Stash Bee (part two)

In April, I lost my father to cancer, nursed a husband with broken ribs, had my car irreparably smashed by a guy who failed to stop at a stop sign (thankfully, no injuries to my dog or me) and took my grandmother to see the doctor to get her dementia formally diagnosed (and then, following doctor’s orders, I stole her car keys and hid them). April was a disaster of a month, but the start of a new month, May, means a fresh start, and a fresh round of Stash Bee.

I am in Hive 7, and I have made these blocks in March, April and May.

In March, I made a pair of sister’s choice stars for Melissa. She wanted purple points, but she encouraged us to raid our scrap bins for the rest, which I did.

Melissa wanted scrappy, light backgrounds and purple points.

She encouraged us to mix up the lights and darks in the centre.

In April we were set similar(ish) star blocks by Shari of Doohikey Designs. She mentioned a fondness for Bonnie and Camille, so I tried to use some of their fabrics and those that had a similar bright and happy feel. I repeated the fabrics in the points of the stars as it is easier to cut squares than single half-square triangles, but no fabric used in the little squares is repeated.

I started in my scrap box, but I did not have enough bright scraps and had to raid my stash too.

I used some Bonnie and Camille but other fabrics too to achieve the scrappy, bright look I think Shari is aiming for.

In May, I made two blocks for Jan.

Yellow can sometimes lack contrast against a background fabric, so I used my darkest yellows and my lightest backgrounds.

No contrast problems with red!

I gatecrashed my way into two hives and made these blocks for Chelsea of Patch the Giraffe and Heather of QA Creations. Chelsea specified the block in aqua, navy, teal and peach; Heather wanted any twelve-inch block in red, tan, white and black so I recycled the same pattern. I thought about making a different block, but I like this one!

Chelsea asked for colours that included teal, peach and navy.

If it works in teal, why not in red and tan?

Then, how could I not also gatecrash Hive 3 and make a block for fellow possum Rebecca?

Once again, I rummaged through my scrap basket. All these bee blocks are keeping my scraps well tamed.

Each month, we have to answer a question about ourselves.

In March, Melissa asked us what our favourite colour is. My favourite colour is definitely red, but I am also very partial to pinks and blues. Pink is probably the colour I use most in quilts and is the colour I have the most fabric of in my stash. A good red can be hard to find. Purple is my least favourite colour, but I do not mind keeping some in my stash to make bee blocks for others.

In April, Shari asked us where our dream vacation would be and why. I had some amazing overseas holidays last year in Japan and in Spain, and I have been lucky enough to have had other dream vacations in places like France and Oman.  This year, I plan to stay home and avoid having to sit in an aeroplane for more than 24 hours each way, which makes my rear end go numb! I am sure I will get itchy feet again next year. The world is full of amazing places, but I always prefer holidays in countries and cities that are rich in culture, history, art galleries, food and new languages to holidays that involve sitting on a beach and doing nothing in the sun. (Since then, there has been an update to my travel plans. I expect I will be taking my dad’s ashes back to the UK in September.)

In May, Jan asked us, ‘What gets you into your creative mode if you’re in a sewing funk?’ Sewing funk?! What is that?! Sometimes I lose interest in a particular project, but I always have another gazillion projects on the go. I simply switch to one that catches my fancy until I regain interest in the one I put aside. My problem is that I always have too many things I want to make and not enough time to make them.

I am finding this bee lots of fun and manageable as it only takes a few hours every month. Have you joined a bee like Stash Bee?