Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: December Blocks

Yes, you are reading that correctly.  It is not a typo.  December.  That is how things are going in this house lately.

Anneliese was queen bee this past December in the Modern Irish Bee.  She asked for two HST-based blocks in scrappy style.  The first has a mini HST center on point, which is a fun twist.  Check out Anneliese's tutorial for instructions of how to make your own.  It is a super way to use up scraps and very easy to make with lots and lots of chain piecing.

The second was to have a fussy cut center that reflects us.  I've always had a deep affinity for frogs, so this Kokka print was the first thing I reached for.  Man, he's cute.

They will be in the post today, Anneliese.

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: October Blocks

I totally cheated.  I knew what blocks Tomomi wanted for her bee month ahead of anyone else as I pre-schedule the bee block blog posts to appear on the first of the month.  I cheekily packed up all of the fabrics I needed to make her blocks and brought it with me to the Modern Quilters of Ireland retreat last weekend (27 Sept).

Tomomi was looking for book shelf blocks, but with a twist.  She wanted to blocks 11-13 inches long x 12.5 inches tall with various sizes of books and Ash background.  However, she wanted us to each create a section on her bookshelf with a theme.  Humm....now that's interesting.

I choose to give her a section of bird watching guides:

and a section with cook books:

Tomomi, I hope you like them!  I know several other hive members have started thinking of really super, creative themes for you.  I am sure will you will love what they create!

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: September Blocks

It's a rare month that I have my bee blocks finished already!  This month in the Modern Irish Bee, Helen has asked for four happy, bright, loud, clashing Wonky Cross blocks using her own tutorial.  We were to use Kona Solids as the background fabric and then use (non-floral) scraps for the crosses.  

I had great fun making these blocks.  We usually only make two per hive member, but as these were so easy to make I was happy to make four.  

I have to say I was surprised to find four different colors of Kona Solids in my stash.  I was sure I would have to go to the shop and pick up a few FQs.  Lucky me, though...a little dig and I found enough.  They are quite Eastery, though, aren't they?  Sure, when they are mixed in with all of the others from the hive they will be fine.

We were asked to not trim them.  To leave the little crossing strips dangling from the edge.  I feel like I have not finished my job sending them all scraggly.  That said, if you tuck in the edges and align the blocks, you can see they will be quite pretty together.  Helen, I hope you like them.  They will be in today's post.

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee Blocks: May v2

Yes. You are reading that correctly.  These blocks are for May.  I tried to make bee blocks previously for Erin using her own beautifully written tutorial.  With my continual struggle against the scant quarter inch seam, I made a mess out of the original blocks.  They were about an inch too small and no amount of unpicking and re-sewing would find that lost inch.

Instead I have been practising my scant quarter inch seams and have (are you ready for this!?!?) finally fell in love with the idea that it can actually help me!  I re-cut my scraps, cut fresh little Kona White squares and dove in again to make two 12 1/2 inch square block for Erin.

I hope these fit with the others a bit better, Erin.  Let's forget those little 11 1/2 inch shorties ever crossed your threshold.  xx

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee Blocks: July

I did warn you that it is going to be a bee-block filled week, did I not?  Next up are bee blocks from July made for Fiona R.  She is a girl after my own heart asking for scrappy string blocks for her month.  I love quilts made from scrappy strings but never want to go to the effort of doing all of that cutting and piecing myself.  It makes for a perfect bee block, then, doesn't it?

Fiona asked that we use this tutorial to make eight 6 1/2 inch blocks.  As a personal twist, Fiona asked that we incorporate a selvage strip in the center diagonal.  Now, I have a pile of selvages that I save up and give away to selvage-loving friends when I see them, but I do not generally incorporate them into blocks that I make.  That was a whole new adventure for me.

I had only a few selvage strips that were long enough to go into the center, but I did find a few others I could incorporate into the edges for a bit of fun.  I found that if I sewed them in using a traditional 1/4 inch seam, I would loose the fun text or color dots that really are what Fiona wants.  So, instead I tucked the next scrappy strip under the selvage, placed the selvage on top and sewed 1/4 inch on top of the selvage strip itself.  It won't fray, clearly, as that's the one job a selvage strip does have.

Should I have done it differently?  Any hints for incorporating a selvage without loosing it's personality?

Fiona, I hope you like them!  They were good fun to make.

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee Blocks: August

I have been quite slow to blog lately.  There's lots of life to be living with little time to sit down and write about it.  Some I might tell you about eventually (like my visit with Susan and our trip to Festival Of Quilts) and other bits I will most likely let pass by.  Eventually we will be all caught up and back in real time.

Where to start?  Well, this past week I took a holiday from work to enjoy a week at home.  It was wonderful.  My main focus sewing-wise was catching up on bee blocks.  I am behind.  Really behind.

Let us start by showing you my Modern Irish Bee blocks for August.  Miss Fiona requested a modern, funky churn dash using warm, clashing fabrics. Although her inspirational quilt does not do much for me personally, I loved loved loved making these blocks and I think this will be one beautiful quilt when all of the blocks are pulled together.  Churn dashes always come together so nicely for me, so it is a pleasure stitching them.  The biggest challenge, to my surprise, is that Fiona requested we do not use flowery fabrics. I had not realized that most of my stash is flower-based!  An eye opener for me!

Regardless, I made two 9 1/2 inch unfinished blocks for Fi.  They even came out to 9 1/2 inches the first time around.  Now that's refreshing.  Do pop over to Fiona's post if you are looking for a churn dash tutorial. It is very nicely written.

The color balance is prettier in real life, Fi.  I promise :)

Hope you like them, Fi! I look forward to seeing how these come together from our bee buddies.

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: May

Erin is bee mama this month in the Modern Irish Bee.  She was looking for scrappy Road To Tennessee blocks in bright summery colors, with only a peppering of darker navy and grey.  I tried my best to oblige.

With a dig through my scrap bin, I pulled out 32 happily colored prints that I could pair with my white squares.  Still, my scrap pile does not look any smaller.

There are three things in quilt world that I'm not entirely comfortable with yet (beyond appliqué...that's a WHOLE other adventure).  Drunkard's path blocks scare me (even with Leanne's tutorial).  Scant quarter seams (what, exactly, is scant enough?).  And finally creating triangles by sewing ON the line, not 1/4 inch away from the line and squaring your blocks.

This project included two of my three weakest points.

I had recently seen a trick for corner triangles posted on Cluck Cluck Sew that I thought might be a new (better for me?) way of tackling these pesky corner triangles.  I will say I thoroughly enjoyed stitching on the corner triangles using their method, but sadly it did not always result in a nicely square piece.

In the end, I have two blocks for you, Erin.  I am happy with the fabrics used and think they fit in your summery vision.  I am reasonably happy with how my points came together even without locking seams.  Two stars.  However, they are absolutely smaller than the 12.5 inches square that they should be even with my scant seams.  Any scanter (is that a word?) and I am not sure they would have held together!  I hope they are still OK, Erin.  If not, they will surely spruce up the back of the quilt.

xx

Modern Irish Bee: April

Whew!  April is flying by!  With it, though, has come some beautiful weather.  Would you believe I'm sitting out at night in the back garden writing this post?  Shocking.

This month in the Modern Irish Bee, the talented Miss Anna went for a few wild improvisational blocks using this tutorial as a guide.  She wanted a fussy cut to anchor the block, but wanted it to be off center.  From there we were let to dive into our scrap bins and stitch.

Now, I must have added in additional instructions to Anna's request because in MY mind (apparently in my mind only....) these blocks were to be somewhat monocrhomatic.  Even though her inspirational mosaic clearly has multi-colored blocks.  I wonder if I picked that theme up from the tutorial?  Anyway, everyone else has gone wild scrappy and I'm the only weirdo with monochromatic blocks.  Anna's nice enough to take them for her quilt anyway :)  Thank you, Miss Anna!

When digging through my scrap bins I really only had two piles of scraps big enough to make a block: teal/aqua and pink.  I thought they looked OK as a pair, so I went for it.  The aqua block has a Melody Miller teapot as the fussy cut focus point.  The pink block has a little Hello Kitty, the only thing in a pink vein that I have to fussy cut!

I squeezed in a few DS goodies, a small bit of Liberty, Nordika (because Anna digs it) and a few selvedges.  All in all I'm quite pleased with the result.  I love making these blocks, Anna.  I could stitch these all day long!  

FAL: First Quarter Wrap Up {2014}

Way back in early January I wrote up an optimistic list of projects I wanted to finish in the first quarter of the year.  Here's a re-cap of what REALLY happened:

1. Swoon 2013
This is definitely NOT a finish. This past weekend I did get my sashing and one of the three borders added, so I hope to have a finished top to show you in the near future.  This will slide onto my Q2 list happily.

2. Home Sweet Bone

A finish!  This little cross stitch is now complete and hanging at my desk at work.  I absolutely love it.

3.  Modern Irish Bee Quilt: Twinkle Twinkle

It's a personal triumph that I pulled this out and started working on it again.  That said, it is 100% not finished.  I have the center blocks pieced and a plan sketched for the exterior 8 blocks.  This too will slide into my Q2 to-do list.

4. Mini Spools Quilt:

No progress what so ever.  Moving on....

5. Donation Quilt for Mexico City

A finish!  It's not my most favorite finish of all time, but I'm delighted that it's done and on its way to its new home.

Two out of five isn't brilliant, but it isn't a total failure.  Two of those that I haven't finished yet have a bit of motivation behind them now and that's what counts.  Linking up with Miss Katy and my FAL friends.  Katy, thanks a mil for organizing us!

Modern Irish Bee: March Blocks

This month in the Modern Irish Bee, the über talented Sarah is our queen.  She requested bright, colorful spider web blocks using a grey-based LV print in the central star.  Sarah wrote out beautiful instructions in her blog post to make this block, carefully warning us of a few pitfalls (thank you!) and referred us to a lovely tute by Heather.  

I have made spider web blocks in the past using paper templates, but Heather's tutorial used a fabric square cut into quarters as your guide.  She gave very simple, straight forward instructions for marking the triangle templates, making it quick and easy to start stitching.  I like, too, how the star is kind of thick and chunky  here, showing off the LV fabric. However, this method does result in 4 rather large LV scraps in the process.  This is fine by me as I'll use them right up in my medallion quilt.

Sarah specifically asked for eight coordinating strips in the same color family at the immediate edge of the star.  The idea is that this will really highlight the star in the midst of the scrappy webs.  I do like the look, but boy I found it difficult to find 8 matching, non-repeating prints!  I did it in the end, but really had to dig through the old scrap bin!

On the negative side, my blocks are indeed smaller than the 12 inch square (unfinished) they should be.  Sarah says it's OK, but it's really niggling at me.  There might be a quick unpick of the four quadrants and a re-stitch in the hopes of finding a real 12 inch square block in there! 

On the positive side, I love how these blocks turned out.  I might steal Miss Sarah's idea and slowly make a few of these in my quiet moments and eventually build up to a quilt top.  They were super easy to make, creating a very satisfying evening of sewing.  I love how they used up the old scraps very quickly, giving me a walk down memory lane with each quarter square. 

Twinkle Twinkle Top In Progress

I am a bit embarrassed to tell you how long this quilt top has been in the making.  The idea to use this block as my bee block started rumbling around in August or September of 2012.  I think that makes it my longest standing WIP/UFO.  My bee buddies were super at sending the blocks in, so it must have been me holding up the show.

You see, the trouble was that these blocks came to me in a huge range of sizes.  Although it was to be a 12 1/2 inch block, I had some as small is 11 1/4 inches!  I pulled apart six of them to re-stitch and enlarge them, but it just drove me mental.  I put them whole pile of them away and they collected dust. 

However, when the FAL for 2014 kicked off, it was a great excuse to force myself to dive in again.  I am not going to finish this quilt off by the end of the month, but I am quite pleased to have even started it again!  You will surely see it again on my second quarter FAL list.  

I have been messing with the layout, finding one that would be accommodating of several different sized blocks.  I had 12-13 blocks that were 12 1/2 inches square, so I set them on point as the center of the top, as you see above.  I have another 8 blocks that will be positioned around the top as a border, four at the mid point of each side and at the four corners.  That's the plan anyway! 

Only the 8 blocks in the border to go, then.  I am really looking forward to layering this quilt.  It is going to be the first full quilt that I had quilt and I can not wait to get started!  I'll need your advice when I hit that point, so start having a think of a quilting pattern and perle colors.  Decisions decisions!

If you are into making a block like this yourself, I wrote a tute for it back in Oct 2012 for Rhonda's Finish Along.

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. 

FAL 2014: First Quarter Goals

I am thrilled that the opening 2014 FAL linky is up and running over at The Littlest Thistle.  I could use a little help focusing and pressure inspiration to get myself back into the sewing room and creating again.  So, here are my (overly aspirational?) goals for the next 3 months:

1. Swoon 2013
I signed up for Sarah's QAL and was nearly on time getting my blocks finished...but then I lost steam finishing the sashing and getting the borders on.  So, I need to finish the top, quilt and bind this project.  I am excited to dig back in again!

2. Home Sweet Bone Cross Stitch
I have been diligently stitching each and every night.  Recently this is my primary project and I am loving it through and through.  I'd like to finish stitching, tie off the back and have it hanging over my desk before this quarter is finished.

3. Modern Irish Bee Quilt
This quilt was started over a year ago as part of the inaugural Modern Irish Bee.  My bee buddies were wonderful and I did receive each and every one of my blocks.  However, when I tried to make a few additional blocks to enlarge the quilt, I could not (for the life of me) get them to the appropriate final size.  Several I totally unpicked 3-4 times!  Anyway, I lost my love for the process and I put the blocks away.  I would love to pull them out, finish the top (add a border?), hand quilt (ahem!) and bind it.

4. Spools Mini Quilt

I made one of these minis to give away, but I'd love to have one myself to hang in my sewing room.  I have the pieces all cut and laid out, but not stitched together.  I need to piece, quilt and bind this cutie.

5. Donation Quilt

I would like to make a quilt to be sent to Mexico City.  I have a pattern in mind, but instead of using a fresh new charm pack I would like to dive into my stash for this project.  I have so many charms from the gazillion swaps I joined recently.  I have the top nearly done, so I need to quilt and bind this before we'll call it done.

That's my list and I will try my best to stick to it!  Thanks so much, Katy, for keeping us on the straight and narrow!  (HA!  Who would have thought it was you who would herd us in?)

Testing Bee Blocks

I am totally jumping the gun here, but I couldn't control myself.  The Modern Irish Bee starts a second year all bright, shiny and fresh in January.  As soon as I picked February to be queen bee, my brain has been racing with all of the opportunities to try something new.

When trying to choose my block, I have been considering the bee setup.  We have a wide variety of skill levels, so something pretty straight forward would be best.  This is also a scrappy bee, so a block that lets me draw on the stashes of others seems greedy appropriate.

I stumbled upon the spool quilt along hosted by Laura of Adventures of a Quilting Diva.  Each month she posts a new spool tutorial, so there should be about seven available by the time my February month comes along.  That would let folks in my bee choose what they're most comfortable with AND gives me a wide variety of blocks in my quilt.  Love that.

To give it a test run, I pulled (widely) monochromatic, stripey FQs thinking most folks would have something like this in their stash.  I set out making four blocks from the spool quilt along: (left to right) block 4, block 1, block 3 and block 2.

I really dig the first and last block, but the second from the left is a bit bland.  Anyway, I think what I've learned is A) there's a wide enough variety in skills that folks could be entertained without being overwhelmed and B) that I like a darker spool color over the Ash in the second purple thread block.  I'm going to make another set of four this weekend and see where this goes as it gets larger.  I may really dig it as it gets more scrappy, but right now it's looking a little uncoordinated and boring simplistic.

This is also my first time using LV fabrics as a background.  I have to say (in 100% total honesty) I'm not sure I like them.  Folks who are gaga about LVs, can you tell me why this isn't wowing me?  Is there a secret I don't know like you shouldn't use LV in a large space or it should coordinate better with what's going on in your block?  Any insight, ladies?

Modern Irish Bee Blocks: August

While I was in a bee block kind of mood, I jumped into Geraldine's Modern Irish Bee blocks.  Geraldine was super nice and already had her white background fabric and her gorgeous scrappy prints pre-cut into triangles for us to make HSTs.  What bliss!

We were asked to make two HST blocks with the prints and whites in alternating, diagonal lines.  You can imagine how many different ways these could be combined to make a quilt top, so I am SO excited to see what Geraldine makes with our blocks.  You can see on her instagram feed (@sophiebelledesigns) that she's already playing with this design idea to make gorgeous things!

Anyway, I made these.  You'll have to believe me that the whites are white here.  Stinky late afternoon iPhone photos...

Ger, I hope you like them!  They are on the way to your home right now :)

June's Modern Irish Bee Blocks

This month, in the Modern Irish Bee, the lovely Judith is running the show.  She sent to each of us a pretty stack of solid tumblers and asked us to make two blocks each.  She wanted each of us to put in a piece of our own fabric to reflect our personalities.  The block was then topped off with a solid navy frame.

I loved the colors Judith choose for us, so I was really excited to get going.  The only problem is that I had never sewn a tumbler before!  Judith gave us clear instructions (that were very helpful!) in the Flicker thread, but still you need to mess around on your own a bit to get the hang of these things.  With a little trial and error, I made these:

That flower print makes my heart flutter time and time again. I own yards and yards of it in red and blue, so I"ll never ever run out!

And of course there are sheep.  I could not resist.

Now that I am thinking about these blocks again, I remember Judith also sent a mini bar of chocolate. I hid it in my super top secret chocolate spot and then forgot about it!  I'm off to take it out for a munch right now.  Thank you, Judith!  I hope these suit you!

I May Bee a Little Bee-hind

Oh, the pun is killing me!  But how can you resist these opportunities?

I am behind in my bee blocks in a big way.  I owe April blocks to Eva that I haven't started yet and the June blocks are piling up.  It is very not like me to get behind in my bees because I find bee blocks to be great mini adventures that inspire me to stitch more.  These blocks are no exceptions, but I have found it difficult to dedicate the time to stitching. 

Earlier this week I pulled out the equilateral triangles of Glimma that Anneliese sent the Modern Irish Bee in May and dug in.  I absolutely loved making these!  It's my first time sewing equilateral triangles and there is a trick or two to learn, but once you figure out what you are doing these come together quickly.  I could have kept stitching, but Anneliese wants our "left over" triangles to join the rows together.  Ah well.

What a great fabric line!  The colors are just yummy.

Anneliese also asked for a donation Scrappy Trip Along block to create a donation quilt from our Modern Quilting Guild of Ireland, so I put this together.  As everyone says the tute is very easy to follow and the block comes together in no time.  I enjoyed stitching this cutie as well!  I can't wait to see what our collective quilt looks like.

Susan and Judith, your blocks are up next!  

Modern Irish Bee: March

The super fab Erin is our queen bee for March.  She had asked us to each choose a color that we liked (and had in our stash) and then sent out a beautiful little parcel of 7 coordinating prints.  We were to insert one of our fabrics as the 8th.  I choose yellow, mostly because I like how happy yellow things make me.

With her super LV background print and her pretty yellow fabrics, I made two stars for Miss Erin.

With each star being monochromatic, this is going to be one super quilt!  Erin already has back the green stars and she took it upon herself to make the brown.  If I'm honest, I like the brown stars more than I thought I would...Mine are in the post, Erin.  You should have them tomorrow.  Hope they suit what you've already gathered together!

If you're all about Bloglovin, just page down one post for a link to follow Fluffy Sheep Quilting.