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.

Long Overdue Bee Blocks

To my shame, I still have four bee blocks owed to hive members from 2014.  Time just got away from me.  I am grateful to have finished off two of them this past weekend, leaving only two to go.

These blocks were made from fabric that was given to me by the queen herself, Anneliese.  Using her tutorial, they were combined to create lots of HSTs with her LV prints used as background and a fussy cut center.

Sadly, the second fussy cut was a bit off center, so we lost a head.  I assembled the block so it would be easy to replace this piece if you so choose, queenie.

I am quite pleased to say they are in the post on the way to you, Anneliese.  Hope they arrive safely.

Quick Strip Paper Piecing: A Craftsy Class

I love paper piecing.  I love the crisp points and the amazing designs you can create that would be a nightmare with traditional piecing.  I do not dig the ridiculous waste of fabric.  This waste has put me off making a larger project using paper piecing.  

I decided to take a Craftsy class on paper piecing to learn a few tricks.  Just before Christmas their classes were on sale, so I figured it's my best time to try out my first one.  I registered for Quick Strip Paper Piecing taught by Peggy Martin.  She's a good teacher with complete instruction, easy to follow printouts and clear videos.  At time it's a bit too basic, but that would make the class quite accessible for a very early stage quilter.

The idea is to strip piece your blocks to both save time and reduce waste.  The patterns are included in the class and are pre labelled with measurements and arrows to dictate the direction of your sewing to make your life SO EASY.  I'm loving it.  

The pattern I'm using here is the easiest one in the class where you sew only straight lines.  The mindlessness makes super sewing after a day at work.  The class does include more complex compass blocks and a New York Beauty that I will tackle in the near future.  Her instructions on the video make it look do-able.

For fabric, I'm using the Mimosa line and Kona Ash from the shop.  I would normally have used a white/cream, but I didn't want the points of the yellow blocks to be lost if a piece of white flower randomly was pieced next to the Kona white/cream.  Ash it is, then.

As for waste, there still is some.  It's in no way the amount of waste that I would expect from making six blocks the traditional way.  This is all of it....  not bad, right? 

I have decided to make a quilt top of 9 blocks so that you can see the secondary pinwheels appearing between the primary yellow blocks.  For now it lives on the design wall in little 1/4 block pieces.   With any luck I'll have a finished top to show you within the week!

Cushion Cover Tester Block

Thank you all for your suggestions for Mom's birthday cushion covers!  They were incredibly helpful, giving me ideas of fabric combinations that I never would have seen myself.  You guys are amazing.

To give you an update, I found some Spraytime fabric to match Dad's quilt, which is total luck as most of the colors I used in 2011 are no longer available.  I could not get every fabric I used, but four is more than enough for a pieced cushion cover.

In January I picked up a few French General prints to coordinate with Mom's quilt.  That's easier to do as French General never really strays from the same color combination, but instead only varies the pattern they're printing.  Easy. Peasy. 

I have to say, they tone together much better than I thought they would.  That floral French General print has a deep chocolate brown and a mossy green that brings the two lines together.  

Never {ever} thought I'd type that sentence.

With instructions from Sarah, I made a tester block that I like quite a bit.  I think it brings the two quilts together pretty well without being too busy (at Mom's request).  I think I will make another using the French General cream instead of the Spraytime cream as the background fabric.  

If I like that, I will finish off a second and will add on borders bringing them to 18 inches square.  We are well on our way now, ladies!  Thanks a mil, Sarah!  

Oops! Forgot this one!

I completely forgot to tell you about this bit of happiness.  A finish!  I have not had a finish in ages.

I had a orphan block from my Twinkle Twinkle bee quilt that joined me in Jen Kingwell's hand quilting class at the Fat Quarterly retreat.  I recently spent evenings echo quilting the star, straight line quilting the red boarder and then quilting triangles into the outer pink boarder.

I then was stuck.  The star needed more, but it took me ages to find inspiration.  Or for inspiration to find me.  Eventually I remembered that I had stencils for orange peels so I thought I would give them a try between the star points.  And they worked!

The back is an envelope closure of teal blue, coordinating with the front.  This is my first cushion cover, so I could not envision how it would come together.  Now that I have one down, I think I could try a zip in my next version. 

And so it lives on the living room couch.  It has been napped on, curled up on and snuggled by the dog.  It adds a super spot of color and makes me happy every time I see it.  Needless to say, I'm already plotting my next!

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 Quilters of Ireland {Bee Blessed Blocks}

There is SO much to tell you from this past weekend, but I can not get my brain together to write a full post including all of the hoo-ha.  You see, on Saturday several ladies from the Modern Quilters of Ireland came together in Galway for a day of stitching.  I will tell you all about it in time.

Those of us gathering for the mini-retreat decided to come together and create a quilt top for Bee Blessed.  We decided on a scrappy sampler blocks in blues and greens with white background.  I am just delighted with what the ladies created.  Want to see?

Such a super array of blues and greens, but they work so very well together.  I think so at least.  Great variety in block choice too!

I'm going to put the top together with white sashing, blue and green corner stones and then I'll put on borders.  I already know one border I want to use that's new in the shop.  Can't wait to get cutting!

As you will quickly figure out, there are 13 blocks in total.  That makes for a funny shaped quilt.  I would love to have a 4 block x 4 block layout.  Would anyone else in the MQGI want to send on a blue and green block to be included?

Galway breeze go the best of my churn dash there in the upper left.
You can imagine what that corner looks like...very similar to the other three.  

I'm looking for 3 more blocks that are 12.5 x 12.5 unfinished (12 inches finished).  If you are interested in sending one (or two...or three) to me, please leave a comment below and I will send to you my postal address.

UPDATED: I have volunteers for the three additional blocks we need.  Thanks so much, ladies!

Modern Quilters of Ireland, this is going to be absolutely beautiful.  Thank you so very much for your effort.  What a stunner we will make together!

Mini Star Quilt Finish

A short post to say hello and show you a little mini quilt finish.  I recently dug through my unfinished projects cabinet and found an old test block that I had started to hand quilt.  Are you ready for how long ago I started this?  The text block was in 2012 and I started hand quilting it as part of my 2013 Fat Quarterly Retreat classes.  Goodness how time flies.  Anyway, it was tucked away and I completely forgot about it.  

So I brought it along with me for a weekend of camping.  There I finished hand stitching it and hand stitched the binding onto the back.  I washed it when we got home and it kind of warped a bit (upper left corner).  I think I'll give it a press (can you press out wonkiness?) and will pop it up on the sewing room wall.  Happy happy happy little finish!  

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.

Bee Blessed: June

When Judith posted her mosaic for her accomplishments in May, I saw a pretty little block there tucked into the upper left hand corner.  Ooo...isn't that pretty?  I must look into that pattern - it would be fun to make!  

But wait!  Wait!  Lucky for me, it's this month's Bee Blessed block!  You can click on over to Sarah's blog to see the details, but long story short these blocks were made with this tutorial.

Much to my dismay, with all of these seams they ask you to use a scant quarter inch seam.  Will I ever escape?  I took your advice from my last disaster and moved my needle one point to the right.  It absolutely made my seams smaller, but not so small I was nervous they'd unravel when Judith received them.

That said, they are barely the right size.  A little small, I think, but totally usable.  I very much look forward to seeing this top finished.  There are several ways you could arrange these with a wide variety of patterns created.  I can't wait to see what final layout they choose to use.  Another great choice in block, ladies!

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