Playing Catch up, Again - luv toni. {twenty fourteen}

Scrappy Bee - GROUP 1 - ROUND IV - (2013-14) 

Nikki's Spider Web Strings

{Lauren's Strings - the "right" direction, WRONG side}

Inspiration: http://filminthefridge.com/2013/12/30/faceted-diamonds-quilt/

Lauren's 2 of 4 - (the wrong direction)

Leslie's Book Shelf Block - wip (see below)

Design Wall - January 2014

 

• 213 - August- QOV Block- churn dash - Quilts of Valor
• Sept- Tammie Schaffer - POLORIOD BLOCKS
• Oct- Marilyn Butler - SNOWBALL BLOCKS
• Nov- Toni Fry Caro JAPANESE 'X' BLOCKS (10")
• Dec- Tia Curtis LESLIE, BOOKSHELF BLOCKS
• 2O14 - January - Lauren Bond
• Feb- Nikki Johnston McDonald
• March- Jane Bromberg   SAMMIE >>. wip
• April- Lesley Larry Latham
• May- Sammie Messick
• June- Karen Hansen
• July- Mary Kay Fosnacht
• August- Stephanie Dodson

.. my phone died, and i didn't realize photo's were NOT synching the last month or so, so i do NOT realize my photos were not saving - therefor i do NOT have pictures of MY Poloriod blocks (fun blocks!) - for Tammie @ CraftyTammie but took the liberty of SHARING this photo ...

 - or Marilyn's Snowball blocks, ... i love her fabrics! 

but wanted to share this picture of our Bee Mamma with Marilyn's blocks! 

Thanks Nikki for bee'ing our Mom! 

Crossings: Finally is Finished!

 Way back in 2011, I was a part of Nikki's first KC Scrappy Bee. Maybe you've even forgotten that you made blocks for me! Well, I'm so pleased to announce that the quilt is finally put together and I couldn't be happier with the lovely result!

 I used an Ikea text print and straight line quilting plus a tiny aqua dot for the binding. The texture is amazing!

Many thank you's to the quilters who gifted me with your scraps and time to make the blocks. You can see more pictures and a link to the pattern on my blog today here.
Happy quilting,
Carla Timberlake

For Douglas in the KC Scrappy Bee

For Douglas in the KC Scrappy Bee, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting (formerly nkiblueeyes).

This will be a beautiful quilt, Douglas :)

My Tips for Karen's Wonky Palm Block

Not to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty good paper piecer. However, I've never tried free piecing before, so I wanted to give it a shot for this block. I was definitely intimidated and I probably should have done some research on Google before hand, but instead I decided to jump right in. So here are my tips for those of you who a. Don't want to paper piece and/or b. Are a little intimidated by free piecing:

1. Read Karen's instructions. Create this block in two pieces.

2. As you sew each piece together to make a palm leaf, cut the 45 degree angle. Then follow that throughout the rest of the block design. Every time I added a piece of fabric, I cut the 45 degree angle. It really helped to have something to follow.

3. I found this very similar to improv piecing, so think of it like that. But instead of just throwing the fabric on top of another piece and sewing 1/4", put a little more thought into the placement so it will end up looking like a leaf. I was constantly looking at the block example that Karen provided. It's like painting a still life picture. You look at your inspiration and then try to mimic it.

4. Don't trim anything until after you have put the two block pieces together along the 45 degree angle. That way you can shift the two sides around to kind of match up the the leaves of the palm.

5. I totally had no idea how to trim this to the 8 1/2" square. But guess what?! In her packet, Karen provides an extra sheet of paper with the block printed on it and it is 8 1/2" square because paper just happens to be 8 1/2" by 11" making that possible. I folded the paper and measured to make sure it was 8 1/2" square, laid it on top of my block so that the diagonal 45 degree line on the paper matched up with my diagonal 45 degree line on my block, and then I trimmed the sides with a ruler along the edge of the paper. This was also really nice because then I could see what I was going to cut off and adjust to what I liked. Obviously this isn't the most professional way to do it or probably the best, but it totally worked.

6. When you are trimming, don't worry if some of your palm leaves don't come to a point. How do I know/hope Karen won't mind if they don't? Because I looked very very closely at the example in her packet and there were definitely some pointless palm leaves. :)

And that's how my block turned out. I hope this helps. Good luck!

P.S. Karen, thank you for helping me step out of my comfort zone and try something new!

Lesley's Block (December 2012)

Wonky Cross Block

I’ve provided an 8.5” square and two 4”x13” strips. Please use either the square or the strips (Or use both if you want to make me two blocks.) as one of the fabrics in your block. For the other fabric in the block, please use your own solid or print scraps.

There’s a tutorial if you go to the link below. The pictures on the tutorial are particularly helpful.

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2010/04/wonky-cross-block-sew-along/

Here are my instructions:

1. Lay the 8.5” square (either the one I provided or one from your scraps) on your cutting mat and make a wonky vertical cut. Use your ruler because you’ll want it to be a straight cut.
2. Separate the two pieces.
3. If you want, cut down one of the contrasting strips to any width. I definitely do NOT want them all to be 4” widths.  (Note: So, just to clarify, if you used your own fabric for the 8.5” square, use the strips I provided. If you used the 8.5” square I provided, use your own fabric for the strips.)
4. Place the strip between the two pieces and sew each piece to one side of the strip.
5. Lay the block on your cutting mat and make a wonky horizontal cut using your ruler. You will cut perpendicular to the strip you just sewed.
6. Separate the two pieces.
7. If you want, cut down the second contrasting strip to any width.
8. Place the strip between the two pieces and sew each piece to one side of the strip. This is a little tricky because you have to try to line up the strip that you cut across. But don’t worry about it too much…I definitely do not mind if it’s a little off since that will add even more to the wonkiness.
9. Square up the block to 8.5” x 8.5”. (If you don’t want to square it up, that’s fine. I can square it up myself.)

If you have any questions, please email me at llatham0306@gmail.com or call/text me at 785-424-4313.

Next Up: Marilyn!

I just secured childcare for Thursday night & I'm really looking forward to the program.  Marilyn is getting everything ready for her turn in the bee.  Can't wait to see what she's cooking up! :)

Jaime's Christmas Quilt!

KCMQG August, originally uploaded by Under the Evening Star.

Did you see? I missed the meeting, but I caught this finished quilt in Flickr. It's a product of our little bee. One of my very favorites. I've started a quilt of my own like this...

A Sneak Peek of Nikki's August Blocks...

We will be making log cabin quarters in a variety of colors.  I've made kits for everyone with some fabric.  I'm going to have to miss our August meeting, but Caitlin is going to pass these out for me.

If you aren't planning on making it to the meeting, let me know and I'll drop them in the mail.  Thanks!

Nikki

Last one for Round 2

This month will be Alicia's turn.  She joined our bee halfway through the year to replace a departing member.

I'm hopeful that this week I will have time to make some calls & fill up Round 3 of the KC Scrappy Bee... More info to come on that.

Thanks for your patience!

Summer In The Park blocks for Denise!

April Blocks for Denise!

After just beating the March block deadline, I decided to get an early start on Denise's blocks.

I love how these turned out - thanks for a fun block, Denise!

I definitely see a Summer in the Park quilt in my future!

March Blocks for Beth!

Whew!  I finished these blocks for Beth in the nick of time!  I started working on them at the retreat, but then I ran into some "technical difficulty".  Whenever that happens, I set the project aside to figure out another day.

These blocks look simple, but for me - an improvisationally-challenged type of quilter, they were not.  I like to follow a process...and repeat it over and over until I'm done.  Usually I cut, cut, cut, sew, sew, sew, press, press, press, and repeat.  Once I figured out that I had to cut, sew, press, cut, sew, press I was on my way!

Isn't it funny how such a simple change in how we approach something can make such a big difference?

I love making these scrappy blocks...these two have prints from my current favorite line, Echo.  My eggplant ovals from Art Gallery are in here, a bit of Essex Linen (Aqua and Natural) and some other choice scraps.  After seeing the lovely pile o' blocks that Beth was collecting, I cannot wait to see her finished quilt!

For Beth, from Caitlin

For Beth, from Alicia

Time To Start Talking About Round 3 Plus QOV Bonus Block

I can hardly believe it, but we're only 3 months away from the end of round 2 of the KC Scrappy Bee.  I don't know about you guys, but I've really enjoyed being a part of such a talented group.

Thanks so much for all the inspiration, support and encouragement you've all given me.  I've made some great friendships and have learned new skills.  I'm enjoying stepping out of my comfort zone from time to time.

I'd hope that you'd all like to stay in the bee for another round, but sometimes life gets in the way or we get ready to move on to other crafty groups and pursuits.  I'm willing to stay on board and manage the group for another year.

Think on it for a bit and let me know if you're in or out for another year (via email, Facebook, in person on on this thread).  Several people have expressed interest to me, so don't worry about leaving us in a bind if you'd like to pass on another round.  Current participants have an automatic invite back for the next round, so you've got a spot if you want it.  If you'd like to join us for next year, let me know what month you'd like and I'll start working on our schedule.

Quilts of Valor
Quilts of Valor is an organization that is near to my heart.  My father is a Vietnam Veteran and my grandfather served in World War II.  For those of you who are interested, I have a proposition for you:  When we first started the KC Scrappy Bee, we each made a block or two for a Quilt of Valor (quilts for wounded soldiers and vets) from a focus fabric and our stashes.  I'd love to have a month between rounds where we all made a block or two for a scrappy QOV.   What do you guys think?  I'd like to propose wonky star blocks that measure 12.5.  We could use this tutorial using patriotic colors with neutral background fabric (solids/prints or a combination of each) and perhaps a splash of a mustard or gold here and there.

To make it interesting, some of you might rather use this tutorial, which uses a 4 patch as the center of the star & finish at 6 inches.  With this tutorial, it would take 4 stars to make a 12.5 inch block.  If you choose to make these blocks, please don't sew the stars to one another.  I might want to space them out some or insert some neutral fabric blank squares here and there to make the quilt bigger.


I will take care of assembling the quilt, getting it quilted, bound, labeled, washed & awarded to a veteran.  I'll keep you all in the loop on the process.

If there are no objections, let's make the month of July be our QOV month.  This will give us a little patriotic project to do over the 4th of July.

How's that sound, everyone?


So here's our Round 3 Schedule (I will fill it in as I get responses):


July, 2012-  Quilts of Valor- Wonky Stars (Round 1, 2 and 3 Bee Members can participate- or anyone else for that matter)
August, 2012-  
September, 2012-  Marilyn B. (Taking Toni's place for a year)
October, 2012-  Tammie S.
November, 2012-  Lauren B.
December, 2012-  
January, 2013-  Nikki M.
February, 2013-
April, 2013-  Denise
May, 2013- Caitlin M.
June, 2013-Valerie K.
July, 2013-
August, 2013-