Hive 8 - February Blocks

Look what the ladies of Hive 8 made! I am still waiting on a few of these to arrive, but I cannot wait to see them all together. With 16 plus my original practice block, I have a great start to my mom's quilt. Thanks gals!

1. Daisy 1, 2. Heather 1, 3. Heather 2, 4. Jamie, 5. Daisy 2, 6. Leonie, 7. Tami, 8. Sarah, 9. Kat, 10. Melissa 1, 11. Melissa 2, 12. Christina 1, 13. Christina 2, 14. Christina 3, 15. Helen 1, 16. Helen 2, 17. Mine

February Hive 7 Blocks

Hive 7! As usual, you churned out some gorgeous bee blocks. These are February's offerings.

So. Much. Yum.

CAN YOU FEEL..

...THE GROWING EXCITEMENT? Just one more package and all my blocks will be here and I can start to play with them xx Kim sent these ..

they are even nicer in the " flesh"  lol x

Diane x

THESE LOVELY BLOCKS...

....arrived from Angela and her daughters..

they will fit in with the others wonderfully x So looking forwards to putting this to-gether x

Diane x

Hive #12 March tutorial

My name is Jennifer.  I live in Prattville, Alabama with my husband, Josh, and my daughter, Lily (8), and my son, Jacob (3).  I work for a financial planning company full time, and I'm also a Girl Scout leader for my daughter and 21 other 2-4 graders.  It's cookie season, which is the reason for this late post!  (I'm very sorry about that.) 

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.

I come from a pretty crafty family.  I've been crafting for my whole life.  I don't remember when I learned to sew, but I made my first quilt in college.  I've been sewing and quilting pretty regularly since then.  My girlfriends all come once a month and we spend a Saturday sewing, so they've all learned to quilt too.  It's so much more fun when you have someone to do it with!

How do you organize your fabric stash? 

This is my sewing space.  It's the "office" in our house that I share with the messiest 8 year old in the world!  My stash is in the black cabinet.  It has 4 shelves.  I use one for books and precuts, one for fat quarters, and the rest is my yardage fabric, theoretically stacked by color.  The drawer at the bottom is for projects that I'm working on.  I use this method for folding.  It makes me feel so accomplished when they all stack neatly!

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?
Denyse Schmidt is my favorite.  There's something about her fabric that makes me think of my grandmother's house.  I'm also a big fan of Anna Marie Horner.

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?
Just do it.  No one is going to notice your small mistakes.  You'll never get better if you don't practice.

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?
I use a pin bowl instead of a pin cushion.  I could never find a way that made it convenient for me. Now I use a small vintage lotus flower bowl from the thrift store.  It's great to just drop the pins in when I'm zipping along a long row.  I also love this marker for writing on fabric.  I use it all of the time.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)
I'm going to go with Dinah from The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.  She clearly sees the flaws in those around her, but still loves them for their strenghts.  Such  a good book.

Now for my block.  I have decided to go with the Arizona block from Leila's Skill Builder Sampler (which I totally recommend if you haven't done it!) The tutorial for the block is here.  The block is basically just half square triangles, but I've loved it since I first made it.

I confess that this is the block I made for my skill builder quilt.  This time I would like orange and aqua blocks.  I rarely use that combination, but when I was trying to decide what to use I discovered I have a ton of it!  I would prefer an off white rather than a bright white background.  I'm going to use Kona Bone for my solid (but you can use what you have!)  You could also use a low volume print for the background.  This is the fabric pull I came up with:

I think a more colorful block in the middle and fabric that reads more one color on the outside looks nice, but feel free to do what ever you want.  Surprise me!

I don't prewash.  If you do, that's fine too.  Your block should finish at 12 inches.  I'll trim them up if they need it!  I think that's everything.  Again, I apologize for taking so long.  I really am sorry.  (I'd also like to suggest that if you have trouble with Blogger in Internet Explorer, try Chrome.) I can't wait to see what everyone come up with!

Hive #10 - March Block Tutorial

First of all, I'd like to apologize for keeping some of you waiting for this.  Let me explain:  I have had my tutorial written for a long time, and all I needed to do was write this part (the introduction/interview).  I live at 6000' in the mountains of Southern California, and if you've seen the news the past couple of days, you know that California just got hit with the biggest storm in several years. I went to bed Thursday night, planning to do a lot of computer work on Friday. We woke up to a driving rain.  At around 11 am, the power went out. That also meant no internet. The initial restoration time was supposed to be 5 pm.  That came and went, and the automated message said 11 pm.  At around 10, just before we went to bed, the automated message said we wouldn't get power back until Saturday.  I could live with that.  But then we woke up this morning to 6" of snow, and not only did we still have no power, we had no phone. Also, our generators that we used for lighting/television/heater/refrigerator/freezer were running out of gas. The automated message from Edison was changed to 2 pm. It's been snowing all day, and is supposed to continue snowing tonight. I drove down the mountain to get gas and milk, and then waited anxiously for power to be restored. It finally came back on about an hour ago.  We still have no phone, but for some reason I do have internet. So, I'm going to get this post completed!

Thanks for reading that!

Now for the interview:
I'm Cyndi, and I live in Forest Falls, California.  I'm married to Don, a retired Air Force Master Sergeant.  I have a 32-year-old daughter, Theresa, who works at a local Indian casino.  My 31-year-old son Kenny is a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force; he and his wife live currently at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

I used to be a cross stitcher. I made all kinds of pieces, but all I knew for finishing them was framing. That gets pretty expensive. So I decided I needed to learn to sew, so I could make fabric frames/mats for them.  I acquired a lovely little Featherweight, and during several trips to a quilt shop for fabric, I was lured into the world of quilting. A few fat quarters here and there turned into yardage, beginning quilting classes, books, and two guilds.

My stash is organized several different ways.  Pieces 1/2 yard and larger are on comic book boards and organized by color. Fat-quarters and those pieces a little larger are folded and organized by color. There are some assorted other pieces on those shelves, too.  Pieces smaller than a FQ are organized on a shelf above my sewing desk, by color.

But I mainly sew from my other fabric stash - my scraps.  I'm known as the scrappy lady at my two guilds, and I have a large box of 2.5" strips, a large box of 2" strips, and some drawers and baskets that are full of 5", 2.5", 2", and 1.5" squares, and a basket of "bits."  I also have 3 huge pretzel jars full of strings.

My favorite fabric designer is Kaffe Fassett.  I don't like his quilts - they're too busy - but I love, love putting his fabric against a bright Kona white background.

One thing I know now that I wish I'd learned when I started quilting was how to match seams.  Honestly!  I have several small quilts that I made when I just blithely sewed things together, and they are all crooked and wonky with mismatched seams.


My favorite tool is a sharp rotary cutter.  I don't think I need to convince anyone to go out and buy one!  I use mine all the time for the bags of scraps the ladies in my guilds give me.  I just finished going through 3 LARGE garbage bags full of scraps that they don't want, and I have enough strips for 8 to 10 quilts.


My favorite fictional character is Ella Clah, a Navajo police officer from a series of novels by Aimee and David Thurlo.  I enjoy getting the insights into the Navajos while I'm enjoying a great crime novel.

Now for the tutorial.  And thanks for your patience!

I was fiddling around on Pinterest the other day, and saw this quilt.  The artist calls it Ribbon Lattice. I really, really like that quilt.  A couple of months ago, for Stash Bee, the block we did was called Simply Woven, and it's a Moda Bakeshop Pattern.  Here are the blocks I made for Stash Bee:

I figured I could follow the steps in the Simply Woven tutorial but use 1" strips, and come up with a block to my liking.  So here we go, and I'll call this Woven Strings.

You'll need one 8" square of background fabric, and 6 to 8 "strings" that are 1" wide and between 8 1/2" and 10" long.  For the background, use your favorite white solid - Kona, Bella, etc.  I use JoAnn's Kona White, so you know I'm not that picky.  For the strings, use bright colors:  hot pink, raspberry, turquoise/teal, purple, apple green, yellow, orange, and so on.

1. Make a freehand slightly curved cut about 1 1/2 - 2" from the left side.

2. Add one of your strings. Press towards the dark.

3. Turn the square so that the first string is horizontally across the top. Make another cut - either slightly curved or straight. Try to mix them up.

4. Insert another strip.

5. Turn the fabric again so that the most recent string is at the bottom as shown.  Make another cut.

6. Insert another strip.

7. Keep going - you can make the strings closer together if you wish, to get 4 strings across instead of 3.

8. Keep going!

9. Another one!

10. (I cut before I took the photo...)

11. More...

12. Looks like I have room for yet another string.

13. So make another cut.

14. While this is the last one I inserted for this block, it's possible that you've cut yours close enough together that you can do four across and four down. I'd like any combination - 3 + 3, 3 + 4, or 4 + 4. 

15. Please don't trim it. I'll do it when I receive it.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

March Hive 4 Tutorial "Crazy Block"

What is your name?
Samantha Harvey.  Sam or Sami usually, Honey to my hubby.  He thinks married folks should never call each other by their name, it has to be a lovey dovey name. 

Where do you live?

I live in Washington State in the U.S.A.  My address is Roy, WA.  I get my mail at the McKenna Post Office.  I work in downtown Tacoma and I usually shop in either Yelm or Olympia.  How's that for confusing?

Tell us about your family (Spouse, kids, grandkids, pets, etc.)

I have been married to my hubby for 25 years this coming July.  He has several expensive hobbies.  Hence when I buy fabric or need a new sewing machine every 10 years or so there is very little squeaking from him!  He plays guitar and has a room in our house with his "music studio" in it, along with his other non-dusty hobbies, photography and metal detecting equipment.  He also does wood work and keeps honey bees.

  We have 3 kids, the oldest and his wife gave us our first Grand-baby, Korben at the end of October. My son is a commercial electrician who is into the old world art of "smithing", really, built his own forge and everything!  He's also learning guitar and gets cheap cars, fixes them up and resells them at a profit.  I doubt the Trans-Am that is in his garage right now is ever going to leave though. LOL!  His wife, who we love to pieces works where I work and is the reason I got that job!

My daughter who is in her early 20s and still lives at home does bead work and is slowly but surely working on her first quilt.  Since I've gone back to work she is my housekeeper and I pay her so she has a bit of spending money.  She also is a voracious reader and writer.

My youngest son will be 21 this month and still resides at home also.  He is an apprentice commercial electrician and a wonderful artist, guitarist and singer.

 We also have an Akita (Shiina) and two kitties (Tama and tIQa).

Now, back to Korben.  He will be 5 months at the end March.  Isn't he ADOREABLE!!

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.

My maternal grandmother made quilts, usually simple utilitarian quilts.  When I was 8 or 9 years old she sat me down at her back up sewing machine and had me sewing 9-patches out of flannel for a couple of weeks out of the summer.  Before school started she had me help her put the quilt sandwich on the quilting frame my grandpa had built for her and we tied that quilt (a king sized) with yarn.  It took about a week to get the tying done.

From that point on I was pretty much hooked on sewing.  I made my first quilt when I was 12 out of whatever I could find (old polyester clothes) to give to my homeroom teacher (anonymously) for his and his wife's first baby.  That was the ugliest quilt in history, I wish I had a picture of it.  

When the kids started showing up I didn't really have much time for sewing and I didn't make anything for years.  About 15 years ago I got back into it and I become a worse addict every year! :D

How do you organize your fabric stash? (Picture appreciated)

Where ever it will fit.  Seriously. Don't judge me based on this picture.  I do straighten before beginning each  new project. LOL!

Who is/are your favourite fabric designers?

Pretty much anyone who designs fabric.  I was really into Debbie Mumm a while ago.  I like Amy Butler off the top of my head.  Basically I don't know what I want until I see it and there have only been about 3 different "lines" that I HAD to own a cut of every fabric in them.  I like to mix and match as the mood strikes.

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?

When I first started back up in the quilting quiltiness, I used a ruler, pencil and scissors to cut my pieces and strips.  Hubby was all "there has to be an easier way" and he is the one who stopped at the local quilt shop and learned about cutting mats and rotary cutters.  Before then I was just using up fabric that people gave me and I didn't really frequent fabric stores.  Does this mean I can half blame him for my fabric addiction since he is the one who enabled some of it? LOL!

What is your favourite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?

I love different rulers.  I don't own all of them that I'd like to own but my favorites are the Easy Hexagon, Easy Eight, Easy Six and the Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers.  Those last two are AWESOME for Flying Geese, and if you know me you know that I do love Flying Geese borders.

Who is your favourite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)

Heavens, do I have to choose just one?

I'm a HUGE Sci-Fi fan, Star Trek in particular and I love both the Marvel and DC universes.  I am also an avid reader and have read most of the "classics" so there are just a ton of people I could choose from.  I'll go with whatever comes into my mind today though... let me think....

Today I'm thinking Wonder Woman.  She's awesome.  She a woman, strong and able and she had that nifty Lasso of Truth.  I'd love to have one of those.  Granted, sometimes you don't want to know the truth.  "You Can't Handle The Truth!"  See... my mind just wanders.  Seriously, invisible jet?  Yeah!  I'm old so I remember the T.V. series with Linda Carter as Wonder Woman, and I must say, I never missed an episode, to the point of throwing a hissy fit once when my Dad wanted to watch something else and wasn't going to change the channel to Wonder Woman. LOL!

After I answered this question I saw this..... 

Okay... now my block... Crazy Quilt Blocks

I'm going to make it really easy on you and you get to use up scraps at the same time.  I have a HUGE scrap bin, and I'm betting that some of the rest of you do also and you can't bear to sort it and toss things so it just keeps growing and growing like mine.   Am I right?

Here is the plan.  One block, 12.5 inches square (unfinished).  That is all I'm asking for, of course if you feel like making more I would love it.  The more variety the better.  I don't have a color scheme just don't make them "dreary".  You can put darker colors in them just not all dark colors.  I foundation piece mine, meaning I cut a cheap piece of muslin into a 12.5 inch square and use it as the backdrop to piece my block on.  You don't have to do it that way, you can just "free piece" if you would like.

Basically start your square with an odd shape that will be easy to sew around.  Following are pictures of a couple of the blocks I made.  Make sure to press each addition out from the middle before adding the next piece.  You can start the block off center as one example shows.

Additionally I plan to add embellishments and embroider fancy stitches down the seams (with my machine, I don't have much patience for hand embroidering unless it is a small project) so if that is something you are into and you want to take the time to do it, feel free. 

This is an ideal block to use little bits of "ugly" fabric in also.  Honestly as long as there are 9-12 different fabrics, bigger scraps are fine also.  If you think of a better method for making them feel free.  I am showing you the way that I have found that is easiest for me.

The finished quilt will be gifted to my oldest son.  He wants a Victorian style crazy quilt made of satins and I've been working on that little by little and it might be done for his 35th Birthday,  but he's waited long enough between his "kid quilt" when he was 12 and a new quilt just for him now that he's 28, so no matter how much I love it, I will give it to him.  I will.  I promise. :-D

Thanks in advance ladies!!

Then you just start adding to it.  You can also do this without the foundation, just add fabric until you have a square big enough to trim it up to 12.5 inches square.

Make sure to trim anything you add even with the straight line you already have.  Additionally in some of the other pictures below you will see how I trim some things to they are not straight pieces but have an off kilter shape to them.

Below is an example of adding a larger piece and then trimming it to an odd shape.

When I get to long lines I dig around to find things that I've already pieced or I piece a strip to add.  Below this example is a strip of pieces that are not straight that I put together.  Ideally, as you will see in the examples below the tutorial, there are not a lot of straight pieces but they are more odd shaped.  I was in a hurry making this block for the tutorial so I was just digging through my scrap bin and pulling anything that would work out to use.

So you get the basic idea?  I have included links to other  Crazy Quilt tutorials at the end of the post.  Really though, just do whatever works for you.  I'm not super picky.  Below is another block that I started.

The blocks below are blocks that I made from clothing for a memory quilt.  You can see the pieces are much larger.  This type of larger piece block is also great.  You can also get the idea of what I plan to do embroidery wise from the following blocks.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-sew-an-easy-Crazy-Quilt-block/

http://mouseinmypocket.com/2012/06/crazy-quilt-tutorial/
http://www.debraspincic.com/2007/06/constructing-crazy-quilt-blocks.html

http://mselaineousteachessewing.blogspot.com/2012/03/crazy-quilt-block.html

Finished Simply Woven Quilt

Hello all!


Here are pictures of my finished Stash Bee (2013 Hive #4) Quilt!

Here's the backing with the three leftover blocks:

And a fancy shot on the fence just for fun.

Thanks again to everyone who had a hand in making this quilt happen!

Stats:

Blocks: Simply Woven via Moda Bake Shop made by members of the Stash Bee Hive #4 in 2013

Background and binding: from Haven's Edge line

Size: 72 by 72 inches

Quilting: meandering loops in white thread