Super Tardy Bee Blocks

For some reason I completely forgot about doing the June blocks for the Tethered Threads bee. I hate being so tardy, and it's almost mid-July. I should be tarred and feathered.

I don't understand what stopped me from doing them right away... I love Moda Hello Betty, and improv blocks are my absolute favourite to make. Let's just put it down to a big ol' brain fart.

I loved making them and I'm very happy with how they came out. Hopefully they're what was asked of me... I take instruction rather poorly... and I obviously can't read a calendar...

Pretty Pretty Rouenneries

For my Tethered Threads 2 bee, we were asked to make smaller scale blocks in the vein of the ones Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson! chose for her own bee.

I have to admit I was SO apprehensive about doing these blocks because for some reason I kept reading the instructions and my brain was all lalalalala. Talk about having ADD. Plus I didn't want to cut into them wrongly and ruin the beautiful Rouenneries fabric.

So I finally sat down and worked on them... and I felt like a doofus and a half for being worried!

They've got nine sections instead of 12 like Elizabeth did. It was so fun to slice the strips up, make little blocks, then piece them together again.

I quite like them :) I hope Kim from the bee likes them too!

My Tethered Threads Bee Blocks

I've almost got all of my December blocks from my Tethered Threads quilting bee. I've received blocks from ten members and I myself made three blocks, so I'm just waiting on the last two blocks from the lucky last bee member. Unfortunately I lost track of who'd sent what and I have no clue whose is missing. Doh.

The blocks are all different sizes, and I plan on putting a dark cream around each block then sewing them together. This isn't the final layout... I just laid them out for the picture. I think I know which will be the centre block though... yeah, you see it too.

I don't really know what I'll do with this quilt... perhaps the couch? I dunno... all I know is, I likes it. Likes it a lot.

Paper Piecing Is Pretty Fun

For my Tethered Threads 2 quilting bee, this month's block was paper pieced. I cannot tell you how much fun I had doing these blocks! I joined bees mainly because I wanted to learn new things from new friends. I'd never have tried paper piecing (well not for a while yet) of my own volition, so I'm glad I had someone to make me do it.

I have to admit it was a little daunting at first because I start to panic a little when I do anything new. Plus I'm working with someone else's fabrics so that just adds to the trauma. And the whole sewing through paper thing is like huh?

But it all came together quite easily although I did have to rip a seam out. Or maybe three. But who's counting, really. I do have a commissioned quilt that I might just use this method for a few of the blocks. I'm totally hooked.

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programme

I. Am. Done. With. The. Large. Quilts.

Wait. Give me a moment while I sob with joy.

Okay, I'm good now.

Never thought I'd be done, honestly. I'll take pictures of the last quilt in the next day or so... I have to get new lint rollers (we have two large furry cats and we ran out... can you imagine the horror?!) to get any stray fuzz off before it's camera-ready.

Anyway, since finishing, I've been back to working on things that don't make me wince.

A baby quilt for the shop that's all basted and ready for quilting. I actually laughed to myself while basting this one. So tiny, so small, so awesome.

Some selfish quilting! Finally! I'm making us a quilt out of Garden Friends by Jay McCarroll. I've been hoarding this for eons and I thought it was about time for it to see daylight. I threw in five or six Kona cottons and I cannot wait to see it finished! But I'm taking my sweet time with it since it's for us.

And in the mail, I received my first blocks from a quilting bee I'm in! It's the first time I'm in a bee, and December was my month. I'm really, really terrible at relinquishing control with anything, so this was definitely a good exercise in tolerance for me. With great result, I might add!

How good is that?! I'd never have thought of doing the latter! Such a lovely surprise :) You can see a few other blocks here.

Oh, and this is my 400th post. Yay! And also, I talk a lot.

Bee Blocks

A couple months ago, I was invited to be part of an online quilting bee, and I thought it'd be fun, so I said yes. December is my month... and I chose to do a version of Denyse Schmidt's What A Bunch Of Squares quilt. I gave approximate measurements instead of use the templates for the blocks because I wanted them all to be just a little different.

Block one.

Block two.

Block three.

Every bee member makes two blocks so together with mine, I'll end up with 25. I reckon it'll end up being a queen-sized quilt, but I don't know if it'll go in our room yet. Goodness knows we don't need more (especially since there's a couple ideas I have for quilts for our room... ahem. Sorry honey.). Maybe I'll gift it but it seems wrong to gift my first quilting bee project. We'll see.

In other news, I've finished hand quilting the first commissioned queen-sized quilt :) Yay me! I just need to get the binding on, so I can begin the second quilt. Pictures to come.

And happy birthday to Julie :)