Hive 1 August Tutorial -- Sorta Wonky Hashtag Block

 Hi, I'm Pam in Hive 1, and this is my 9th year participating in Stashbee.  I've loved every quilt I've made with my Stashbee blocks--it's so amazing seeing the variety of designs and fabrics I could never achieve using my own very small stash.

I've wanted to make a hashtag quilt for a while, but wasn't feeling the measuring and seam-matching, so I decided to make a slightly wonky and easier, faster version. I love the look of a quilt where the blocks are all a bit different, even if the concept is the same for all of them.  

Here are the directions for my version of the hashtag block:

Fabrics:     One 12.5 inch square of dark grey or black fabric, either solid or print, for the background.

                  Four 1.25 inch strips of bright (print or solid) fabrics, at least 14 inches long

Assembly:    Using a ruler and rotary cutter, make a cut off one side of the background square.  No rules for where to make the cut, and it can be parallel to the edge or slightly at an angle as I did with my sample blocks. 

Take one of your bright strips, and sew it into the square, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  I sewed the strip onto the bigger background piece first, and then sewed the smaller background piece onto the strip, but it doesn't matter what order you do this.  I pressed my seams toward the strip, but however you want to press is fine.

Don't worry about the edges of the background square lining up perfectly on both sides of the strip.

Next make another slice on another side of the square, and insert the next strip the same way.

Strip number one won't line up perfectly on both sides of strip number two, and that's okay.

Continue to slice and insert two more strips the same way.

Yay, you're done!  PLEASE DO NOT "SQUARE UP" THE BLOCK!!  

The block will be roughly 13.5 inches square, but the edges are not going to be straight or parallel, and THAT'S OKAY.  The blocks are not all going to be the same size, and I can trim them to a uniform size before I assemble the quilt top.  If you can't stand those overhanging strips, roughly cut the excess off, but don't trim down the crooked edges of the block. 

THANKS AND ENJOY!  

Hive 1 July Beggar’s block for Cindy

 I’m really sorry this is going to be a bit late. An international family wedding and jet lag hit me harder than I expected! It’ll go in the mail tomorrow. I hope you like it! I think it turned out a little dizzying, but I’m hoping that’s mostly just my addled brain and you’ll be happy with it!

Hive 3 Tracy’s Chickens

 Hello Beemates!

I’ve been having so much fun making blocks for all of you, and I hope you have fun this month making some chickens for me.

We will be using a tutorial from Vicki at Sew Inspired  

http://www.sewinspiredblog.com/2010/02/chicken-quilt-block-tutorial.html?m=1

Let’s get started!

Here is my inspiration and fabric pull. This panel piece is going to be the bottom corner of my quilt and the rest is going to be filled with chickens, chickens everywhere!

The background of the quilt is going to be scrappy off white/cream tone on tone fabrics as I have a ton of leftover bits to use up.  The background of your chicken can be all one fabric or, if you are like me and have tons of scraps, every piece can be different. 

The chicken bodies are going to be black, brown, golden yellow or forest/sage green.

The beaks are going to be yellow to orange.

Their combs are going to be red.

* You can follow her tutorial for cutting your pieces, but please add an extra background piece to the bottom (2 x 8) and the left hand side (2 x 8.5).

Chicken body:

(1) 5.5 x 6.5

(1) 2 x 2

Beak: 

(1) 1.25 x 1.25

Comb:

Approximately 2 x 2.5

Background:

(3) 2 x 2

(1) 2 x 5.5

(1) 2 x 6.5

* (1) 2 x 8

* (1) 2 x 8.5

Before you sew your pieces together, you will need to appliqué your comb on.  I have no preference for how you do this. Follow Vicki’s tutorial, use needle turn, raw edge, zigzag, blanket stitch…whatever you prefer. Just make sure that you leave a quarter inch from the right so that it doesn’t get lost in the seam when you sew it together. 

Isn’t she the cutest!!

Hive 1 July beggar's block for Cindy

 

Can't wait to see this one all finished! -Julia

Hive 1 July 2026 Beggar's Blocks for Cindy

 

It was fun making these easy blocks for Cindy.  Her quilt is going to be so cute and scrappy!

Hive 1 July Beggar's Block for Cindy

 

Hi Cindy! I ended up making two blocks--the one on the right is slightly smaller (and possibly not the right color-scheme...), so I made a second one just in case. Happy sewing!

Finished Quilt - Hive 1 2026 Feb block

 

Hi All,

Meet: 'It's Complicated...'; 60" x 70".

Thank you so much everyone from 2026 Hive 1 for helping me getting this done!

It was real fun to play with the layout of the blocks I received - as you can see, I settled on a classic rainbow, top to bottom, setting. I kept the quilting simple, as this is to be a 'use-quilt' for my BIL (60th next month), just stich-in-the-ditch around the bands and then a rainbow radiating out from the bottom left, each 'ring' in a different gradating rainbow colour.

Really hope it turned out 'butch' enough and will appeal to my BIL!

Happy quilting,

Rita

Hive 1 July: Begger's Block for Cindy

Hi Cindy!

On the second attempt I made it - yay! Hope these colours are what you are looking for. The blocks are already on the way to you.

Happy quilting,

Rita

Hive 1: July block for Cindy

Fun block.  I made a hair ribbon with the original cutting directions.  Here it is in the right size - I hope.

Jane A.

Hive 1 - July Block for Cindy

 

Hive 1 June Purple Log Cabin

 Late! but done! These are in the mail to you :) thank you for your patience! -Julia

CORRECTION: Hive 1 - July 2026 Beggars Block for Cindy

 CORRECTION:

Sorry for the error but strips should be cut at 1 1/2 inches wide (not 1 1/4inch wide).  Thanks to Ruth for catching the error.

Cindy

Purple Log Cabin for Caitlin

 Sorry this is late! It's been an overwhelming month. Making this block made me realize how little purple I keep in my stash. I used EVERY purple I have. 

I hope you enjoy! <3

Kelli’s Log Cabin Block

Kelli, I finished this while I was in Bowling Green at the Sloan Center!

 

Finished Quilt - Hive 2 -2026

 Here is my completed wonky Red, White and Blue stars quilt. And I happened to get it done before the 4th of July. Happy Semiquincentennial!

Gayle

Modern almost 9-Patch Tutorial for Jennifer Hive 3

This is my 11th year in Stash Bee.  I love this group because it gives me the push to sew something every month.  Each block is fun to pick the fabrics and see things come together.  I've made several quilts as a result of this group.

This month when I was thinking of what to ask for, I kept looking at a postage stamp quilt I had started with scraps.  I have no inspiration to keep working on this because it is so blah, so I decided to ask you to help me give it a bit of a modern kick.  We are adding some random uniformity to a plain quilt.  I will insert these squares somehow, maybe with a plan, maybe not, but I'm sure it will give me the inspiration to finish it.  I'm going for a large King size quilt.

Here are my finished pieces with the quilt so you can see what I'm going for:

This isn't quite a 9 patch since there are only 5 strips per block, they look like a 9-patch.  

These are small blocks with a multi color fabric in the middle surrounded by Red.

I will insert these in a large postage stamp quilt to add some interest.

• FABRIC PARAMETERS: 

The base color of the square should be red.  Any solid red will do, although please don't use a batik.

The center square should be multi-color.  It doesn't have to contain red.  It really can be anything since this is a scrappy quilt.

Strips  - cut a 1.5 inch strip of the red.  You will need a length of 40 inches so you may need to cut two like I did:

From this red piece you will need:

8 x 3.5 inch blocks

8 x 1.5 inch blocks

From the multi color scrap you will need:

4 x 1.5 inch squares.  They can all be different or the same fabric for these centers.  I prefer them to all be different to add to the scrappiness if possible.  How many 1.5 in scraps do you have?  I know I have a ton!

They will be assembled like this:

I pressed to the outside:

Here are the final squares.  Feel free to trim them or send them as-is and I'll take care of the trimming:

Thank you all so much for adding some new life to this big scrappy quilt!  I can't wait to see it all together.

- Jennifer

July 2026 tutorial for Hive 4

 Happy Summer! 

This month I’m looking forward to staying in my sewing room more and doing a reset of my fabric and and purging my fabric.

So far I haven’t quite gotten there. I recently attended Stitch Florida and am a bit behind!

My beautiful block is called October stars and I am looking for a white on white back ground with bright florals. 

The block is made up of half square triangles. The size of the block is 12”

Here are some whites and some bright happy florals:

Here are some examples of the blocks I have already made. 

light 

light 

It is a fairly easy block but you do have to take care in the layout!

For my tutorial

You will be making half inch triangles using any comfortable method. This half square triangle  measures 3.5. 

To make these you will cut 

8.  4.5 of both background and floral.

Mark you diagonal and sew along each side then cut on your diagonal line.

Square down to   3.5!

Arrange according to the picture here!

Press toward the dark side! 

I look sew forward to seeing your squares!

Doretta

Hive 5 - July tutorial for Amy - (still) Twirling at the Disco

 It's summertime in Minnesota. A short, but lovely time of year! Long, sunny days, and celebrating my birthday, fishing on the little and big lakes are all a great way to enjoy the summer along with quilting (it's never a bad time to get the sewing machine out to make something beautiful). 

This year, I'm going back to a quilt I started in the 2024 Stash Bee. It's called Twirling at the Disco. It's a great stash buster using mostly 2 1/2" squares.

Here is a previous Stash Bee tutorial with excellent instructions: http://stashbee.blogspot.com/2024/04/hive-2-april-tutorial-for-kim.html

Here is the original pattern: https://www.sameliasmum.com/2020/02/twirling-at-disco-quilt-free-pattern.html?m=1

When I originally made this quilt back in 2024, I thought I was done with it, but have been putting off quilting it for 2 years and realized it's because it's not done. I want to add some more blocks and that's where you come in 😁 

I think 12 more blocks will finish it off. It'll be a good queen size quilt. 

This is a super easy block to assemble. There are a lot of pieces, but it goes together quickly and is a great use of those small scraps you’ve got laying around.

I used this advanced chain piecing also known as web piecing (and probably other things as well) for the 16 patches. Assemble them however you prefer, but I thought I would share for anyone who is interested and hasn’t tried this method. https://youtu.be/qE7KKaS5p-8?si=ADB0Qz5b-0JStY7n

You will need the following fabric:

Forty (40) 2-1/2” squares in a nice mix of colorful prints. Just about anything goes but I would like to avoid browns, blacks, greys, and anything that reads mostly white. Batiks are cool. Licensed fabric are fine. Holiday is acceptable (preferably not majority holiday). Use as great a variety as you'd like.

Two (2) 4-1/2” squares from low volume fabric with white background or white or white on white.

Two (2) 4-1/2 “ by 8-1/2” rectangles  from low volume fabric with white background or white or white on white.

Here's my fabric pull:

I made 2 four patches and 2 sixteen patches, I did some fussy cutting for fun and arranged them in as nice an arrangement as I could for such a scrappy scrappy pattern.

Then each four patch got attached to a white square

Lastly, I assembled two rows (top and bottom) and then attached the two rows into the final block:

My original 16 blocks:

I decided I wanted to make it a rectangle, so I added 8 more blocks, but I cannot leave well enough alone, so I am excited to add 12 more blocks (3 more circles) and finally finish this one up.

Thank you so much for your participation. I hope you have a lot of fun putting it together.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer and more quilty fun for the rest of this year and on!

Hive 2 - July's tutorial - Rail fence quilt block

 Hi, Happy Semi quincentennial! 

You had to know it was going to be a Red, White and Blue theme.  With vacations, kids out of school and a month of many celebratory events I figured it would be good to have a simple and easy block. (I promise next year's will be more complicated. 😉) 

So, the colors pulled are just red (red-blue, if possible, compared to red orange) and white. The red just has to read red. Please check ** if the red fabric as they are prone bleed White on white is okay as well as Batiks fabrics.  

U

You will need three red fabric strips and two white fabric strips of 2.5" by 10.5" so, it should measure 10.5" x 10.5" unfinished.  The fabrics can be the same bolt or different bolts. 

Lay out will be red, then white, then red, then white to finish up with a red strip.  The red strips start and finish the block.  I ended up using an ombre fabric.  

Sew the first two strips using a 1/4" seam allowance. Then sew the next strip to the ones already sewed and so (sew) on.  

Press your seams towards the darker fabric.

I'm sure you are wondering where the blue comes into play.  I'll be making white stars on blue background to finish up the quilt.  

Thanks for your assistance & enjoy 250th celebration of the America's independence.

Deb

😃

** A good test to see if the red fabric will bleed is to take a small piece like one inch square and wet it completely and put it on a white paper towel to dry to see if the dye transfers.  If there is a terrible problem, you can wash the fabric till it runs clear.