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.

Miscellaneous Monday

Megan's Star blocks made by the We Bee Modern Too bee (so far).

1. Megan's Star Block, 2. WBM2_October, 3. Bee Modern. October 2012, 4. We bee modern too october block, 5. Megan's Star Block, 6. We Bee Modern Too, October block, 7. We Bee Modern Too - October 2012, 8. We Bee Modern Too - October 2012, 9. October Block for We Bee Modern Too

My secret sewing was...yes, you guessed it...for Susan! An early Christmas tote.

...and here's the back.

A big bundle of blues and neutral solids from Pink Castle - to hopefully become a monochromatic improv. pieced quilt for my Godson James.

A quick, simple and small tote for a pink loving 7 year old neice.

...and here's the back.

A sneaky peek of my EPP for the Travellin' PicStitch Blog Hop on Wednesday.

Happy Guy Fawkes!

Starry Eyed

I'm Miss October in the bee based around the book Modern Blocks, We Bee Modern Too.

Bees can be like swaps...you can forget that one day blocks will be winging their way to you. So it's fun when they do.

I chose Megan's Star.  Like many things in the quilty corner of the blogosphere, I'm a little late to the star party but the beauty of bees is that you can choose a block that perhaps you wouldn't choose yourself. I asked for Megan's stars in jewel tones.

Despite a huge energy slump, I managed to make this block - for me!!

And this one too!

...and here they are cozying up together waiting for their friends to arrive.  They will have a long wait as the blocks are going to my mum's in England...I couldn't bear for them to get lost! Having seen the blocks made by my fellow bee members I'm excited to see them all together and I'm so gald now that I chose this block!

This is a really straightforward block to make but despite this, I had a complete brain f**t when I came to attaching the triangles to the central square of the first block.  I cut the two green sqaures and then cut them diagonally in to 4 squares as directed.  The next instuction was to join the opposite sides right side together.  I kind of got it in to my head that I had to attach them flying geese style and in that case why wasn't I using squares?  I just couldn't work out how to join them. I know.  Crazy right?  I even googled the block to see how many other people had experienced the same problem.

Guess how many??

NONE BECAUSE THEY ALL HAVE BRAINS!!!

I'm ashamed to admit that I only got past the first step because someone had done a tutorial for the block and had used pictures for each step.

Left brain, right brain....no brain!

Bee Blocks & Bunting

It's Friday!!  I'm not sure why I am particularly  happy about this fact as my days seem to merge in to one another and sometimes I lose track of exactly which day it is but perhaps it's having a couple of days off the exhausting nudging the 4 year old off to pre-school routine in the morning.

Anyway, last month when we were back in England, my bestie's daughter asked if I would make her some bunting in pastel colours. She's not a girly girl and so I majored on blue and green stripes and dots with a little bit of pink thrown in for good measure.

I'm a little late to the bunting party...who knew it was so fun, quick and easy to make?  I fear I may be a little on the old side for bunting but it certainly cheered our bedrooml up.

Bee blocks have been their usual plentiful self...well that's what happens when you are in (gulp) 5 bees.

First up is this Follow the Leader block for Sarah in the We Bee Modern Bee - a bee which uses blocks from the Modern Blocks book.   Sarah wanted us to use browns, yellows, oranges and reds with a hint of green so that her blocks would look like falling leaves.  Clever! I panicked a little as these are not colours I readily have to hand..well apart from green.  Luckily and not for the first time, my rainbow charms came in to their own and saved the day.

Next were Sea Glass blocks for Helen in the first month of a new bee, Sew Euro Bee-An.  Helen sent us some Kona snow, some Kona Poseidon colours for the border and some pretty scraps in blues, greens and pinks....and yes, there were some batiks in there. The borders could be any size we wanted and we were to place 1-2" coloured blocks in a random fashion.

It was also my turn to make a block for Helen this month in the mystery bee, Stitch Tease. Helen asked for wonky stars of various sizes in bright colours against a background of kona ash.  Here's a sneaky peek of her block which measures 24.5"

Lastly, it was Kris' turn as quilter in the Care Circle of do.Good Stitches.  She asked for Liberated Churn Dash blocks in jewel coloured blues and greens using this tutorial.  These were my first Churn Dash blocks and they were fun to make as they included foundation piecing and that was also a first for me.

It's my turn as quilter in the Care Circle next month and I have still to come up with a plan although I saw Svetlana's Shoo Fly quilt today and I'm thinking that block could make a great quilt for our circle. She's helpfully given a great tutorial.  It's also my turn as queen bee in the We Bee Modern bee next month and I have yet to choose my block...mainly because my real favourites have already been picked. It will be fun to receive some blocks next month....for me!

Anyway, have a great weekend whatever you are up to!

Bees in Granny`s Flower Garden & a Giveaway!

We`re back!  We`re in England.  We`ve escaped the incessant high temperatures, leaving poor hubby behind, although we clearly brought a little with us in our suitcase as it has been beautiful the last few days.

As promised, I have a back to blogging (well almost) belated 300 followers pre-birthday giveaway but first, let me tell you what I`ve been up to or just scroll straight to the bottom and look at the pictures!

Before we left Morocco, I dragged the machine out of its summer hibernation and fulfilled a couple of bee obligations.

First up was a stargazing block for Nicole in the We Bee Modern Too - a bee using blocks from Modern Blocks.  Nicole sent us all fabric from Kate Spain`s Joy collection. The block is made up of 3 different sized wonky stars and Nicole asked us to alternate the points of the stars in red and green.

It was a little strange making a Christmas block in Morocco in August but here it is - ready to be mailed off to Nicole.

Next up were blocks for Dolores who is queen bee for August in the Care Circle of do.Good Stitches.  Dolores asked for granny squares in hot pink, orange and yellow.  I love grannies as the effect outweighs the effort involved but this was a challenge as I had very little yellow and most of my orange had been used in my hexies.  I did however have pink. I then remembered the Silent Cinema FQs I had bought back in May and I`m hoping that the yellow prints will be okay for Dolores.

 My aqua, orange and grey hexie flowers continue to grow - I`m loving the slow relaxed progress. Here are some of the latest to join grannies flower garden...

...and here is a close up of the variagated versions using up the fabric which I love but don`t have enough of to make a whole flower.

...and lastly, here are some gorgeous fabrics which the lovely Susan generously donated to my hexie quilt and which came all the way from Australia in a record breaking 3 days!!  So I won`t hear a bad word against Aussie post anymore.  Thank you Susan - I love them!

Now you`ve been patient enough. Let`s get down to the giveaway. I was looking around the UK fabric shops for something to give away and then I saw this fabulous bundle of loveliness in Cindy`s gorgeous shop. A fat quarter stack of eight Kona solids -  Kona Basil, Teal, Turquoise, Peacock, Azure, Bahama blue, Lime and Jade..

Under the Palm Tree FQ Bundle (photo - Fluffy Sheep Quilting)

I love this bundle of cool sea colours and the name just spoke to me. I may just have to go back and buy a bundle for me! I would love to make an improv.pieced quilt using these.

So you have 3 chances to win - no hoops.

1. Leave a comment about what you are making right now.
2. If you are a follower, leave a comment and say so.
3. For an extra chance, tweet or blog about the giveaway and come back and tell me.

That`s it!  I shall post anywhere after choosing a winner on my birthday - that`s next Tuesday August 28 (there`s always a bank holiday in honour of it don`t you know).  Good luck! (Make sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger.)





TTFN

Just to prove I haven`t been a total lazy wotzit since I arrived in England, I made a block for Megan today - she`s the queen bee of We Bee Modern Too and May was her month.

In this bee, we make blocks from the book Modern Blocks - this is the Mondrian block using Megan`s colours pink, red, orange, yellow and a hint of green.  The sashing is Kona charcoal and the 5 inch block is Kona white.

Just before I left Morocco, I made 2 blocks for Kristin who was queen bee last month in the Care Circle for do.Good Stitches.  She wanted scrappy herringbone blocks for a quilt which will be donated to a women`s shelter.

I mentioned yesterday that I received lots of happy mail upon my return from a couple of days away!  I`m bowled over by the genorosity in this soft and squishy corner of blogland.  These were gifts to help me feel like I had been at the retreat. Look what I got?

This lovely cathedral window`s pin cushion from Catherine who hangs out in `Jamland` - Tiptree in Essex! I love the cool colours - they shall come in handy upm my return to the firey furnace.

this gorgeous mini needle case and +x brooch from Hadley, which are cute beyond words!

these lovely FQs from Kerry which I shall make in to something for Zaki along with other lovely Robert Kaufman FQs I received from Susan and Ceri...

and this amazing package from Ceri, which included a gorgeous bag, Oakshott and Robert Kaufman fabric, gorgeous scraps and a very exclusive tape measure bracelet (which only members of the Brit Bee have - shhhhh), Aurifil thread and other yummies. I made a very simple and totally unimpressive name tag for Ceri - my only excuse is that I was feeling very below par but this totally outweighs my effort.

So thank you Catherine, Hadley, Kerry and Ceri - you have made me feel like I was in London with you and all the other amazing retreaters and I really hope that will be the case next year!

Now I just have to do some mailing and packing before we leave at 6AM (hardly worth going to bed really) on Wednesday morning.  Our visit here started in the sun and ended in the rain but it`s all good.

Here are a couple of my favourite photos from our visit here,

Waiting for a pony ride

Paddling at Charmouth Beach

Lovely smiley Susan

A finish! The Siblings Together quilt

Face painting at the local fete

Our holiday is nearly over now - see you a bit nearer the equator!

Third Time Lucky

4x5 Modern Quilt Bee blocks for Hive 4

With the little person on his school hols, there hasn`t been much sewing time. I have however squeezed under the wire with my 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee blocks for the 1st quarter - the Four Acres block from Modern Blocks. These are my last blocks for this bee for the time being.  I haven`t signed up for the 2nd quarter as I have enough going on but who knows, it may be something I shall go back to later in the year.

The postman made a welcome return after a week or so`s absence.  I seem to be waiting on lots of stuff at the moment, and when I returned from lunch out with hubby and said little person there were a couple of packages waiting.

Quick Curve Ruler

 Jenny`s curved ruler showed up.  The third to be exact. You may recall the first arrived cracked.  When I told Jenny, she immediately emailed back saying she had already posted another. Well the second arrived - cracked in exactly the same place.  When I told Jenny about the second one, she immediately responded saying she had sent another and would keep sending them until one arrived in the perfect condition it was sent. Well butter fingers in the mail room must have been on his hols and nothing to do with Jen`s harder to get into than Fort Knox packaging but the third has arrived in pristine condition. Her rulers are beautifully packaged and are marked `Fragile` more than once.

As I opened my ruler today, I thought to myself, if this baby is broken I`ll just tell Jenny it`s okay.  Phew.  I was saved from having to fib.  This is beyond amazing customer service from Jenny.   Thank you so much! She even snuck in her Urban Birthday pattern.  Thank you!  I can`t wait to make something using the ruler.  There are some great designs coming out of the Designer Challenge on the Fat Quarterly blog here using Jenny`s rulers.

We Bee Modern Too Lemons & Limes block for Caroline

Here`s April`s block in the We Bee Modern Too bee - the Lemons and Limes block for Caroline. That pink stripey fabric is so pretty.

I also received this book in the post today, which I ordered after seeing it on Katy`s blog. I`m hoping it`s going to teach me some embroidery stitches for my partner`s name tag in the FQ Retreat Name Tag Swap.  I have known about my partner for a few weeks now but have been like a rabbit in headlights.  Let`s just say she is funny, uber talented and very generous.  I know - it seems like that description could just about be anyone right?

On the subject of the FQ Retreat, which is now only a few weeks away, I`m hoping to book my flight tonight and then it really will seem like I`m going!

Boxed In

Boxed In Block from the book Modern Blocks

I`m so enjoying being part of the bee, We Bee Modern Too, where we make blocks from the book Modern Blocks compiled by Susanne Woods. This block is called Boxed In and was designed by Faith Jones.  It`s for Heather who asked us to make it in solid red, black, white and grey or in fabrics which would read as solids. Heather will be making the blocks up in to a charity quilt for a pre-teen or adolescent boy. This block is super easy but very striking. I  quite fancy making a quilt from this block myself - in solids.  My new love.

Trying to get as many things ticked off my list before we go to the airport this evening to collect my mum!