October 2014

It's my month again!!  I'm sooo happy with my block choice. It's called Nosegay and here's the block I made as an example.

At the time of writing I've only received 3 of my blocks but I have faith that the rest will follow suit and I'll post a photo of them when they are all in. I honestly can't wait to turn this in to a quilt.

Our October paper pieced star queen requested red and turquoise and I truly felt that I was hitting my straps with this paper piecing malarkey so I confidently pumped out this little beauty from Carol Doak's book 50 Fabulours Paper Pieced Stars. It's called Pennsylvania and I love it!

September 2014

In the first hive we are now in our last month. Oh no! Where did a year go?  The final queen bee for hive #1 selected a block made entirely of half square triangles called Diamond Ripples. The colours on request were aqua, red and grey.  Wow one hive down and 2 winding up before Christmas - I won't know myself!!
This is my Diamond Ripples.

Over at the second hive I didn't even realise it was my turn to be queen and kindly another bee volunteered to jump up the queue and fill in for me. Her block choice was called Modern Star and Pinwheel and came up like this.  You can find the free pattern on Pinterest here.

Our September Star queen had chosen greys and greens and I was feeling adventurous so she received this little beauty.

August 2014

It's AUGUST(!!) and the queen bee wants a scrappy heart so that she can make a quilt like this one.  You'll find a link to download the free pattern on the link.

In our second hive the queen posted everyone two 2 1/2" squares of a gorgeous red fabric to use at the centre of two blocks that we were to make for her this month.  The brief was very simple. Surround the first red square with 2 1/2" white, then surround that with 2 1/2" black. Reverse and repeat.  It comes up a little like this.

Our paper pieced stars queen was a purple fanatic. I have to confess, I don't have a great deal of true royal, bright purples. Mine all tend to be shades of plum and bordering on reds. However I managed to find enough bits and pieces to pull together this block and I felt brave enough to attempt some pretty fine seams. 

July 2014

"Lucky pieces" block was the call out for the July hive. Bright vibrant colours from our scrap bag. One of the beautiful things about these bees is that you don't have to have mountains of any particular fabric. Just a generally healthy stash will get you through.
Here's my Lucky pieces.

Hive 2's queen issued a mercifully simple PLUS block pattern with the instruction to make the background quite neutral ("low volume" is the terminology used these days) and a vibrant plus. I could have happily made 100 of these.

Over in the paper pieces stars hive it was my turn to be queen again - yay!!  I asked for and star pattern made in chades of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, coffee, caramel, toffee, jaffa, honeycomb, raspberry and vanilla in any combination with the same colours/tones for background. Stark white only for highlights. I want to see if I end up with a quilt I'd like to lick!  Well, I haven't made my own block yet but I'm pretty chuffed with the blocks that came in. Here they are:

June 2014

In June our queen decided on this utterly gorgeous block called Scrap Jar Stars.

And here's the tutorial.

In hive #2 we were asked to make a Moonlight Star block in one purple fabric plus white. It's from a FREE McCall's Quilting pattern available here.  Here's my contribution in a fabric that hasn't photographed very purple but it is a rich dark plum shade.

And last but not least, our paper pieced star queen wanted "bright scrappy stars with white tone on tone background". I was really excited to break out this block for her.

May 2014

Our May queen requested a Card Trick block which I was delighted about since I have the perfect fabric in my stash.  Here's the result.

In the second hive we were give free reign over the pattern - as long as it was a red heart on a blue background. Nice and simple.

And in paper pieced star land we got our pink and green scraps out.

April 2014

It seems that we're all scrappy or bright fans in the hives. Hive #1's queen wanted a X and + block.  Here's my contribution.

 Here's a link to the tutorial.

In the second hive, the request was for a block called Carolyn's Star to be made in bold florals and tone on tones.This was the brightest floral in my stash without a doubt. I think it fits the bill.  This is the link to the Quilter's Cache instructions.

And last but not least, the paper pieced stars April Queen asked for yellow and greys. Enter the Kansas Star.

March 2014

Woo hoo! It's my turn to be Queen!  I've been in love with the SWOON block since forever and now I get to sit back while the postman delivers 11 of them to my letterbox. What a lucky girl!!

Here's the sample block I made.

Here are the first 9 blocks I received.

In Hive number 2 we were charged with the task of creating 4 little chick improv blocks.   I really enjoyed people's enthusiasm for requesting the worker bees to improvise rather than stress over exact seams. Improvisation makes for a great Bee Block since everyone's 1/4" seams are vastly different.  Here are my chickies.

Furthermore, March saw me join a THIRD Hive - this time a paper pieced star hive. So each month we were to choose whatever 12" (finished) star we like and the Queen decides the colourway.  So March 2014's Bright Scrappy Rainbow block turned out like this:

Now we're cooking with gas!

February 2014

We were adventurous bees in February and our Queen put the word out for a string pieced scrappy star.
Scroll down for the example and instructions.  And here's my finished project for Hive 1.

In the second Hive we were set the task of a Wonky Log Cabin. With all my perfectionist tendencies it was incredibly difficult to let go and make a crooked block but the effect of 12 similar blocks in a multitude of different fabrics was incredible. Here's how my block turned out.

January 2014

By January I was having so much fun in my bee hive that I joined a second one. This meant two blocks per month for other quilters - double the fun!  So the first one was a SUPERNOVA block in warm colours - enter exhibit A.

And in my new hive, our January queen requested an original design titled Mega Orange Peel Improv block which looks like this:

This is way too much fun! Gotta love school holidays!

December 2013

What a kindly Queen we had in December. She chose a "Two inch treasures" block (7 x 7 2" squares) that was easy peasy to whip up before the Christmas craziness kicked into full swing.  What a lovely and simple idea for a postage stamp quilt.

November 2013

Incredibly happy with last month's Granny Squares block and looking forward to November's challenge.  This time our Queen declared that STRING X was the pattern we were to make. I'm loving being taken outside my comfort zone and challenged with patterns I wouldn't ordinarily choose or make.

Colourful X with white frame and a black background. What an exciting result!Here's the tutorial for how to make the block.

October 2013

Seems like a good idea to join a quilting bee. Found one on Facebook. How hard can it be?  So 12 ladies fill a "hive". Each one chooses a month to be the Queen Bee and when it's their turn to be Queen, the "worker bees" make a block for the queen in the pattern and colours of her choice.

So here we go.  October 2013 - Granny Squares with a modern scrappy feel.

This was the inspiration

Taking stock

I love reading Pip Lincolne's blog Meet Me At Mikes. Today she has written a lovely list called Taking Stock and offered a blank list for us to do the same.  Here's mine.

Making : At least 8 different quilts at once.
Cooking : Marion Grasby's Thai Chicken Curry in a box (so easy!)
Drinking : Water to try to flush away too much festive indulgence.
Reading : John Taylor's biography, Robert Hoge's biography ("Ugly") and "Gone Girl".
Wanting : More hours in the day.
Looking : At ways to rearrange my sewing room/office.
Playing : Minecraft with my boys on the PS3
Deciding : Whether it will be feasible to open a shop in 2014.
Wishing : For another baby in my life.
Enjoying : Clearing out the clutter and giving it away on Stuff Sharers.
Waiting : To hear from my accountant.
Liking : Quilt Bees! I'm in 3 and enjoying them immensely.
Wondering : What our lives would have been like if we'd stayed in England.
Loving : Summer holidays.
Pondering : Designing an applique quilt from scratch.
Considering : Blogger vs Facebook.
Watching : West Wing repeats with my husband, Sons of Anarchy on my own and Big Bang Theory with my boys.
Hoping : For fewer funerals to attend in 2014.
Marvelling : At the sky at night...never gets old.
Needing : To exercise more.
Smelling : The gorgeous roses Mark bought for me yesterday.

Wearing : PJs as far into the day as I can get away with.
Following : Pip Lincolne :-)
Noticing : It's time to dig up one of my veggie garden beds and empty the recycle bin.
Knowing : I should be doing my BAS instead of writing this list
Thinking : about joining a Theatre Company.
Feeling : a bit amazed at how much I love the T20 Big Bash summer league.
Admiring : The staff at my kids' school who are individually and collectively AWESOME.
Sorting : Kids' bedrooms, wardrobes, toys and bookshelves ready for another wonderful year
Buying : school uniforms
Getting : closer to March when I am Queen Bee and have to choose a block for everyone to make for me (yippee!)
Bookmarking : new craft blogs, patterns and pages every day.
Disliking : "Click to Like and we'll donate money" Facebook scams.
Opening : old photo albums and feeling nostalgic.
Giggling : at my dogs who still play like puppies.
Feeling : Content and ready to take on the challenges of a new year.

QCA Block Experiment

Twenty six weeks worth of Block Experiment blocks.

I'm really enjoying a little experiment that's running on Facebook.  Each week I post a blank block pattern and the group's members make the block with their own interpretation of where the light, medium and dark fabrics might go. 

The results are quite lovely with so much variety on a single block. 

To see our members' work click here.

Some choose to make the block in just 2 contrasting fabrics, some mix it up with more fabrics and some members are just watching.

Butterfly Dresden

Just finished appliqué ing the butterfly to the centre of this block. I adore Autumnal colours. This is just a whimsical block that I made to fill in time. No destination in mind, just sewing for love.

Simple joys

Have you ever framed your favourite piece of fabric? 

Yesterday I was given 3 large frames so I used them to show off a few of my favourite stash fabrics. 

Yes, that's last year's Bear's Paw in the background, just needs binding. Have a happy day. x

(One of) my current hand stitching projects

I really love hand stitching. Its portability and the soothing feeling of a beautiful creation coming together stitch by stitch. My flying geese colour wash centre is almost complete and last night I started working on the border. I wanted to make sure no fabric was wasted in this quilt, so all the cut off corners had to be rolled into the border somehow. 

Each border strip will be made from sixteen 9-patch units and the colour wash continues. 

 

I think I'll call this quilt "every feather".