Hive 8 May Block Tutorial

Hello fellow Bees. I am Tami. I blog over at Sea Me Sparkle. I live in South Carolina near the Charleston area.

Here is my family. My husband and I will have our 15 year anniversary this July. My daughter Chloe just turned 5 years old.

This is our cat named Cosmo. My daughter calls him Bootsy. It was easier for her to say back when she was learning to talk.

This is Koda our golden Retriever. He just turned one years old and he is a big boy. Not sure what we would do with out our fur babies. They are a big part of our lives.

How did I get interested in quilting?
I have been sewing as far back as I can remember. I remember modifying my clothing and making stuff for my dolls to wear. When I got older I would make clothing and also household décor. I always thought I would make a quilt one day. I even would buy quilt books and watch quilt shows on the PBS channel. Unfortunately I did not know one person that shared in my love of textiles and crafting. When I was mourning the loss of my beloved cat I decided to make a quilt in memory of him. So I went down to Jo-Ann fabrics and bought some fabric and some of the tools I was not familiar with and began to make my first quilt. I have not looked back since.

How Do You Organize your fabric?
I tend to organize by categorize, Like Christmas, Halloween, Whimsical, Favorites, Asian. There really is no rhyme or reason to most of my organization. Here are some photos.

I have my sewing and quilt books in this cabinet. It also holds all my batting and large yardage of fabrics. On top of this cabinet you can see a few large baskets, I keep random stash and scraps in these. Against the wall you can see a white drawer cheep storage I keep fabric in these drawers along with ribbons and sewing notions. That blue cart is from Ikea and I have specific projects that I am working on that are placed on it. In the corner stacked up you can see a few different bins and I keep individual projects in each of these.

This table is where I do my cutting and sewing. I just put my sewing machine on the end and roll my desk chair over to it. Under the table I have some plastic bin drawers these are all stuffed with fabric. In the white chest of drawers the bottom 3 drawers hold fabric. None of my fabric is folded fancy. One of these days I am going to sit down and fold it all in a more uniform way.

Who is your favorite fabric designer?
I don't have a favorite. I tend to just go with the reasoning if I love it I try to make sure to buy it before it is no longer available. Off the top of my head I would say Kate Spain, Mo Bedell, Bonnie & Camille, & Fig Tree Quilts.

What is the one thing you have learned that you wished you knew when you first started quilting?
I wish I knew back then the different quality of fabrics and batting.

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?
This is a tough one, I think we all have the basic tools and they work the best. I would say buy pretty tools that way when they are laying all over the place at least they look nice.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why?
I love books, movies & TV so this is a tough question.

I am going to go with Aurora from the movie Terms of Endearment. I have seen this movie at least a dozen times and laughed and cried every time. I am picking her because she is a mom and she has faults but overall she loves her daughter and wants what is best for her. I could go on and on and pick more favorite characters and list several movies books and television shows but I better hold back and get to the quilting.

Ok Here we go

For my block this month I am requesting a simple 16 patch. That is right you can go ahead and let out that breath and relax it is not going to be hard. I am wanting to make a large quilt using these blocks for a beach/picnic quilt.

Pick 2 complimentary fabrics in either a floral print or a polka dot print. No solids and no blacks or dark fabrics. I am thinking pretty, girly, light and bright. Here are some fabric combos I pulled from my stash for examples.

 

 

Ok now go ahead and pick your 2 fabrics.

 

 

Then cut 2 strips 15 inches long by 3.5 inches wide.

 

Then alternate them going dark light dark light.

 

Sew the strips together then press seems towards the dark fabric

 

Once the strips are sewn together cut strips 3.5 inches wide. You will have a bit extra so go ahead and even out the side and then cut your strips.

 

Now alternate the strips by turning the 2nd and 4th one upside down so they look like this.

 

Now sew them together and press all seems to the same side. The block should be 12.5 inches. Don't worry about squaring them up I can do that. Also if you like making the block and have time feel free to make more than one. I plan to make the quilt large maybe 6 X 6 blocks so I will need 36 blocks.