Blocks for Jessica

 Jessica, I decided on angels to add to your Christmas themed quilt.  Hope you like them!

                 

 One's a red head.  Tee hee hee!

Happy New Year, Carla

An Idea

Hey, friends. :)

I have an idea I'm thinking of doing...

Instead of a boring backing for the quilt that I'm making from our bee, I'm thinking about making 12 blocks and asking each of you to sign one of them...  Then I can piece a backing with them in it and have a reversible quilt.  What do you guys think?

Playing "Catch-Up"

Blocks for Paula (enjoyed using the scraps on the 'crazy' one!)

for Jaime (fun w/ Texture!)

for Hannah (variety, and 2 'starters')

Around our house ... We got son #2 married off ...

& building immunities for the flu season, so to speak....

Life in general ... making time to catch up, find my camera, get settled in my (new to me) STUDIO ...
(Before vs AFTER, more current photos coming soon) ...

~ Looking forward to 2011!

Robot Quilt - Block #3

So, rather than procrastinate to the very last minute again this month, I was able to sneak in Hannah's blocks the day before they were due.  I even had a chance to sneak in a little time to make a robot block for my husband's quilt.  He was so excited when he came home and saw I had made one for his quilt.  I think he thought I forgot about it.  :)



I am planning to go back and make up the last few robot blocks at some point; probably after Christmas.

The Month of December

Hi!  I'm guessing my fellow bee members won't see this until after the guild meeting tonight, but that's okay.  :)  For those of you who aren't in our bee, here's what I have planned for the KC Scrappy Bee in the month of December. 

Idea

I don’t think you guys have any idea how much I love Christmas. I really, really, really LOVE Christmas. A LOT! I love the season, the shopping, and the traditions. I have wanted to make a fun Christmas quilt for myself for a very long time, but just haven’t gotten to it. I thought this would be the perfect project to have everyone help me with.

Fabric

I’d like all the blocks have a white background to make the colors really pop.  I’m giving each of you two fabrics: one red and one tealy-turquoise colored.







The color scheme I have in mind is kind of a fresh & cheery Christmas. I was envisioning these kinds of colors, but feel free to add anything that fits the fresh & cheery description.



Size

My size request is a little bit odd… I’d like to lay this quilt out on a 4x4 grid. You can make a block that fits that grid anyway you like. That means blocks that finish at 4x4, 4x8, 8x8, and 12x16 all work!

Design

Anything Christmas works for me! You could make a gingerbread house, gingerbread man, elf, candy cane, Santa, reindeer, present, mistletoe, Christmas tree, stockings, or anything else you can think of.

Links

If you need a little help coming up with something, you could adapt this pattern: http://www.quiltsoup.com/Hip_Holidays_free_pattern.pdf

I’m in love with this little elf; not so much the mushroom.
http://artisania.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/sewing-more-complex-paper-pieced-patterns/

I’ve saved some cute Christmasy things in my favorites on flickr. Here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sewbotslaboratory/favorites/

I’ve also made a mosaic of some of the blocks and quilts I found online I liked.


1. Santa Block, 2. Windblown snowman mini quilt, 3. Aurora's Xmas quilt from Frolic charm pack, 4. Caroll's Block, 5. Small Santa Quilt, 6. Sept Block, 7. The quilt is done!, 8. one more block to go., 9. { a very merry! }, 10. Santa's Elf, 11. Lil' St. Nick, 12. WIP 7 - SewConnected 2 Quilt, 13. Mrs. Claus, 14. for Beth, 15. Tree and gnome, 16. building a neighborhood


The links below the mosaic are to the original photos.  You can click on the links to see them. 

Have fun with this and don’t over think it; I’m sure to love whatever you make for me.

If you run into trouble and need some help, feel free to send me an email at jessica (at) sewbotslab (dot) com.

Happy quilting & I hope you guys have a great Christmas!
-Jessica

For Hannah, From Jessica

I made 2 blocks for Hannah this month.  They went together quick and easy.  I think they turned out pretty cute. 




I even did them before the last minute and had time to do a robot block this month, too. 

KCMQG Time!

I hope you all will be able to join me tomorrow night at KCMQG.  We'll be giving Hannah her fun blocks...

And Jessica will let us know what's in store for us for the month of December.  Last time I asked her, she was thinking of some Christmasy type stuff...  Stay tuned...

See you guys tomorrow!
-Nikki

Bee Blocks for Hannah

 I had fun searching though my stash, gathering fabrics for Hannah's November Bee Blocks yesterday.

 I love the greyish-beige snowflake fabric that Hannah included with the instructions. This block turned out off center. Hopefully, that is not considered "wonky", otherwise maybe the block could be used on the back or something.

 I enjoyed cutting into my new Moda "I's a Hoot" fabric to make this block using some Kona coal.

Hope you like these, Hannah.  They were a fun way for me to finish up my day yesterday!
Happy Thanksgiving,
Carla

Hannah's blocks

I'll let you trim these, Hannah. I made you 3 of them. I hope they'll work!

For Hannah

For Hannah, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Love the blocks but am not a fan of pressing open seams. If I had to do this all the time, i'd quit quilting.  For real.

:)

So Much Going On...

So this little bit of Paris came along and I knew it would be a good week! I have some plans for Parisville, at least this little stash. We will see how it comes out

This is a bowl rug I made for my niece. She asked me if I had some scraps that I could make her a little matt to go under the bowl on her table!!! I told her I had a scrap or two lying around.

It is a busy time of year. Lots of sewing to be done and not near enough time to do it. So many new fabrics coming into the market and Of course I still love lots of the old ones! I should have been posting all along but that machine got the better of me.

This is the mug rug I received as a gift in our swap at the KCMQG November meeting. Carla Timberlake made it and I just think it is great. Right now I am using it as my rug for my hand sewing things as I try to finish up all those bindings before the holidays. This is the first Innocent Crush that I have and it is very pretty. Thank you Carla.

Always more to do.

Have a joyful Thanksgiving everyone!

Hannah's Blocks

These are a couple of bonus blocks I made today for Hannah. Have not made the blocks with Hannah's fabric yet but everything is cut and waiting for me. I used a few solids and had some great gray/yellow/white fabrics I had in the stash that I think will work well. Hope she likes them.

For Jaime from Jessica

I used the six minute circle method.  So easy and fun to do!



Hope you like them, Jaime!

November Blocks!

This month you'll be making concentric square blocks.

Size: 10" square (finished)
Colors: yellow, grey, white, and/or light blue

Other guidelines:

• Press seams open (if you’re worried about the seams unravelling, just shorten your stitch length a little bit and everything should be fine)
• Don’t feel like you have to use all of the same fabric in a given “ring” of the block – a scrappier look is ok
• The "rings" can be any width you like (all of the "rings" don't have to be the same width in a given block)
• Not more than three “rings” surrounding the center square
• Non-wonky, please
• I’m going for something light, fresh, and clean

I'm pretty sure no one needs a tutorial for this block (it's pretty basic), so I didn't put one together, but if you want to see some photos of a block like this coming together, here's a pretty good link.  (Scroll down about half way, past all the cutting instructions, since those don't apply here.)

Let me know if you've got any questions, and thank you in advance for your lovely creations!

For Paula

I'm a little late in posting this... it's been way too long since I've pulled photos from my camera.  These blocks were handed off at the October meeting of the KCMQG. 






I really like the orange block.  Hope you liked them Paula!  I had fun working on these for you!

Sortofacircle!

My block for Jaime was really fun to make.  I liked it so much that I have plans for making more! It's not a perfect circle but, hopefully the eye will be deceived into thinking that it is!  I used techniques from the book Cutting Curves from Straight Pieces by Debbie Bowles. I added three fabrics to Jaime's denim, gaberdine and voile......charcoal and ash Kona and the polka dot. (I think it might be by Kaffe Fassett.)

The curves were really easy. The book suggested stopping and raising the pressure foot every few stitches but I found that raising the foot was not necessary if I  concentrated on sewing what was just in front of my foot.  And.......no pins were used in the making of this block!! To see another block I made using this pattern, visit my blog lollyquiltz
Happy quilting,
Carla

Circles for Jaime

Circles for Jaime, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I hope you like these, Jaime. I promise that what appears to be orange is not... it's more of a rose color. Forgive the photo quality!

These are bullseye blocks. Raw edges and lots of fun to make. :)

I've been trying to mark some things off of my to do list in the sewing department because I've got so many things I want to accomplish before Christmas...

This was fun to do and only took a couple of hours tonight. I was able to use a couple of wools and silks from my stash, along with lots of cottons, too.

Thanks for helping me think outside the box, Jaime!

Short Month...

Just a reminder to everyone that we have a quicker turn around than normal for our next KCMQG meeting, and therefore a week less to get Jaime's block done if we're going to turn it in at the meeting.  The next meeting is the first Thursday in November, which is November 4...  A little less than 3 weeks from now...

And also, I thought I'd remind you to make a little something to swap for the holidays for our guild meeting.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make, but I think I'd better get busy!  Not much time between now and then!

I just had a little online shopping spree...  Bought some Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas (a lot)...  Might make something from that and throw in an ornament or two...

What are you guys thinking of making?

What a meeting!

What a great guild meeting we had on Thursday with Cherri House from Cherry House Quilts! Really inspirational. It inspired me to go home to my sewing room and touch fabric! We also received our fabric for the October block from Jaime. She gave us some scraps from the clothing she has made and gave us the opportunity to make our own creation to include her fabrics. I got some corduroy and denim and voile and a scrap of deep rose cotton. I have begun the adventure of making a few blocks for Jaime. Thought I would share!

Hannah's Block for Paula

I finished this block quite awhile ago (it's nice to not be rushing around at the last minute for a change!), but I forgot to show everyone.  Here it is:

 

Hope you like it!

Wonky Star for Paula

I had fun digging for orange fabrics to make this wonky star for you, Paula.  Hope you like it!

The bluebirds of happiness are sure cute!  What a fun quilt you are going to have.
Happy quilting,
Carla

Paula's Bluebird of Happiness: Block 3

Paula's Bluebird of happiness, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

This one's Paula's favorite of the 3. My favorite, too!

Paula's Bluebird of Happiness: Block 2

Paula's Bluebird of happiness, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I thought I'd be a little daring and add some orange batik. GIves it a pop, doesn't it?

Paula's Bluebird of Happiness: Block 1

Paula's Bluebird of happiness, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I had some fun with these little bluebirds tonight. So much fun that I made 3 blocks!

A Mug Rug for Paula

An extra mug rug for Paula, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I've not made any wonky stars before, so tonight I got out Liberated Quiltmaking II by Gwen Marston and gave myself a crash course.

This is a 6 inch block. Paula's requesting 12 inch (finished) blocks, but since she gave us a whole fat quarter of her bluebird fabric, I thought I'd practice a bit before diving in seriously.

I had to re-do two of the four units with triangles in them. I think this is something that will get easier as I do more of them and it's a fun block to make, that's for sure.

I enjoyed using some of my solids and was lucky enough to be able to match up the colors of the light blue and green fabric pretty well. The orange border is a batik that brings out the detail in the leaves and the birds' beaks. The binding is some stuff I recently used for my Urban Swap table runner. It's a few years old. I think it's Free Spirit, but am not sure of the line.

Instead of giving Paula an extra block that's 6 inches big, I decided she might want a mug rug to go with her quilt, so I whipped this together pretty quickly tonight. Paula's in the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap with me on Flickr. If you haven't heard of it, you should check it out!

Enjoy, Paula!

For Toni, by Jessica

Talk about last minute, I finished these blocks for Toni last night.  I had fun making them, though!  They were pretty low stress and a lot of fun to make! 





I used this tutorial to make these.  I eyeballed them though, because I thought it would make them a little more "scrappy" looking.  I like the second block better.  I think it has more personality: it's fatter, has a striped body, and a brighter wing color.  :)

I found this black fabric in my stash and thought it looked pretty organic and vine-ey.  I had just enough to finish two blocks.  I used my color wheel to pick out a complimentary color to use as the body for the butterflies. 

I left the blocks kind of a weird size because Toni didn't specify a final size.  I trimmed them to the biggest rectangle I could and figured Toni could slice them as necessary to fit them into the quilt. 

Hope you like them!  I had fun making them for you.  :)

Hannah's Block for Toni

 

Here is the block I made for Toni.  I had a really hard time figuring this one out, but I'm happy enough with how it turned out (I mean, you can tell it's a butterfly, right?).  The solids are Kona Ash and Kona Sky (it looks like white, but it's really a very very pale blue).  I'm hoping to have more info about how I pieced it on my blog very soon.

Unfortunately, I won't be at the guild meeting on Thursday (my husband's sister is getting married down in Houston this weekend.  I'm actually on the airplane getting ready to fly down there right now), so the block is in the mail to you right now, Toni!

Just finished Toni's block and the sig block - Toni, I think you'll like it! Can't find my camera, so no photos, my lovelies - you will see it at the meeting this week!

I now have all my blocks for my month - when I am not super busy with school I will put them all together. They are so amazing - such an amazing gift from a fun group of ladies!

Toni's Butterflies

Hello KC Scrappy Bees,

I wanted to post the blocks I have made for Toni for her month of August. I now own more butterfly tutorials and patterns than I ever dreamed possible!!

These were fun and easy to make. I was tempted to bedazzle them with rhinestones but controlled myself!

I am looking forward to my month, which of course is September, when the Bluebird of Happiness will come to visit all of you!

See you all soon!!

Paula

ButterFlieS obtw! ... {Oh By The Way}

Signature Blocks! 

... one of those, "i can't believe i didn't remember!" moments ...

PLEASE, purdy pleeze with a cherry on top ... with a few of the scraps, or what not's ... would you please sign your name on a piece of whatever... and i'm going to make a crazy patch with all our names on it for the back ...Label!  ... if you want, include your BLOG/Flickr Name/info.  cuz that would be fun! ...

OH and I'm loving the  Butterflies!!!  

( i tried to comment the other night, but my computer was being stupid!)

... busy busy getting ppl moved 

and off to work on putting my studio together! 

... I MEAN, work on SON/DIL wedding invites .

.. NAP?

Butterflies for Toni

Butterflies for Toni, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

These are the blocks that I had the most fun with tonight. I followed Carla's lead and worked on Mrs. Schmenkman's butterfly tutorial. I had all of these batiks in my stash. The blue bodies of the butterflies are the dyed focus fabric that I got from Toni.

I could see myself making a quilt for me from this pattern. Nicely written and a little wiggle room for mistakes. My kind of tutorial!

Thanks for the fun assignment, Toni!

Toni's extra block

Toni's extra block, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

If I didn't dislike Sarah Palin so much, I'd call this a maverick block.

I didn't plan. Just sewed and chopped and sewed some more. I am not in love with it, but it'll probably add interest to your quilt, Toni. It's 15 inches unfinished and all batiks. Enjoy!

Butterflies for Toni

Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts is one of my favorite blogs.  Amy has become one of my invisible friends and I love her color choices and ideas.  Not long ago she featured a butterfly quilt she is creating and I immediately thought of it when I learned that Toni was going to do a butterfly theme for August. I used her tutorial to make these blocks.  I had to piece Toni's fabrics in order to make them big enough for the pattern, but then butterflies are multicolored, so I thought it worked okay. The individual butterflies are 6.5 inches.  I did not sew them all together just in case Toni wants to use them separately.  (I did not do anything with the beautiful thread either....I'm not very good at that type of thing!) This was a fun block to make and I may be making some more of these for another virtual bee I am in!

Happy quilting,

Carla