Hive 6 September Block with Ashleigh

What is your name?

My name is Ashleigh and I blog at ickletomato.blogspot.co.uk

This is me on holiday waiting for dinner. Yum.

Where do you live?

I live the other side of the pond from most of you in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Tell us about your family (Spouse, kids, grandkids, pets, etc.)

 I have been married to David for 9 years now. He is really sweet about my hobby turned obsession as it slowly takes over our whole house. He offers constructive criticism which is great when you just need that second opinion to back up what you were going to do anyway! I tell him what I’m working on and he tells me the latest football scores and we both pretend we’re interested!

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.

I have always enjoyed sewing. My grandmother was an amazing self taught sewer who made most of my mum’s clothes. She taught me to sew and we made dresses together when I was a teenager. It wasn’t until I moved house and had a bit more room I decided to get a sewing machine of my own. For the quilting – I blame my mother –in-law. She had been doing it for a while but decided to call it a day and gave me all her tools. We made a cushion together one Easter and that was it. I realised quilting was so much easier than making clothes – it’s just sewing straight lines, right?

How do you organize your fabric stash? (Picture appreciated)

I am fortunate to have my own sewing room with a large window for super light. My stash moves about all the time as it has grown from zero to overwhelming pretty quickly. For the minute, it is stored in these plastic tubs on the shelf so I can see it all.

This cupboard is full of boxes for large multi colour scraps, small multi colour scraps and strips.

These are the trays for all my colour scraps.

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?

I don’t really have a favourite and never really buy material all from one line. Lotta Jansdotter (what a great name btw!) always catches my eye and I just recently helped myself to a quite a few fabrics from the Lewis and Irene collection.

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?

It involves a lot of ironing which is no fun at all.

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?

Silk pins – they go through every fabric so smoothly and hardly leave a mark.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)

I love reading but don't really have a favourite fictional character. 

Now on to the style of the block.

I have pulled together a palette of colours that I would like you to stick to if at all possible. It is hard to describe so I have pulled some fabrics together and some screenshots from design seeds to give you a feel of the tone.



It’s not so much the colours but the shades. So not primary red blue and yellow, but tomato orangey red, denim blue and mustard. Teal not turquoise. Rich jewel tones. Do you know what I mean? So you don’t have to stick to only these colours, you could add green for instance but try and stick to mood. 

To give you examples of what I have used may help: so I used Kona Cerise, Bella Solids Stone, Bella Solids Grey and prints from Moda Just Wing It collection. And this picture picks out just the solids colours. Bad photo I know but probably best at reflecting the true colours.

 

So on to my quilt block. I have chosen to make a modern framed sampler quilt. Let me explain. I thought it would be nice for you to pick your favourite quilt block, make a monochrome mini version say no more than 5” square, 6” at most and then frame it in ½” neutral colour and then place it off centre in the colours of the patchwork block.

Pictures probably explain it better. This was my inspiration at wombat quilts. But instead of cute pictures I thought of cute quilt blocks. Also this picture helped with the print fabric matching the solid. Finally this picture which I had forgotten about but obviously helped the design along.

So first pick a patchwork block that would look good in miniature – so you could do a nine patch, half square triangles, a cross or hash, churn dash, improv, mod mosaic, paper pieced – anything at all. If you google or search in flickr for pincushions it will give you good inspiration as to what blocks look good in mini.

Do it all in one colour against white. I used one fabric but you could use more just in one colour.

Then do a little border which makes it like a photo frame. So just using a 1” strip in a neutral grey or stone colour. I did it courthouse step style.

Finally add that colour pop border to the outside making a block of any size. But I would like a fair chunk of colour around the outside to emphasise the mini ness of the of the patchwork. I will piece all together in a puzzle like style.

I hope I haven’t left it to open to choice so that you don’t know what to do! Let me know if there are any questions. 

Hive 6 Blocks

In July Hive 6 made improve square in square rainbow blocks for Yanick.  I love how bright and colorful her blocks look together.

In August, we made x and plus blocks for Melanie in bright colors with a gray background. Melanie is planning to make these blocks into a quilt for her newlywed mother!  

Hive #2--September 2014 Tutorial

What is your name and where do you live?

My name is Jessamie and I live in Derby in the UK – this is in the county technically the furthest place from the sea in the whole country – a whole 70 odd miles!!

Tell us about your family (Spouse, kids, grandkids, pets, etc.)

I live with my boyfriend Jon (we debate how we should call each other on a regular basis – most descriptions just sound ridiculous) my 6 year old daughter and our very fluffy ginger cat Ben – which we all share until the rubbish jobs such as changing the litter tray comes up when he’s mine!

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.

Sewing has always been part of my life – mum made so many of our clothes but also machine embroidered, hand embroidered and generally made things as well as a number of quilts. I mostly did cross stitch and some clothing and curtains / blinds. As happens in so many cases it was after I had my daughter that I considered making quilts and discovered the quilting making blogland world! It was massively inspiring and I started off slowly making bags; some patchwork and some not, but all the time in the back of my mind I was planning my first quilts. Finally I made a pair for our living room – with straightline machine quilting – but different gaps depending on the colour – I hadn’t even thought about the fact all the ends would need tying off and burying!! That took a very long time to finish!!! 

Somehow I have a number of quilts on the go / in planning and trying to prioritise is possibly driving me nuts however the most important one to finish is my daughter’s ‘Nightime sky’ quilt using Fresh Lemons Starfall II quilt pattern as a base.

How do you organize your fabric stash? (Picture appreciated)

Now that we have finally managed to finish the Reading room / crafts room all my quilting fabric is now in the most beautiful crates: planned projects not yet started, plain fabrics, patterned fabrics. I keep meaning to properly line them to protect the fabrics from being damaged but my to do list is so long I can’t see it happening.

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?

I love Bari J and Joel Dewberry, also Valori Wells is a massive favourite of mine, and then AMH and lots of others who I like bits of. I am not massively into tiny vintage prints etc and have a love hate relationship with Batiks - I have them and use them if they fit but I wouldn’t go out and buy them. I am also massively in love with Oakshott cottons at the moment having got to try them at the Fat Quarterly Retreat 2014.

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?

Squaring off I think but also glue basting – it’s amazing!!!

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?

I love my rotary cutter – it has revolutionised my cutting out and I now hate using scissors when cutting any kind of fabric project out.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)

I have struggled with this! I read so much and watch a fair amount of tv and I still just can’t quite decide – can you come back another day and ask me please?

Right my block like everyone nearly I have dithered over this – there are so many cool things that could be done, but I do know where I want this quilt to go and I wasn’t sure what would really fit that room. Finally I have come back to Flying geese – I have really wanted to play with these but they thought of doing enough for a whole quilt is daunting!! So taking inspiration from these quilts:

http://www.hyacinthquiltdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/triangles-and-geese-and-swans.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/renorx/8629831190/ http://naptimequilter.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/triangle-quilt.html

I am asking for Blocks up to 16” square but at least 16” along the longest side with flying geese in any shape or form.

The colours I have chosen have vaguely been chosen to match / complement these curtains, which are in the spare room. They are the only colour in the room and I feel the bed needs perking up a bit!!

My fabric pull looks like this:

I have discovered a massive gap in my stash – I am incredibly low on neutrals so if you have them I am aiming for them to be on the more oaty side of things and no stark whites, they just don’t work with this. It almost looks rainbowy but aside from the orange I think I mostly avoided the ‘true’ versions of each colour and there’s no purples…

I have chosen to paper-piece mine as I find them so precise and I am on a bit of a paper-piecing binge at the moment. I found templates at Fresh Lemon Quilts, which I printed off in all sizes and then randomly made some of each before playing with the colours I had in different layouts. 

Instead of showing you how I put the whole block together I will show you the paper piecing technique as a review or tutorial in case you haven’t tried it.

There are different ways to approach paper piecing and cutting out fabric, following my weekend at the Fat Quarterly Retreat I have started just making strips of the right depth and then sewing with that as it is somewhat more efficient and results in a little less fabric waste I think.

So here I have added an inch to the depth of piece 2 and then cut an entire strip of it. Piece 1 ( the triangle) I happened to have a hst of the right size from an earlier block so I put it to use J

Next the pieces need lining up so that piece 1 is wrong side to the back of the template, and then piece 2 is right side to piece 1 and lined up so that they go a ¼ inch at least over the line in to 2.

I find it helps to glue piece 1 down rather than pin, but whatever holds it in place is good.

Next reduce your stitch length to 1.5 – 2 as this helps remove the paper after, and sew from outside the ¼ inch allowance along the straight line to the opposite edge.

Fold back the template along the stitched line and trim the seam to ¼ inch. Turn over the template and press the fabric flat. Trim the strip and take the leftover piece.

Line it up so that it is rightside to the triangle piece 1, and over line 3 by at least ¼ inch and then sew in the same way as the first 2 pieces.

When you come to trim this one you’ll find that the overlapping cross at the top gets in the way, so I just fold it as best as I can and trim at least some of the spare fabric away.

Trim around the edge of the 1\4 inch allowance and there you have it one flying goose…

Repeat as many times as you like, in different sizes if you fancy, I made all of the sizes, and had a go at the flying geese and swan block I mixed up where there were colours or my attempt at neutrals in the middle and generally had fun.

My Instagram account has lots of pictures of my playing around jessamies

Here is the block I finished:

Here are links to tutorials for flying geese including a non paper pieced version for those of you who prefer not to.

Paper pieced geese - http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/?p=3871

Flying geese circle  -  http://piecebynumber.com/CircleOfGeese-PieceByNumber.pdf

Different flying geese circle - http://www.bryerpatch.com/pattern/pattern.htm

Not paper pieced - http://www.connectingthreads.com/tutorials/Flying_Geese-Make_em_fast-two_methods__D15.html

I love this and have been working out my own variation of it with the help of Jon and Auto CAD which he uses for work: http://www.lemontreetales.com/lemon_tree_tales/2013/04/fab-little-quilt-swap-3-flying-geese-ribbon.html

Hive 1 ~ September 2014 Tutorial

What's your name?  I'm Diane and can be found occasionally blogging at mystudioQ.net.

me earlier this year + shopping for fabrics just last week
(BTW blondes do have more fun!) 

Where do you live?  In the lovely village of Dobbs Ferry, NY, overlooking the Hudson River, just south of the Tappan Zee bridge and about 25 miles north of New York City.  

morning + evening views from home

Tell us about your family?  I live with my sister, Corinne.  We each have a dog ~ mine is Baci (an Italian Greyhound) and hers' is Buster aka Fluffy White Dog (a Coton de Tulear).  They may be fancy breeds but we rescued both of them.  And I have a twin sister ~ Debbie, who is married to Joe.  Thanks to them I have nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews to keep me quilting for a very long time!

our boyz!

Tell us how you got interested in quilting?  I learned to sew when I was young. As an adult I always had a sewing machine and would sporadically make clothes for myself.  It wasn't until I took a part time job at a craft store that I started quilting.  Many years later I discovered the modern quilting online community and felt as if I had found my people.  Quilt guilds near where I lived at that time didn't understand the modern aesthetic ~ so I started the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild (JSMQG).  In October we will celebrate our second year together and I consider our members as my family ~ they're such fabulous + creative ladies!

my Rainbow Confetti wall hanging; the JSMQG label; some of our members at a monthly sew in

How do you organize your fabric stash?  All my fabric has been stored in racks from Ikea ~ but there really wasn't any organization.  Now thanks to this bee I have sorted my scraps by color into small containers and use comic book boards to make min-bolts of larger cuts of fabric.  I keep WIPs in desk wire baskets which are stashed away in the white drawers of the racks.

Who is/are your favorite designers? I never had a favorite designer until I saw Tula Pink's Salt Water  fabrics!  It was the first time I just had to buy FQs of each pattern in the line and of course 2 or 3 yards of my favorite ones.  Then I had a dilemma that I've heard other quilters talk about but I had never experienced before ~ I didn't want to cut into the FQs because they were soooo beautiful!  I finally did though to make Tula Pink's sweet City Sampler blocks and a quilt (WIP) for myself.

What is the one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?  I wish I knew about Leah Day's tips for free motion quilting (FMQ) on home sewing machines.  As soon as I changed my darning foot the way she suggested ~ my FMQ improved immeasurably!

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?  It's Pinmoors ~ you put them on the end of straight pins instead of using curved safety pins, spray glue or hand basting to stabilize your quilt sandwich.  They make the job so much easier and faster to complete.  And they're too cute!

Who is your favorite fictional character and why?  Easy ~ Bridget Jones!  I can so relate to her never ending struggle with her weight, smoking and relationships.  Besides, the predicaments she gets into are just hysterical!


Tropical Fish Tutorial 

Swimming Upstream by Merran + three freshly made fishys

Before I retired I was a marine biologist and scuba diver.  I was lucky enough to dive on coral reefs in the Caribbean and these fish playfully remind me of that colorful underwater world.

They are foundation pieced and if you have never tried it before this is an easy big block to make. But first watch Sew Easy Foundation Piecing on Fons + Porter's Love of Quilting.  It's the technique I use and the video is so much better than any tutorial I could post.

I mailed out packets to make your life easier.  Here's what you'll get:

I have sent four tissue paper foundations which easily separate from the white paper.  The perforations on the tissue paper serve as your printed lines when sewing.  There is extra fabric just in case you make a mistake or if you're having fun and want to make another one.  I only expect one fish though a second would be greatly appreciated.

You will be adding the colorful fabric for the fish ~ think Caribbean, or Great Barrier Reef, and coral reef fish!  Use the same fabric for the whole fish.  Batiks work especially well for paper piecing because there isn't a right or wrong side and they usually come in such fabulous colors!

As she says in the video (they never mention her name) select large pieces of fabric and you'll have no problems.  The tissue paper makes it easy to audition fabrics:

I have two changes from the video and they're when you begin ~  place your fish tail fabric (section 2 on both the tail and body) right side down under the tissue paper first instead of section 1.  Then use a tiny dab of glue to keep the fabric in place:

To finish the tail and body just keep repeating these three steps:

1. place fabric for the next section onto previously placed or sewn fabric section, right sides together
2. sew seam, starting and ending in seam allowance
3. trim seam to around 1/4", finger press seam towards the section just added

Sew the tail to the body and voila ~ you have a tropical fish!  I leave the paper on and iron this last seam open.  This is a very, very forgiving block.  So don't sweat the small stuff.  

I'm thrilled my quilt will be made with fish from around the country and globe!  Thank you ladies!     Diane

{Will someone please explain to me why no matter what font I choose, it's always smaller than all the other bloggers?}

Hive 7 - September Block Tutorial

What is your name?
My name is Amanda Hickey I have a lot of nicknames but just don't call me Mandy. I work for a large regional bank in the fraud department. Apparently, I don't take pictures with just myself in them anymore.

Where do you live?
I live in Acworth, Georgia (just outside of Atlanta). I have lived here for 12 years but I have been in Georgia for 25 years. I was born in Kansas but have lived very little of my life there. Most of my extended family is still there.

Tell us about your family.
I have been married to my husband Neill for 6 years but together for much longer.

We have a 2 1/2 year old girl named Maddie Jo. She is all kinds of toddler fun. She loves all things Disney but right now she is crazy about Tony (Iron Man). She is also a girly girl who loves her jewelry and shoes. Everywhere she goes she has her stuffed Minnie and it has been like that since she was 9 months old. This kid is seriously crazy about her Minnie.

We also have one ridiculous  shar pei/pit bull mix name Jake. He is the old man of the house and has been that way since he was a puppy but we love him anyways.

Tell us about how you got interested in quilting.
My grandmother and aunt have quilted for as long as I can remember. As a child when I would stay at my grandma's house I use to sleep in the stash/spare bedroom. One of our favorite games to play at her house was fabric store.

How do you organize your fabric stash?
I have mine organized by planned projects and then the stash on bookcases from ikea.

Who is/are your favorite fabric designers?
Tula Pink has always been a favorite and I am proud to say I have a piece of fabric from everyone of her collections. I also love Bonnie and Camille which I also have a size able stash. I love Lizzy House too, almost all of blocks I have sent out for this bee have some of her fabric in them. This picture is only part of what I have. Keep in mind I am a third generation stasher.

What is one thing you have learned that you wish you knew when you first started quilting?
1/4 seams are not a suggestion but a must!

What is your favorite sewing/quilting tool and why should we all go out and buy it?
A decent sewing machine. First couple years I sewed on a cheap $20 machine we got at an estate sale and I thought that it was great. 2 years ago at my hubby's suggestion I get a new machine as a early Christmas gift. I can't believe what a difference having a good sewing machine made.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? (Could be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.)
I can't even begin to list all of my favorite character before having a child I would read all the time. Right now I am loving Doctor Who with the new season/Doctor on.

Here are a couple quilts that I have made. I am at that age where it feels like I spend all of what little sewing time I have making baby quilts.

I love these whales!

One of my favorite baby quilts that I have made I used scraps from my daughters quilt to make this one.

One of my favorite quilts I have ever made. It is made with Kona crush (which I am so sad they stopped making) and a bundle of Neptune. The patter is on a whim by Camille Roskelley I have made three quilts from it and I am sure I will get around to making a fourth.

My Tutorial:
I have been wanting to make a rainbow quilt for sometime now and I think this is the perfect opportunity. Like most quilters I have a crazy amount of scraps and I want to finally put them to good use. So for my block  I would like everyone to make an improv block in a single color.


I know that Carly posted a tutorial for June on how to make a improv block but here is a link to a tutorial http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com.

Guidelines for my block:

• I would like the block to be no bigger than 12.5 wide but the length does not matter.
• Please stick to all one color for each block, the prints do not have to be all tonal but the majority of the fabric should be of that color.
• The blocks can be red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, violet, or pink pick whatever you have the most scraps of. I am lacking in orange, yellow, and pink scraps so blocks in those colors would greatly be appreciated. 
• The funkier the better!

Now the fun begins! My block finished at 12.5 x 26 I started sewing my scraps together and just kept going. As you can see I have a healthy pile of green scraps. In this block I managed to get some of my favorite prints in it 2 from Neptune, a couple B&C, and a Lizzy House. Dig into your pile of scraps and sew until your heart is content :)

 

If anyone has any questions let me know. I can't wait to see what everyone puts together!