+ and x blocks for Andrea!

I hope these are okay. I always get a little nervous about "freestyle" fabric choices when its for someone else...

All Caught Up!!!

I finished Andrea's Bee blocks last night...and what fun to see the same Blocks in today's MQG Feature Quilt.  Did you all check it out?

I intentionally kept the directional print in the center "+" on the horizontal, yet I really like the visual effect of expanding the "+" from the striations in the crossweave pieces.

The tutorial that Andrea posted explained how to cut the corner squares on point when using a stripe or directional fabric. I like that effect too.  I really thought that these blocks would be more difficult, but I was pleasantly mistaken.

After falling back in November, I am happy to be all caught up with my bee blocks.  Now...if I can just find my big pad of sketch paper, I can get the February blocks prepped for you all before the next KCMQG meeting.

Jaime's Treez blocks finished!

I hope you like them!

Tree #1

Here it is! Sorry its late...

Nikki's 2011 Bee Blocks

Nikki's 2011 Bee Blocks, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

These were made in 2011 for the KC Scrappy Bee, the Lovely Linen Bee and Bee Vintage

Block #2 for Jaime

For Jaime, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

This one has orange shot cotton along with some more Lizzy House fabric. Love these. They look paper pieced, but they're much easier than paper piecing. Improvish. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Next up will be Andrea. See you in January!

Block #1 for Jaime

For Jaime, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

So today I went to Bernina and worked on these fun improvish Christmas trees for Jaime. She gave us the green & I used some of my Lizzy House fabric along with some shot cotton (next photo).

A little advice: For the tinsel, 1 inch strips were a good size. Anything much bigger seems too big. Also, when you start chopping to put the tinsel in, just do one string of tinsel at a time. Otherwise, you'll have a hard time figuring out how to put it back together. Jaime says we can leave these untrimmed. Mine wasn't quite 12 inches, but she said it was no big deal.

I love these so much. I decided to make myself a quilt of these, too. Will be a project I can do with my scraps. I can't wait to get started.

Thanks for the fun blocks, Jaime!

November BEE BLOCKS FOR NANCY: FORREST & FIELDS

I really had fun with these ... Made me wish i really had more time to sew! 

I did one kind of with a 'moonlight' feel ... 

trees in the foreground ...

... the next one, is 'snowy' with birch trees ... snowy furrowed fields up front, 

Pine trees covered in snow ... 

with some raw edges for TEXTURE! ... 

******

Snowy day: Detail

Sew much fabric, So little time! 

I look forward to working on Jamie's Tinsel Trees next! ....
Merry Christmas to All, and to all a good-night!

PS. 2011/12 bee-mates block months:

• June, 2011: Nikki ~ done
• July, 2011: Caitlin ~ done
• August, 2011: Paula ~ done
• September, 2011: Toni ~ done
• October, 2011: Steph ~ done
• November, 2011: Nancy ~ done
• December, 2011: Jaime ~ next
• January, 2012: Andrea
• February, 2012: Mary Anne
• March, 2012: Beth
• April, 2012: Denise
• May, 2012: Dora

Nancy's Block

Hello!
I found Nancy's block to be a very inspiring challenge. It is a great design exercise, so after making one block I tackled an other one. Hope you will like them,
Dora

Block #1 for nancy

Here's a field & forest block for nancy...


Closeup of a soaring bird




I have one more I'm trying to finish up. These are fun!

Nikki



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Nancy's November block: Winter Woods and Fields

In participating in the bee thus far, I’ve come to realize that the true opportunity in a bee lies not in the distribution of the construction effort but is instead in the distribution of the creative effort. I have an overarching inspiration and idea—winter woods and fields—and have chosen an earthy, neutral color palette to go with that idea. And yet, this quilt won’t really be mine at all; my bee-mates are going to take their packets of fabric and make blocks that I can’t predict, blocks of which I might never have conceived. The prospect of this absolutely thrills me.

“Enough with the philosophizing. What are we making?!” This month, we’re going improvisational. Before I get into the rules, though, I think it’s helpful to explain where this is all going.

For about a year now, I’ve been finding myself returning to mixed neutrals again and again in my clothing, decorating, etc. (Don't get me wrong—I love love love color—but I feel that the beauty of neutrals is often underrated.) As I agonized over what to do for my bee month, it finally occurred to me that I should try playing with neutrals, so here we are.

In addition to neutrals, I’m also a complete hooker for textures. I can’t ever get enough of texture (and the illusion of texture), and it shows in my inclusion of osnaburg, batiks, and shot cottons. There is some possibility that I may also add a bit of embroidery here and there to add some texture and surprise as well; this depends on what the blocks say (see below).

I also plan to use this as a chance to play with negative space. Once I get the blocks back, I’m going to arrange and rearrange them on a design wall until they tell me they’re right. (In my copious amounts of free time—HA! right—I also take lessons in ikebana [Japanese flower arrangement] and my sensei always teaches us to “listen to the materials so that they can tell us how they want to be arranged.” I think this is a great philosophy for quilting, too!) Right now, I’m not sure whether the whole negative space “background” will be a single shade of white or whether I will mix them (it’ll definitely be some form of white/cream). We’ll see what the blocks say.

The Rules:

1. Please feel free to supplement with your own solid, neutral fabrics, excluding black.

2. You may or may not choose to use all of the fabrics I've included. Don't feel compelled to use all of them! I'm including several so that you've got choices. Please return unused fabrics and scraps, though. Also, I have LOTS more of the fabrics (I bought one of the Kona fat quarter bundles in Earth, and I've got more of the batiks, shot cottons, and osnaburg, too), so if you want/need more of something, let me know, and I'll be happy to get it to you.

3. Completed blocks can be square or rectangular... it's up to you! I'm thinking that the shortest side should be at least 7", and the longest side shouldn't be larger than 12". However, if someone wanted to do something outside of this side range (e.g., a long, skinny block or something like that), then that's cool.

4. Curves are fine, but I think I'd prefer no out-and-out circles.

I'm super stoked about this, and I can't wait to see what you all design!

(And hey, I just realized... this is my very first blog post. Not just for the KC Scrappy Bee, either; I mean this is my first blog post ever. Cool!)

Cheers,

Nancy

P.S. FWIW, I cannot get this stupid text editor to play nice and make all of the type appear in a single font. I apologize for the random changes in fonts!

Whoops!

So I goofed up & deleted the list on the sidebar of who's turn it is each month.  Whoops.  When I changed the template, it deleted the html I added.

So... I've created a second page within our page entitled, "Schedule".  I need help filling in the blanks.  Here's what I remember... Let me know where to fill in the blanks.  Thanks!  Hope to see you guys this week at guild!

Our Schedule

June: Nikki- Quake Quilt
July: Caitlin- Spider Web Blocks
August: Paula- Broken Dishes
September: Toni
October: Steph
November: Nancy
December:
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:

Help me remember which people have Dec-May???  I accidentally deleted it on our new version of the blog.  Oops!

Dora
Denise
Jaime
Mary Anne
Andrea
Beth

Hibiscus' for Stephanie!

I really enjoy machine applique...it forces me to slow down and focus.  I find it very calming.  Here are the two blocks that I made for Stephanie's month...hope you like 'em!

original block

optional block

I'm Feeling Tropical

I've seen some of these fabulous blooms on the Caribbean islands I have visited.  They are bright and glorious.

Now for the stitching!