Great Big Kisses and other Things

Last year I had a severe case of beeitis and found myself in 5, yes 5 bees. It became too much and I found myself having little time to make anything other than bee blocks. I stepped down from do.Good Stitches at the end of last year and We Bee Modern Too, a bee based on the blocks in the boook 99 Modern Blocks came to an end at the end of January.  Stitch Tease is winding up; I have posted off the last strip and now have to make just one more before assembling all the blocks (which are amazing!!) and post it to the lucky receipient.

So while Stitch Tease will emerge in a different guise later in the year, I am now in a much more manageable two bees - Sew Euro Bee An and an English Paper Piecing bee, EEEEP EPP Bee.

So what have I learned about bees?  Well,that some blocks are...

...challenging but make you try something new like this paper-pieced block for Colby in the We Bee Modern Too bee.  Colby asked for the Just Jack block designed by Lynne.

This was my first attempt at paper piecing and I was a little afraid.  Luckily, Katy reminded me of her Foundation Paper Piecing For the Terrified QAL which was still up on her blog from this time last year.  I had a look at the first couple of posts and dived in posting photos of my progress on Instagram and getting encouragement from Lynne herself and others spurring me on.  Now it wasn't trouble free as I forgot to add the seam allowance on the bottom strip but the main section went together well. If you want to learn about paper piecing then look no further than Katy - she explains everything so clearly. Expect to see more paper piecing - I may just have got the bug!

Some bee blocks are as easy as pie like these Great Big Kiss blocks made from this excellent tutorial by Sarah, for Pippa in the Sew Euro Bee An bee. These blocks were ridiculously straightforward and super quick - they even travelled to France tres vite as they were posted on Monday and have arrived!

Some blocks  look straightforward but still bring Mr. Seam Ripper to visit like this Miss Your Kiss Block for Amelie in the We Bee Modern Too bee. On more than one occasion I inserted the patterned fabric between the HSTs on the bias and not on the straight edge.  Doh.

That for some blocks you begin to lose the will to live wish you had smaller fingers as it is really super fiddly like this English paper pieced block for Marguerite.

 Marguerite has designed a beautiful block but some of the pieces are teensy and challenge my basting skills - the smallest triangle is the length of a quilting between needle. However, looking on the bright side I'm two eighths down and am assured by Jo that things get easier from here.

Some blocks turn out prettier than you hoped like this Stitch Tease pinwheel block for Di measuring
16"x32". I can't show you now but not long to wait - all will be revealed in April.

...and of course you also get bee blocks coming back to you like these Megan Star blocks made by the We Bee Modern Too bee, which I collected from my mum at Christmas.

Conclusion?  Bees are fun but hmm perhaps not 5 of them.

Linking up with TGIFF hosted here this week.

Any Suggestions?

After the euphoria of finishing a quilt so early in the new year, my mind turned to starting something new.  Perhaps using these...

...my 24 FQs of Anna Maria Horner's Field Study.  I bought one of the colourways in the sale from Pink Castle (I think) just before Christmas and my mum bought me another colourway for Christmas. I love AMH's designs and saturated colours and these fabrics make me very very happy.

Perhaps you can help with what to do with them and what solid would work well with them...if I was indeed to use a solid.  I like the idea of just letting the fabric sing, so perhaps simple squares or strips, clamshells or a plus quilt or a swoon...I have had the pattern for ages but done nothing with it? If I do use a solid, it won't be white. So what do you think?

Since returning to Morocco, I have been working on my bee blocks and I still have a few to do.

This month,  Nicole in the Sew Euro Bee An bee asked for 2 X and Plus blocks using grey and black fabrics with an accent colour - red in one...

...and orange in the other

In the mystery round robin bee, Stitch Tease, Hadley asked for a 10"x 60" strip of rectangles and squares in aqua, green, teal, orange and grey with some white for the eye to rest on.  I can only show you a pixelated version as these quilts won't be revealed until April. That's 6 strips down, just 2 to go!

Now the next bee block is very embarrasing.  The EEEEP EPP Bee, an English paper piecing bee, is a very relaxed bee (perhaps too relaxed) with a 2 month trunaround for blocks and back in September Helen requested 2 HST blocks which turned out to be cursed as far as I was concerned.  First, Helen's templates and Kona snow got lost in the post and having no Kona snow I ordered some. Then I was half way through the block and spilled coffe over it. Then there was Christmas and so finally I got to make the first block again (no coffee this time) and it's too big and I'm running out of Kona snow! Gah.

Thank you to Helen who has been so incredibly patient. So next up is trying this block again and trying to get it the right size!

Lazy Day Sunday

I have finished up the first scrappy Lazy Days Lozenge EPP block for Mary in the EEEEP EPP Bee.  If you like English Paper Piecing and want a change from hexies, these are great fun to make although whether I could manage a whole quilt is another thing!

The templates by Lynne are here. After realizing the layout was wrong here and wouldn't tesselate, there was a bit of unpicking to do but I like the end result.  Now for Block 2.

What are you up to this lazy Sunday?

WiP Wednesday

Edited to add ~ the arrangement in the photo is not the correct one.  Note to self: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS~

The end of the month is approaching and that means getting any languishing bee blocks completed and shipped off.

Back in the summer, I joined a new English Paper Piecing (EPP) bee called EEEEP EPP Bee set up by Danielle (DJ Coolbear).  My EPP experience up until then had been basting some hexies for my mum back in the '80s and my hexies this summer. Like with many things in life, I leaped in with 2 feet without thinking about it. Danielle's aim was for a relaxed bee where we would have 2 months to complete each month's blocks.

Lazy Days Lozenge Block 1

August's block is for Mary. She wants 2 scrappy Lazy Days Lozenge blocks by Lynne, the templates for which you can find here.  Mary sent us all some of her own scraps to be mixed with ours and some Kona charcoal for the squares and triangles. Her instructions were that no colour should dominate. They are fun to make, come together pretty quickly and a change from my lovely hexies. While I think I may be taking the whole relaxed vibe too literally, a whole quilt of these will look beautiful.

Linking up with Lee for WiP Wednesday - pop over and see what other people are making.