Bee Block Experience #2

I was in several bee block exchanges as a new experience in 2015 but for each of the quilts that I used 2 bees each to make sure I had enough blocks in the end to make a larger quilt. My first blocks were for my Kaleidoscope Quilt and the other 2 hives completed scrappy Cross roads Blocks. 

These are the extra 4 blocks that I put together. As these hives were later in the year the blocks trickled in slowly and a few didn't come in at all but I did have enough with the extra blocks that I had made, this was going to be a large quilt. 

So it sat basted for a while waiting for me to quilt it when a friend of mine, Rena (The Southern Bobbin) asked for quilts that she could practice on with her long arm and I thought -- Why not? 

When it came back a short while later I got it bound and all ready for some couch snuggling. 

This is my 4th finish in the 3rd Quarter 

When Guilds Collide

Earlier this year our guild decided to do a mini quilt swap with the McKinely Texas guild. This was a pretty easy choice since it's just about the mini quilt and we were sending 3 pattern suggestions along with our interests. It also turned out that 3 members of the guild are also in my traveling quilt group, so that's extra fun. 

I got asked to make the rainbow squirrel by Quiet Play as one of my partner's choices.

I eagerly set out on this project by looking for other inspiration -- I didn't want rainbow and neither did my partner but she did like bright citrus colors. With bright colors as my guide I tried to think of an interesting way to make this mini special. I decided I would make multiple squirrels, one in each of her chosen citrus colors. The idea that I was missing something obvious kept nagging at me so I looked online for citrus colored artwork -- and there it was in it's Warhol nature, my future mini quilt. 

I pulled out scraps from the string bins and scrap baskets first. 

These squirrels went together easily and relatively quickly -- i shrank the pattern by 25% and made a 9 inch version of the block. 

 Then there were a pair

and then there were 4 -- I got it quilted in organic circles and ready to ship out. 

Oh, so cute. It will be heading over to live with Ellyn in Texas. 

In return I got this Awesome Cat mini by Martha

This was my 1st finish in the 3rd quarter and my OMG goal for July. 

August Sewing and Stashing

July finished with a lightened stash of 93.5 yards, after a minor splurge early in the month and a minor lack of motivation because of the heat and distraction of Pokemon Go (yeah I'm a nerd like that). I hope that this month's progress makes up for my limited focus on sewing and having a few days off at the beginning of the month really should help. 

I started the month working on my Traveling Quilt project for this month with was Alice's block that had already been added to by her awesome sister Catherine. I gave Alice the option of AMH feathers or Arrows as my addition this month and she choose the feathers. I also added in some plus blocks to fill in the corners and round things out.

I also wanted to get my Bee Hive Swarm block out early this month because Jen is celebrating her birthday before mid month and she wanted these great double star blocks (-1 yard) 

My other hive wanted paper pieced blocks so I got those ready right away. (-.5 yard) 

A while back I signed up for the Star Mini quilt swap and this month I finished these awesome Celestial Stars up to mail out to a lovely Lady in California -- you can read all about that here. (-2 yards) 

I completed my Kate Spain Love Mini (-3 yards) 

I also got my Scrappy Crossroads back from Rena and got the binding attached and then I realized my tension was off so I had to take it all the way back off so this will be a finish next month. (-1 yard)

August started at 93.5 yards lighter so far in the year, this month I added 0 yards and used 7.5 yards making my new total 101 yards lighter this year -- Whahoo. 

I haven't been in a good sewing mood lately and I hope that September changes that cause I have way more things I need to get finished before the end of the quarter and as we hit that downward slide into the holidays. 

Star Mini Quilt Swap

I've been at the swapping game again and this time the theme was stars -- there are so many great star blocks out there that it was hard to narrow this one down but then I remembered a pattern that I had won a while back that really seemed appropriate for this person. I had a few perimeters to go by -- like she liked blues and greens so I pulled out Simple Celestial by From Blank Pages and determined that scrappy was the way to go on this one. 

I made 4 blocks of the 9 inch version and really love how things shaped up for the final result. 

There's even some fun fussy cutting involved. 

This lovely is headed off to live in California with Alex 

This was my 2nd finish for the quarter and one of my August OMG goals. 

KS Love

Back before Stash Bash I pulled out several patters that I thought would be good to take with me to the retreat that I might want to start on, one of them was the Moda Love Star. It's a great pattern and goes together really quickly and it comes set up for 3 different sizes of precuts. (We all know how I love a precuts.) 

I decided to take a charm pack of Day Dream and give it a try -- the blocks went together super fast and in about 2 hours I had a top. 

It's been waiting in my sewing room for me to find some quilting time and this weekend I set forth to do just that. 

I'm happy with the results and am planning to hang it in my office since I have changed locations and now work closer to home and need some color and cheer added to the space. 

I've got plans for an upcoming KS Christmas quilt and I'm thinking I may need to make a mini star with the extra charms from that one as well. 

This is my 3rd finish in the 3rd quarter. 

July Sewing and Stashing

With the beginning of July being a holiday weekend that meant an extra day to sew and look forward to the beginning of a new quarter. My first task was to finish up hemming a bunch of curtains for a friend but then I actually found some time and finished a project that had been around for a while, a scrappy trip along that has been waiting for some time to be quilted. (-2 yards) 

I got my stash bee blocks put together (-.5 yard) 

Then my Bee Hive Blocks put together (-.5 yard) 

Then I did some fun Hive jumping (-.5 yards) 

My aim at decreasing my stash did not go well when I went to the annual girlfriends sale at Mary Jo's and to another quilt shop in that area.  I found plenty of things that followed me  home, some of these were planned for the Traveling Stash Bee projects since several ladies are going the Rainbow route and I didn't have a true Rainbow in my stash (shock I know) 

The others are for some upcoming clothing projects that people way smarter than me will be making, and some for Stash. 

(+15 Yards) 

This month started our traveling quilt swap and I got to work on adding to Catherine's starting point of the word Sew. (-6 yards rainbow stack since I will be using this for most of my traveling bee projects) 

At the end of the month I got Alice's block that had been added to by Catherine -- can't wait to get started on this one and I'm happy that I already have an approved plan. 

These are really fun and I am trying to get them turned around quickly so that they have limited exposure to cat hair in my house (the next 2 ladies on the list are allergic to cat hair). These two and the next one are extra fun because all 3 ladies belong to the same quilt guild that our guild paired up with for a mini quilt swap. The McKinney Modern Guild in Texas and this month's meeting was our deadline. I got the pleasure of making this quartet of squirrels. (-2 yards) <-- my OMG goal for this month

I attended a sew in at the end of the month and that's always an awesome time with the ladies. I used that opportunity to get started on a swap that will be going out next month, this star mini quilt. 

I had also pulled out some orphan blocks that were leftover from my Jewel Box quilt, made a few more and put together this smaller throw size that I will be gifting in the future. (After I got them on the wall I noticed that I still need to make a few more to complete my pattern.)

The most exciting thing was getting all my Kate Spain Christmas charms ready and sewed into HST units -- now to cut apart, press and trim them so I can start assembling the star blocks. 

June finished with a lightened stash of 98 yards, this month I added 15 yards and used 10.5 yards making my new total 93.5 yards lighter this year, still working to hit that 100 yards mark, maybe it will happen as I head into August since I have a few days off coming up. 

Piggy Bank Challenge

I'm going to link up with Val for her 4th annual Piggy Bank Challenge 

This will be my 3rd year linking up and I have done pretty well in the past. I'm going to be using my same cookie jar for storing my funds and hope to surpass my savings from last year. I have a few quilt orders that people are thinking about placing and this always boosts the savings fund. 

 -- but who knows since Quiltcon is in February and my savings may be going toward that trip. 

This year I'm really hoping a move is in the plans so these savings could be the beginning of redesigning a new sewing space or perhaps a new sewing desk with a lift, or maybe a Tv in the sewing room. 

Thanks Val for hosting this fun challenge and I can't wait to see how well everyone does at cash in.