael with a little bit of "pay it forward" and send her some I Spy fabric to get going.  I stuffed and envelope full of fabrics.  Rachael had an idea to make some I Spy quilts for charity so if anyone else can send her a bit of novelty fabric scraps she would be ever so grateful. She is planning for 4" squares. I know that these quilts do very well at charity events.  The one I donated helped raise over $700.  So have a look at Rachael's blog and see if you can help her out a bit.

Bee Blocks... June

Deb at A Quilter's Table asked for Modern Maple blocks in leaf colours for the June in That Stash Bee.  So that is what I made.  I am looking forward to seeing this one come together.  I really waffled about which fabric to use and finally I told myself to just do it!  Hopefully this works for you, Deb!

In other quilting news, I had to miss this month's meeting of the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild because of work stuff.  Grrr.  Darn.  But tomorrow we are having a sew in so that goes along way in making up for it.  Sewing has been on the back burner lately because I have been SO BUSY!  I described it as BAD BUSY the other day.  Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures of what people are doing!!!!!  I plan on making the June block for the Lucky Stars BOM and some other stuff that has been simmering.

A quilt I made was presented yesterday though.  That was good.  I made it for our school secretary's retirement as a gift from the staff.  She liked it.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Friday because this is my only finish!  Eeek!

That Stash Bee... my month

May is just around the corner and that means that it is my turn at choosing a block for That Stash Bee.  Such a dilemma!  I finally decided to go with a classic... The Depression Block.    The tutorial I have linked to has lots of details but in reality, it is a pretty simple block.  This is a perfect scrap busting block as you can make it super scrappy.  I want my bee buddies to think black and white tv when they are making the blocks.  I used Kona White and stuck with that for the white portions but went super scrappy in greys and blacks for the rest.  I think it will be quite striking when made up.

I cut my squares at 4" and then trimmed the HST units down to 3.5".

You need:
 8-4" Kona White squares and
8-4" black/grey squares for each block.

The block finishes at 12" or 12.5" unfinished.  I pressed the seams open.

That Stash Bee is  the first bee I have joined and the whole idea is that we use our own fabric when making the blocks each month.  This saves a ton of postage for everyone and I think is a pretty stress free approach to an online bee.  It will be great fun to receive blocks in the mail!  I cannot wait!