In the Mail {Stash Bee and Quilty Wishes}

This has been a busy, busy month for sending and receiving quilty mail!

This month (our last month!) in the Stash Bee, Kim requested bookcase blocks for a manly quilt. I actually picked up a scrap bag with some many fabrics while I was on vacation that were perfect for this block!

This month has also been "Get Your Quilty Wishes Granted 3.0" on Instagram! I haven't participated before and decided to grant some wishes as well as to make a little request and was overwhelmed with the response!

First, I sent the remaining Grunge Spot left over from my Jolly Bar Jazz quilt to Sey, as well as a fat quarter of a modern print I had in my stash that she was looking for. I forgot to take a picture, but it was an easy wish to grant!

Second, I saw that Sarah from Sarah Goer Quilts was looking for more monochromatic blocks, so I told her I would make a few! We were in the same Hive in the Stash Bee in 2014 or 2015. I cut all of the colored squares, but I'll need to go to the store and get some more black and white fabric!

I requested additional fabric from the April Showers line as my quilty wish -- I've gotten two packages and three different fabrics thus far!

This weekend I'll be busy finishing up my Faceted Friendship Star quilt, working on my blocks for Sarah, and making my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for October!

Sharing at Finished or Not Friday and Oh Scrap!

Don't forget to check out our Halloween Etsy sale -- all of our Halloween Kits and Patterns are 15% off!

Stash Bee Star Quilt {Finished}

I am so excited to show of the finally finished version of this quilt!

First, a close up of the last block that I quilted -- the patterns I used are a three-leaf meander in the inner star and a petal motif with a baptist fan center. 

Here's the trimmed quilt before I put on the hanging sleeve and binding:

And here's the finished quilt!

Pushing myself to do all of the different quilting motifs was a great challenge and really helped me to improve my free motion quilting. But, I probably am going to going to anything this detailed for a while!

I used the backing fabric for both the binding and the hanging sleeve. The thread throughout is white.

The back is pretty neat looking as well. I had one extra block so I added it into the backing. It's neat to see all of the white thread on the burgundy background as well as all of the different patterns that end up overlapping the block on the back!

I lost track of how much thread I actually used in this quilt, but initially I was using nearly a whole bobbin to do one block. My plan is to hang this in my dining room (with the rabbits, but high enough that they can't nibble on it.)

Quilt Stats:
Name: Stash Bee Star Quilt
Size: 48" x 64"
Blocks: nested sawtooth stars, 16" and 8" blocks, blocks requested in 2015 in the Stash Bee
Quilting: all in white thread, various filler patterns

Sharing at Let's Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Finish it up Friday!

PS. You can vote for my Argyle quilt in the "Best of Benartex" contest! Click here and like the photo to vote for me!

Scrappy Therapy {September Stash Bee}

For September, Amanda from Fabric Engineer is our Queen Bee in the Stash Bee. She requested super scrappy improv blocks that she plans to use as the building blocks of a chevron quilt! This was very exciting to me because my scrap bag (aka my "bag of shame") doesn't zip closed anymore!

Sewing the pieces and parts together for these blocks was so theraputic - sew, press, trim, sew, press, trim! I used my 12" cutting board as a guide -- once my piece was big enough to almost cover the center, I trimmed to Amanda's requested size of 9 inches square. I ended up making four blocks:

Despite my good intentions of making a sizable dent in my scrap bag, it is still remarkably full, but the bag does close now! It's fun to look at these blocks and pick out some of the notable fabrics from particular projects -- some of which I made over four years ago!

Just for fun here's a few of the finished quilts making cameos in these blocks:
Racing Rails
Clover Sunshine
Anything Goes Mini
Little Firecrackers
Favorite Frames
Candy Shop

Sharing at Oh Scrap!

Static Interference {August Stash Bee}

Katrin is our queen for August in the Stash Bee and she requested sections of her self-designed "Static Interference" blocks.

I love to paper piece so I intended to go crazy and make a lot of block sections, however, I was rather limited by the color selections. I only had one dusty purple jelly roll strip that fit her request, and very little aqua -- so I ended up making three sections.

Since I'll be leaving to go on quilt retreat in less than a week (!!!) I'll be taking these to Michigan with me so my mom can mail ours together!

Project Pageant {Scrappy Project Review}

While I might not be drowning in scraps, sometimes it feels like I am drowning in scrappy projects! As you know from my monthly "Brutally Honest" posts, I have quite a few. I've made quite a bit of progress lately on a few of them and rounded them all up for one post.

I was Queen Bee for the Stash Bee in June, so instead of requesting blocks for a new project, I requested more pineapple blocks. I have received just about all of them at this point, so here are all of the ones that I have from last year and this year combined:

For July, my mom was the Queen Bee and she requested scrappy pumpkin blocks. I made her four blocks and used up a lot of orange scrap, including the majority of a piece of novelty cheese-it print fabric I got in a scrap bag purchased nearly 7 years ago.

And as you might have seen on Instagram, I've been working on my Coast to Coast Bee blocks for Audrey! I will be doing a full post once I am finished with my addition to her quilt, but I have been able to use all scraps and stash for my blocks!

I have also finally made my scrappy sapphire to add to my birthstone collection. I now have eight of the twelve birthstones done -- the ones that are remaining are the garnet, ruby, opal, and tanzanite blocks. This is counts as progress for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge since our color for July is blue!

Have a happy weekend! I'm hoping to make some more scrappy project soon!

Sharing at Scrap Happy Saturday and Oh Scrap!

PS. Don't forget to check out our summer Kona special! The two sizes are the yardages needed for the Magnolia QAL, but it's always a good time to stock up on Kona, right?

May Stash Bee Blocks

This month our Queen Bee was Bethany and she requested Converging Corners blocks. For her quilt, she wanted purple and coral fabrics with low volumes as the background. She also requested that we make 16 inch blocks instead of 12.5 inch blocks.

I didn't end up having a lot of fabrics in the colors she requested, but still enough to make two blocks for her, both slightly larger than the 16 inches she requested so that she can trim them down as she chooses.

I can't wait to see how her quilt comes together! Happy Sunday to you! Sharing at Oh Scrap!

April Stash Bee Blocks

This month in the Stash Bee our Queen Bee is Rhonda who requested high contrast scrappy log cabin blocks. She plans to slice each block in half diagonally and then combine the halves with other halves to make even scrappier blocks. It'll be interesting to see how it all comes together!

I sorted all of my scrap bag into pieces that I thought were usable for centers and log rings and got to work! I found that I had to use yardage (or at least, larger scraps) for the outermost rings of the blocks, but I still made a sizable dent in my scrap bag! I made four blocks because they were so much fun!

All of my blocks are larger than she requested by an inch or so -- that way she can trim them down as she chooses.

This also most definitely counts as scrap progress for multi-colored fabrics for April in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge! I was able to make a sizable dent in my bag full of small scraps and strings narrower than 2 inches wide and used quite a few multi colored fabrics in these blocks. Any scrap busting-progress is worth celebrating in my book.

Sharing at Scrap Happy Saturday, Oh Scrap, and Scraptastic Tuesday!

Stash Bee March 2017 {Freeform Log Cabins}

This month for the Stash Bee, our Queen Bee Patty asked for Gwen Marston inspired log cabin blocks. I was rather excited about this -- thinking that like last month I would be able to use up a lot of scraps.

It sort of turned out to be a debacle.

First off, when I started pulling fabrics, I realized how truly few solids that I have which doesn't work well when your queen bee requests all or nearly all solids for a block. So I pulled in some near solids and figured I would minimize them and set off to work.

I made two blocks...

...and I hated them. The tonals and small scale prints were just too much and both blocks just seemed on the haphazard side of freeform. Some of the piecing of the dark accents was too large. I have literally never been this unhappy with bee blocks before.

So I did the only reasonable thing and chopped them all apart, salvaged the solid pieces and a few block sections, and then set out to work again. I pulled some additional solid fat quarters that I found buried deep in my stash and set off for round two.

This time I was much happier with my block.

So thus endeth the saga of bee blocks for March. I would very much enjoy not making more blocks like this for a while!

Sharing at Oh Scrap!

Bee Blocks {February 2017}

This month Carmit asked for improv log cabin blocks a la Sunday Morning Quilts to add to a stash of blocks that she has already collected. She gave us a list of how many blocks in each color that she was looking for and we picked which colors we would be making.

She thought I was a little nuts when I told her that I would make three blocks -- one green, one light blue, and one indigo. I was totally serious!

I did make three blocks and I had a lot of fun making them (and used up a ton of scrap!)

I added a few logs to each white center from my string scraps and then added a few pieced logs here and there as I continued to add to the blocks. For the outermost strips, I added slightly wider strips (2.5 - 3 inches wide rather than 1.5 - 2 inches wide) so that Carmit can trim each block down to her desired size.

These were a really quick and easy block to make and I loved using up so much scrap!

Have a happy weekend! Sharing at Scrap Happy Saturday and Oh Scrap!

Scrappy Blocks for Stephanie {Stash Bee January 2017}

It is a new year, so that means it's a new round of scrappy Stash Bee blocks! It's been very weird this year not being in charge of the bee after having been in charge of it for two years, and a hive mama for three years!

This year I am in Hive 4 with a lot of names that I recognize, including my mom! My Hive Mama is Stephanie who was in my hive last year and was an exemplary participant and this month his her month as Queen Bee.

She requested blocks made of scrappy 2.5 inch squares and low volume backgrounds. You can check out her tutorial here!

I made two blocks. I didn't have low volume scraps big enough for this block, so I pulled a grey and cream print half yard from my stash. I had a lot of fun sifting through my scrap bag for pieces big enough and then cutting some old charm squares that have been in my stash for much too long!

Here are my two finished blocks:

I am excited to see her quilt come together! :)

Sharing at Let's Bee Social and Oh Scrap!

November Stash Bee and #thanksmas

It's time for the last block of the year for the Stash Bee!

Cheri requested these fun Christmas candy cane blocks! I was able to make a dent in my green scraps which is always good in my book.

We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family. When my family isn't going to be together for Christmas we celebrate "Thanksmas" on Thanksgiving. So we put our trees up early and exchange presents between Thanksgiving dinner and dessert. It's a fun thing and means that I have to get all of my shopping done early!

My sister's dog Peyton being festive:

My #thanksmas present from my sister and her husband! YAY!!!

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings with your families and friends! :)

Sharing at Sew Cute Tuesday and Let's Bee Social!

Stash Bee 2016 Block Roundup {and sign ups for 2017!}

It's hard to believe that it's November which means it is the last month of the Stash Bee for the year. While I still need to make this month's block (on the docket for this weekend!) I thought that I would share all of this year's Stash Bee Blocks (I'm copying Audrey -- she has good ideas.)

Here are all of my received blocks from January:

I haven't done anything yet with my blocks, but I have a plan. It involves more blocks, but not pineapple blocks and I am excited to ask for those in next year's Stash Bee. But for now, it is a secret.

Here are all of my blocks thus far for the year:

As always, it is fun to use this as an experiment to try new blocks! I always thought that I wanted to make an AMH Feather Bed quilt at some point, but making two blocks has gotten that out of my system. My favorite blocks to make are always the scrappy ones!

Don't forget to sign up for the 2017 edition of the Stash Bee! I am so excited to take a year as just a participant! Diana and the new Hive Mamas are awesome and I hope that lots of people sign up this year!

Sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

Stash Bee {September and October}

Time to share my last two months' worth of Stash Bee blocks!

In September, Laura requested rainbow shades of star blocks. I made a turquoise block for her:

She also posted a picture of all of the blocks she had received this weekend:

This is going to turn out so lovely!

This month, we made versions of the Spinwheel block from Blossom Heart Quilts for Tanyia. Here's my version:

While I'm not usually a big fan of stitch and flip flying geese, these blocks are COOL. With the way the colors are arranged, lots of secondary (and tertiary!) pinwheels are created when blocks are combined. The navy that I used was quite dark, so I used the black polka dot print to give it a little more contrast.

It's hard to believe that I only have one more block to make for this year's edition of the Stash Bee! It's even harder to believe that I am (finally) stepping away from being the Bee Mama after TWO YEARS of running the whole bee and three years of being a Hive Mama. I am currently listed as a "backup" Hive Mama but I am looking forward to taking a little break from logistics and harassing people about their blocks being late. :)

Sharing at Let's Bee Social!

July and August Stash Bee Blocks

If you hadn't guessed by my lack of posts, August was a blur. Between family visiting the first two weekends of the month and weddings last weekend and this weekend as well as currently being the owner of a mighty fine head cold, sleeping has won out over stitching one too many times. Once we're back next week, things should get back to normal around here.

But until then, here are my last two months' worth of Stash Bee blocks.

In July, we made feather blocks. For some reason, mine came out way too big and I had to remake them. Needless to say, I won't be making a quilt of this one myself.

In August, we made fun tic-tac-toe blocks. I had to dig around for the right color blue, but I did finally find it!

Now on to September! The weather here hasn't permitted me to take pictures of one of my finishes, and I will share that next week! :)

June Stash Bee blocks

This month for the Stash Bee, Francis has requested King's Cross Blocks inspired by this pattern. She asked for the main fabric to be floral and for the colors to be bright and cheery!

For the first block I found a yellow vine print with birds on it! I used a pink jelly roll strip from my stash as the sashing and a purple centerstone.

For the second block I used a psychedelic floral print in oranges and yellows, a green and blue floral print for the sashing, and the same purple centerstone.

These will be sent off to Germany this weekend!

These blocks were so quick and fun I might have to make some myself! This would be a great way to bust a layer cake! :)

April Stash Bee block

It's hard to believe that it is April already and that we are a third of the way through the Stash Bee for the year!

This month Tori requested Rainbow Star Patch Blocks -- where each person makes a block in a single color with a white star. 

I made this teal block and for some reason I had a really hard time finding groupings of fabric that would work for this block without using only two fabrics for the block! Hopefully my other hive mates will have better luck and Tori will end up with a beautiful rainbow of blocks!

Sharing at Linky Tuesday and Fabric Tuesday!

March Stash Bee Blocks

This month in the Stash Bee, our Queen Bee was Robin and she requested these really neat modern scrappy blocks.

I love that she included her drawing of the block in her post!

Since I'm already done with my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for the month, I figured I needed to continue to bust scraps, so I made Robin three blocks!

I pulled out my stash of 2.5 inch squares and the leftover 2.5 inch strips from last month's Stash Bee block. It makes it so much easier to already have scraps in the right size ready to go!

Since I have found that lots of people request low volume backgrounds in the Stash Bee, I have a old makeup bag filled with my low volume scraps so that they are always at the ready. Unfortunately, I am getting very low and my scraps are getting too small to work with unless I was doing some small paper piecing. Looks like I might have to go shipping!

Collected Stash Bee Blocks

I can finally show you all of my received Stash Bee blocks from when I was Queen Bee in January!

Drum roll please...

Aren't they all just darling?

Now I have the tough decision on how to put this top together. I have 15 blocks and the arrangement shown above gives a slightly wider than square setting which could easily be remedied to be square with some variations in sashing width. If I add a block  and go 4x4, it ends up really long and narrow.

What do you think? I'm in desperate need of some input so I would love to think what you think!

Happy Friday!

Stash Bee February Block

This month in the Stash Bee, my friend Heather is Queen Bee for my hive. She requested scrappy trip around the world blocks with navy and mustard as the center colors.

Now, for some reason, I really struggled with this block and basically threw a half completed block into the "project abyss" because it wasn't cut straight. My second try turned out just about perfect so I'm not sure what happened the first time around.

Here's my block:

After making this one successfully, I can definitely see why people love these blocks for scrap and strip busting!

I am waiting on one more pineapple to arrive to me and then I will show you all of my fruits!

Happy  Friday!

WIP Wednesday: FMQ for Days.

I started working on the free motion quilting for my 2015 Stash Bee quilt, which is made up of large star blocks. Here's a picture from when the top was completed.

My intention is to quilt each star with different free motion fillers and patterns, and then the background (regardless of whether if it is pink or blue) will be pebbled. This is a big project (despite it being a smaller quilt) intended to stretch my skills and to produce something show-worthy. I'm going big or going home with this one.

I now have three blocks done and am excited to show you each one! Some of the quilting is hard to see, but hopefully you can pick out most of the designs!

Center block:
Innermost star: meander
Middle star: loops
Outermost star: wiggly echoing of the medium star

Center bottom block:
Inner star: overlapping lines similar to Matrix (first time using this pattern)
Outer star: swirls and curls

Center top block:
Inner star: 8 leaves/petals (which are really hard to see in this picture!)
Outer star: Echo Shell (first time using this pattern)

I can quilt the star area of an entire block and start the pebbling outside of the star with one bobbin. I need a second bobbin for each block to finish (or nearly finish) the pebbling in the background and "connect" to the previous blocks or next blocks I plan to quilt. That's a lot of thread!

One difficulty is dealing with the "pointedness" of each star -- sometimes it makes using certain fillers difficult. When I did the Matrix-like quilting, I had to do a lot of back tracking to be able to quilt the star points. Doing the leaves in the third block was easier because the leaf points extended into the star points, which is unfortunately hard to see. I really liked the Echo Shell pattern. It did take a little forethought to get it into the points correctly, but I think it turned out awesome!

Now that I have the three center most blocks completed, I am going to do the middle two stars (or group of stars) on each side.

Linking up for WIP Wednesday, Let's Bee Social, and Free Motion Mavericks!