Friday, January 31, 2014

Modern Irish Bee: January Blocks and a Book Review

In our inaugural month of the Modern Irish Bee (2014), Miss Ruth requested two scrappy blocks finishing at 12.5 inches each using this the tutorial she wrote in combination with these cutting instructions.  I was delighted when I saw her choice in blocks.  What fun to give these at try!


Using Kona Ash as the background fabric with accents of Kona Snow, Ruth wanted us to make little 9 (or 16 patch) blocks of 1 inch finished squares.  I had a wonderful time digging through my scraps finding a small tasty piece or two.  How cute is the little deer?  I didn't purposely fussy cut that!  Honest.


Our second block was to have 20 little 1 inch squares again with the Kona Snow frame and Kona Ash backing.  I'm not going to lie - small little mistakes in my seam allowance in those 20 pieces did add up and I created a wonky 12.5 (top) to 12.0 (middle) to 12.5 (bottom) block that had to be partially unpicked and re-sewn.  Second time is the charm.  

Ruth, I loved making these blocks for you.  You're going to have one stunning quilt!  

In other news, I've just finished reading Quilting Isn't Funny...


...by Megan Dougherty.  It was delivered by good old Amazon over Christmas and  I've been picking it up and putting it down since then.  I love the idea of this book as we (quilters) are filled to the brim with wit and humor (you know who you are!).  I that the author this is a fellow blogger who has turned her love/hate relationship with quilting into a magazine column and book.  Congrats, Megan!  And finally, I think the book is formatted well as it contains smaller excerpts/essays preceded with a little 5-8 sentence commentary by the author setting the scene for the piece.  That being said, it just was not my type of humor.  I think I go more for word play or dry humor when the humor here is based on the reader relating to the character/situation.  I didn't really relate.  Some of you may see yourself in these stories or have had similar situations and will love this book!  To give you a chance at a laugh, I'll happily give my copy away to the first person who leaves a comment below and their paypal address to cover shipping.  If you want it, its yours. 


12 comments:

Lynz said...

I'll take Megan's book! I lubs her humour.

Lynz said...

Oh yeah, and weenie pieces like that? Total mare. But a great bee block (let others do the hard work, ha ha!!) and yours look brilliant!

Leanne said...

I love your blocks. I also am not a fan of Megan's humour but her quilting is beautiful.

Di said...

The bee blocks look fiddly but the fabric pulling must be great fun.
Di x

Gina said...

great blocks xx

Ruth said...

Thanks Cindy, they look great - love the little deer. Having great fun playing around with layouts! Sorry about the fiddly size, after making 6.5" Tula pink blocks I thought 1.5" squares were normal! Oh and I already have the book - bought the PDF!

Fran said...

Such great blocks! I could happily have a whole quilt like that.

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

these blocks are so cool, I love the tiny size and all the negative space

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Love your blocks.
I think Lynz laughs at anything ;)

Katy Cameron said...

Cute wee blocks! I thought I was the only one that didn't find her particularly funny. I write about carpark crises though, perhaps I'm not one to talk ;o)

prsd4tim2 said...

I'm not a huge fan of teeny little pieces sewn together - until they are sewn together. I love the results! Those blocks are so fun! Not sure I'd make myself do it, but I love them! Well done!

cheeky monkey said...

to late! At least hope you had a snuggling time under a lovely quilt and read something quilting related.

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