Queen Bee for The Blue Bee!

Like the pink bee, I had trouble honing in on a block for the blue bee. I wanted a churn dash, I wanted patchwork, I thought about stars, but when it all came down to it, I was going back and forth between a log cabin or courthouse steps block. At the same time I was deciding, Karen Lewis was posting her amazing little courthouse steps blocks and I figured it a sign.

So I set to work deciding on measurements and layouts. I already had my color palette chosen from the moment I said yes to the bee. You can me color inspiration pictures I sent my bee mates below. 

I wanted a milky blue, set against a low volume ranging from white to creamy white to any colored linen.

Now I just need this to be my rug and table.

That color is the most dreamy tone of blue I have ever seen.

I drew up a design for the girls, as I wanted half to make one orientation (horizontal) and half to make the other (vertical). I chose my foundation square (the center piece) to be a milky shade of pink, in homage to how I came to the blue quilt bee......by way of the pink quilt bee :)

Here is a shot of my first two blocks with my fabric pull.

Can I just tell you, I am going to LOVE this quilt. 

Here is a look at some of the blocks I have received so far, along with the goodies my bee mates have spoiled me with!!!

This blue bee is just incredible!!!!! That basket! Look at the inside tag! And checkout the tag Jennifer sewed to the back!

The tag says "you better use this" and I totally am! It is currently holding my Sarah Jane fabric!

Also, please note that I have thread in my hair. Always. 

And now the Blue Bee!

I mentioned earlier that I took part in a glorious quilting bee during 2018 that brought much joy to each month. My Pink Bee girls helped me learn new skills, play with colors I may not have put together on my own, and spoiled me rotten with the most amazing blocks and extras.

So, when one of my bee mates suggested a Blue Bee for 2019, I couldn't say yes fast enough. Pink and Blue are my two favorite colors, so this seemed like a dream bee!

Here is a look at the blocks and things I have made so far!

This first chicken block was for Yvonne, and I love that she chose something different and fun. It is going to be so cute! A quilt full of blue chickens! COME ON. Soooo good.

Dawneika was our next queen, and she chose this glorious patchwork block that she plans to set on point. Patchwork is my love language, followed closely by fussy cutting. 

The next queen to take the throne was Kate, who designed this adorable patchwork block with low volumes mixed in. I fussy cut where I could. Side note: I love to include a piece of one my very favorite fabrics in each bee block I made. For Yvonne, I used my HR frogs, Dawneika got my treasured Heather Ross VW buses, and Kate got a bit go my tiny mushrooms AND my fave Art Gallery Fabrics moons. 

Tina was the next Queen Bee, and genius she is, she chose a nested churn dash block. I LOVE the churn dash block and I really love the way this block echoes outward! So cool. And take a guess which treasured fabric I used in her block. (If you guessed the HR goldfish then you get a high five from me.)

I am the queen bee for July, and I will share my block choice and color inspo in a later post. The blocks have been rolling in and I am LOVING them!!!

The rainbow that made me cuss

I know rainbows are cheerful and happy and magical. They really are. But sometimes, or one time, a rainbow also drove me bonkers.

I made a quilt with Alison Glass woven cotton called Kaleidoscpe. Actually, it was my second quilt with this bundle. I already knew the thicker fibers of this woven cotton was more obvious if a bit became frayed, as fabric that has been cut does. So I was especially careful with my trimming and pressing my seams down into the colored fabrics, away from the white cotton I used to frame it. But, I think, because my quilting was minimal, after washing, I noticed some brightly colored threads peeking out against the white fabric....I only saw it when I did my quality check and held the quilt up to the sunlight.

I tried coaxing the threads with ym fingers between the layers. Didn't work. I tried letting it go and moving on. Didn't work. Those little threads atop the top of each column, the dark magenta bits that were intent on driving me crazy, were all that I saw. I cast the quilt aside for a day, because truly I was so frustrated.

Finally, the next day, I realized I could not handle letting them be. So i took the binding off the quilt and cleaned up the threads. And this time, I "sealed" the columns of color by quilting lines of a border around each tower, with the idea being that the tight stitches would force any little threads back towards the colored fabric. And it worked!

So it is done and in my shop, and I am happy with it now. But this rainbow and I had a rough go.

I couldn't decide on a quilt backing, so I asked my instagram friends to vote on a fabric, and this was their choice. They didn't let me down! I love it.

That brings up a question I have.....when making a quilt, do you begin with a backing in mind? Or are you like me, and see what you have that will work?

(p.s. I buy fabrics in large cuts specifically to have a stash of quilt backs, and I currently have at least 12 solid fabrics ready to be a quilt back.)

I left the towers unquilted, to make them pop a bit more. I like the look, but as I shared above, it came at a price. lol.

As soon as I finished attaching this binding, I realized I needed more yardage of this because I LOVE it. Honestly, more than striped binding. 

Look at that pretty fabric on the back! It makes me happy. 

My favorite type of quilt picture to take.

I was trying to choose a favorite color while making this and I think that prickly pear green might beat that deep aqua.

This rainbow and I are friends now. The end.

Milk, Sugar & Flower

I think I have talked before about starting something and then stalling. It seems to be a facet of who I am, this excitement in beginning, then becoming either distracted or losing interest, or often becoming frustrated that something did not go according to plan....all things that lead me to stop what I am making.

In the case of this quilt, I vividly remember ordering a charm pack of Kona Snow and a charm pack of this Elea Lutz fabric because we were in the process of moving to our North Carolina house, and we had packed up much of my sewing space. I was left with a small cutting mat and a small desk surface, so I was buying precuts so I could continue making, without needing a large cutting space.

I also remember we had just added our puppy Liberty to the family, and every time I laid out my blocks, our playful chocolate lab puppy would run across the floor of my room and rearrange them all. Repeat times a hundred.

I'm sharing that to say that this is why I gave up on the quilt years ago. My puppy had twisted a couple blocks out of the arrangement I had carefully decided upon, and I didn't catch the jumble until it was all sewn together. So I got grumbly, folded it up, and tucked it away.

Fast forward 4 and a half years to a couple days ago. I was scanning those instagram memories and saw a post from July 22, 2016, where I had photographed a partially completed quilt top and vowed to finish it. 3 year ago. So I dug through my craft bins and found it! Eureka!

I stared and stared at this quilt top that had been given a very long time out and couldn't figure out what felt off to me so long ago.

So I attached a border of Kona Snow to make the quilt a bit bigger and VOILA.

And, as it turns out, I really love it.

You can find this quilt in my shop HERE.

There is something about the bright and cheerful, sort of vintagey feel of this fabric that I love.

I love a good quilt smoosh picture! I also LOVE the fabric I used for the binding.

I am so glad I completed it!

A quilting bee filled with PINK!

Last year, I was thrilled to be a part of the #pinkbee2018 I made blocks for 11 lovely bee mates, stitched my first dresden plate, made an adorable candy cane block, a super sweet strawberry block, played with patchwork, and then made a pink pineapple!

My first Dresden plate, but certainly not my last. It was fun fussy cutting for the unique shapes of the blades. 

I added a J inside the strawberry for our sweet bee host Johnna. 

The low volume fabric is one I should have bought a bolt of, because I love it!

Jennifer chose such a sweet candy cane block and I love this idea for a Christmas quilt!

This patchwork block was so fun!!

And Yvonne's pineapple!

I hemmed and hawed over my block and finally settled on a scrappy trip around the world quilt. I designed a certain orientation of blocks for half the bee girls, with a different orientation for the rest. That way, for fussy cut squares, they would placed right. 

Rather than talk more about my quilt, I will just share the evolution of it. It is my most used quilt and the only quilt I have ever kept for myself. I use it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 

My participation in the pink bee was a beautiful bright spot in 2018. That was the the year we had a big move, my kids changed schools, my husband started a new job, and was deployed for 9 months of the year, so the rhythmic stitching each month for my pink bee girls was beautiful therapy. And at the end, I have this amazing quilt, stitched by girls around the world, to keep me warm and happy. If you have a chance to be a part of a quilting bee- DO IT! Jump in!! It will grow you, it will connect you to amazing people, it will allow you to be a lasting part in something someone else treasures, and at the end you will have a quilt to treasure always. 

And this amazing experience led me to join in on a follow-up bee.........