Hive 3 Tutorial April 2015

Hello everyone, I'm Heather from Quilts Actually, and I blog at QA Creations.  This is my second year in the Stash Bee, and I've really enjoyed getting to try all the different techniques and color combinations over the last year+.

This year I was debating doing many different patterns and ideas, and then my husband asked me if I was ever going to finish the bed quilt I started 2 calendar years ago.  I love the idea of it still, but for some reason I only get motivated to work on it when it's cold weather - and that's not very much of the year considering I live in central North Carolina.



This quilt has blocks I've been wanting to try and the results of 2 rounds of the 4x5 Modern Bee, but I still don't have quite enough for a queen sized quilt.  These aren't even all of the blocks, but somehow it's still not enough!



That's where all of you come in.  I am asking for help to get blocks to finish up my "Real World Red & White" quilt.  I am requesting 12.5 inch unfinished (12 inch finished) blocks in red, white, tan and brown.

It's the "Real World Red & White" quilt because I have a dog and a 2 year, and they are both allowed on the bed, so therefore a pure white and red quilt is just not practical.



I like the more modern side of those colors, so bright reds and low volume fabrics are preferred over the more subdued versions (but if that's all you have, go with it because there are blocks like that in this quilt too).  I think the blocks I've shown in this post are a good example of the more modern side of red and brown.



This is a sampler quilt, so make (almost) any block you want!  As you can see, I've done quite a few that have very intricate piecing or paper piecing.  You don't have to do one that will take you all day to complete one block, but please don't do something super simple like a 4 patch or a super improv block because they wouldn't really fit in with the blocks I already have.



Below are some great places to find 12.5" unfinished blocks.

From Stash Bee: (I'm sure there are more, but I was scrolling through grabbing 12.5 inch blocks from this year, and there weren't that many!)
Rocky Mountain Puzzle from Hive 6, March 2015 (Patch the Giraffe)
Glorious Autumn Star Block from Hive 8, January 2015 (Audrey)

Sets of Blocks from around the inter webs:
Summer Sampler Series @ Fresh Lemons Quilts
Solstice Stars Series @ Fresh Lemons Quilts
Austen Family Album from Barbara Brackman (on the left side there are links to the 1st and last block so click on one of those and start scrolling)
30 Days of Sewing Quilt Blocks @ Piece N Quilt

I hope this isn't too open - I know some of the hardest months I've had in Stash Bee were the more open requests, but you can kind of see my style and my color palette for this quilt so far.  Feel free to ask me any questions if you don't know what direction to go in.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Question: Do you do any sewing other than quilting?

I started out as a pure quilter, but while I was pregnant with my daughter I sewed a few baby dresses and other things that got me to branch out.  In the two years since she was born I've sewn a lot of clothes for her and even a few for me.  So, I'm no longer purely a quilter, but I do love all sorts of sewing.