Hive 2 - June Tutorial

What is your name?

Tiffany Bohland

Where do you live?

Green Bay, WI, USA - Home of the Green Bay Packers and delicious fried cheese curds!

Tell us about your family:

I'm happily married to my best friend since Jan 2006.  I have a lovely stepdaughter who is 17, and son who is going to be 5 mid June!  

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.

My SIL (sister in law) came to visit and I helped her make a quilt, and I've been off and running ever since! I love it!

How do you organize your fabric stash? 

I put them in small see through plastic containers, labeled by color/project, etc.  It's a mess at the moment, but it's mine. <3

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?

I love Amy Butler and Bonnie and Camille.  But really, I love all fabrics - there is so much to drool over that it's hard to pick a couple favorites.  I am not a fan of civil war prints, but everything else is pretty much game for me :D

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

How important a good iron can be.

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

Seriously - my rotary cutter! I can NOT imagine cutting everything by scissors.  I also have one of those cool swivel cutting mats, and love it for small projects - so I don't have to monkey around moving my fabrics and losing my rulers spot.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why?

My favorite movie is Meet Joe Black - I love Brad Pitt in that movie!  He really makes you think about life and death and love in a different light.

Now for the fun stuff, the tutorial!!

I am making the same block as hive 10 from February - Here.  Great tutorial, but I made my own and have pictures to show along the way, so it's a merging of that tutorial and mine.  Follow the instructions the best you can, and if need be, ask away and I'll help if I can! And FYI - I am a terrible picture taker.  So please bare with me as you look at my pictures! :D

For fabrics, I'm choosing a "fire" theme - white or white on white for the neutral, a true red and a bright yellow for my colors.  If you have enough fabric to make this less scrappy, you can - but if you only truly have scraps, as long as the colors read white, red and yellow, I will gladly accept it.  Please don't buy fabric just for me.  Each block will be unique and I will love it for that!

Here is a picture of my finished block:

 Cutting:
Cut from your white:
1 - 5.5" square
4 - 4" squares
1 - 3"x22.5" strip or 2 - 3"x11.5" strips (if you have a FQ)

Cut from the red:
1 - 3"x22.5" strip or 2 - 3"x11.5" strips (if you have a FQ)
6 - 4"squares

Cut from the yellow:
2 - 4" squares

All Cut Out

 I used a FQ - so I have two strips.  Take the red and white strips, RS(right sides) together, and sew along the length.  Press open or to the dark fabric, I don't care, whatever your preference is.

Front and Back of Strips Pieced

 Now cut the strips (or strip) into 5.5" squares.  You should yield 4 units.

Strips cut into units

 Cut the 2 yellow, 2 red, and 4 white 4" squares, and cut all in half so you have triangles like the picture below.  You will still have 4 red 4" squares.

All Ready for the next steps

 Take the 4" red squares and finger press them in half - once one way, and then turn and press the other way.  You will have "4" squares after finger pressing.  It should look like the picture below.

Red square finger pressed

 Now sew two white triangles onto the pressed red square.  Use the line you finger pressed as a marker - the tip of the white triangle should match up with the line you finger pressed.  Sew both white triangles on, on opposite ends, as shown below.

Whites sewn on

 Once again, time to hit the iron!  Be careful not to get rid of your finger pressed lines, as you still need them.

Seams to the dark side of the fabric

 Trim the ears off the white fabric.

Squaring up

 Next, sew on the red triangle and yellow triangle, once again matching the tips of the triangles with the line you finger pressed.

Adding another triangle

 Voila! After hitting the iron again, your block should look like this. Now repeat that to yield 4 units like the one below.

Look it's starting to look pretty!

 Now for the "hard" part - trimming your squares to be 5.5".  You should read and follow this tutorial HERE, step 6.  Don't be intimidated! You can do it!  If you can see below, I have the ruler placed where she indicates for trimming.

Ruler placement for trimming

 Ready to trim another block.

Ready to trim

 Then you should yield 4 perfectly square 5.5" units.  Yippee! I knew you could do it!

All trimmed up.

Layout the block like so:

Blocks all laid out and ready to sew!

Sew together - if you have accurate seams, it will be easy to get all your pieces together nice and easy.  There are other ways you can do the last step (like in the tutorial for hive 10 february), but I didn't feel I had any problems skipping the pin steps.  (I hope I haven't confused you!! If I have, or you are unclear, please feel free to email me - pnksweethrt at gmail dot com.  I will clarify and walk you through the steps, and if need be do another block with additional pictures.)  I want this block to be enjoyable for you, so please please please don't stress too much about your colors, and if you need help please ask.

Here is, again, what the block will look like all finished up:

Tada!!

Your block should be 15.5" inches now - and ready for me to admire and love! :)  Thanks again everyone for making me a block!