Hive 1 May Block for Katherine

 

Hi Katherine,

I think Flying Geese are so timelessly stylish! :) Enjoyed making them.

As I don't have any 'funky' yellow fabrics, I just made two. Hope you like them.

They will go into the post-box this evening.

Take care,

Rita.

Katherine's May Hive 1 blocks

 I've made this block many times in the past, usually in sampler quilts.  It's very popular and I like making flying geese.  I've made two just in case Diana needs an angel block this month.  

Kathie Laposata 

Hive 1 block for Katherine

 

I’m glad I got to make this block. I have been quilting a long time but have never made a flying geese block.  So 2x2 the geese are flying.  How fun and easy they are, and the size of the rectangles really gives you a large block quickly.  This was a good stash buster project, everything came from my stash.  

The pinwheel in the center is really dynamic, I love the design of this block.  Enjoy! And hope you will love your colorful quilt.

Carolyn B.

Block for Katherine

Hi Katherine, I am so happy you gave me the thumbs up to use my layer cake "funky" parrot fabric in your block! I love the pinwheel...it will give a lot of movement to your quilt. This will be a great relaxing summer project! Have fun! Take care, Marie

Hive 2 May Tutorial

 Happy Spring,  

   I can’t believe May is here already.    Pineapple blocks are wonderful but lots of work and special cutting.  Bonnie Hunter’s free tutorial called Pineapple Blossom is a simple pineapple block.  I would like that to be my block this month.  

  Fabric pull for the block comes from my bins of scraps.   

For the white pull any fun low volume print.  Cut 5 3.5 inch squares.                             

  

Pick any bright colors.  No brown or black.  The colorful fabric may have some brown or black in it. You will need 8 different fabrics   From the 8  fabrics cut 2)  2 x 3.5 pieces,  4) 2 x 6.5 and 2) 2 x 9.5 strips.   Your fabrics for the block will look like this.

   Block ends up as 9.5 square.   Pictures below step by step.    

First step above. Sew together.  Then using white square make diagonal line corner to corner.  Place on top of square as pictured and sew on line.

Trim off each corner. Iron and add next 4 strips. 

 

Once sewn place final two squares.  Sew on line and trim 1/4 inch from line.  

The block is finished.  Measures 9.5 square.

 Here is a picture of multiple blocks.

 

I hope this makes sense.  If not Bonnie Hunter’s tutorial is great.  Have fun.

Hive 4 May Tutorial - Stacked Squares Block

 Hi Everyone -

I'm Joan from New York City and this is my first year in Stash Bee.   I've been quilting about 8 years and love my hobby, but I have way too many scraps that I find hard to throw away!   Stash Bee is helping to  tame the scrap basket a bit  and I'm enjoying  sewing up our blocks as well as crashing other hives.

My favorite quilts are scrappy ones and I'm always looking for  new and fun blocks to use up my seemingly endless bucket of scraps.   I recently found this Stacked Squares block and tutorial from Melissa Cory of Happy Quilting (www.happyquiltingmelissa).    Super scrappy block which uses brights and low volume fabrics and sews up like a log cabin block.   I am fine with all bright colors so that there is a good contrast with the low volume.  For the bright blocks, try to use small prints or near-solids so that they pop.   I am not a fan of neon, but everything else goes!

Step 1:  Cutting

From your BRIGHT  print scraps cut:

(1)  3.5"  x 3.5" square

 (4) 1.5"  x 2 .5" rectangles and (4) 2.5" x 3.5" rectangles -- Note: that you need to pair these.  See picture below.

From your LOW VOLUME  scraps cut:

 (2) 2.5 " x 2.5 " squares

(2) 2.5 " x 4.5 " rectangles

(2) 2.5" x 6.5"  rectangles

(2)  2 .5" x 8.5" rectangles

Step 2:  Assembling the block

Pair up the low volume rectangles with the matching/same prints.  Any combo is fine.  Using a 1/4" seam, sew each unit together.   Chain stitching makes this go really fast.  Press towards the prints.

From here on in, it's like a Log Cabin block where you continually build on layers.

Start with your 3.5" square and add the smallest unit you just sewed to the right of the square, press outwards.  Next add the matching print unit to the bottom,  always press away from the 3" square.

Continue to add pieces to the right, and then bottom as shown in the following pictures.

Finished square measures 11.5" x 11.5"

Here are a few blocks that I’ve sewn to give you an idea of how the finished quilt will look. 

Thanks for sewing for me.  I really look forward to putting this quilt together!

Joan

Hive 1 May Tutorial -- Dutchman's Puzzle

Hi guys and happy May! I am nervous to post my tutorial but excited to see what everyone comes up with for my block! I have never made a quilt that I kept before, so I am also excited to hog the finished quilt all for myself. 

I am a school psychologist, and May is typically the busiest (and worst) month of the school year for psychologists. It will be a nice distraction to have blocks coming in the mail this month. It will be even better to have the summer off to put them all together. 

I think this pattern is called Dutchman's Puzzle? But perhaps I'm wrong and someone can set me straight! Here's the finished block that I made. 

Fabric requests

White fabric: any kind of solid white, please. The sample block I did was an unbleached muslin so it wasn't bright white, but bright white is fine too. 

Color fabric: Either a single fabric or a group of multiple fabrics that reads about the same color. Funky prints are welcome. Large scale florals, animals, vehicles, robots; whatever you have that is fun and bright. I would like the block to be all the same color though (so all close blues or reds or whatever color you pick). If you have yellows or oranges those are especially welcome, because my stash includes almost none of those colors for some reason! I'd prefer reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, or purples. No pastels or neons please. No browns or tans or blacks. I did my block with four different purples, but you could do it with only two different fabrics or with 8 different fabrics or any number you desire. 

Here are some inspiration pictures from the fabrics that I pulled for my blocks. 

Cutting instructions

The flying geese units will finish 4.5 inches by 8.5 inches. I used the standard wasteful cut off a half of the square method--if you have a method your cutting sizes might vary. 

White fabric: cut (16) 4.5 inch squares

Color fabric: cut (8) 4.5 by 8.5 inch rectangles. If you have a directional fabric, they should be 4.5 inches tall and 8.5 inches wide. 

Sewing instructions

1. Construct 8 flying geese units by whatever method you like. Here's what I did:

• I chain pieced all of these, which made the construction go really quickly. 
• First, I drew a diagonal line down the center of each of my white squares. 
  
  
  
• I squared up the square with the right corner of one of my rectangles and sewed along the pencil line. 
  
  
  
• I repeated that with all 8 rectangles. 

• Then I used a ruler to trim a 1/4 inch seam allowance off from the seam. (whoops I didn't take a picture of trimming the purples...) I pressed all of the seams open. 

• For each rectangle, I added a second square to the other side, sewed along the seam, trimmed back to a 1/4 inch seam allowance, and pressed the seams open again. 

• That gave me 8 separate flying geese units. 

2. Next, sew the flying geese units together in pairs, with the triangles pointing in the same direction. 

3. Then, sew the pairs together in rows, then sew the rows together into the final block. Please make your arrows do a clockwise circle? It should form a little pinwheel in the middle. There's got to be a better way to explain that but see the picture below!

 

If you want a super fun extra step, you can do what I did and pay absolutely no attention at all when you're doing the last two seams and then have to pick them all out because you sewed them on backwards! 😁😂

The finished block should be 16 inches!

Hive 5 May Tutorial - Modern Trees Block

 

Hello!  I am excited to be participating in StashBee again this year.  Back in 2018, the block I chose was Modern Trees from Diary of a Quilter

I received so many great blocks, and would really like to increase the size and finish this WIP this year, so I have chosen to go with this block again.  I was going to change it up and play with the sizes of trees, but think that with all the bright colo(u)rs and black and white contrast there is already so much going on that I don't need to add scale into the mix.  I know this block is a popular one in StashBee, I hope this colo(u)rway gets everyone jazzed up about these modern trees.  For those who have done this block before, you know its a quick one.  And the wonkier the better!

For colo(u)rs, think BRIGHT AND BOLD MODERN PRINTS!   Multi colo(u)red or tone on tone. Please keep your batiks, 30's or civil war style, and trademarked novelty prints for other projects.   

For the BLACK AND WHITE MODERN PRINTS, and if your stash allows, only in black and white (or offwhite) with no other colo(u)r.  I like selecting good contrasting play between the two fabric patterns.  Please keep your low volume grays for your other projects.

The pair of blocks should end up around 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 each, no need to trim, I can trim down to size or work with it if it is a tad short.   Here are some trees that my amazing bee-mates made back in 2018!  

You can see the whole post at the link below, where I go into the same detail as the Diary of a Quilter tutorial, and with more fabric inspiration pics.

Stashbee post from 2018

Thank you - 

Dawn

@dimestorefloozie

Hive 3 May Tutorial- Air Castle Flower Block

Happy May! I love all things Spring and Summer, so this month, I'm sharing a tutorial for a modified Air Castle Block with a flower feel. 

Credit

Many thanks to Ruth at https://www.learntoapplique.com/home/free-quilt-patterns/air-castle-block-free-pattern/ for this tutorial. I have modified it only slightly to achieve the flower effect. 

Fabric

You will need three primary fabrics - dark, medium and light - as well as a background fabric, center, and center border. I prefer bright colors, and I enjoy busy floral prints, but be creative! Pick three shades of the same or similar-ish color to give the feel of textured/shaded flower petals. You can even swap the medium and light, as long as you're using three different primary fabrics. (For my second block above, I accidentally swapped the medium and the light, but I love it!)

For the background, use a white or low volume fabric. 

For the center of the flower and center border, use yellows, greens, oranges, or whatever contrasts with the other fabrics you select to read like a flower. 

My pull is limited because we recently moved and some of my stash is still in storage, but here's a little inspiration.

I've pulled blues, pinks, teals, and turquoise, but don't be afraid to use purples, reds, greens, oranges, yellows, etc. Just try to keep things bright and cheery.

Cutting

Here are the cutting instructions for a 12" block (will measure 12.5'' when you're done):

Background Fabric/Low Volume: TWO 5" sqs, ONE 5 1/4" sq 

Dark Fabric: ONE 5 1/4" sq

Medium Fabric: TWO 5" sqs

Light Fabric: TWO 5" sqs

Center Border: FOUR 2 1/2" sq

Center: ONE 4 1/2" sq

Piecing the Block

First make the corner units - HST squares.

You will need the TWO medium fabric squares and the TWO background squares of the same size. Draw a line through the diagonal, corner to corner, on the wrong side of the background squares, then sew 1/4" on both sides of the line. Tip: It's ok to sew a slightly less than 1/4" seam here because you'll be trimming the unit to accurate size.

Now you can cut along the line and press open the triangles. Press the seam toward the background fabric (this helps with construction later). This will make a total of FOUR units. You will need to trim them to 4 1/2", making sure the diagonal line on the ruler aligns with the seam.

Make the center unit next. You will need the center square and the FOUR center border squares.

Start by drawing a diagonal line, corner to corner through the center border squares, on the wrong side.

Place one of these center border squares in the corner of the center square so raw edges are even and diagonal line goes across the corner. Pieces should be right sides together.

This time, stitch along the line. You can repeat for the opposite corner too.

Use a ruler to trim 1/4'' from the outside of each line. 

Now press the center border squares open. (I pressed mine to the outside.) After they are pressed well, add the other two corners in the same way to complete the center unit.

One more unit to go: the star points. 

You will need your largest background square and your dark square for step 1 and the remaining light squares for step 2.

Step 1: On the wrong side of your background square, draw two diagonal lines, from corner to corner in both directions. You are going to sew 1/4" from the right side of the line only, from the corner to the middle of the square, stopping when you get to the line. (Hopefully you can see this below.)

Note: If you want the dark fabric on the opposite side, then sew on the left side of the line. Here again, it is ok to sew a slightly smaller seam. This gives you more room for trimming accurately.

Next cut along both lines and press the triangle units open. (I pressed toward the dark fabric.) No need to trim here.

For the next step, cut your TWO light fabric squares in half through the diagonal.

You will sew these triangles to the triangles in the first step with a 1/4'' seam allowance. Sew with the plain (light) triangles on top. This helps prevent stretching the seam as you sew. Press open. (I pressed toward the light fabric.)

Once joined, trim to 4 1/2". Be sure to align the seams with the diagonal line on the ruler.

Now that you have made all your units, lay them out, rotating them as necessary to look like the photo below.

First sew the units in rows. Tip: When stitching the center unit, sew with that unit on top so you can see where the seams intersect. That's where you want to sew through so your points are perfect.

Join the rows to create your Air Castle Flower block.

Ta-da! Your block should measure 12.5'' square. Don't worry about trimming to square. I'll be happy to do that.

And because I wanted to test the tutorial out one more time before sharing, here's another bonus example.

Thank You!

Thank you for all what I know will be a beautiful collection of Air Castle Flower Blocks. I can't wait to see what you each do!