Bee Sampler Blocks

In anticipation of our bright sampler quilt at Bee Blessed I've been having fun trying out a few blocks -

This is an upscaled version of the Streak of Lightning block from the Farmer's Wife sampler.

This one is one of the In Colour Order Blocks of the Month - tutorial is spot on, but I opted to try the alternative method of making HSTs and it resulted in lots of bias edges which mean that this block looks lovely but it changes size every time I measure it!

And this one was just me having a play with my teeny Soul Blossom leftovers.

And, just to let you see my finished Welcome Wallhanging from class, here's a couple of pic -

Close up of my fimo buttons - made 'em myself!

just need to invest in a decent hanger for it and get it on the wall permanently.

Bee Blessed Blocks

At Bee Blessed we are still gathering all kinds of 12.5" blocks with a view to putting together sampler quilts for donation while allowing our lovely members the opportunity to get creative/experimental trying new blocks.  I've been enjoying the freedom to choose (while sometimes actually being stumped by the vast choice available to me) and made these for this weekend's meeting -

Friendship Star

Double Pinwheel

Mosaic

The first two blocks - the Friendship Star and the Double Pinwheel - were stitched up using the tutorials from Jenna at her Sew Happy Quilt QAL.  The mosaic block was just me using up bright, happy leftovers!  I really like all of these blocks and hope they'll find their way into a great sampler for someone who needs a little blessing.

Wonky Star(ts)

This week I made my first ever blocks for a Bee - yippee!  Initiation complete.  Bee Blessed is the first bee I've ever joined and the block for our first quilts is the wonky star block - Judith has posted all the details here.  Never having made this block before, I thought I'd have a go and stitch one or two up in advance of our Bee meeting on 10 Sept.  It was lots of fun and quite straightforward really.  So here are my first two blocks -

I think the blue one is my favourite.

Keep an eye on the Bee Blessed flickr page too.  There are some gorgeous blocks from our generous blog friends appearing there too.   It's very exciting to think that we will shortly be making these up into baby quilts to bring a wee touch of blessing to someone in need.

I also managed to make a start on another gift cushion by cutting the fabrics.  This one is for a fifteen year old girl who I am hoping will love these Amy Butler Soul Blossoms prints as much as I do.  Here are all the pieces cut and ready for stitching -

The cross layout has nothing to do with the final make up of the cushion, though I kind of wish now that it did because I like these.  More soon I hope.

Bee Blessed Beginnings

I am very excited about a new venture with my friend Judith - a real life quilting bee!

Bee Blessed is a charity quilting bee where we will get together with other local interested folk for a wee stitch and a cuppa to share our skills, our resources and hopefully a laugh or two.  Our aim will be to create quilts and other little projects to bless others.  All of our quilts will be donated locally to those who need a little blessing and thoughtfulness in their lives.

We know that the hardships faced by many will never be solved by a patchwork quilt, but maybe just maybe, someone who receives a quilt will feel the blessing of knowing that we cared enough to think of them and to want to do something nice for them.

Our plan is to meet locally (house hopping) every three weeks starting on Saturday 10 September 2011, 2pm to 5pm. If you would be interested in coming along to the Bee meetings in the Greater Belfast area (and maybe a little beyond) to stitch with us please do let us know.  Other dates are posted on my Bee Blessed page.

Judith has set up a flickr group too so you can have a peek at what we're up to.  AND, so that all you virtual bee friends out there don't feel left out, we'd be more than delighted if you wanted to get involved by contributing a bee block here and there.  Just join the flickr group to let us know and keep an eye there and on our blogs for details of upcoming projects.

Thanks to inspiration from Susan's fab quilt, to get us off to a start we're going to make up some wonky star blocks to make small baby quilts.  Judith has posted the details for the first meeting and blocks here.  I hope some of you can be tempted to join us either in person or via flickr.  (It's a good excuse to use up some scraps and to make some blocks you might not have tried before!)

Hoping to see some of you there!  And a huge THANKS to those of you who have already joined the flickr group or promised a block or two via Judith's blog - it's all very exciting!!