Hive 2. . . June block. . . . finally success!

Here, finally, is the block that I was able to get done for Lynda

It is a little over 12 1/2" square but I am too afraid to trim it myself.  This is the 4th block that I made, but the first one with the Fat Quarter Shop tutorial.  I am so happy that it was able to come out to the correct size.


Lynda is also getting these three blocks

None of them came out to 12 1/2", but perhaps she can incorporate them into the backing, or another quilt, or matching pillows.

These blocks will be in the mail by Saturday.

Sherry V.

June Block...Snail's Trail for Lynda

Hey all!

These are two blocks for Lynda for June, Hive 2. While this block is not exactly my style, I love this colorful picture and am glad I had this opportunity to try something new.

Just an FYI...I made the first block (purple one) according to the tutorial Lynda shared. I was not very happy with the finished size, as I could not square up to 12.5". I went to find another tut and used one from the Fat Quarter Shop. It was perfect!

Lynda, I hope these work for your plan...at least one of them! I also hope you will think about joining Instagram, so we can follow along on your new quilting hobby and this project! It is not required for this hive, but makes it fun and inspiring to follow other quilters.

Happy Quilting!
Valorie
@facetfully on Instagram

Hive 2 - June Snail Trail

The month isn't even half over and I got my blocks finished.  :)  I needed to make a quick stop to the fabric store because I was not happy with the choices in my stash.  My daughter is drawn to batiks, and loved getting to help me pick out fabrics for this one.  Since I went with four colors instead of two, it was as easy to make 2 as 1; somehow I got the order a bit different in each.  Hope these will fit well with the others!

Jennifer

Hive 2

On their way. Joan

Hive 3 June Tutorial - Autumn Chain Variation Block

Hi Ladies!

The block I’ve chosen is the Autumn Chain Variation. The tutorial is found through Blossom Heart Quilts Bee Hive Tutorial Series page as the February Bonus Block.  You can find the tutorial directly at https://www.sewmamasew.com/2015/02/autumn-chain-block/

The color palette I’ve chosen is Pink Lemonade.  So think Pink! And Lemon!  But also: Bubblegum, Melon, Coral, Blush, Peony, Fuchsia, and Butter, Mustard, Yellow, Honey, Candlelight, and so on.  I love pops of green in the fabrics you choose, but not fabrics that read as “green”.  The Cotton and Steel / Rifle Paper co.  Menagerie print “Jardin de Paris” in Peony,  and Bari' J's Yuma Lemons in Glare (the two fabric pictured in the center below) are a great example -  Bright green leaves on the pink background!  White-based Low volumes for the background/center cross. The geese and the center cross do not have to match. I did a  fabric pull that should give you some ideas.

When I made my block, I changed up the cutting instructions to make no-waste flying geese.  (I loathe wasting precious fabric, and I never seem to make them straight enough constructing them one at a time!) 

But please make your block however you are most comfortable. 

Here are the different cutting directions, if you are so inclined! 

Background (Body of the Geese)

Cut 1 – 7.25” square low volume

Sky - This will be the points of the star shape

Cut 4 – 3.875” squares print. (3 and 7/8ths)

The remaining cutting instructions are the same as the tutorial:

Center Cross

Cut 2 – 2.5” squares low volume

Cut 1 – 2.5” x 6.5” low volume

HST’s

Of FOUR prints (Dark, Medium, Light, Lightest):

Cut 1 – 4” square from each print (4 total)

Cut 1 – 3” square from each print (4 total)

Construction

Make the geese using the no-waste method.  

 Draw a diagonal line on the back of all four sky squares.  You will be sewing a 1/4" away from that center line on either side.  I like to draw those lines in, and stitch right on them. Like so: 

Cut between your two sewn lines. 

Press this seam open.

Now place the remaining two sky squares on like so. Stitch on those lines, (1/4"  away from the center diagonal) 

Cut again, down the center of your two stitched lines,  above right.  Press the seams open.  You should end up with 4 almost perfect flying geese!   With no waste!!  Trim to 3.5' x 6.5".

Follow the remaining the construction instructions per the tutorial on SewMamaSew.

Next up - HST!  Pair your fabrics like so, and stitch on the lines drawn. 

( I've offset the fabric underneath just to show the pairings.  I lined them up when sewing.) 

Cut between your sewn lines, press your seams open, and trim your HST's to 2.5" for the smaller, and 3.5" for the larger. You will end up with 8 total HST units.  

Then arrange your block following the color placement and orientation shown below.  Pay attention that your HST units alternate in color and light/dark.  

Stitch together the CENTER first. Press every seam in this portion towards the LOW VOLUME.  

Then sew the units together like a 9 patch block. 

Press your seams OPEN.  

Ta Da!  Finished Block!

Thank you all so very much in advance for making my first bee an absolute blast.  I cannot wait to see which fabrics you chose to make this fun block!

Hive 2 June block for Lynda

I've never made this block, but always admired it.  The directions were good and the block was easily made.  I hope to get it into the mail tomorrow.
Kathie L

Hive 2 Snails Trail blocks for Lynda

Both these blocks use the same 4 fabrics, I just changed up the order.  I hope they will fit into your project.  I rather enjoyed the nice big pieces.  I will mail them on Monday.  

Snail’s Trail Block for Lynda - Hive 2

I’ve seen snail’s trail blocks before, but never gotten around to making one until now. Fun and pretty! This is why stash bee is so fun - getting to make all the new blocks I’ve never done before. The quilt will be lovely when it’s done.

Here’s my block for Lynda

June Tutorial for Hive 1 Block for Julia

Hello hive mates! It's a lovely sunny June day here in Boston. This is my fifth year in the stash bee. I really love learning and practicing different techniques each month.  I've been sewing since I was a kid (mostly costumes and clothes) and quilting for about eight years. Two fabric designers I've fallen in love with due to the stash bee are Alison Glass and Tula Pink.

For June I've chosen a 12 1/2" wonky star block.

The background color should be black or gray. Patterns or solids are fine. The background should be all one fabric.  The center star is purple. You can make it with all one fabric or go scrappy.

My fabric pull has a range of purples and a variety of background fabric options

The tutorial I selected is from The Silly BooDilly. I've made two changes.  First is that the center of the star and the points are all the same color.  Second is that the cutting instructions are slightly different from the tutorial.

Background fabric

• Cut eight 4 1/2" squares

Star/Center fabric

• cut one 4 1/2" square
• cut four 5" squares

Using 5" squares for the star points allows for more angling and makes trimming the point blocks much easier.  I photographed how the blocks go together using 5" squares for star points.

Because you after the fourth picture you have so much excess purple fabric, it makes trimming the block back to 4 1/2" square much easier.  I took a pic to demo one way to trim blocks back 4 1/2" squares.  I did my trimming using a square up ruler. Basically I aligned one corner of black square with the 4 1/2" square up ruler and cut off the excess. (I added a blue line in the picture to highlight this).

and after all that shablam! A finished block.
               

Hive 2 June tutorial block - Snail's Trail

Hey everyone,

This is my first time being in a hive and it’s so much fun. I’m relatively new to quilting, so i’m learning A LOT!! 

This is also my first time posting anything other than just a block, so hopefully this works.

It took me months to choose this block. I wanted it to be fairly easy and still pretty customizable but also look cool. So i’ve chosen the Snail’s Trail block. The tutorial that I found is fantastic and super easy to follow…but as always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. 

http://theelvengarden.blogspot.com/2012/02/snail-trail-block-tutorial.html

For colours you can choose any shade and combination of purple, blue, pink or white. Please try to make them true colours… for example I don’t want the blue to get too green… teal is just fine as long as it stays on the blue side and try not to get too orange or red with the pinks. As for designs of the fabrics…batkis or batik looking fabrics, for example the Boundless collection from Blueprint is not a batik but still kinda looks like one, would be ideal. Lots of blender type fabrics would work great. And no solids, unless you choose to use white, which could be a solid.  I will attach some pictures of examples to  give you an idea.   

So the tutorial includes instructions for using 2 or 4 fabrics, either one is fine with me so feel free to choose whichever you prefer. If you do four colours, then you will end up with some extra fabric after cutting. If you want to send me the extra fabric, you are more than welcome… or you can start your own snail trail quilt with it. 

 This is the block that I did and I think it turned out great. 

I hope that all makes sense and I hope you have as much fun with this block as I did. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Hive 4 - June Block Tutorial for Gayle - Rolling Stone

Hi, I am Gayle, and this is my fourth year in Stash Bee. I enjoy making all the different blocks and of course liking when it is my month to choose. I live in Austin, TX with my husband and two cats and have a 24 year old son who recently has moved out on his own!

The block I picked is know by various names but I will use the Rolling Stone name. I scaled it up to a 15 inch block (15 1/2 inch unfinished).

You will need four different fabrics. So pick one cool color, like blue, green, purple or turquoise. You will need amounts of three different shades, a light, medium and dark value. And then white solid or white on white for the background. The cool color you choose can be blenders, tone on tone or multi color prints as long as it reads mostly the one color you picked. It is fine if you need to use a solid, but I really like prints, so just one please if you need to (not counting the white). Below are examples.

Of the Medium value: cut 1 - 5 1/2 inch square (center square)
The light value: cut 4 - 3 by 5 1/2 inch rectangles
The dark value: cut 4 - 4 inch squares

White: Cut 4 - 3 by 5 1/2 inch rectangles
            Cut 8 - 3 1/2 inch squares, then cut diagonally once for 16 half square triangles 

Assembly instructions:

Sew 2 white triangles on opposite sides of the dark squares, centering long edge of triangle over the square. Hint, can be easier if you pinch each fabric in half to make a slight mark for matching. Press, then sew the other two opposite sides. You will have 4 square in a square that should measure 5 1/2 inches square. If it is slightly larger, trim down to a centered 5 1/2 inches which will also trim off the dog ears.

Sew 1 light rectangle to 1 white rectangle for 4 units.

Assemble as a nine patch.

Thank you and hope you have fun with this block!

Hive 5 June Tutorial - Treasure Hunt block for Katy

Hi quilty friends!

I am excited to be the Hive 5 June queen bee.  I am a mostly stay-at-home mom of two girls (2 and 4) who didn't start quilting until I was pregnant with the first.  In the last 4 years I've fallen in love with the creative space quilting provides to me (it's a great nap time activity since I can start and stop very easily).  I love fabric hoarding (don't we all...), and sometimes when I'm feeling down I just like to go into my craft room and look through all my fabrics and dream up new quilts :)  I also love the connection to other quilters and crafters through IG; I don't really know many people who quilt, so I love getting to see all of your fabulous work on IG.  This is only my second year in Stashbee.  Not only do I love getting to know some quilty friends, but I love learning new things as each block teaches me a new skill (like last month's curves) or pushes me a little out of my comfort zone (black and orange bats?  both two colors I always shy away from!).  It's so fun to see how your visions come together in a fun and eclectic quilt.

Anyway.... enough about me. On to the June block!

I have chosen the "Treasure Hunt" block from The Bee Hive with Blossom Heart Quilts.  This is a paper pieced block (we are all experts in that now, right?).  If you want to look at different version of the treasure hunt block,  Robin Sue from Hive 3 chose this block for her May block.  The paper piecing directions are the same, although I have chosen a different color way.  Her tutorial is great, so head over there if you would like a quick refresher.

My colors are teal/turquoise, purple/lavender, grey, and lime.  Teal will be the main color (used in every block), and a little bit of lime is also used in every block.  You will print out 4 copies of the block- two should have purple and two should have grey (see below).  As always,  make sure you double check that your print outs are the right size (6.5 inch blocks) before sewing (ask me how i know....)

I would like to play with value in this block, going from darker in the middle to lighter on the outside.  As you can tell from the photos below, scrapiness is what I'm looking for!  I would prefer that every fabric is different in your finished block.  (if you can't make them all different, you can just send me the 4 pieces before sewing them together and I can mix and match them myself).  Blenders are fine, but I would prefer fun prints that follow the over all colorway (see examples below).  

Here is a list of the fabric cuts* you will need:

8 limes- 2.25 x4

4 dark teals/turquoises 2.25 x 9.5

4 light teals/turquoises 2.25 x 7

2 purples 2.25 x 9.5

2 lavenders/light purples 2.25 x 7

2 dark grays  2.25 x 9.5

2 light grays 2.25 x 7

***note:  I pulled fabrics from my scrap bin, stash of 2.5 strips, etc, so in my photos you will not see the fabrics cut to the above specifications.  Those are really more like guidelines rather than hard fast cutting requirements.  I just created extra steps for myself because i had to cut them all down after sewing them.  up to you how you paper piece :)  ***  

Next we have a quick photo tutorial of the foundation paper piecing; start with A1 and A2, 

and.... here we go!

Next add A3, sew and flip.

Flip it around, time to add A4 and A5.

And last but not least, time to add that hint of lime! (A6)

Now we are done with the fun part, time to trim up our blocks and sew them together.

Perfect!  now to sew them together in one big block that will finish at 12.5.  Please have the teal X through the middle of the block as shown below.  

Remove papers, and press seems open!  (helps to reduce bulk at the center).

  

The finished block will be about 12.5 inches.  

Thanks in advance for your lovely blocks :)

-Katy