Hive 1 June block for Jayne

 

I bought several yards of my floral petal fabric for a great bargain from a woman clearing out a huge stash of quilting fabric. I was planning on using much of it for quilt backs--it was fun being able to cut into it for a block in its own right. My only issue was that I have absolutely no white on white--so my background is a solid white. This will go in the mail tomorrow. --Julia C

Hive 3 June Tutorial - Ribbon Star Quilt block

 

Ribbon Star Quilt Block

 

Hello Hive Mates!

I have also loved black background quilts and thought this would be a great way to get a head start on one.

Pick any bright jewel solid color fabric in your stash, just no neon colors please.

Here are some Brights that I pulled out of my stash.  (Wow! Not a very good picture of my brights ☹)

 

The background color is black.  I am using Kona black but use whatever you have. 

 

Below are the fabric requirements:

(6) 4-inch squares of a Bright solid

(6) 4-inch squares of Black

(4) 3.5 inch squares in Black

Match each 4 inch black square to a 4 inch bright square.  Draw a line down the center and sew a ¼ inch on each side of it.

 

        

                                                                                                   

Once you have sewn all of them, cut down the drawn line to make 2 HSTs.  Press your seams open.

 

Trim your HSTs down to 3.5 inches

Once you have all of your blocks trimmed and pressed this is how your rows will layout with the 3.5 black squares in the four corners.

 

ROW 1

 

 

ROW 2

 

  ROW 3

 

 

 

ROW 4

 

Once all of your rows are sewn together, lay them out in the following pattern and sew together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

 

Give it a good pressing and you are done.  The block should measure 12 x 12 but don’t worry about trimming it.  Once I have all of the blocks I will trim.

 

            

 

Can’t wait to see all of your blocks.

 Christy

Pattern credit to:

https://www.alandacraft.com/2017/05/18/quilt-block-ribbon-star-quilt-block-tutorial/

Hive 5 May Tutorial -Wonky Star Block

  Happy June!

This is a block that I've been wanting to make for a while.  I think it'll be an amazing quilt!

There are many tutorials out there, but the tutorial that I chose to use is from Scissortail Quilting. (This link will take you directly to the pdf tutorial.)

Background Colors: I would like deep blues.  Think royal blue to dark blue, with minimal secondary colors. I would prefer no novelty fabrics.

Star colors: Bright yellows/golds, with minimal secondary colors.  I would prefer no novelty fabrics.

Directions:  I envision my final quilt having different size star blocks.  For the Stash Bee, we'll use the 12" finished block dimensions (If you'd prefer to make a larger one for me, feel free!).

You'll need: 

    6- 4.5" blue squares

    1- 4.5" yellow square

    scraps of yellow for the star points

First, we'll make the star points.  Sew one of the yellow scraps at an angle from the center of one side, to an adjacent side, right sides together.  Trim the excess blue background fabric (on the right side), then press the yellow star point open.

Next,  trim the excess yellow fabric, then trim to make the unit a 4.5" square again.

Take a yellow scrap and place it on the other side of the unit to make the other point for that unit.  Trim the blue background, press open the yellow star point, then trim the unit again to make it 4.5".

Repeat with 3 other blue background squares to make a total of 4 star point blocks.

Arrange the 4 star points,  4 remaining blue squares and the 1 yellow center square to form a star and then sew together!  The block should end up 12.5", but mine ended up being 12.25", so don't worry if yours if off it bit! No big deal!  I'll make it work!

Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks everyone and happy sewing!

-Michelle

    

Hive 4 June Tutorial- Pumpkin Block

 Hello from Raleigh, NC! This is my first time doing a stash bee and I've been having a great time and I certainly hope my blocks have been well received by all the previous Queen Bees. I've been sewing for a long time (like over a decade) but I've only been a quilter for about six of those years. Obviously, I took to it fairly well since I've now become a full time longarm quilter. (It's funny how life works) I'm actually writing this post at the start of May so I can be ahead of schedule since my quilting lineup has gotten quite busy and I don't want to fall behind on anything. 

I debated back and forth about what I wanted my block to be. Halloween is my absolute favorite so I almost had everyone make a super spooky and fun block (like a haunted house) but I actually have over five Halloween quilts already and I do hate how I can really only keep them out one month of the year. (I could keep them out longer theoretically but then people tend to give you strange looks.) So I opted to keep it within the "Fall" theme and go with a pumpkin block. That way, I have a solid three months to keep this quilt out. 

So I'm sure that someone at some point designed this block, but I just googled pumpkin quilt blocks and found one that I liked. Then I drafted it out on some graph paper and made my sample for the progress photos and to double check my measurements. Everything looks accurate to me, but if you have any issues, feel free to email me or message me on instagram. I'm always happy to answer questions. 

For color schemes of this block, I'm not too picky. Pumpkins are orange, obviously. I'd prefer more earth tones or deeper oranges because those say Fall to me more than brighter oranges. In my sample, I did a two fabric pumpkin, but don't feel like you need to do that. If you want to use six colors of orange, go for it. The stem can really be any brown you want and the leaf can be mostly any green (I would say nothing too bright though). And for the background, I'd prefer a cream rather than a white. Any of these colors can be a print or a solid, I have no preference in that regard. Here are a few color fabric pulls for "inspiration"

Step 1: Cutting Your Pieces

Orange- Cut 6 strips at 2.5"x10.5"

Green- Cut 1 rectangle at 2.5"x5.5"

Brown- Cut 1 square at 2.5"x2.5"

Cream Background

            Cut 6 squares at 2.5"x2.5"

            Cut 1 rectangle at 2.5"x5.5"

            Cut 2 strips at 1.5"x12.5"

            Cut 2 strips at 1.5"x14.5"

When you lay your pieces out, it'll look at little like this:

Step 2: Sewing the pumpkin body

Sew your 6 orange strips together. Everything in this block is sewn with a 1/4'' seam allowance. Press all seams to one direction (either left or right). 

Take 4 of your 2.5"x2.5" cream background squares and draw diagonal lines on each piece, from one corner to the direct opposite corner. Then place the squares on the corners of the pumpkin piece you just made and pin in place (like the photo below). Proceed to stitch along the line you drew on all four pieces. Then trim 1/4'' on the OUTSIDE of the stitched line. Then press the corners outwards. 

Step 3: Sew Your Stem and Leaf

Take the last two of your 2.5"x2.5" background squares and draw diagonal lines as previously done. Align them to left and right edges of your green rectangle piece, making sure that your diagonal lines are in the same direction of bottom left to top right. (See photo below). Sew along diagonal lines again and trim 1/4'' on the outside of the stitched line. Press corners outwards. Then sew the 2.5"x2.5" brown stem square to the LEFT side of leaf piece and press towards the stem. Lastly, sew the 2.5"x5.5" background rectangle to the left side of the stem square. Press towards the stem. 

Step 4: Sew Stem and Leaf piece to Pumpkin Body

Align your stem and leaf strip to the top edge of your pumpkin body. Pin and sew in place. Press in whichever direction you'd prefer. 

Step 5: Sew Block Borders

Take your two 1.5"x12.5" background strips and sew to the top and bottom of your pumpkin block. Press towards the border. Then sew your 1.5"x14.5" background strips to the left and right edges and press towards the border. Square up, if neccessary. Your finished block should measure 14.5"x14.5".

Thank you, everyone! Hope you enjoyed this block! 

-Carrie

Hive 6 June Tutorial- Block for Monica

 Hello, Beemates! I hope you're all enjoying the beginning of summer! Here's the block for June.

I chose this block for my month after seeing an Instagram post by @quiltpraylove. Isn't it gorgeous!?

A huge thank you to her for sending me the measurements for her 8.5" block! I modified those measurements to make a 12.5" block. This will be a lot like Carla's plan, where one block will be the same color family plus low volume for the background. Let's get started, shall we?

Here's what you'll need to cut:

Color prints: 3.5" squares (4 for the center)

                     2" squares (8 for the corner 4 patches)

Low volume prints: 3.5" squares (8 for the sides and top/bottom)

                                2" squares (8 for the corner 4 patches)

First, sew the 4 3.5" color squares in a 4 patch to make up the center.

Then, we'll make the corner 4 patch units. You'll need to make 4 of these. If you're using directional fabric, you'll have to pay attention to fabric placement to make sure you get 2 units with color prints going in each diagonal direction like this:

Once these 4 patches are finished, we can layout the block like this:

Sew the pairs of low volume square together and then sew the rows together as for a 9 patch. Here's what the finished block will look like:

Please use whatever color you want or have enough of in your stash. I'm not worried about having duplicates of colors because I want to make this quilt fairly big so I'll need lots.

This is the first tutorial I've written so let me know if you have any questions. Thanks everyone!

Monica Smith (cable_and_selvage)

Hive 1 June Block for Jayne

 

Hi Jayne,

I hope you like those flowers :).

The blocks went into the post box today.

They were perfect for summer sewing.

Take care, 

Rita.

Hive 2 June Tutorial- Log Cabin Block

I don’t know about anyone else when they were planning their queen bee block, but I had such consternation. I first picked out a block and I wanted to make changes to fit an idea in my head. I made a test block, and didn’t like it.This morning inspiration struck, how about a LOG CABIN. 

Many years ago as an aspiring quilter, not actually sewing, just reading books and patterns. It might have been in the early 2000s, I read a quilt pattern book and there was a log cabin pattern called Sunshine in the Window, where the author used a yellow block instead of a red block to start the cabin. Why not use this block as my first block bee?! So here’s my tutorial for the log cabin block.

I really like a scrappy look and seeing what kinds of fabric people have in their stash. My two requests is that the yellow chosen for the middle block be vibrant enough to stand out from the low volume strips and try to avoid navy blue for the dark/medium strips. Most of my stash is HEAVY with navy blue. I most likely will make additional blocks using navy blue prints.

YOU WILL NEED:

From Yellow	One 2.5x2.5 inch Square
From Low Volume	One 2.5x2.5 inch Square
	One 2.5x4.5 inch Strip
	One 2.5x6.5 inch  Strip
	One 2.5x8.5 inch  Strip
	One 2.5x10.5 inch Strip
	One 2.5x12.5 inch  Strip
From Dark or Medium	One 2.5x4.5  inch Strip
	One 2.5x6.5  inch Strip
	One 2.5x8.5 inch  Strip
	One 2.5x10.5 inch  Strip
	One 2.5x12.5  inch Strip
	One 2.5x14.5 inch Strip

Don’t be like me and forget to cut the 2.5x8.5 inch strip EEEKKKK!!

This log cabin block is constructed like a traditional log cabin block.

First sew the yellow square to the low volume square, and then the low volume 2.5x4.5 strip to the two squares.

Then add your dark/ medium strips and low volume strips following the diagram below.

Your block should measure 14.5 inches square.

If my directions are difficult to understand, please use the link below.

How to construct a Log Cabin Block

I am so excited to see what you all come up with. My favorite part of this bee is seeing everyone’s blocks posted.

Happy Quilting!

<3 Deanna

Hive 1 May block for Katherine

 

Here is my block, just barely making it in time! I went with some orangey-reds. I even did the fun bonus step you offered of sewing things backwards on my first attempt. In the mail today! -Julia C.

Hey Katherine, 

A little late on your block.... school snuck up on me but I'll have your block in the mail tomorrow! I picked several of my favorite blues, I hope you like them. 
 

May block for Katherine - Hive 1

 I always love the look of flying geese but the decision on how to make them always makes me fret (no-waste 4-at-a-time vs. traditional). Measure even a bit off and your goose could be too small. But it's good to sew out of one's comfort zone every once in a while.

I'll get this in the mail early next week.

~ Diana