Last of the Bee Blocks?

I only had a short amount of time to sew yesterday but thought 

I should work on the remaining Ima Bee blocks.  

I had found a bordered star block I was dying to try out.  

The rules were that we had to use med gray Kona for the background and low volume for the star.  This one was a lot of work and it is far from perfect but I like it anyway.

I was not really paying close enough attention to this one and 

reversed the background and the star colors.  

I will probably either make it again or make a different star and send this along anyway.  

I need more medium gray though either way to make another star.

I went to see Catching Fire this weekend and it was amazing!!  

Can't wait to see it again. 

 I love this series.

I also went through a ton of boxes.  

Both boxes I brought home from my dad's and boxes from my own basement that I will be taking to my dad's on Friday for the estate sale.  

I had 9 Rubbermaid containers full of Precious Moments Figurines that I will be selling there!!!  

I did keep some but I just have too many and have no real attachment to most of them. 

 My mom used to buy them and it was a nice gesture but 9 Rubbermaid boxes??  

Plus I kept 4 and I think there are a few more in the crawl space under the family room,

 but I won't go in there to check (I secretly call it the Hell Hole).  

To get into the crawl space you have to crawl through a hole 

in the cement wall in the basement and it is all dirt.  

NO THANK YOU!  

I make hubby go in there when I need something!!

I am ISO this red print by Kate Spain from The 12 Days of Christmas.  

I need a yard. 

 If anyone has it and is willing to swap or let me purchase it that would be GREAT.  

If you know a shop that still has it that would be great too.

Hubby and I made pasta from scratch for dinner on Saturday night.  

It is so easy to do with the Kitchen Aid mixer attachment!  

Now I need a pasta drying rack.  He made the sauce from scratch too.  

It's great to have a hubby that loves to cook!!

Have a great Monday!

~XOP~

Good Mail and Good Friends

As you are well aware my life has been kind of a hot mess lately. 

 Well never fear, between some serious retail therapy and some amazingly great friends

 I am feeling better.  

Although my dad did take a tumble today and that is never a call you want to receive, he is alright, thank goodness.

I thought I would share with you some of the great mail I have gotten lately. 

 First up a couple of purchases. 

 Some Nest from an ETSY shop, love those birds.

And a FQ bundle of Fort Firefly.  

I totally love this line!

Then I was a winner of this amazing book.  

If you have not looked at it you should.  

There are some very talented people in this book!

The quilts are super adorable too.

There was even a personal note to me inside from Amy!!  

Thanks Amy!!

My friend Pauline has been knitting up a storm and knitted me this fabulous Halloween scarf.

(sorry the photo is a little dark, it is still dark when I leave for work at 5am)

This is just one of MANY that she has made for me.

Thanks Pauline!

Then I received this big package in the mail on Saturday from my friend Dianne.

We have not met IRL yet, but I will make my way to her eventually!

(You have been warned)

She knows how much I love aqua and blues and greens and cats.

But really?  

Who doesn't know this about me right?

She is also a knitter/crocheter and made me this!

How exquisitely beautiful is this???

Those colors just make me want to do the happy dance!!

She even sent the left over yarn 

(I have no idea how to knit or crochet, LOL)

and just look at those sweet kitty scissors!!!!

She also knew it was my month to be the Queen in my bee.  

I chose aqua/bluegreen/greenblue airplanes.  

The pattern is from Quilter's Cache and it's called Lone Eagle.  

So she paper pieced me up a few or eight!  

AND sent me the left over fabrics to make more from !!!

Dianne, you are the BEST!!!

GOSH you guys!!!

I have no reason to feel sorry for myself.  

 I should feel blessed, and I do!

Thank you for reminding me.

Life is Good

Even if it is not always easy!!

~XOP~

September Bee Blocks Finished

I had the pleasure of making some X and + blocks for our September bee block. 

 It is the first time I have made these blocks.  

How much fun are they to make??? 

 I can see a whole quilt with these in my future for sure!

Fussy cutting those moths was awesome!

These finish at 12.5 so will be 12" when put into a quilt. 

 I hope she likes them!  

Yeah finally a finish of something. 

 This post is linked up to Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday.

Have a good weekend!

~XOP~

Opinions Please

It is my turn to be the queen in October in my Ima Bee. 

 I get to choose a block for a quilt. I have been fretting and fretting about what to do. 

 There are a lot of really cool blocks out there. 

 I always feel guilty asking people to make some of the more difficult ones though.

  I know I don't have a lot of time. 

 I think this quilt will be for our newly made quest room. 

 My hubby will also have a desk in the room and probably some hobby storage in the closet.

  Because he will be spending time in there I asked his opinion.

  I showed him some of my choices and he had to choose from there.

  I really loved the small improv houses with lots of open space.  

He did not. 

 He is MUCH more traditional than I am. 

 I showed him a few others and finally I thought of one that he might really love.

(Block from the Quilter's Cache)

He is a pilot and I have always wanted to make him an airplane quilt 

so I am thinking that airplanes would be cool. 

 I also love this cross quilt and the cool, calming colors.

(Ben_D's quilt)

So I think I am going to ask for airplanes made in this color palette.  

What do you think??

Now for a CrAzY idea, I think I am going to put the aviation alphabet, 

 improv style around the outside as the border!!! 

 I could ask folks for the words or the airplanes or one of each. 

 If you were in my bee which would you rather make?

  Each person makes 2 blocks so I could have almost the entire alphabet or all the planes. 

 I am kind of leaning toward all the planes but thought I would ask what you guys think. 

 I would give a max for letter size and it could be fun to get all the alphabet too. 

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta...Zulu!

~XOP~

Ima Bee Block

I managed to eek out a little sewing time this weekend.  

Most of what I worked on I can't share, darn it.

I did get a bee block finished.  

We have been making 2 for everyone but this block is so huge 

we were able to make just one and send it along. 

 She wanted a single black cross on a white background.  

Blocks had to be 20.5"  

I used some of the amazing cat fabric my friend Yuki sent to me from Japan.  

Aren't they adorable?

It was funny to be making a cross block and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the same time!

Hope your weekend was productive.

~XOP~

I Must Have Done Something Right

It has been a busy week here at my house.  

Sorry for so little posting. 

 Once again I am working on some things I am not able to share at the moment 

so there seems to be very little to show you!

I was in Grand Rapids yesterday to take my dad for a driving test. 

 He did not make it past the written part of the test and now has no driver's license. 

 Moving into this part of life is not fun, for either of us.  

I have really mixed feelings about this, but we are trying to come up with some alternatives.  

Earlier in the week my DD1 texted me and told me to go to the vet tech office at work because she had left something there for me.

  Hmmmmm what could that be? 

 Eggs? 

 No, she told me there were no eggs this week. 

 Then what?

I'll show you what!  These beautiful Stargazer Lillies!!!

OMGosh they smell so good!!!

She picked them out of her garden.

Isn't it sweet when your children do things like this to surprise you?

I also managed to finish a few bee blocks for July.  

Now just 2 more to go.

I hope she likes them!!  

They were fun to make, but I am happy to send them out too.

Hope you are having a good week too.

~XOP~

More Bee Blocks

I had to work on my Bee blocks for May before I leave for Raleigh tomorrow. 

 In Ima Bee I made these two Alaska Homestead blocks

Then in the Bee Vintage  group I got my first set of June blocks done!! 

 Butterflies.

The other May blocks for the Ima Bee were from the Supernova blocks by Lee at Freshly Pieced..

I put off making these as I thought they would be difficult but they were NOT. 

 I would really like to make a whole quilt of these.  

The one thing I noticed about these blocks is that I did not like too much "pattern" in the fabrics used

 as I thought it took away from the color progression in the blocks. 

 She asked for jewel tones.

I am probably not going to be able to post very often over the next week

 since I will be in Raleigh visiting my DD2. 

 I can't wait! 

 I stopped at Biggby coffee today and got some coffee for her as they don't have Biggby in North Carolina.  I hope to do a few posts. 

 I am meeting up with Mrs Goodneedle and also with Sara of Growing Stitches while I'm in town. 

 Stay tuned for the adventures!

~XOP~

Spinning Stars Bee Blocks

For my Ima Bee block commitment for April we were asked to make 

Anna Mara Horner's Spinning Stars blocks.  

You can find the pattern here if you want to make some too.

  It is a beautiful block.  

A little fussy to make but beautiful when all finished. 

 This would be great using Munki Munki fabric. 

 I really don't like using paper templates

. I would like it if there were a plastic set of templates I could have just cut around! 

 It took way more time to cut out then to make.
Also since the block uses templates it would have been nice to know the size,
so you would know if your templates printed out the right size.
If you want to make one just email me and I will tell you those measurements.
There were a few little tricks to putting the block together too.

 I really love my blocks though, so pretty!

This was the first block I made and I like it a lot.  Notice the NYC subway print?  

I did experience a little bit of user error while making these, LOL. 

 I did not read the template for the C part very carefully and ended up re-cutting some of those.  

A beautiful block to file away for future use for sure! 

 They are HUGE blocks too. 

 18", but relatively east to put together and to get to match up too. 

 LMK if you give these a try, I would like to see your version.

~XOP~

More Bee Blocks

I have been very busy finishing up my bee committments for the month of March. 

 I did the Ima Bee blocks yesterday. 

 I really enjoyed making these blocks and love how they came out. 

 I might make more of these later.  

We each got to choose a color to make ours as the woman wanted rainbow for her quilt. 

  I chose blue.  

Shocker I know.

The link to the tutorial is here if you want to make them too!

I worked on some binding, finished the flannel tumbler top, and 

worked on another chenille blanket on Sunday. 

 I suppose it was a pretty productive day all in all. 

 How was your weekend??

~XOP~

Ima Bee Blocks

I am part of a bee called Ima Bee.  

Each month we make 2 blocks for the queen of the month (sometimes there are 2 queens).  

The block for this month is called the Schoenrock Cross.  

The pattern can be found here. 

It is a spectacular block.  

It is also one of the most difficult time consuming blocks I have ever made! 

Now mind you I am not an expert paper piecer, but I do passibly well on that part.  

Once I got the hang of the correct size I needed to make all the pieces to fit the pattern I did better.  

I think it would be nice when you do a pp pattern if they told you the best size of fabric to use to make piece 1 and piece 2 and so on. 

 I think I would struggle less, but maybe that's just me.  

I know when I did the Geese in a Ring block once I figured that out 

the blocks went much more quickly!

These are beautiful blocks and it took me over 7 hours to make 2 of them.    

The first one she wanted a red cross in.  

The most difficult part was getting those whiteish points to form that crisp point.  

I have no idea how many times I ripped that block apart!

I was however, very happy with the kitty int he middle!

 

Next up was to pull the fabric for the second block.  

She wanted a dark cross.  

I broke out the Neptune for that.  

I used all Tula Pink fabrics except for the white.  

That is Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelet fabric.  

Which I am now obsessed with and *need* to buy more.  

What a great basic!

This is how the second block turned out and I have to say I really like it.  

Much more to my taste too.

I don't know if you can tell but I tried to fussy frame in the swallows.

 I was tickled to frame the butterfly in the middle. 

 I am loving the pearl bracelets so much!!

 

This is how they look together.

I have to say it was a HUGE learning experience for me and I am pretty satisfied with the outcome.

Next up is working on my blocks for the Vintage Bee and beginning my Swoon wedding quilt.

What are you working on?

~XOP~