Hive 1 - October Block Tutorial

 What is your name?

 Hi my little worker Bees! My name is Rebecca and I blog over at www.oneweebird.blogspot.com

Sorry I have no grown up mature photos of myself!! 

 Where do you live?

I live in Tauranga, New Zealand. Tauranga is situated in the sunny Bay of Plenty on the East Coast of the North Island.Think beaches in the Summer and very green Native Bush for Winter time. We are at sea level so no snow for us.I was born here and have lived here all my life bar a few stints as a babe in the South Island, and also in my early 20's when I lived in our biggest city, Auckland.

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

I am the eldest of 3 girls and 1 boy . All the sisters now live in Tauranga and our brother has lived in Korea for the past 10 years teaching English.

I am the mother of four children!!...even when I type that I can't believe it...3 boys 21,16,15 and one wee girl 28mnths. 

My boys are from my first life and my wee girl is from my second life. 2014 has been a rough year for us as after being together for 8 years my darling passed away tragically on New Years Day while out Scuba Diving with friends. The kids and our wonderful friends and family have literally saved me as have my Quilty peeps.

 I have signed up for as much as I can in the last 3 months to keep myself as busy as possible at night after work!!

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.

I have always admired quilting and was an avid cross stitcher for years, and although my mother is an accomplished seamstress I had never sewed anything bar compulsory tech courses at school. I went to a craft show in 2002 and bought my first fat quarters....the rest is history LOL

 

How do you organize your fabric stash? 

This is the most recent and shameful picture of my sewing space...need I say more....what organisation!

 

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?

That's like asking who is my favourite child?....somedays none!..ooops did I say that out loud LOL

I love quite a few but rarely a whole line. Heather Ross, Bonnie & Camille, Denyse Schmidt, Sarah Fielke, Jeni Baker, Tamara Kate,Tula Pink....and I'm trying sooo hard not to like Cotton & Steel...but it's a losing battle.

Colour and Quirky, that's my faves..............bad grammar!

 

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

There are NO quilt police really and you can just do what you like as long as you have fun......I would've spent waaay less time stressing about whether i was doing it right??

 

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

Fiskars rotating mat...absolutely the bomb for squaring up HST and spring loaded snips...AWESOME! Just get them you'll wonder how you did without them...maybe not the snips so much but definitely the rotating mat ( disclaimer : I am not affiliated with Fiskars in anyway! )

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

My friends think I'm like Bridget Jones, but I like to think I'm smarter than her, they just want everyone to hear the mad things I say! I don't really have a favourite fictional character as some days I feel like I'm the pages of my own weird fictional life!

ENOUGH WITH THE GASBAGGING!

TUTORIAL TIME.

I think I've made it easy, since it's getting to a busy time of year for everyone and I think we could all use a breather and of course some FUN!

12" or 6" or 4" Blocks is what I'm after  ...You choose. (those are finished sizes)

 I know I can't ask for fabric lines but I couldn't find anywhere it said I couldn't ask for solids?? Doesn't have to be Kona Cotton, just any solid you have lying around?? These are what I pulled randomly...I have no colour grouping preference whatsoever!

These are what I came up with just from HST I had hanging around all over my sewing shambles...I'd like to call it "sewing space" but you've all seen it!

4 1/2" Blocks

6 1/2" Blocks

12 1/2" Block

Now I don't want this to be stressful.I have used White as my contrast in most of these blocks but I don't want anyone purchasing White specifically for this, two colours against each other is ABSOLUTELY perfect. I just had a whole lotta white pieces lying around.

The BRIGHTER the better, I'm a colour girl.

If you're not sure of the whiteness of your white use it as the feature ( like the Churn Dash Blocks ) then no two whites will be against each other. Or once again make it a two or three colour block.

Here is a link to the Quilters Cache   in the bottom right hand corner just click on your size preference and away you go!

If you have an iPad or iPhone there is a quilt block ap that I used that is great and very handy.

Any questions please just ask! Due to my job my iPhone is never far away so you can email me anytime 

oneweebird@gmail.com