Bee Blocks

I've been having yet another busy month, I feel like I'm always behind these last few months which is likely due to the fact that I've stepped up my workout routine.  I'm now up to four days a week plus my tennis day, so adjusting to that has made me more tired than usual.  I'm sure in a few months time I'll be very enthusiastic with extra strength and energy from it, but at the moment I'm tired!

The boys are adjusting to preschool two days a week fabulously and I am now so glad that I have enrolled them for the two days a week.  I love picking them up from school and seeing their shining faces full of excitement from their day in school. 

I recently caught up on some bee blocks that I have been meaning to share with you.  The first two are for Bronwyn for our AusMod bee.  She supplied us with fabric and let us have the freedom to make what we wanted with special requests for blocks from the Summer Sampler Series, as well as some other inspirational photos that she posted in our group.  I just had to try out the block, "Arkansas Traveler", which is the top block in this post. 

Next up, for Lorena, for our Must Stash bee, she requested that we use low volume background fabrics to add to the Hope Valley prints she sent us in order to make the Climbing Jacob's Ladder blocks.   Those are four separate blocks--not sewn together yet, the photo makes them look as if they are sewn together sloppily...

The last two pictures are blocks for Belinda, who requested Granny Square blocks in scrappy colors with low volume backgrounds.  Last year I made a Granny Square quilt, you can view it here, that I LOVED making.  This was a wonderful revisit to making those blocks.  Such a fun block to make!  You can also read about the amazing quilt that our bee girls (and other wonderful ladies from around the world) made for Belinda here. Trust me, you'll want to click on that link and see it! 

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013

It's that time of the year again!  Time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy.  

For this season's entry I would like to enter my Good Folks Orange Peel quilt in the bed quilt category.  Since I started quilting about seven years ago, I have not been able to let go of the practical side of my nature in that I tend to focus on making quilts with the intention of one day being used on a bed.  I have made many bed quilts, enough to fill an entire large castle should I one day live in one, but I just can't seem to stop.  I may also have chosen to enter my quilt in the bed quilt category simple because if you happen to nominate me for the prize, I would be completely thrilled to win Amy's book "Modern Neutrals", which I've been anticipating as soon as I first saw the cover of the book!

This quilt is King size measuring 104" x 104" square.  It is made up of one of my most treasured fabric collections, Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner mixed with one of my favorite neutral solids Kona "Stone" by Robert Kaufman. 

I used an applique method which involves using fusible interfacing, sewing the fabric directly onto it, turning it inside out and fusing it down onto the background fabric.  I used a monofilament thread by Superior to applique the peels down to the background. 

For the quilting I used my Gammill long arm machine and free motion quilted simple back and forth quilting between the Orange Peels to make them stand out as much as possible.  This was a fun experiment for me as I generally do computerized quilting on my machine, but I like experimenting with my own quilts and trying out my free motion skills.

This quilt has been one of my all time favorite finished quilts and I am excited to share it here with you! 
                                                 

Bee Blocks for Charlotte

I've been busy catching up with a lot of things this past week.  I'm slowly ticking things off the list.  One of the big events of the past week has been that I have finally put both of my boys in preschool two times a week.  It's six hours long each day!  The verdict is that they love it and Alexander has been asking if he can go everyday.  I'm thrilled that we have such a great preschool in our town, Everyone who has sent their kids there have only had great things to say about it, so I know that they are truly in good hands.  So that leaves me a few more hours in the week to concentrate on getting things done!!!

This week I finally worked on Charlotte's blocks, which I had been looking forward to making.  She gave us three solids fabrics to work with and requested 12 inch finished blocks with the freedom to make anything as long as there wasn't any applique!  That was fine by me!

I'll have to admit, I buy quite a lot of fabric and I am addicted to quilting tools, but in fact, I do not buy very many quilting books.  I do however love reference books.  The book pictured above, "The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns", by Jinny Beyer, is one of my favorite books for block reference.  I knew I would enjoy diving into this book to search for blocks to make for Charlotte.

The first block I made shown in the top photo is a Nancy Cabot block called Dancing Pinwheels, 1935.  The second block is known as North Carolina by Nancy Page, 1938.

Forest Quilt Along -- Red Panda

About a month ago, Amy asked me if I would test her Red Panda pattern for the Forest Quilt Along, which I was quite happy to do!  I have loved every pattern that the girls in the Forest Quilt Along (hosted by Julianna and Joanna) have come up with so far and of course I knew that I would be wanting to make the block regardless so it was a privilege to be able to have a sneak peek at what was coming next!  Today the Red Panda pattern has been released for your free usage.  You can find the pattern here.  It is a complex pattern, but don't let all the pieces involved scare you away from attempting to make it.  Just remember, one piece at a time, keep plodding and before you know it you'll have a sweet Red Panda too!  When you are finished, don't forget to share with us a photo of your work in the Flickr group here.  There are a lot of amazing forest blocks to look at and admire in the group already and everyone is welcome to join!

Steam Punk Fever!

I've been away!  I'm not sure I mentioned this before but last year we won a trip to Tasmania!  It was the first time either my husband or I had ever won anything so grand as a free trip anywhere, so we were thrilled!  I plan on posting pictures of our trip as well as pictures from my Great Ocean Road trip just as soon as I get a handle on some urgent deadlines that need to be taken care of right away. 

Tasmania was wonderful!  No, it was more than wonderful, it was truly amazing!  You'll get an understanding of what I mean as soon as I update you with pictures of our trip.  We decided to go at the last moment as we realized that we better take the trip before it got too cold down there.  When we were there I got to meet the lovely Jess in person, who I could have chatted with all day.  I wish we lived closer Jess!

Before I left I actually made all these Steam Punk blocks pictured above.  I wanted to have a hand sewing project while we were away so now all the center circles are attached.  It was good to take them with me as one must have beautiful fabric to stroke and admire at all times! The photo above does not depict the way the blocks will look once sewn into the quilt as they will be sashed and set on point--not horizontal as shown.  

If you haven't joined the Steam Punk Quilt Along, then you must!  We have lots of tips, advice and general help and encouragement within the group and all are welcome!  Even if you just want to peek in and see what we are up to.  Just watch out, you might catch the Steam Punk fever as well!

If you tweet or are on Instagram, you can find us, or post your own progress using the hashtag: #steampunkquilt  I hope you will join along with us!
 

Steam Punk Quilt Along!

I'm trying very hard to convince you that you need to join the Steam Punk Quilt Along.  Here is the start of my quilt, now I will hold off making blocks and let all of you catch up a bit!  I'm very much looking forward to seeing each and every one of the blocks you make.  Come on, join the fun!  Check out the tips and tutorials in the Flickr group.  We are doing this for the pure fun of it!

Must Stash Bee For Melanie

Today I am trying to catch up on bee work that has been neglected of late.  Melanie chose the chubby Churndash block for her month.  I started making a couple and was struggling with my fabric choices, so I just kept making a few more.  This is the first time I've made one of these classic blocks.  I quite like the look of them all together like this...

Steam Punk Ahead--Freezer Paper Template Tutorial

 

 

After visiting Amitie last week and purchasing Jen Kingwell's Steampunk pattern I've been very motivated to start making the quilt.  It seems as if I am not the only one that has been motivated to make this gorgeous quilt!  A few of us online have decided we need a support group to keep us motivated through this somewhat difficult pattern.  Amy and I have decided to start a no pressure/no time limit Flickr support group which you can find here.  We will be posting tips and tricks on how to make the quilt and providing encouragement to help us get through the making of this quilt.  It's a Quilt Along at your pace.  Please come and join us!

I also wanted to add in case you haven't worked with freezer paper previously that you can use the same paper templates over and over...  The same templates should last for the entire project.

I am by no means an expert, but I thought I would share with you this mini tutorial in pictures the method with which I am using to cut my fabrics out in case you might not have worked with freezer paper in the past.  This is just my method, I am sure there are plenty of other ways to go about it, but I thought I would share with you!

Visit to Amitie in Melbourne

I am planning to post about my trip with my dad to the Great Ocean Road this week as soon as I am not on the brink of using up my download limit for the month.  We had a great trip and saw quite a bit in just a short period of time.  Lots of driving for me though, plus dropping my dad off at the airport in Canberra has made me very tired!  Now I am just trying to catch up with all my customer quilts and then will try to catch up on bees next! 

This photo is of what I acquired from my visit to Amitie in Melbourne.  Wow! Can I just tell you how inspiring this shop is?  It was probably the most inspiring shop I have ever visited.  The projects, the fabrics as well as the people!  I was lost amongst the fabrics as soon as I entered the shop.  It felt like I had been there 10 minutes, but in fact my dad mentioned that I was in there for over an hour.  Ooops.  What I liked best about the shop is that there are plenty of fabrics to be found that one does not find easily on the internet.  Many of the fabrics are Japanese, but there is also a substantial supply of Liberties, linens and eclectic styles of fabrics.  Right at the entrance, the Steampunk quilt by Jen Kingwell was displayed in all its stunning glory!  It is quite something to behold in real life and I could not resist buying the pattern for it.  It is now high on my must do list!!! 

If you ever get a chance to visit a quilt shop in Melbourne, I really recommend a visit to Amitie!

Down Under Quilts!

Eeeep!  I was very excited when Down Under Quilts contacted me not too long ago asking me to share my Spider Web Quilt as a project in their magazine.  Today I found a copy of the magazine with my project in it in my mailbox.  Actually, this project was a collaboration of many people's work as it was made from two online bees. 

It's ironic that when I first started quilting about 8 years ago, the first magazine I ever purchased was a copy Down Under Quilts from a Barnes & Noble store in Michigan.  I'm kind of particular about my quilting magazines, but Down Under Quilts is one of two magazines that I purchase on a regular basis.  I'm thrilled to be a part of it!