the bee's knees quilting bee

One of the things I've been working on lately is some bee blocks.  I'm a part of The Bee's Knees Quilting Bee and we have a blog and everything.

I think I already posted about some of these, but I thought I would share better pictures of them along with some others that I hadn't shared yet.

Nedra sent us fabric and the pattern for Alison's Cluck Cluck Sew Spin Cycle block. I love the color combo and this pattern went together easily.

Amy E., Amy's Creative Side, sent us some gorgeous Echino and crossweaves for some log cabins.

I love the bright floral on this one.

And fussy cutting the cheetah was fun here.  I need more Echino in my life.

Amy S. sent some lovely prints and color choices!  I think you all know about my obsession with aqua/turquoise.  She asked for 12.5" or 6.5" log cabins.

I started with this 12.5" block. Love that aqua and red Flea Market Fancy.

Then I had enough scraps for this bitty 6.5 incher.  Add that to the list of things that are cute when tiny.

Here's a photo for scale.

I really love being in a bee and getting to use fabrics not in my stash and do blocks I might not otherwise do.  I've been getting a lot of my string blocks back too.  I need to get a photo of them together!

sew & tell v4.3 ~ bee block extravaganza!

I guess you could say this is the month of the bee block at my house.  I was able to get my fabrics sent out this week and have finished 3 more blocks with one more to go so I can get caught up.  Can anyone say disorganized!  It's going to feel so good to be caught up!!

I loved making this sweet block for Amy (Diary of a Quilter).  She has the best color choices, always!  I love how bright and fun it is.  I wanted to make her 2 but I didn't stretch out her prints enough and only had enough for one block.  But I love it!

I like the spontaneity of log cabins, but if you don't really plan it out a little ahead of time you might end up tearing out a round like I ended up doing so more of the blue would show once it was finished!

I also finished up two blocks for Amy (Amy's Creative Side).  These Echino prints with the crossweave solid is so fun!  I've never actually worked with any Echino and now I want to find a bunch and buy it up!

Her quilt is going to be so fun! I can't wait to see all the blocks together.

My mom is here visiting and all of our plans to get a ton of stuff done hasn't really worked out like we thought.  We have managed to take care of the littleslouwho and keep the house picked up, so there's that! She did help me get my packets mailed out.  She had never done string blocks before so she offered to sew mine up for me!  She did a fantastic job of course.

#1

#2

She discovered that the 12" scrapbook paper that I sent out was actually too thick for paper piecing.  She did the second block with a 12.5" square of newsprint and that was much easier.  I'm so excited to put these together!

So I'm planning on finishing up the last of my bee blocks today and then maybe I'll have something new to show you next week!

What did you finish this week?



Linky Rules.  Please follow along for a fun party!

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written since the last sew & tell.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

string blocks!

I mentioned that I am in another bee right?  Yes, I love bees!  I'm not the promptest bee member but I really enjoy the collaborative work!  This is my month and I decided that I wanted to have some string blocks made!

blocks I made for my first bee

I already had a bunch of fabric cut and decided that these strips would work really well.

Since I wanted to ease the workload on everyone's part I thought it would be fun to make BIG blocks instead of a bunch of tiny ones. So I asked for 12" blocks.

My favorite string block tutorial is from Film in the Fridge.  Makes it so easy.

If you want to read more about what we are doing you can check out the Bees Knees blog!

sew & tell v4.2 - a bee finish ~ of sorts

Hi!  This is going to be short and sweet because it's late going up because Blogger was having issues this morning, blah blah blah.

PS - Don't forget to check out my post for the Craft Book Blog Hop - and giveaway info!

Anyway,

It's my month for The Bees Knees Quilting Bee that I joined up this year!  (Such a fun group, I couldn't say no!)

It snuck up on me and I wasn't totally prepared.  But I found a bunch of strips I cut over 3 years ago for a wonky log cabin quilt along.

It's just a collection of strips cut from some fat quarters and fun fabrics that I had just because I liked them! I made one block and it didn't turn out like I envisioned so I tucked them away.

I think it needed some solids to break up the prints.

So anyway, I got them back out and divided them up into sets and cut some Kona snow strips. I'm going to have my friends make me some large string blocks! I think it's going to be great! I also added some darker prints for contrast. We'll see how it goes!

So here's my finish - packages ready to mail! (I'm totally stretching for a real finish this week!)

Can't wait to see some of your finishes!



Linky Rules.  Please follow along for a fun party!

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written since the last sew & tell.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

sew & tell v4.1 - bee block catch up

Hello People!!! Welcome back to the start of the 4th year (version 4) of sew & tell!  WOW.  Crazy to think we started this little share-fest that long ago! The start of the school year seems like a good time to bring us back together after a summer break.  Plus Rebecca kindly reminded me that it's time!  She's got a fun quilt to share!

I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice taking a break from blogging for the summer.  Sometimes I think I'm over it altogether. But then I remember it's fun to take some time and some real (non Instagram) pictures of what I've been doing and document it!  Plus my mom is here for a month, YES! and I'm hoping to get some more things finished while she's here for sew-fest 2012.

As I often do, I over estimated my available time and energy to be in another bee. So last month I was able to finally get caught up on some bee blocks. I finished up these wonky stars for the last month of my Bee Tweet Bee for Frecklemama:

I love a good wonky star and I'm working on another little star quilt that hopefully I'll be able to show you soon.

Then I was asked by the lovely Amy of A Diary of a Quilter if I wanted to join a bee with some of my best blogging friends - a lot of whom I met through Sew & Tell!!  So of course I couldn't say no! And then I couldn't keep up.  So I played some catch up a few weeks ago.  The bee is called the Bee's Knees.

A Greek Cross for Sherri of A Quilting Life:

And an improv block for E. of Pinksuedeshoe:

I've still got a couple months to catch up and it's my month to send out fabric! Yikes! Got to get on that.

Can't wait to see some of your finishes!


Linky Rules.  Please follow along for a fun party!

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written since the last sew & tell.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!