January Bee Blocks

Despite an unexpected hospital stay (I'm OK), I managed to finish my January blocks in the month of January!  I will use the hospital stay as my excuse though to not get them in the mail early enough for the recipients to receive them in January ;-)

For Peace Circle of do. Good Stitches, Steph requested rainbow/low volume diamond HSTs keeping them in two halves so she can mix them up for better variety.

Elizabeth is working on a new pattern so our Mid Century Modern bee blocks are top secret!

Sew Sisters doesn't start back up until February, so technically I am all caught up....sort of!

Thanks for stopping by,

Blocks for do. Good Stitches

Our Wish Circle merged with the Peace Circle of do.Good Stitches and the first block was a doozy.

September block for Paula

I am not comfortable piecing curves yet, so was happy we only had to make one block this time ;-)  If you enjoy working with curves, then the Breeze Blossoms quilt pattern is lovely so check it out!

October block for Kristin

I was much more comfortable with this block of flying geese and squares requested in fall colors!  The tutorial can be found here if you are interested in making this block. 

November block for Katherin

November's blocks are based on the string blocks from Block Party book .  I love string blocks.  Each time I make one for others, I am reminded of my desire to make an entire string block quilt.

There are no Peace blocks due for December, so Yay I am all caught up with this bee too!

How are you doing with your bee blocks and other deadline sewing?

Blocks for Others

Two quilt blocks for two separate comfort quilts.  A quilty friend is collecting friendship star blocks for a neighbor in need of comfort.  Leona (more than) often gives to others, and I was happy to help in a small way.  The 6.5" blocks come together quickly.

Quilty Friends DO Rock!

The purple heart block is destined for a quilty friend who recently suffered a devastating loss.  Several quilters quickly volunteered to create a quilt for her using Allison's simple heart quilt tutorial.    I can't wait to see this quilt finished and hope it provides some measure of comfort and love.

--------------------------------------------
 September bee blocks are in the works.  Here are the July and August  blocks that I forgot to share.

navy star blocks

July's wonky star blocks for do. Good Stitches Wish Circle.

the one where I didn't follow directions

Susan's red and white Christmas stepping stones block for July's MCM Bee.

Union Jack for Mary

Union Jack block for Mary, this time for our Sew Sisters Bee.  She is combining blocks from two bees.  This one came together much quicker than the first one I made when she requested them as MCM Queen Bee ;-)

August MCM Bee block

Again, practice makes (sort of) perfect.  I didn't have as much trouble with the basket for Mary as I did for Carla.  By the way, Carla just finished her basket quilt.  It's gorgeous!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Finish: Pillow for Baby

Now that Kirsten has received her gift, I can show you the sweet pillow I made for Kirsten's virtual baby shower.  There are three ladies in our Wish Circle having babies, and this is Virtual Shower 2!

Patchwork pillow

With permission, I based this pillow on one that Amanda Jean made for her daughter's friend.  It helped having Amanda sewing right across from me at retreat while I made this.  Nothing like having your own personal tutor available for questions ;-)

My pillow is a bit smaller measuring 18"x12".  I used 2.5" scraps from my scrap box, pieced nine blocks across and six down, quilted straight lines on each side of the seam lines going up and down, and finished with an envelope style back.  Voila!

such a sweet name!

I really like the embroidered name to personalize this little gift.  Her brothers won't be able to steal this one away.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts!  

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Pretty Patchwork

It's the third day of August and I already have all but one of my bee blocks finished for this month!

Wish Circle blocks for July

Kirsten requested red and white nine-patch checkerboard blocks following Rita's tutorial for our Wish Circle at do. Good Stitches bee.

These need a bit of pressing.

RPQ's method produces two blocks, one light one dark, and the instructions are spot on.
I found myself making more of these blocks, playing around with different fabric combinations, and quickly became hooked.

These come together quickly

I'm Queen Bee this month and have requested them from my Sew Sisters Bee.  Those friends that are also in my MCM Bee will appreciate an easier block from me this time around!

There's something about a square and simple patchwork!  Love it!

Happy stitching,

June Blocks

Our MCM Bee added new members this year and rearranged months, so I get to be Queen Bee sooner.  That's the reason I am giving for not having my Dresden quilt finished before requesting new blocks!  I was so proud of completing my first bee quilt before the second round that I wanted to keep it up.

bubble block in blue

I chose Aylin's bubble block this time around and my bee mates have been gracious in making this block for me.  It's not the quickest that's for sure. 

slightly crooked picture of Elizabeth and Susan's blocks

Susan pointed out that four of these blocks make up our bee logo.  Very cool!  The pattern can be purchased here.  You can search Instagram using the hashtag #MCMBee or #midcenturymodernbee to see other blocks made by our bee members and #aylinnilyabubbles to see other blocks made using this pattern.

House block 1

House blocks were requested for Wish Circle bee.  I made these while out of town so my fabric choices were quite limited, but I think they are quite cute.  We used this tutorial if you'd like to make some yourself.

House block 2

Amanda Jean's block for Sew Sisters bee will be made while on retreat.  This is the first time retreating since our bee started so it should be quite fun making bee blocks together.

It's nice to have my blocks completed and blogged in the same month!

Thanks for stopping by,

Wish Circle

These bow-tie blocks for May's Wish Circle were a joy to make. 

These are like little pieces of candy!

Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial is simple to follow; time permitting, I could make these all day long!

grays, white and orange

love the pop of orange

Birds in the Air for April....

one blue

one pink

Hearts for March...

love using fabric designed by friends

another in pink

Double pinwheels for February...

Think I'm all caught up posting by bee blocks for Wish Circle.  Yay!

Thanks for stopping by,

Flowers for Eleni

Yesterday, I mentioned the charity bee do.Good Stitches.   Rachel of Stitched in Color is the driving force behind this wonderful platform for bringing quilters together in helping those in need.

Now it's our turn to bring comfort to Rachel and her new baby Eleni.   If you are unaware of the situation, please read Rachel's post regarding Eleni's birth and her updated post.

hexie flower for baby Eleni

Tales of Cloth is collecting hexi flowers to make a quilt for Rachel and her family, and there is an online Auction for Eleni this weekend.  I encourage you to click on these links for more information of these two efforts to help Rachel and her family.

Thank you and happy stitching,

QuiltCon 2015: Charity Quilts

There is so much to say about QuiltCon...the quilts, the classes, the food and of course the people/community....  I did not enter any quilts into QuiltCon, but I did play a small part in three charity quilts that were on exhibit.

Geese in the Round by Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches a charity bee

One of the special exhibits at QuiltCon was  Pieced With Love: The Quilts of do. Good Stitches showcasing twelve do. Good Stitches {a charity bee} quilts.  I was excited to learn that one of the selected quilts was from our Wish Circle.  Geese in the Round (quilted by Caitlin) was one of the first Wish Circle quilts I participated in...see my block there in the bottom right corner?!

OrlandoMQG charity quilt-quilted by Ellen

Our OrlandoMQG members made blocks which were assembled into this QuiltCon Challenge Charity quilt.  All the challenge quilts were hanging in two of the ballrooms.  I was unable to get pictures of all the charity quilts, but I did take pictures of more than half.  I uploaded a Flipgram video on instagram if you want to see more.  If you search the hashtag #52QGoestoQuiltCon, you should find it.
 

Four of my blocks are in this quilt

Since I'm on the MQG Charity Committee, I wanted to also participate in the Region 4 QuiltCon charity quilt with several individual MQG members from my region.  I met two of them at QuiltCon but sadly didn't get a group picture with our quilt.

Region 4 Charity Quilt

I am still decompressing from my QuiltCon experience,  as well as still unpacking from that trip, so I plan to spread out my blog posts detailing my week in Austin.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Thanks for stopping by,

Bee Blocks for January

Starting in February I am participating in a third bee, but for January I had sent off blocks for these two bees.

Chevron blocks

Two double chevron blocks were requested for Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches using this Jeni Baker's tutorial.

Six inch blocks for Elizabeth

Elizabeth requested blocks for her version of this quilt for Mid-Century Modern Bee.  I selected the friendship star block and the spool and bobbin block.

February block instructions have already been posted, but block making may have to wait until after QuiltCon!

Thanks for stopping by,

Bee Blocks

December was my month again to be Queen for the Mid-Century Modern Bee.  I selected the Dresden block and quickly made my first one using this tutorial.  Who knew the Dresden Plate block was so easy?!  If I had, I would have made some much sooner.

first ever Dresden plate block

auditioning centers

I received a few blocks before leaving town and was excited to open two weeks worth of mail today and find several more (along with tons of junk mail, bills and a few Christmas cards).

where's my flash???!!

I love the blocks I have received so far with the scrappy fabrics in my requested color palette and various size centers of the dresden plates.  I have an idea but am still tweaking my plan for this quilt.

goldfish block

 I brought the fabric ingredients for the goldfish block with me on vacation.  This is December's Wish Circle block for do.Good Stitches based on this tutorial.  Such a fast and fun block!  I highly recommend this one.

pineapple block

November's bee blocks were sent on time but not posted here:

November's MCM Bee block for Elizabeth.  She made it simpler for us by sending precut strips and the printed paper pattern.

Fieldcrossing quilt block

November's Wish Circle block following this free pattern.

Now on to January's bee blocks....

P.S. Just a reminder I will be back next Monday with my Dear Jane blocks, but Cindy has a linky up for Choose Your Own BlockAlong this week if you're playing along.

Thanks for stopping by,