January Bee Blocks

Taking a break for the holidays and doing a little sewing for myself has done a world of difference.  I've just whipping out the bee blocks that I have arrive at my door.  

Here's a rundown of all the blocks that are out the door before of the end of the month deadline.

Threadheads

The lovely gockfrocks (blogs over here) sent us pre-cut japanese x and + scrappy blocks.

 

This was so super easy I was shocked! I won't be mailing this off yet as I might have to throw in a few more just because.  She sent me three lovely blocks for my month of being queen bee a few months back.

Aqua and Red

fqnb (she blogs over here) asked for a lovely block, not only is this block wonderful but she had her fabrics pre-cut.  So simple. Some DS Quilts fabric might be included in this package back over the sea.

The second January Queen Bee [dreamfctry] (she blogs over here) let me make her a Swoon block.  I posted about that here.  Oh course I want to show it off again.



Ohhhh Swoon!

Aqua and Orange

betc1978  (blogs over at here) sent some lovely fabric.  She was looking for some blocks inspired by Denyse Schmidt's drunk love log cabin quilt. We used this tutorial.



I constructed these at the same time.  And I didn't have enough to finish either but I'm sure Betsy will finish them up at home.

Sew Modern Bee

Our January Queen Bee ask for HST blocks.  And I put my hand up to make two blocks.  Especially when the smaller HST's were already squared up.  Ohhhh Pretty!

 

This larger HST was super easy compared to the above block. I'm enjoying HST's and how crisp they can be.

   

{HST Queen I'm telling ya!}

{Sew Bee It}

foxflower asked for presents.  She sent some lovely fabrics for her blocks.  We used this tutorial. I got to make these with with Jovanna on our sewing day.  Jovanna dealt with me bringing out my new old machine.  It was super fun to sew these blocks together, mix fabrics, and try out my new old machine. 

Orange you Glad

I was able to sew a spiderweb block for Vegetarian Hunter (she blogs over here). This block went a lot faster than my first attempt.

~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~

And since one of my bee's Twice as Nice has officially ended, I might have joined in a new bee/swap group called Bee a {Modern} Swapper.  It's a swap and a stash bee.  Oh gads it's something different for sure.

By the way, if you want to see me freak out just wait and see. . I have 3 bee's I'm Queen Bee and will be sending out fabric for in April.  I still have NO clue what I'm going to have everyone make me. The options are not endless anymore I'm kinda at a loss of what I want.

Made in Cherry Progress Report 1

I picked out this lovely stack of fabrics specifically for the Made in Cherry QAL (blogged about previously here). 

And while some of these had to be swapped out because of quality most of them are the same.  I decided to spray starch ALL of these fabrics before cutting into them.  What a pain to pre-measure, what a lot of starch, a lot of ironing {not my favorite}, what a dream to cut, what a dream to sew.  Totally worth those hours of preparation.

 

I was able to construct the entire center 100 squares of the center.  I'm making the larger version with 5" squares.
  

The above photo is only 1/4 of the center as now I'm working on the points. So, as you can see the top point is pretty cool, and I now see the left one needs help! This is taking up a lot of room on my design wall. I'm so happy!

I told my fella this quilt was for him.  It's so large that it will be for our bed, but it's still his. He was so happy it made it very apparent that I need to make him a lap quilt soon.  Ever since I've been making things he is getting more into my hobby.  I {heart} my fella!

There are a few other people in this QAL.  Go check out Chelsea by clicking the button or the flickr group by clicking here.

What do you do when your iced in?

In my little part of the world we have freezing rain not only closing school but preventing my family of three stuck in the house.  What would you do?  My fella and I are lucky enough that we could complete the most of our jobs from home.  And the 12-year old has been amazing! Fingers crossed the ice melts and we can prevent cabin fever.

With ice all around I'm still basking that I'm pod famous!  Yep I've been mentioned in a podcast a few times!  I am super lucky to tweet with some amazing gals! The usual line up recently have included Jenna – SewHappyGeek,  Bonnie – Beeclef, Melissa - CraftyMamaD, and  Susan - HQSuz. Susan is super talented and had a podcast and she just celebrated her one-year anniversary of her podcast!  Look at her go!  Check out Susan’s blog and listen to her podcast over at – The History Quilter.

While dealing with the ice storm I've been able to SEW!  I finished up my first Swoon Block!  I'm so excited!  In my Aqua and Red Bee our January Queen Bee Bek indulged me and let me sew her a Swoon Block for her.  HST cower at my feet I tell you!  I need to master flying geese next!

So here's Bek's block with a comparison of a Japanese x & + tiny block next to it!  This is one big block.

 

I believe I'm in ♥

So a random question to fellow starch lovers.  Have you used Sta-Flo?  I LOVE how easy and quickly any pieced block go together with starch but I may go broke if I continue to use Best Press.

I'll show you all my January Bee Blocks soon. . yep I'm officially done before the month is even over.  Now to get to the post office - that is after the ice melts.

Spider legs

***Edited below***

There must have been a few of these that I blocks that I saw online. It got into my subconscious and I had to make it. I knew I could make it work for my 4x5 bee blocks.  A little bit of traditional but using my modern fabric {rarrr} I made 6 of these lovely things, as I actually made one for myself . 

I am surprised how practice makes perfect.  I'm becoming an HST queen.  Okay I'm not perfect but the points are getting way better.

 

Handfulofboys wanted purple (magenta) and orange and background of medium grey.

 

cbmauro8 wanted tangerine, aqua, & grey

 

i like orange, too {she blogs over here} wanted orange, aqua/teal, lime-citron

 

HandmadeRetro {she blogs over here} wanted red with white background

I really like this one!

 

For Michelle from CityHouseStudio {she blogs over here} wanted tan/khaki, brown, rich red/wine
My fella really liked this one!

And this is what has become my block.  Not exactly the color pallet, of aqua, green, grey, but it's going to tie in very well with the other blocks that other's have make for me. 

I can't wait to show you all the blocks I've received from my two quarters of 4x5 beemates. 

And a huge shout out to the above ladies for being such a great hive to be caretaker for.

*Edit*

A huge shout out to Heather that blogs over at Crafting ... for pointing many of you here.

As for a tutorial -

I learned what this block is really called.  It's called a flyfoot block. 

You can find some paper pieced directions but you can also find some over here:http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FlyfootBlock.html

I didn't have a pattern . . and wasn't into paper piecing at that point in time.

Basically making 4 HST's of each color combo.  I used 4" blocks of the color + background as I want a little wiggle room for squaring up. Then I trimmed each HST block to 3.5" squares.  Then arranged at will.

Make sense?

I was way too lazy to make flying geese! But you could do that do.. oh the math hurts.

Jenna of Sew Happy Geek has done a similar tutorial, just change the layout and the colors during her last
quilt along.  The block that would be most helpful can be found here.

Hope that helps

*****

Quilting Table

I took a machine quilting class waaaaay back in September. And just this last week I have this beauty walk in my door. 

~~~~~Ahhhhhhh~~~

I was squealing like a little girl when the UPS guy left it on my front deck. 



I'm excited about the new clear quilting table. Seriously how are you supposed to take a photo of something see through. Okay - whatever!  :) I love it! 

I got this from Sew Steady.  And because I was a facebook friend I got 25% off the table.  See, facebook is good for something!

I feel like I'm a real quilty girl now!  Now I have to say the test run that I did with this - I so need to get some practice pieces under my belt before I tackle a quilt. 

Oh yeah I also need a new chair!  My current sewing chair is way too short.  This hobby is really hard on the pocketbook! 

Cancer $uck$

I have a local group of ladies that are gathering blocks for a breast cancer fundraiser awareness quilt.

This is going to be a sample quilt, a trend that I'm running into a bit lately.  

Here's my 'Cancer $uck$' block - that's my name for it at least.

It's my Blocks for Boobies block.  There is a splash of blue in for a reminder men get breast cancer as well.

Thanks Jenna for the block inspiration!!

Babies, babies, and more babies

Visiting some very special people in my life.  Actually many of my bff's from college - all in one place at the same time.  I have to admit I'm spoiled!  One of them is having a baby boy. I've come to realize I really only know how to sew for girls. . so this is a whole new learning experience for me! 

First thing I did is bought something for the little one {Of course I didn't take a photo myself before giving it away}. I ordered an awesome onsie just like this larger shirt from Lindsey.  She has a shop over here.  You can go look at her flickr photos to see what kinda things she's making.  SUPER talented I'm telling ya. Seriously the cutest things ever!

I also get to make things for the first boy out of my group of friends.  The other night I finished this up the Ribbed Baby Jacket. 

This really was a quick knit.  And in orange this is SO my friend!  It looks so TINY!  I hope that the baby gets to wear it more than once. Actually the deal will be that ALL her children have to wear this at least once.  I'm hoping for more than one baby from all my girlfriends! I admit I live vicariously through my friends.

This silly thing took me over a year and a half to finish!  What took me the longest was sewing up the side seams.  I completed on side with a 3 needle bind-off.  THIS HURT so bad!  It hurt me so much that this is why I had to stop knitting anything for 3+ months and I only had one side done.  Thankfully I found the Kitchener stitch last month.  This is way better for my hands and my self esteem. 

Good thing I found someway to finish this up!  The baby is due at the end of this month! 

Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL Blocks 1&2

Jenna posted her tutorials up for Sew.Happy.Quilt Quilt Along.  Photos immediately started showing up.  And I couldn't wait to break into my fabrics I picked out.

Blocks 1 & 2 tutorials are posted with amazing instruction along with photos are found.  I love being able to work off of photos!

Here are my two blocks.

Woven

Snowball

My fella is drawn to the snowball block.  This would be a lovely {easy} quilt all on it's own!  

I'm so happy for Sew.Happy.Geek! These are the first time I got to sew these blocks.  I love it.

I have these hanging on my design wall in my sewing room.  They are so bright and cheery this is going to be fun to make this whole sampler quilt!

Check out Jenna by clicking the button.  Or the flickr group (70 people strong) found here.






Tonight I really need to work on some other blocks that have deadlines coming up soon.  Lalalalala! What are you working on?  

 

Sewing for myself

I caught up for the immediate bee blocks that were due last year.  So happy to be caught up! 

I actually got to sew for myself a bit.  I finally finished my own block from the 4x5 Modern Bee 2011 Quarter 3.  Yep I was lacking on things for me.  I do this a bit too often.  

I'm pulling fabric for the 4x5 Modern Bee 2011 Quarter 4 blocks that are due January 15. 

If you are interested in this 4x5 Modern Bee go check out the flickr site, there is 2012 Quarter 1 Sign-up's going until 1.7.12

I'm pulling out of this bee myself.  I need to find a more positive atmosphere.  I think I'm extra sensitive at the moment as I have a 12-year old step-daughter in the house.  It's a roller-coaster people!

~~~

So I wanted to rant a smidge and maybe some of you would have some enlightening words.  I love being able to follow my favorite blogs. I, currently, use Google Friend Connect along with Google Reader.  I've been having issues with these. When I become a follower of a new blog, it doesn't take.  And not only does it not make me a follower but then it's not added into my Google Reader.

I'm apparently a flake.  If I don't see them in Google Reader I don't remember to go visit their site. I'm missing out on some of my potentially favorite bloggers. 

My remedy is that I've just started adding my new peeps on to both sites. It's time consuming but I HOPE that it takes.

So a call out. . does anyone have any helpful suggestions?  Is there a better "reader" out there.

Thanks ♥  in advanced!

Early on 2012 Quilt Along's

What a great year this will be!

How do I know?  I'm participating in two totally awesome quilt along's right off the bat!  There are the past ones I need to finish up but I'm going to try to get these two done while they are being published.  I think that may help in the motivation/encouragement.

With that I'm going to sign myself up for TWO QAL's start this month.  Both have seriously awesome leaders!

Jenna who blogs over at Sew Happy Geek is hosting the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL. She's a doll and mocked up a few layouts!  Yipee.

Here are the fabrics I'm going to use.

I chose these fabrics with the help of Jeni over at In Color Order her Art of Choosing series and my trusty color wheel.

I'm excited as this QAL should go pretty fast as it's a sampler block layout.

We start January 3. Go check our the QAL info or the ever growing flickr group.

The second QAL is with Chelsea who blogs over at Pins and Bobbins I'm so excited!  I adore Chelsea and I peeked over at the pattern and I need someone to hold my hand through this QAL. 

I picked these out and my fella commented how nice these were - a few times. Looks like I'll be making the larger version.  Eeep! 

I'm excited to start this January 13. 

Go check our Chelsea's blog for more info or join us at the flickr group.

Here's to less bee blocks in 2012 and more quilty finishes.