Crashing Hive 2 for Tracy

Hive crashing for the first time.  I thought this block idea was too cute to not try.  I happened to have the leftover cowboy fabric front and center on my sewing table from a library bookcase quilt I’m working on.  Then I opened my monthly low volume surprise package and right on top of the bundle was the arrow fabric.  It was meant to be.  I’m smiling doubly because I am a citizen of a Tribe in northern Wisconsin.  I didn’t add the antennae to that block because the arrow showed up at just the right place, but that’s your call.  Hope they fit okay.  Now I just need to figure out how to get them to you.

Hive 4 block for Katie

Here is your block Katie, it spent the month hanging out with my others, haha. Can't wait to see your quilt! Sorry posted a little bit late, in the middle of a move, ugh!

Meredith's Up from here block

This is a quick easy block and went together in a snap.  The colors are bright and fun.  So Meredith, I hope it goes with your assortment you will receive. 

HIVE 4 JANUARY BLOCK

I am so embarrassed that I am just posting getting the block completed and mailed to Paulette today.  January and so far February has kicked my bottom.   But looking always at that full glass...the rest of the year should be smooth sailing.  So here are Paulette's block that I thought was so much fun to make.  I made two since I am feeling the yellow one may be too scrappy.   Happy sewing to all my Bee friends.  February block is almost done and should be mailed by the end of the week.  Yay

Hive 6: Night Sky

March Tutorial for Hive 6

Hello, Hive 6 Members!

My name is T. As long as I can remember, I have always been in awe of the Night Sky, The Milky Way, Constellations of the Northern & Southern Hemispheres, its Planets, etc. Perhaps this interest stems from the fact that my birthday coincides with the annual Perseid Meteor Shower…

This month I'd like to give you an opportunity to choose your block(s) within certain parameters. I did this last year with Hive 1 and would like more blocks so that I can play around with the layout.

So, I'd like to make a quilt of brilliant shining stars, each different & unique.  I envision a cobalt to a darker blue, textured or solid, as your background and luminous stars of a color palette that shines and sparkles. I'd like to see Stars that are as brilliantly complex or as dazzlingly simple as you wish. Paper pieced, classic or wonky, please make me a shining star that I will know you by!

Fabrics might include those that shimmer, geometrics, prints, solids, brights & low volumes in oranges, golds, and blues, with a bit of aqua & red for sparkle!  Having worked briefly in Indonesia I am a fan of quality batik colors & patterns. Here's my palette:

Cath Hall of Wombat Quilts has given us permission to use her free tutorials & patterns
for wonky, patchwork or paper pieced star blocks. Her blog can be found here.  Here is a direct link to her Rocking My Wonky World star tutorial.

Her Starry Night quilt in blue really captures my fabric palette.

So please pull a variety of blues, yellows, golds, oranges, and reds, etc. to create a vibrant, bright star!

You may enjoy searching the internet or library for your star block, or you may be pressed for time and want to check out a few ready sources.  Carol Doak's book, 50 Paper Pieced Stars is for you adventurers. The following sources are for those who may not wish to paper piece this month. Have fun and celebrate your star!

Online see:

Amy Smart provides a step by step tutorial on her Sawtooth Star quilt block here.

The Missouri Star Quilt Company has a video tutorial of their Wonky Star as well.

Lee Heinrich's Ribbon Star tutorial at her blog Freshly Pieced.

Or see Lee's Supernova Star tutorial. My Supernova block is pictured below. While the palette is different than the oranges and golds we are using, the navy & gold batik background gives you a start!

Supernova, pattern by Lee Heinrich of www.freshlypieced.com

Please include the source & designer of your star on your label, that will accompany your block(s).

Thank you in advance for your efforts on my behalf.  I am honored to receive your unique & wonderful blocks this month!

Hive 3 March Tutorial Lone Starburst

Hello Hello Stash Bee Hive 3-ers from🌞New Zealand !

I LOVED the star I picked for Lee and after I made it I decided I need a quilt of it... so my block is a Lone Starburst 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Now I am REALLY SLOW at paper piecing so I timed myself (as I know the rules say it can't take more than 1 and 1/2 hours) and it took me less than an hour. HOORAY!
So you can get the template here on Craftsy 
or here if you don't belong to Craftsy
or there is a link here

The colours are completely up to you 😊the only thing I would like is that the 'background' is a night sky colour, midnight blue, charcoal, deep purple, black tone on tone (not solid black).

Below is the paper piecing completed I deserve a chocolate;

And after trimming (MY FAVORITE PART)

Have fun

Miss March - anna 💗

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 

Hive One March Tutorial - Ohio Star

I’m Karen from southern Ohio and this is my month as Queen Bee for hive one.  I currently work at a paper I’ll but am only a few months from retiring!!  Of course, I’ll know what to do with myself.
The block I’m requesting for this month is the Ohio Star 12”(finished). I had another block picked out but got a request to make a quilt for our local VA Hospice, not a QOV , but a quilt going to a great cause.

I have this panel and think if I add Ohio stars, I can make  it  can make it into the size they are needing.

I would like the blocks to be made with any combination of Red/White/and or Blue fabrics you already have in your stash.

Here is some of the fabric I have pulled:

Your blocks can have any/or all of the colors.  The Quilter’s Cache has a free tutorial for the Ohio Star block: 

http://www.quilterscache.com/O/OhioStarBlock.html

I hope everyone has fun with this block.  Thank you.

This is my sample block.  You can have so much fun deciding on where to place the colors.  Remember— any red/white/blue.

Hive 5 March Tutorial - Polaroid Blocks

Hi Hive Mates!

I can't believe it's March. This year is flying by already. This is my third year in the Stash Bee and I love watching these quilts come together. It's amazing how well all our fabrics work together. I'm a little late to this party, but I've always thought these Polaroid Blocks were so cute. Here's my finished block.

I followed a tutorial posted by the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild for a block lottery available through this link: 4x4 Polaroid Block Tutorial

Please use a solid white (not cream) for the Polaroid frame and a grey fabric for the background. I was originally going to use the same background for all four polaroids, but didn't have enough fabric. Feel free to mix it up. You can use the same background fabric for all four, or use four different grey fabrics.

As for the photos, I don't have a very large collection of novelty fabrics, so I just looked for fabrics that had a image that could be fussy cut. Any focal image would be fine - I've been envisioning this as an I-spy type of project. Here's a photo of some of the fabrics that I thought would work.

You'll need four 3.5" x 3.5" fussy cut squares for the "pictures." You'll also need 2 white WOF (width of fabric x 1" and 1 white WOF x 1.5" for the polaroid frames. You'll need about 1/4 yard of grey fabrics for the background. Here's a photo of the pieces all cut up and ready to go.

The tutorial says to cut the 2" strips for the grey background. I did that and my block came out a little short. I'm not sure what happened. My seam allowance is usually not that far off.

It didn't matter because you'll be squaring up the blocks to 6.5", but if you want to be safe, I'd recommend cutting the strips at 2.5". When I squared up my blocks, I decided to make them slightly wonky and tilt in different directions but you can do whatever feels right for you.

I can't wait to see everyone's pictures!

Thanks,
Stephanie

Hive 2 March Tutorial - Trail of Geese

Hello Hive 2!  My name is Jennifer, and this is my third year in the Stash Bee.  I tossed around a few different ideas for my block for this year, but kept coming back to the block from my first year.  I've had these blocks from my time as Queen of Hive 8 in 2016 staring out from my wall for a while, as I've rearranged them, added and removed potential sashing or borders, and I've come to a conclusion:  I need more.  So we'll be doing some paper pieced geese, with some modifications from last time to add a bit more variety and options for the final quilt.

We will be using the Geese Trails templates from Piece and Press.  Daniel Rouse, the author of Piece and Press, asked that we use the tag #trailofgeese on Instagram so he can follow along.  He uses 6 squares for a 12x18 finished block, we will just use 4, for a 12x12 finished block.  If you are new to paper piecing, I love this tutorial from Fresh Lemons Quilts.  I also wrote a more detailed tutorial the first time around.  If you prefer to use the freezer paper method or a different paper piecing method, that's fine too -- you paper piece how works best for you.

The templates have two pages - each a mirror image of the other. You will need to print 2-4 total pages.  Which combination you use is up to you.  Four of the same will give you geese in a circle, or you can play with other arrangements to send your geese on a different path. Please feel free to use only 2 or 3 templates, replacing the other quadrant(s) with a solid square of your back ground fabric., but do at least 2 quadrants of the geese!

When printing, please make sure you do not have "fit to page" selected.  Each square should measure 6 inches.  Also, these templates do not have seam allowance lines drawn for the edges - please add them.  With the seam allowances added, each square should measure 6 1/2 inches. I prefer to draw the seam allowance lines on, and then trim about a quarter inch beyond that before sewing.  Then I trim down to the seam allowance line before joining the templates together.

On to our fabric selection.  For the background pieces (marked on the templates as 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9), please use a solid blue or grey - any shade is fine, so just choose one that makes your geese stand out.  Please use the same fabric for all of your background pieces.

For your geese, we'll get creative.  I'd like your geese to transition from one thing to another. Maybe they start light  and get darker:

Maybe they start as blue and end up green:

Maybe they have small polka dots that grow to big dots:

Maybe they want to go through all the colors of the rainbow:

These are just examples -  let your imagination run wild.  Prints, solids, and batiks are all fine.  If you are nervous about paper piecing, choosing all solids is a good way to start, because then there is no wrong side/right side to worry about when piecing.  I would prefer each goose to be a different fabric, but if you need to repeat some, that is fine.

I know many people cut their fabrics to match the template shapes (remember to include seam allowances!), but I find I am more confident of my piecing when I use larger rectangles.  Again, you do what works for you.  The bigger the pieces you cut, the more wiggle room you'll have, but it also creates more scraps/waste.  I cut pieces in the following rough sizes (if you are doing only 2-3 quadrants of the geese, you will need to add a 6 1/2 square for each blank quadrant, and make fewer geese and background pieces):

Geese x 12 (#1, 4, 7):  2 1/2 x 4

Background x 4 of each of the following cuts:

• #2 - 4 x 3
• #3 - 3 1/2 x 1
• #5 - 5 x 4
• #6 - 4 x 1 1/2
• #8 - 3 1/2 x 7 1/2
• #9 - 2 x 4

After you've made each quadrant, place the four templates right side up.  If one or two geese got out of order during sewing, no worries.  Channel your inner Bob Ross and believe that there are no mistakes, only happy accidents. A few wayward geese will make for a more interesting quilt anyway.

Join the quadrants up to make the final square.  Please remove the paper from the seam allowance on the side that you are pressing down.  (If you like to press the seams open, please remove it from both sides.)

Feel free to leave the paper on when you mail.

I can't wait to see the what you choose for your geese!