Spring 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee

After months of waiting I was finally lucky enough to get a spot in the spring round of the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee.  It's hosted on Flickr and happens quarterly so if you miss sign ups you have to wait 3 months to try again (which is exactly what happened to me).

I choose the classic Ohio Star block and tried to make it fun and modern with my fabric placements.  I've been steadily sewing away for the last few days and just managed to finish up my blocks on Sunday.  Here are the finished blocks:

This elephant print is one of the first fabrics I bought when I started quilting a few years ago.  I'm glad to be able to show it off in this block.

Block to keep

I love this tea bag background print.  It's called Tea Bags in Cream, part of the Cream and Sugar collection from Windham Fabrics.  The cream print isn't available any longer but they do have the same pattern printed on bright orange.

Block for Flickr user Karriofberries

I used some long horded little red and white birdies in this block.  I have no idea what project they are from or where/when I got them.

Block for Flickr user 1toefeather1

Found the perfect Kaffe Fassel fabric for this block (and to selfishly use in my pink/yellow quilt as well) called Lotus Leaf in Yellow.

Block for Flickr user Jennicakes

I adore the little sheep/sheep dog fabric in the middle of this quilt.  I've used it in several bee blocks but have yet to use it in anything for myself.  That will have to change soon.

Block for Flickr user Texasquiltinggal

The large scale background worked beautifully in this block.

Block for Flickr user Principiessa

And here are all of the blocks together.

I'm linking up with Stitch by Stich for anything goes mondays.

March Bee Blocks

I finished up my March Bee Blocks today.  I think they're pretty cool!  I will tell you though, having made 9 versions of this block, each with 24 - 2" half square triangles, that I'm over HST for awhile (if you were doing the math in your head that is 216 HST). I signed up for two spots this month, which means I'll get 8 blocks back instead of the usual 4.

You've seen my test block:

Hive 1:

Teal, Coral/Orange, Navy on Low Volume
For Jennifer

Black, White, Various Grey with Hints of Color
For Tiffany

Pink, Red, Teal on White
For Debbie

 This one was hard to photograph.  The background is a beautiful deep purple.

Yellow, Orange, Red with Dark Pink or Purple Background
For Terri

Hive 3:

Sunny Reds, Pinks, Orange, Yellow with Berry Tones on White
For Jocelyn

Red and Grey on White Low Volume
For Tamara

Purple, Cobalt Blue, Kelly Green on White
For Jenn

Coral, Aqua, Mustard on Low Volume
For Renae

I think they look so fun together too.  What do you think?  If you want to make a similar block Amy Friend did post a tutorial awhile back.  She calls this block a "Winged Square".

Linking up with Caroline at Sew Can She for Show off Saturday.

February We Bee Learning Blocks

I had another productive Saturday (and it's not even over yet!).  I worked on blocks for the February We Bee Learning queen bee: Christine.  She asked for wonky pinwheel blocks in green and aqua with accents of grey and yellow.  We used a tutorial by Greenleaf Goods that was super easy to follow.  At first I had a hard time getting into the blocks but once I figured out my rhythm they went quickly.  I hope Christine likes them!

I liked making these so much that I jumped right into working on two mini quilts using the pattern adjusted to 2.5" foundation blocks instead of 3.5".  One will be for me and one will be a gift for a friend who's always 'complaining' about not having a quilt!

I also have to share this advice from Singer, circa 1949.  Thank you to my sister-in-law for sharing it with me.

I laughed out loud when I read it!  How many of us are guilty of sewing over doing dishes or laundry or cooking dinner (I'm guilty!).  I also must confess that I didn't bother putting on real pants on Saturday... sweatpants for the win!  Luckily my husband doesn't care if I'm a hot mess when he gets home, covered in thread and band-aids (because I changed my rotary cutter blade that day).

I did however, give up sewing time on Sunday night to clean our kitchen after we got out stove and fridge in!  We've been without for quite a while, so I was pretty pumped!

I'm linking up with Stitch by Stich for anything goes mondays.

Happy Quilting, let me know if you find French Chalk!

Bee Blocks

I had such a productive sewing weekend!  My husband just started a new job and was away most of the weekend so it freed up plenty of time for me to sit at my machine and jam to the music on the radio and just sew....  ahhhhhhh.........

I signed up for another round of Sew Pieceful, a monthly block sway on Flickr and got my assignments on Friday so I sewed up a test block and pulled some fabric for my  February swap mates.

I decided to use the Christmas Snowflake Block posted earlier in January by the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild.  They are doing a block of the month for 2014 and this was the modified 12" version they shared.  The original is a scrappy 20" version.  This person requested Red and Grey on Black or Text backgrounds.

I pulled rainbow colors for another swap mate to be put on a black background also:

Another swap mate asked for Purple, Yellow, and Orange on low volume backgrounds and I just happened to have this fabric I just picked up!  Isn't it perfect for the background?

I've got more to share but it will have to wait until tomorrow!  I'm linking up with Stitch by Stich for anything goes mondays.

Happy Quilting!

Sew Pieceful February Block Swap

After a few months off I've decided to join back up with the Sew Pieceful Monthly Block Swap that takes place via Flikr.  Signups are taking place now if you want to join up.

It's pretty simple. 

• It's a month to month swap, meaning you can pick and choose whether or not you want to participate each month and there are no long term commitments.  I participated four times last year but took off time this fall and through the holidays
• Generally there are 5 people in a hive, which means you end up making four blocks for someone else and one block for you each month
• Each one of your bee mates will specify a color scheme and background color and you have to do your best to meet their requests
• You choose the block you want to make

For this round I decided to continue with my Red - Orange - Green color palette to try and finish up a quilt I was working on last year.  I've asked for Modern fabrics in various shades of Red and Orange with a hint of sage green on a Grey Background.

I think this is a really striking color palette and can't wait to add the blocks from this round to my previously received blocks.