July Quilting Bee Blocks

Fortunately for me, I was able to get back on track and whip through my July quilting bee blocks. They've all been mailed ... albeit a few days late. Want to see what I've been working on?

First, here's Adina's block for the Cottage Quilting Bee. Adina sent lots of Amy Butler prints (yay!) and some coordinates. She asked for a particular block design, and here it is:



I love the way her fabrics all play off of one another. I didn't get the strips to match up (I think I figured out why after the fact) ... but a quick glimpse through the Flickr pool revealed that most people's don't match up. I hope that's OK with Adina! I still think it's going to be a rockin' quilt.

Remember these two boo-boo blocks that I made for Tina, also for the CQB?:

Luckily, I was able to eke out a third block from Tina's remaining fabrics. (It helped that I had a few of the same prints in my stash!) I was thrilled to see that, even though I was working under some constraints, I don't think the block suffered at all. In fact, I quite like how it turned out ... maybe even more so than the first two!

I LOVE these next two blocks. Quilting Barbie, a fellow bee inspired bee, sent some reds and greens drawn from her inspiration fabric (from Heather Bailey's Pop Garden line). She asked for wonky quarter-log cabin blocks, which is one of my favorites. After double-checking (this time!), I saw that we were free to add fabrics from our stash. Here are the two blocks I came up with:

I really can't wait to see Barb's quilt all put together. I was so jazzed about Barb's blocks that I asked for the same thing from my SewConnected 3 peeps. August is my month in that group, and I cut up and sent out all of the Good Folks fat quarters that I've been hoarding for the past few months.

Speaking of SewConnected 3, July was Darci's month over there and wait until you see her blocks! I know I just said that quarter-log cabins are one of my favorite blocks to make, but string blocks are right up there, too! Darci sent strips of fabric from and inspired by the Park Slope line and asked for string blocks. Here are the two I was able to make for her:

Darci asked us to use paper foundations for these blocks and, if you've been reading my blog, you know that I am paper-piecing-averse. I've always used muslin foundations when making string blocks, so taking that leap to paper was HUGE for me! I ripped out pages from my phone book to use because I read somewhere that they tear off pretty easily. I am happy to report that my first time using paper foundations was a success! I think I've been making much ado about nothing.

Over in SewConnected 2, Emily (a local Raleigh quilter and pattern designer) sent all of us some Deer Valley fabrics to play with for her blocks ... and, as a huge fan, you know how happy that made me! Emily didn't have any specific requests, except that she wanted something modern / non-traditional and in any multiple of 5". I decided to feature the bird in this 10" x 15" rectangular block:

I'd be happy just to hang this block in my sewing space ... or anywhere else in my home, for that matter! I hope Emily likes it. I know I am going to be totally envious of her final quilt.

And speaking of non-traditional and modern blocks, Jacquie really threw a challenge out to the SewConnected group. She envisioned a quilt based on this painting by her son and, with some very loose guidelines, sent us all a few solids to interpret it as we saw fit. Here's my take:

You should really go take a quick look at the SewConnected pool and see the blocks that everyone has created for Jacquie so far ... I think know her quilt is going to be amazing.

I haven't started working on any August blocks yet, but I have been pretty productive the last couple of days. Besides working on a few super-secret projects, I've been on a bit of a bag bender ... 3 bags whipped up in the last few days (pics soon, I hope) ... and have also been dabbling in (gasp!) embroidery. Lots to share in the next couple of days, provided the rain stops and I can get some decent pictures. I really, really need to figure out how to take decent pictures inside of my house ... any tips for me??

Random snippet into my life: lately I've grown addicted to Kings of Leon Radio on Pandora and (surprisingly, because I've never been a coffee drinker) Starbucks Iced Caramel Macchiatos. That's about all that's new here.

Oh, and I was at my local JoAnn's today and the woman cutting my fabric totally recognized me from my blog! Hi Grizelle! Isn't that funny?