Hive 2 - May 2016 Tutorial

Hi, everybody! My name is Debbie Davis and I live in Glenpool, Oklahoma. I am the high school librarian and I work with our ESL (English Second Language) students. This is my first year with Stash Bee and I really appreciate the chance to sew along with such a great group of quilters. I have one son, Chaun. Can you tell he gets his height from me?

This picture is a couple of years old. He has gotten taller and I have gotten wider. The cruel twists of fate!!!

I have been quilting for nearly 35 years - on and off. I lived in Kotzebue, Alaska from 1980-85 and that is where I picked up the quilting bug. My first quilt was "Quilt in a Day - Log Cabin", I am sure I am not the only person that started with Eleanor Burns! I still have that quilt but I can't use it - somehow I left several pins in it when I sandwiched together. :) I have learned a lot since that first quilt and I love teaching others about the joy of quilting. Over the last few years, I have held several classes for fellow teachers and to the disgruntlement of some husbands, help them to catch the quilting bug also.

These are just a few of my quilts - the rest are on the couch, the floor, the beds or in the backseat of my car. I have put a few of my quilts in shows but my quilts are created to lay around on.

So enough about me -- on to the block. I would like the Wanta Fanta Block and Blossom Heart Quilts offers a great pdf with the pattern and instructions: HERE

But here are a few suggestions: colors: white background. It can be solid white or white-on-white. The other pieces - anything goes. they do not have to match so this would be a good chance to use up those pieces left over from something else. Only thing I ask is prints - not solids.

This block consists of both piecing and paper-piecing. If you need help with the paper-piecing here is a tutorial, also by Blossom Heart Quilts.

Here are the number needed for each section of the block:

The orange and green squares at the top, as well as the 16 rectangles at the bottom, are used in the paper-piecing part of the pattern. The smaller blocks and the large background blocks are used in the 2 snowball parts of the block. The snowball part of the block is pretty straightforward. Mark on the back and sew and flip.

A reminder:  on the paper-piecing part of the block - make sure you turn off any scaling when you print the pattern out and print "actual size".  Also, the directions have you cut 3 1/2 squares for the middle of the paper-piecing - which I did but once I trimmed the first one down - I cut the rest of them to match. It made the paper-piecing go pretty fast but do whatever you are comfortable with. You will notice in the picture if you printed and trimmed your paper to the right size - the fabric fits.

Here is the finished block. Please let me know if you have any questions or problems.