Do Good January

My bees were a bit quiet in the month of December, thank goodness, so I am thrilled to be back to them this month.  I've been diligently trying to get them all finished this week so they're all received before the 31st.  Fingers crossed!

I have a few Do Good blocks to show you.  This month we were to make two star blocks using white stars on a blue background using this tute.  It surprised me to see how little blue I had in my stash!  Thank goodness this month's mama didn't mind if we repeated patterns in the two blocks.  I would not have had 18 individual blue prints to choose from!

These pretties are on their way to Australia.  Fingers crossed they arrive safely!

Do.Good Stitches: October

This month in the CARE circle of Do. Good Stitches we are making Patchwork Wheel blocks using this tutorial.  I was not really in a sewing mood yesterday afternoon, but decided these HAD to be done last weekend to be sure I stay up to date with my bee blocks.

I must say, the direct simplicity of this tutorial and the bright colors in this block brought me right out of my slump and made me happy to sew.  

Whew!  Only one bee left this month.  I think I'm going to make it!

Do. Good Stitches: September Blocks

The CARE circle of Do. Good Stitches made Liberated Churn Dash blocks this month using a tutorial by Sew Joy Creations, but kind of modified to allow for the final size that Kris, our mama, wanted.  We were to make two blocks with jewel colored blues and greens.

Huh.  Jewel?  I had search through Google Image to see if I knew what jewel colors were as my brain is 100% totally focused on insanely bold, true primary colors.  I had batiks in my stash that were not getting used.  Maybe those would work!  I think they're OK...they seem to fit in with what the other bee members are creating.

Kris, I hope they suit what you had in mind!  

Do.Good Stitches August

And they're off!  My Do.Good Stitches blocks for August are on their way.  They were to be made in some combination of pink, yellow and orange in a semi-scrappy way.  Meaning, the prints were not all perfectly matched from one fabric line, but did coordinate within a "ring" of the granny.  Easy peasy, right? 

Although I have made many a granny block, I was never able to make these the requested 9 1/4 inches square.  Mine were consistently smaller, even in Granny Mania.  After several test blocks and the re-stitching of these at least 3 times over, I just had to hang my head and send them in at 8 3/4 inches square. 

I like them.  I like the prints.  I like the color combo chosen.  I'm just so sad they did not quite work out well.  Here's hoping our mama can use them on the back or something.  I did also send along lots of orange, yellow and pink fabrics if, in the end, she needs to re-make these blocks.  I tried and there's nothing else I can do.

Granny's Putting Up A Fight

I know you will not going to believe it, but I am struggling to make 2 more granny squares for my Do.Good Stitches circle.  How can that be?  Well, it is true.

I have to change from this tutorial to this tutorial when making these blocks and it is nothing short of melting my brain.  I cut the little pieces earlier in the week so that I would have a quick and easy project for some night after work.  A nice little colorful sense of satisfaction one evening.  Wrong.  So wrong.  My block corners reliably look like this:

I tried to cheat and return to my tried and true tutorial.  I scaled up the blocks a small bit to reach the requested block size and match the second tutorial's requirements, but still no luck.  It's too small. Still, it will not go to waste.

I think I have sorted out the problem now so, once I regain the will, I will give them one more try.  If I fail again, I might just end up sending the lovely Dolores a few bars of chocolate and asking for her forgiveness.

To not toss the sewing machine out of the window, I was looking for a quick sewing fix to bring happiness.  Instead I cut charm squares for the Japanese Charm Swap...

and pulled fabrics from my stash.  I'm queen bee next month in the Modern Irish Bee.  It is time to get things sorted, cut and packed up for the ladies.  More on that next week....

Feeling a bit better now!  I'll try to tackle that granny again tomorrow.  She's putting up more of a fight than I expected :)

July Bee Blocks - Round 2

And the bee blocks for July continue on!  A few weeks ago I finished off blocks for three of my bees, but there were still blocks waiting to be made this month!  Yes, 4 bees for July.  I could not let the last day of July come before having finished them all off.

A friend within my CARE circle of Do.Good Stitches is having a difficult time at home, so I volunteered to do her bee blocks to take a bit off her to-do list.  I am not able to cook or take care of her children when she needs it, but stitching I can do.  Hopefully this allows her to focus her time/energy on her family and home instead of being worried about that bee block that's lingering for the month.  This month our circle is using this tutorial to make two blocks.  I just love this tute and was more than happy to make a few more!

For my Sew Bee Blissful bee, Kris wanted pin wheels using this tutorial by Sew Happy Geek.  This is a well written tute, so do give it a try if you have not already.  There are lots of ways you could play with your fabric choices to give different effects, so have a little think before you start cutting.  So, with Kris' fabrics, I made two of these for her:

And finally, I cut up my charm squares for Jennifer's (of Knotted Thread) I Spy swap.  They're already in the post flying off to sunny Hawaii where they'll be re-packed and distributed.  I can't get over the fact that my charm squares will have more of a summer than I will!  Humpf.

I'm nearly done quilting Granny Mania!  Fingers crossed I can show you a photo this week!

July Bee Blocks

This month I need to make blocks for 4 bees.  I am missing the fabric from one bee, so I just started sewing for the other three.  These three queen bees are three of my good bloggy friends.  It was so fun to make blocks for someone I know!

I started with my Do.Good Stitches blocks.  This month was hosted by Karen.  We were to make blocks using this tutorial with a white background and red/aqua fabrics.  This was a super easy to follow tute that made the 2 block in as much effort as it would take to make one.  I do really hope to use this again in the future.

Next I moved on to my Modern Irish Bee blocks.  This month our queen bee was Sarah.  She sent out two sets of scraps in two color ways, each with a pop of a contrasting color.  She asked for one larger block and one smaller block.  The blocks could be square or rectangle...what ever your organically created.  Sarah asked that we follow this tute.  I've been a little intimidated by it for a while now, but with Sarah's push I gave it a try.  This method is also super easy once you dive in and get the hang of it.  I'm not sure I'd create an entire quilt of mosaic blocks, but I did enjoy making these two!

Finally, I jumped to Nicky's block for Sew & Bee Happy.  She wanted improv pieced text blocks with a solid color and a contrasting small print.  Nicky gave us a list of quilty words to choose from and two tutorials to create the letters we needed.  I picked "bind" from the list.  Making this block forced my brain to go in directions it wasn't used to.  It was a great challenge.  I can't wait to see what Nicky's final piece looks like!

So, one more set of blocks for Sew Bee Blissful and I'm done for July.  Can't wait for that little parcel of fabric to arrive!

Do.Good Stitches: April Block

April is kicking off with a rockin' block!

Lynne (of Lily's Quilts) has set out to donate 50 quilts this year to Siblings Together, a summer camp bringing siblings in care together.  With 50 quilts, each child attending the camp can bring a quilt home with them.  Isn't that a great idea?  Hop over to Lynne's blog to learn more and find a way you can contribute.  This month, the Care circle of Do.Good Stitches will be donating two quilts to Siblings Together.

The lovely Annabella is organizing us this month.  She asked for a pair of Japanese x and + blocks in super scrappy mode.  I was totally excited!

So, using this tutorial, I made two of these:

Don't they look happy together on the line?

They were super fun and easy to make, so if you have not already given one a try, I suggest you do ASAP.  Annabella, thanks for organizing us!   I truly enjoyed making this month's blocks!

Do.Good Stitches March Block

I am in love with this block.  Love it, love it, love it!

This was our CARE circle's Do.Good Stitches block.  It was requested by Kat of Diary of a Flutter Kat to be donated to her local charity, Blankets of Love.  I really like what Kat does with this group, so this is not my first contribution.

We used Kat's tutorial, but modified it to use 5 inch blocks instead of 4 inch.  This made each block nearly large enough to be a baby quilt of its own.

I tried to use blues, greens, purples; all boy-ish colors.  I always feel bad for the little guys as we girly quilters tend to flock to reds, pinks, yellows in our scrap piles and create feminine quilts.  So, this one is for the little men out there who need a little help keeping warm.

Thanks for organizing this month, Kat!  I really enjoyed this one.

Irish Creativity with Listen To The Birds Sing

Have you been over to Listen To The Birds Sing today?  Karen is hosting a series of guest posts from crafty Irish bloggers highlighting the talent and creativity we share in this country.  I am the lucky one to post just before St Patrick's Day!  (Ironic being an American and all....)

We will be talking about blogs, bees, guilds and swaps....things we all love!  Come on over and chatter with us!

February Bee Blocks (Part 1)

This weekend was just fantastic!  I spent a good bit of it focusing on my bee blocks for this month.  Want to see what folks are asking for?

In my Sew & Bee Happy bee, folks request a block that each hive member makes from their stash alone.  Kat had requested a monochromatic block with a little white wonky star for her picnic quilt.  She gave us a list of colors to choose from so we're not all making similar blocks.  I chose dark/royal blue for my block:

Over in Sew Bee Blissful, Sarah had requested a scrappy rainbow starflower design using a fantastic tutorial by Ellison Lane Quilts.  The great thing about this tutorial is for very little additional effort you get two blocks instead of just one.  So, Sarah will get a pair of these:

And finally (for the Part 1 of this post) I made two blocks for the Care circle of Do.Good Stitches.  Dolores was looking for a pair of complementary blocks in a green (olive, lime, teal, avocado) that were made with matching fabric.  For this, we used a sawtooth star tutorial by Purl Bee.

Stars are big right now apparently :)  I loved making each and every one of these.  In Part 2 of the bee catch up there will be....wait for it....more stars!  Eeekk!  This is so exciting :)

Do.Good Stitches Starflower

This is my first month in the Care Circle of Do.Good Stitches and I am overly excited.  I have been watching these beautiful blocks on flickr for months now waiting for my turn and it's finally come!  We have a fantastic group of ladies, so I look forward to giggling with them and learning as we go.

This month we were to make two starflower blocks from a tutorial by Modify Tradition using a white background with red and aqua petals.  Humm...red is abundant in my stash so no problem there.  But aqua?  A little more difficult for me.

I went for a red solid here as the aqua print (which HAD to be used due to my limitations) was a bit busy.  I like this block a whole lot.

This tutorial really looks best with non-directional prints, but the combination of aqua and non-directional was just too much to ask of my little stash.  So I really REALLY tried to get my HSTs oriented appropriately so all of my aqua drops were spinning in the same direction....worked for two petals, but not the other two!  Argh.  Still, much to my surprise, it doesn't bother me much in this block.  I think the little white dots dazzle me to distraction :)

Well, Care Circle ladies, I hope they're up to your standard and I can't wait to see the pieced top.  It's going to be spectacular.

Do. Good Stitches!!!!

I am over the top excited!  I signed up to join Do. Good Stitches several months ago.  Months went by.  Nothing.  I would check nearly weekly to see if I was assigned to a hive, but no news.  Sad, sad me. 

But not today!  I was assigned to the best hive EVER!  It's called Care and is hosted by the totally creative Karen (McGinty & Me, Listen To The Birds Sing).  She will rock as queen bee.  Along with Karen, our quilters are Kat (Diary of a Flutter Kat) and Annabella (Life's Rich Pattern), my old bloggy friends.  You know this is going to be great fun once these girls join in.  Lucky for me, though, there are also new-to-me folks too, so they will be friends soon enough :)  Hi Labour of Love and KristinPaton!

I feel most comfortable in a stitcher's position until I really understand what's happening in Do.Good Stitches. I am joined with my new-to-me friends, stitchers Lucy Fleur, Daisy & Jack, Nutterbug (love that name!), and Three Honeybees.  We are each to make two 12.5x12.5" blocks every month as designed by the mama quilter.  The blocks are to be made from my stash, so I am really looking forward to digging through and re-visiting my favorite fabrics.

Yippee!  Happy days!  If you have not already signed up for this bee, do go over to Do.Good Stitches on flickr and fill in the super easy form.  See you there!