Hive 4 March Tutorial - Up From Here Block

Hello Hive Mates!

My name is Meredith, and I live in the high desert mountains of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. This is a super busy time of year for me, as I am an Enrolled Agent and prepare income tax returns to pay the fabric bills for the rest of the year, lol. I can be found most often over on instagram as @meredithaadolf. I'm so excited to be Queen Bee for March!

Our Hive Mama, Paulette asked us to share what we like most about quilting when it was our turn to post...wow, that's hard to narrow down! I love the color and feel of good fabric. I don't feel very accomplished at designing with color yet, so I particularly love it when I try some new colors together and it turns out amazing. I've only been quilting for a few years, but teaching classes is so much fun - I think it's wonderful to watch a student get enthusiastic about the project we're working on. I think that I would have to answer that my favorite part of quilting is the people. From the talented designers and teachers to the friendly shop owners and guild members to the incredibly supportive online community, I really enjoy meeting and spending time with other quilters.

On to the block...as I was wandering the world wide web looking for inspiration (I'd only made up my mind and then changed it about twelve times already, lol!) I came across the Modern BOM2 series from Sew Mama Sew, in particular, the Up From Here block. I loved the block's potential...but it is a huge 24", wow! So I asked permission to resize and use this pattern for this bee, and was graciously told yes. (See, I told you that quilters are fabulous!)

We'll be making a 15" finished block, and I am super excited!

Choosing fabrics - for this block I'd like you to choose bright, modern prints, please. The gray is a cool gray, closer to blue undertones than brown. The green should be a bright lime, the yellow bright, sunny and happy. Teal is a color between blue and green like turquoise is, but teal is closer to green. Coral is that happy color between orange and red...closer to orange, but bright and happy...no pale peaches for this quilt! The dark blue is definitely still blue, not so dark that it is navy.

If you have questions about the fabric you're thinking about using, just ask! I'll be happy to provide feedback.

What you'll need:

• A 13" x 17" piece of a cool medium gray print
• A 3 1/2" x 9" piece of each lime green, bright yellow, medium teal, coral and dark blue prints

What you'll do:

Step 1: Press and starch your fabrics. 

Step 2: From your five colors, cut: 

• one 3" x 5 1/2" rectangle and 
• one 3" square from each color.

Step 3: From background gray cut:

• four 3" x 17" strips
• subcut two strips into two 10 1/2" and two 5 1/2" rectangles
• subcut two strips into two 8" rectangles and three 3" squares

Step 4: Lay out your block pieces in order. Caution: double check the orientation!

If you are using a directional fabric, please make sure that your pieces are going the same direction.

Whoops, I had my coral pieces upside down!

Step 5: Please shorten your stitch length. We'll be pressing seams open for a flatter block, and a smaller stitch length helps maintain the integrity of the seam.

Step 6: Stitch the pieces in each column together to make the six columns.

Step 7: Press the seams open.

There are only four seams to match in the entire block...where the square color print meets up with the same print rectangle.

Please, pin this intersection.

Step 8: After pinning, assemble the six columns into the block and press open.

Step 9: That's it! You're done! Admire the awesome 15" block!

I had fun mocking up what the quilt might look like...cool!

And then I played around a bit with rotating the blocks...Ooh, that's fun!

And then I turned them again...wow! I think we have a winner!!! Although you never know until they're up on the design wall, right?

Thank you for playing along in the Stash Bee with me, and I look forward to what great blocks each of you will choose as well!

Meredith