April 2018 Block Round-up

I’ve made a start on my Pantone Color of the Year challenge quilt. This year’s colour is Ultra-Violet. I decided I was going to make a mini quilt with a few blocks from the Neighborhood quilt pattern from Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman. I love love love the way these blocks are looking so I’ve decided to make the full quilt which means making another 8 and maybe not getting it quilted in time. No problem since there is a “tops only” section. Anyone else thinking of entering? There are famous judges and lots of prizes. It’s possible to win a prize just for turning up and entering and I have my fingers crossed for one of them. All the details are on posts at No Hats in the House and Bryan House Quilts. There’s still a few weeks left to whip something up.

Bee blocks for this month are all about foundation paper piecing. The April  Stash Bee block was chosen by this month’s queen Rochelle (@mcallisterwench). She picked the Global Concepts block by Julie Hirt done in three shades of pink and a black and white print. The pattern for this block and 12 others in a series are available for free from Craftsy. I tried my hardest to match the seams but all I managed was a 1 in 4 success rate, the others are okay… Rochelle asked for the sections to be kept apart so she can decide whether to make it scrappy or not so I get to fool around – I like this setting that I'm guessing is the secondary pattern      (v)

Rochelle gave us plenty of wiggle room with her cutting instructions which I appreciated when I came to sew it, although it was a bit of a fabric eater. Having said that, part of me is overjoyed since I downloaded the Stash Shrinker spreadsheet from Sewjourners a few weeks ago after seeing it on a Hyacinth Designs post. I have set it up to shrink my stash at a rate of 2x (2x is the default) and it’s enormous fun to add the sewn fabric in and see it add up. You don’t need to count how much you’ve already got you just need to use twice as much as you buy and you still get to buy fabric along the way!

Emily from The Darling Dogwood is this month’s queen in Bee Inspired. She asked us to make foundation paper pieced stars using this pattern from fellow Aussie Wombat Quilts in blue and red on a white background. Finished size is 8 inches. I decided to use two blue fabrics for the star and luckily there was a bit of chat in our Facebook group about potential hazards so I was able to make sure to avoid placement problems.

Finally, I just wanted to let you know that my Curated Quilts mini is part of the gallery in the latest magazine about Minimalism. I was surprised to be selected, in fact I was just about to start using it as a pot plant mat when the email arrived, and I kept expecting them to let me know that they’d changed their mind once it arrived in their office. But no.

I even spotted it hanging in their booth at Quiltcon on Instagram (see the arrow on the bottom row?), which was thrilling and if I never get a quilt into the actual show it is something I can count as having been sort of ticked off my bucket list. It was totally worth entering this challenge, especially since there’s a complimentary copy of the magazine on it’s way. That’s a valuable gift once exchange rates and postage to Australia is added so I’m definitely going to be doing another one!

Happy sewing

Sue

Linking up to Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

March 2018 Bee Block Round-up

The March Stash Bee queen is Jen (@jentexas). She picked the paper-pieced Geese Trails block from Piece and Press. She asked for blue or grey background and a transition across the geese colours. We could decide on the layout and the number of sections with geese in them ourselves. I decided to use a blue grey and transitioned my geese from coral to orange to melon and back to coral again. That was the idea anyway, I think it worked. It’s a great looking block but there are loads of seams.

This month we have two queens in Bee Inspired. First to post was Jennifer from The Inquiring Quilter who designed her own shamrock block which will be the border for the quilt we made blocks for last year. Her tutorial is here. Unfinished size is 4 ½  inches.

And on the other throne is Paige at Quilted Blooms who asked for a rectangular teenage version of the I Spy block for a charity quilt. You can find the tutorial here. These were quick and easy to put together.  I suppose I could have used my Dr Suess fabric again, but I resisted. I found these alternatives that I think will be fine for a teenager.

And after two months in a row of requests for the use of novelty fabric in bee blocks I’ve bitten the bullet and bought a couple of fabrics that have a bit of novelty value and appeal to me without being especially juvenile. Here’s one. Cup of tea anyone?

I hope you took it easy with the buns and chocolate, I didn't. Happy sewing

Sue

Linking up to Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter