Hive 6 - May Tutorial: Improv Kisses

Happy May!

I'm having you all make improv X's or as I like to think of them improv kisses, hearkening back to salutations of XOXO from letters and cards. This quick block is a fun, easy introduction to  improv piecing. 

I'm looking for bright improv strips or slices to form an x against a black background. For a super scrappy look and so I can play with the movement; I'm asking you each to make 4 (or more) X blocks. I'll combine three of these x's to create the repeating block for the quilt.

You can see what I'm envisioning in the draft sketch. 

Colors: I'm looking for bright saturated or neon rainbow colors with the addition of pink, purple and the neutrals of gray, beige and cream against a black background.  The blacks can have lots of color but should read overall as black. 

Fabric:

Background - Black, black and white, black with color, should read overall as black.
A. Background, Black Rectangle approx 6" x 11"

X Strips - a single color, I used gold in the example.
Each strip is approximately 6"-15" in length, with a width from 1" - to 4" inches in width.  I'm looking for a good variety in widths, so have fun with it.

B. Strip of Light in the chosen color, approx 6" - 15" length x approx 1" - 4" width

C. Strip of Dark in the chosen color, approx 6" - 15" length x approx 1" - 4" width

If you are uncertain if the values of the two strips are different enough, use a mono or black & white filter on a photo of them. 

X block construction in brief:

1. Slice block diagonally (vertical or horizontal)
2. Insert strip
3. Repeat the process in the other direction

Step by step construction of X block:

Select your strips, decide which one you want to be the horizontal slice and which one you want to be the vertical slice. I like to lay the strips over the background to get a feel for the block. 

For my purpose, it doesn't matter if you cut the horizontal or the vertical slice first. In the example I cut the vertical slice first.  

Once you've selected the strip, put your scrap strip on top of the background and use a ruler to cut a slice from top to bottom. This will result in a clean edge to sew against. I pick a spot on the top and use my ruler to cut a diagonal line to the bottom in a slice.

After the slice is cut, flip the background piece over and sew along the clean edge. Feel free to iron your blocks in whatever direction works for you.

Then finish inserting the strip by sewing the other side of the slice, to complete the X's leg.

If you are using a scrap strip, you may need to trim the strip's other side to have a clean sewing edge. 

 

You are aiming to create a level edge across the inserted strip, you can see that edge highlighted by the red mark on the image below.

When I'm struggling to obtain a level edge on the background block, I will pin the strip to the background and flip it back over to see if the background line looks level across the strip/block. Once it does I go ahead and sew the line to finish inserting that leg's x. Don't worry about being too precise, the block is cut big to give you room to play. 

After the strip has been inserted, repeat the process (slice & insert strip) for the opposite direction. 

 

After these steps are complete, the X block is constructed. 

 

You are welcome to trim to 5" x 10", but I'm good with receiving them untrimmed, so no pressure.  Please make 4 or more of the X block.

 

Seriously, have fun playing with fabric and trying improv in making your kisses.

Hive 1 - May Tutorial - Refill: Sip & Sew Social for Tasha

Hello - I'm Tasha and if you ever get the chance to meet me in person, you would know I love to have conversations and be social! I love to know about people; I will ask questions to know more about something they are talking about, and I will ask follow-up questions that might lead to other conversations. One of the things I have learned being in StashBee is that people can be very passionate about the way things are done to their block. And, sometimes, its just not our style or we haven't built the skill set for it yet (which is ok and we knew this signing up for the exchange).  

I want to know about YOU! I want to see your personality. I want to see what you enjoy the most. I want to know your preference of pressing to the dark side, the open side, or -- gasp -- the light side (is this a thing?)! Nestled seams or the same direction? So, this month's block is a figurative, "let's sit down, have a drink together, and get to know each other". I am calling this block the "Refill: Sip & Sew Social".

In full disclosure - this is the same block I used in my 2023 Hive 5 group. (Hence the 'refill' portion of the title; Original can be found here.)

You can search any platform and get dozens of variations on coffee cups, mugs, tea cups, etc. and instead of looking at them all and trying to decide, I just sketched out my own. And, because I want you to show me your personality, for the most part...I don't care what your preferences are. 

• Seam allowance: .25" or scant .25" - pick your favorite.
• Fabric & Thread Choices: show me your personality and favorites; patterns, novelties, solids, favorite animal, hobby showcase, scrappy, matching thread or using up that ugly one you can't get rid of...any are perfectly fine (please keep it to cottons though)
• Block size: aim for 8.5" x 8.5" unfinished - a little over, a little under, a little wonky - I don't care. Don't worry about squaring up, but if you do, thats fine, too. 

So what are my "hard rules"?

• Silhouette: I am asking that the mug be on an isolated background. Please do not make it look like it is sitting on a table. I am ok with scrappy background if you want, but be mindful the mug still "floats" in the block. 
• Contrast: I have no preference if you want a dark mug on a light background or a light mug on a dark background. I just ask that you can have a contrast between the two so you can see the shape of the mug. 
• Embellishments: If you want to add a tea bag tag, great! Need a spoon to stir your drink, put one on. Steam from your mug - okay! I only ask that whatever you add is flat enough I can quilt over (so, no buttons or unsecured strings, etc). Also, please keep anything inside the edge of the block by .5" (so when I sew it together with .25" seams, there is still .25" left of just background and the embellishments aren't touching the edge of the block.)

Fabric & Supplies Requirements

Supplies:

• Sewing Machine
• Iron and Heat-Safe Ironing Surface
• Ruler, Rotary Cutter, Cutting Mat
• (optional) Pins
• (optional) Marking Pen(cil)

Background Fabric:

• [A]  (2) 8.5" x 1.5"   [top/bottom edges]
• [B]  (2) 6.5" x 1.5"   [side edges]
• [C]  (2) 1.5" x 1.5"   [snowballing bottom of mug]
• [D]  (1) 3" x 1.5"      [under handle]
• [E]  (1) 2.5" x 1"      [inside handle]
• [F]  (1) 1.5" x 1"      [above handle]

Mug Handle Fabric:

• [G]  (1) 2.5" x 1"
• [H]  (2) 1.5" x 1" 

Mug Body Fabric (Get Ready to Shine!):

• [M]  (1) 6.5" tall x 5.5" wide -- you can cut one single piece of fabric for this or piece together anything to get up to this size (This is great to use up scraps and orphan blocks, too).

Block Assembly

1. 

   (Pieces after 1. iii (2023 version))

   Handle Assembly:
   i. (top handle)Take 1 of your smaller mug handle pieces [H] and sew it to the smallest background piece [F]. Wrong sides together and press seam.
   
   ii. (side handle) Sew the mug handle piece [G] to background piece [E]. Wrong sides together and press seam.
   
   iii. (bottom handle) Take the other smallest mug handle piece [H] and sew it to background piece [D] wrong sides together and press seam. (See photo above)
   
   iv. Take the side handle unit [G,E] with the background fabric to the left and sew the top handle unit [H,F] above it with the background fabric to the top. If your handle fabrics aren't touching each other, it's incorrect. Wrong sides together and press seam.
   
   v. Take the unit constructed above [H,F;G,E] with the top handle unit facing up and sew the bottom handle unit [H,D] to the bottom with the background fabric on the bottom. Wrong sides together and press seam.
   
   Your finished Handle Unit should look like this:
   
   
    

   

   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Mug Body Assembly:
   i. Take your mug body piece [M] - whether it's a single cut of fabric or a pieced together cut - and lay it so it is 5.5" wide and 6.5" tall (right side up). To snowball the bottom corners, take both of the square background pieces [C] and place them in the bottom corners of the mug body with the wrong sides together. You will be sewing outside side edge corner to bottom inside corner on these little background blocks, so if you want to mark the wrong sides from one corner to the opposite, now is the time to do this. With something this small, I will just eyeball it and it will be close enough but marked it for the demo. Do what you are most comfortable with. 
   
   ii. After checking the corners were sewn on correctly, snip excess fabric off leaving a .25" seam, and press.
   
   

   

   (Photo for 2. i.)

   
   
   
   
   

   

   (photo for 2. ii.)

   
   
   
3. Mug Body Gets a Handle on Things:
   Layout your Mug Body Unit so the snowballed corners are at the bottom and the pretty side is up. Take your Handle Unit and place it wrong side up on the right side of the Mug Body Unit. Sew and press seams. Your completed Mug Unit should look like this:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Give it Some Space:
   i. Take your Mug Unit and sew on the background strips [B], one to each of the right and left sides. Use .25" seam allowance and press when done. 
   
   ii. Finally, sew on the top and bottom background strips [A]. Sew wrong sides together and press your seams. Flip it over and give it one more press on the front so it's nice and flat. It should be roughly 8.5" x 8.5" but its ok if it's slightly wonky, smaller, or larger. 
   
   Note: It was discovered in 2023 that steps 4.i and 4.ii can be reversed and the outcome is the same. No need to seam rip it if you assemble it reverse. 
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Finished block (photo for 4. ii.)
   
   

   
   

This block not quite your cup of tea and want to go rogue? I'm ok with this! 

• Are you an appliqué lover? Go ahead, cut out a 8.5" square background fabric and follow the guidelines for the block, and have fun appliquéing your own version
• Are you left handed and want the handle on the other side - go for it! (let me know if you want me to modify the instructions for you)
• Feel free to use a different cup! - Maybe you like wine instead and want to freely find a wine glass pattern, go for it. Or, maybe you want a travel coffee cup or a small china tea cup. Thats all ok, too! I actually don't like coffee or hot tea so I don't use mugs often.
• If by going rogue your block size needs to change - thats ok! Please have roughly 1.25" background around the edge of the mug/cup/glass (1" when finished) and avoid putting anything in the .5" edge so that when it's sewn together with .25" seams there is still .25" background

Have fun with it and thank you for telling me about yourself with this block! Happy Sewing!

Here are some of the ones from the 2023 Hive 5 group (Instagram) and a hive crasher. 

It was great getting such a wide variety of personalities in the mail. 

Hive 4 May - Stars for Sarah

Hi Stashbee friends - Happy May! The weather is warming up where I live and I love seeing spring arrive. For this month, I picked a star block (the pattern for the whole quilt is written up here, Corsage by Ariga Wilson for Robert Kaufman) in pinks and purples.

Fabric Selection: I’d love pinks and purples for the background color - solids, low volume, batiks, smaller prints are all great, I tend to lean towards more muted or softer shades of pinks and purples (light or dark, just not super bright), and low volume or solid neutrals/whites/really pale pinks or purples for the star. I’m not sure if that’s the best description, and really will be happy with most anything!

You’ll need 1 neutral/white fabric for the star and at least 2 (or up to 6) pink or purple fabrics for the background.

Cutting Instructions:

Fabric A (neutral/white)

• Cut (1) 6.5 inch square for center of block

• Cut (4) 4 inch squares for Half Square Triangles (HST) *you may want to cut these a bit oversized if accuracy with HSTs feels tricky

Fabric B (pink or purple)

• Cut (2) 4 inch squares for HSTs *you may want to cut these a bit oversized if accuracy with HSTs feels tricky

  
  

Fabric C (pink or purple)

• Cut (2) 4 inch squares for HSTs *you may want to cut these a bit oversized if accuracy with HSTs feels tricky

  
  

Fabric(s) D (pink or purple - this could be from 4 different fabrics, or the same pink/purple fabrics used for B and C - totally up to you!)

• Cut (4) 3.5 inch squares

Piecing Instructions:

1. Half Square Triangles - 2 at a time

• Pair each of the 4 inch pink/purple squares (Fabrics B and C) with each of the 4 inch neutral squares (Fabric A), right sides together. Mark a diagonal line, corner to corner, on the wrong side of one square. Sew ¼” away from either side of the marked line. Cut down the marked line and press toward the darker side (or open if that’s your preference).

• Repeat with your 3 remaining sets of 4 inch squares.

• You should have a total of 8 half square triangles - 4 AB HSTs and 4 AC HSTs. Square up to 3.5 inches.

2. Take 1 of your AB HSTs and 1 of your AC HSTs and sew them together as shown below. Repeat until you have 4 pairs. I pressed toward the darker fabric, but press however you’d like.

3. Arrange your HST pairs with the 6.5" square (Fabric A) and 3.5" squares (Fabric(s) D)
   as shown below:

   

4. Sew the units together to create 3 rows. Press however you’d like. I pressed away from the HST units so I could nest seams in the next step, but totally up to you!

   
   

5. Sew the rows together to form the final block. It should measure 12.5 inches, but no need to trim.

That’s it! Thanks so much for contributing to my quilt - I’m so excited to see it all come together!

Sarah

Hive 3 - May Tutorial I Spy Block

 Happy May everyone. I am so happy it is starting to warm up here in Maine. The grass is green and the daffodils and magnolias have bloomed.

I have been collecting fabrics for an I-Spy quilt for a few years now and I have almost enough to do a pieced quilt and backing.  This quilt will be for a 4 and 7  year old boy and girl. The girl loves flowers and unicorns and the boy loves trucks and dinosaurs but, all fabrics are welcome with the exception of religious fabrics. Have fun with fabric selection. The kids will enjoy searching for interesting items in this interactive quilt.

You will be making a 12-1/2" block using fussy cut pieces.  All blocks are welcome. If you want to insert blanks in a grid layout, background, or a border, please use a white fabric. I will be adding sashing later. To insure randomness and scrappiness, no layout is specified. Below are a few options but selecting one of these blocks is not required.

• Grids
• 6x6 2-1/2" Blocks, 
• 4x4 3-1/2" Blocks
• 3x3 4-1/2" Blocks
• 2x2 6-1/2" Blocks
• Any combination of squares that add up to 12-1/2"
• Scrappy
• Sew different sized and fussy cut pieces of fabrics together randomly and trim to 12-1/2". During 2025, my goal is to tame the scrap pile and make many scrap quilts for donation to a local women and family shelter. It is amazing how many quilts a basket of scraps will make, It seems to be a never-ending task to use up scraps.
• Traditional Blocks-Any block with a larger center square or one that showcases fussy cut fabrics. Here is one but the options are unlimited
• Economy Block
• Try this paper pieced (This finishes smaller than 12-1/2" so you will have to make multiple and and/or add a border.) or this pieced pattern for a 12-1/2" unfinished block:
• Fussy Cut 6-1/2" Center Block
• Cut two squares of coordinating color 5-3/4". Cut each in half diagonally
• Cut two squares or another coordinating color 7-1/2". Cut each in half diagonally
• Sew the 5-3/4" Triangles to the four sides of the 6-1/2" fussy cut square
• Sew the 7-1/2" triangles to the outside of the previously pieced square
• Trim to 12-1/2"

Here is a cheat sheet for economy blocks

Thank you all!-Paula

Finished Quilt - Hive 1 February Block

 

X-Stripe Quilt, 44" x 70"

Hi lovely Bees,

This quilt jumped the queue, because I wanted to see how it looks finished!

Thank all of you in Hive 1 for helping me putting this together! Again, as this quilt is destined for 'Quilts for Care Leavers (Northern Ireland)', it doesn't have a label, so no place to put your names :(.

I'm thrilled, how the secondary pattern comes out and makes the quilt look more complicated, than it is.

Thanks again, I love sewing with you and am looking forward to see your makes!

Take care and happy sewing,

Rita

Hive 1 April: Stars for Julia

 I really enjoyed making these! A couple of them didn’t quite like me back as much though. Unfortunately two of them came out short and are more rectangular than square. Yikes. I’m sending you all three anyway, and extra blue squares to either make up the missing edges (not sure how happy you’d have been with those seams, so I didn’t want to do it myself) or make new stars. They’ll go in the mail today!

Hive 1 - April Stars

 I did not do good with this one. I am sorry, but I had a LOT of trouble with this one. I hope it can work somewhere. I am also including fabric for the third one.

Jai

Hive 1 - April Stars for Julia

 

Hive 1 - April Stars for Julia

I am not sure if my blocks are exactly as expected.  I am more comfortable with improv around color or which pattern to use and less around wonky lines.  But it was a great learning moment, and I might try to wing more stuff in the future.  I definitely left it to the last minute because it was intimidating.  I did four in hopes that there are enough here that are usable!  Hope these fit into your quilt Julia!  They will be in the mail today (4/25).

~Beth).

Hive 1 April 2025 Improv Stars for Julia

 

This month's blocks were definitely a challenge! I finally made one I'm proud of (the lower-right star), and a friend made the other two blocks and sent them to me to mail--I love how hers are more improv; I had to draw cutting lines and really focus to get the points to point! The mail just came, so I'll run to the post office today. <3

Hive 1 - April Stars for Julia

 

I loved the concept of this block and how it looks in the long run. I have done curves before, but we have a long standing impatience for each other unfortunately. I think one of the two I did will be ok and the other you might be able to disassemble and try again or use for scrap. Sending extra fabric for you to make more as I have spent more hours fighting and seam ripping than I should (I think its just a bad month for me personally and not the block or the tutorial.)

I dropped it in the mail this morning - happy star gazing!

-Tasha from PA