May Quilting Bee Blocks

Thanks for all of the great feedback so far on my giveaway prize. Several people have asked questions in their comments, but their accounts are set to "no-reply" so I can't answer them! By far, the most asked question is "what the heck is a Kindle?" I don't have one myself (yet), but you can check it out here. (The giveaway is still open, by the way ... so jump down and enter if you haven't already!)

Thanks also for your notes of congrats on my projects being included on the Amy Butler CD. I wish I could respond to everyone individually, but the giveaway has my Inbox overrun with comments. I promise to be better about responding to your comments once things slow down!

So apart from the giveaway and the excitement surrounding the CD, May has been an extremely busy month and has really flown by. Besides the Bookkeeper, my sewing has been limited to my many quilting bee commitments. Here is a rundown of the blocks I made this month:

In my SewConnected group, Amy (parkcitygirl) sent out fabrics from one of my all-time favorite fabric lines from one of my fave designers, "Chestnut Hill" by Joel Dewberry. I have a stash of these myself that I haven't cut into yet, so I had great fun working on Amy's blocks! Amy asked for large, 15" blocks. My first is a sort-of quarter log cabin design, with smaller blocks adapted from the free "Woodland Garden" quilt pattern by Scott @ Blue Nickel Studios. I even added in a few prints from the collection that Amy didn't send!

I (of course) had to make Amy a second block with my scraps, so I went with a hybrid 9-patch / rail fence design. I think both blocks turned out pretty cool!

For the Cottage Quilting Bee, Carolyn (who blogs at Laughing Duck) asked us to help her create a quilt with houses and trees. She even provided some block patterns for us to follow. Here is the pattern I was given and, in addition to the fabrics Carolyn sent, I added the striped fabric for the windows:

Who's this little cheeseball? : )

Here's a block for Jennifer (quayandco), who is a member of the SewConnected 3 group and wants a quilt made from scrappy log cabin blocks:

Nettie (aquiltisnice) requested flying geese for her quilt blocks in the bee inspired group. Any size geese, any size layout. I decided to go for a flock of mini geese, mostly because I love the secondary zig-zag pattern that emerges with this layout. All of the novelty fabrics were so much fun to work with, and I added a few of the owls, birds, goldfish and bikes. I also decided to include some solid orange, drawing from the Heather Ross dog & goldfish fabrics and the color of the gnomes' hats.

May was a 2-member month in bee inspired, and the other blocks were made for Deanna (giggle gear). Deanna wanted star blocks inspired by a "strawberry and chocolate milk" color scheme. Yummmmm ......

Finally, two blocks for Tine (Sodeste) in the SewConnected 2 group. Tine sent out solid fabrics, which are always so much fun to work with. Tine (from Denmark) is currently studying library sciences, so I knew exactly the type of block I wanted to make for her:

It's inspired by the beautiful "Library Books" quilt in the Fun Quilts gallery (if you've never been, you should go check it out. LOTS of inspiration!)

I had enough fabric left over to make another block, so I resorted back to my recent favorite go-to technique -- strings!! I love how this one came out.

Another month under my belt ... I hope everyone likes their blocks!!