Finished Quilt - Pinwheels in the Park, 2014, Hive #12

I wanted to share my finished quilt from the blocks I received from the ladies of Hive #12 in the 2014 Stash Bee.  The pattern I chose was Pinwheels in the Park and you can see my tutorial here.  It took awhile to find the perfect backing fabric, but as soon as I saw Love Above from Moda's Airmail collection by Cosmo Crickets I knew it was "the one".  What could be more perfect than clouds for a pinwheel block! 

This is the first quilt that I have sent out to be quilted by a longarm quilter.  Stacie at Cupcake Quilts did an awesome job and had it back to me very quickly.  She recommended the pinwheel quilting design to complement the quilt and it was the perfect choice.  I am so please with how well it turned out that it won't be the last one I send out to her!  

A giant thank you to Heather T, Cheryl,  Heather S, Kristel, Laura, Jennifer, Michele, Genevieve, Francis and Willa for the great blocks that resulted in one of my favorite quilts!

Hive 9 - May Block for Angela

Angela asked for a paper pieced block, Eastern Sunrise, this month.  I'm still fairly new to paper piecing but this one was pretty easy to complete.  My hardest part was trying to use random fabrics, as I tend to prefer everything to match!  Here are the two blocks I completed. 

For the monthly question, Angela wanted to know about three things that were in our creative space and why we had them there.  Mine are:

1.  Lots of counter space and light.  The built-in counters were added during a remodel two years ago and have made a world of difference in my sewing.  I have enough space to have two machines up and going at the same time if necessary.

2.  My iPad.   The sewing room is at the back of the house and isolated from the tv.  The iPad enables me to have music, watch uVerse via the app, or follow along with Craftsy classes or other tutorials.

3.  Xena, Princess Warrior Cat.  She has decided that a basket on my sewing counter is her spot and refuses to consider any other place in the house.  Since she is going on 19 years old, who am I to argue with her!  She's good company, if only she would keep her hair to herself.

Hive 7 May blocks for Jan

I just realized it's the 30th of May, and I hadn't posted Jan's blocks.  I guess I did things a little out of order - I  made them the first week of May, then mailed them. Jan already let me know she got them. And now I'm finally getting around to the post. I think it's because in these days of smart phone cameras, I rarely use my regular camera.

When I'm in a sewing funk I head to Pinterest - where I look at my boards and other people's boards.  Pinterest has started a "picked for you" feature, where they recommend pins from other pinners based on your own likes.  Recently I've been pinning a bunch of log cabin quilt patterns, and now more of them appear whenever I open Pinterest. 

I need to live to be as old as Methuselah so I can use up my stash.

Hive 9 - May Blocks for Angela

Phew...I just barely made it.  The sad part is most of these blocks have been done for over a week, but I've not been able to get them photographed.  The photos don't look great, because I'm in Texas and it has rained 23 out of 29 days this month. But I did get them done and I have to say they were really fun to make.  My only problem was I couldn't decide if I needed to make 1, 2, 4 or more.  Well I decided on the option of more.  I ended up making 6.

I loved pulling fabrics from all my fabrics, but my most favorite is the face fabric.  I only got it last week and couldn't resist using it.

Now Angela ask us to tell her the 3 things in our creative space and why they are there.

1. Swiffer. Ok I didn't take a photo of my swiffer, but it is a critical part of my space.  When I'm sewing I tend to drop little pieces, threads, etc., so at the end of the day I like run the swiffer around and get all the little pieces. It is especially important when doing lots of sting piecing like I did for these blocks.

2. Chromebook and Tablet. I have to have some background noise while I sew. So I have a google chromebook that I can stream Netflix or On Demand.  If I can't find anything to watch I will play Pandora.  I also keep a table there as well to look up things like block instructions, patterns I've saved online, and read email. Since both are small I can sit them on the end of my sewing table.

3. Furry Buddy. I have three dogs, one is blind (Tucker), one is deaf (Zoey) and one is crazy (Hollywood).  I have two dog beds in my sewing room, because the Zoey doesn't like to be in there, but the other two do.  The funny part is the Hollywood only likes one of the beds and if Tucker beats him to it, he will lay outside of the door rather than on the other bed.  Tucker likes the round bed best, but will use the other bed if necessary.  All he cares about is that he is with me.  Here is a picture of Tucker in the round bed, Hollywood was at doggie daycare on this day.

Ok that is it from me, I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!

Hive 9- Block for May!
Hi folks!

I am a little intimidated by paper piercing, so I made two practice blocks and one for the bee. Sending them your way!
3 things in my space: music, mostly pandora, bright lights, and my little girl :)

Hive 4 - May Block

Barb's block for May

In answer to Barb's question this month:

I make both kinds of quilts:  to look at and to be used.  I use white, but a lot of people that I make for don't like it so I try to avoid it when I can.  

I'm heading to the post office as soon as it opens to get it on its way to you.

Hive #1 May

Hey Hey Hey, it's the end of May!  Grad school seemed to take the entire month from me and steal my sewing time.

I made the first block midmonth, but we won't discuss it...or the cat to with whom I'm not speaking.

Second block tonight to end the month!

I had considered this for my bee month but after how long it took me to make two, I'm not so sure!

June Goal:  Less paper writing, more sewing!

Off to the post office tomorrow.  :)

Hive 6: May 2015 Stick Blocks for Nancy

I felt pretty slick this month because I took in process photos.  Unfortunately then I neglected to post them until now. Sigh. Maybe next month my process will improve.

Nancy had us pull black, dark/medium gray, medium/light gray and white for the background colors. Then red for an accent strip/stick.  I knew I have tons of black and gray fabric so I pulled a huge pile & then "narrowed" it down to maybe a dozen.  Then I tried to pull red fabric and discovered I don't have much red in my stash. I really dug around and finally found a variety of reds with only one other color.  Still...not a great selection.

I worked at my local sewing studio (Gather Here) because my sewing machine is acting up.  The tables are covered with kraft paper.  Anyway, this is the pull I brought with me to make my blocks.

As you can see tons of blacks and grays.  My red pull was kind of pitiful. Looking at the reds together I felt like half of them were out because they didn't have the same under tone.  Super frustrating.

After a lot of angst this is what I ended up with.  Backgrounds: one solid black, one medium gray with squiggle lines, pearl bracelets in light gray, and a white print with some light gray flowers.  Sticks: tone on tone pearl bracelets, tone on tone red polka dot, reddish kale/greens, solid red.  I really liked the idea of the first and last blocks being a mix of a solid and pattern.  I tried to vary where the "stick" was in the block.  These were quite enjoyable to sew.  I also liked finding a big hole in my stash (red).

Nancy asked what is our favorite flower, favorite color & favorite non-quilty/sewing activity.

My favorite flower is roses, my favorite color is fuschia and my favorite non-sewing machine activity is being at the beach.  I love being by the water and napping, swimming, reading and lazing about.

Hive 5 May blocks for Christine

Genevieve here with scrappy cross blocks for Christine.  These were a terrific way to use up many of my smallest scraps.  This is about the smallest size I keep, and I'm thrilled to put them to good use!

Christine asked where we would like to travel if time and money were no object.  I think New Zealand is at the top of my list right now: I've never been and it just looks so gorgeous!  But really what I'm jonesing for right now is a stay-cation at home in Santa Cruz.  I'm pencilling that in for the 4th of July long weekend.  My boss likes long weekends, so we get both Thursday and Friday off for the holiday!  :)

Hive 2 May 2015 Block

I really love this type of block - sew it together one way, cut it up, and it becomes a whole different looking block!  Thank you for sharing the instructions, I can see how this one could be addictive.

This month's questions is about inspiration.  I tend to get inspired by either a pattern or fabric or colors.  When I see one of these that I really like, such as the Doe fabric line by Carolyn Friedlander or a plus quilt, or paper pieced stars, I like to then personalize the idea and make it my own.  I like to do something unexpected or unique to add my stamp and make it my own.  For example, I am working on a triangle quilt using the traditional triangle pattern, but I decided to make a beachy looking quilt so that by squinting from a distance you can see the waves, the sand, the sky and the sun.  I had fun with this by quilting birds and fish.  It's a traditional design personalized.