Stash Bee (part three)

I cannot believe how long it has been since I updated you on my antics over at Stash Bee. My last Stash Bee post was back in May!

So, let’s look back, one month at a time.

June

In June, Hive 7 made flowering snowball blocks for Deana. Inspired by Mary at Molly Flanders, I have long had this block and quilt on my to-do list, so I was happy to give the blocks a try.

This block is one I have long wanted to try.

The curved piecing came together without a problem. Cutting took a little time. If I get around to making a whole quilt, I might consider buying a set of templates so I can rotary cut them.

Sewing is easy but cutting the curved pieces by hand takes care.

Where possible, I chose prints from my stash that had more than one of Deana’s chosen colours; for example, one print has brown, blue and green. I also tried to find a selection of background prints that used her chosen colours. My blocks ended up a whisker too big (no more than a quarter of an inch), but I left trimming to size to Deana for safety’s sake.

Deana asked us what got us hooked on quilting. For me, quilting is just an extension of sewing, and I have been sewing and dressmaking as long as I can remember. My tenth birthday present was an antique sewing machine, and I had been using my mum’s before that. At the time, we were living in a rural area without electricity, so I did not waste my childhood watching television; instead, I sewed and read. My first quilt was hand-sewn hexagons, which I started when I was 15 and did not finish until my thirties. It was almost my last quilt! I love hand sewing, but I am not sure about my 15-year-old self’s colour choices.

July

In July, these bird blocks were fun to choose fabrics for as Mary wanted colourful. Each block is not very big, so I made four, using my favourite large-scale and brightly coloured prints for the wings.

Mary wanted us to identify the species. Clockwise from top left, we have a garden dicky-bird, a technicolour turtledove, a diamond-tipped parrot and a blue-chested desert hen.

I found it helpful to cut some of the background pieces bigger than they needed to be. Mary asked that we not trim our blocks, so all I did was tidy them up a bit, keeping them as large as I possibly could while trimming off any flappy bits of excess background fabric. For that reason, some blocks are bigger than others.

Mary explained that she is a birdwatcher and asked us what our life-long passion is. My passions are not that exotic, and I can only identify the really common birds in my area, but like Mary I had an uncool hobby in my teens, when I was sewing my own clothes and knitting. I guess I have two life-long passions: sewing and reading. Other hobbies have come and gone, but I have sewn and read since my early childhood. These days, I work in the publishing industry and have a house full of fabric and books.

August

In August, I was queen bee. I asked everyone to make lightly coloured blocks in cool colours with random pinwheels thrown in. These are arriving in the mail, and I will write more when I have them all and start to plan how to assemble them.

You can check out my block instructions here.

The pinwheels can be placed anywhere at random.

I asked for restful, cool colours.

September

Jane asked for wonky churn dash blocks in bright pinks, reds and oranges. I had a few possible combinations and could not choose, so I made all three. One is in the correct combination of pink centre, red sides and orange corners; the others are variations.

It is a really easy block, but I still managed to stuff up the side pieces the first go and had to unpick – I had sewn them on too far in!

Jane asked us what colours and prints we would like to add to our stash. If I am perfectly honest, I would have to say that I should not add anything else to my stash! I really have enough fabric to keep me going for a while. I had a recent panic thinking I was short of blue, but I soon realised that I had just hidden it all from myself in various project bags. If I could choose anything to add to my stash, it would be Liberty and linen. You can never have too much of either for making small bits and pieces, and I love floral prints, which Liberty does so well.

Gatecrashing

Of course, being me, I had to crash some other hives.

I made this for Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl. Yvonne is in Hive 2.

Yvonne asked for large letter blocks.

I made this for Diana of Red Delicious Life, who has been in another bee with me. Diana is in Hive 4.

Grey and teal were Diana’s chosen colours.

I made an improv quilt-as-you-go block for Kelly in Hive 5, whose in-laws suffered a house fire and could do with a new quilt or two. What a tough time her in-laws must be going through.

I raided my bright scraps for this block.

In August, as I was queen bee in my hive and did not have any blocks to make, I made some for Shauna in Hive 9. She asked her hive to make flying geese using the four-at-a-time method.

This method of making flying geese was new to me.

Shauna likes purple, so I had to make sure purple was in at least one block.

Finally, this month, I made this giant block for Grace in New Zealand, also in Hive 9. I follow Grace over on Instagram.

Grace asked for pineapple blocks in grey, black, navy, teal and yellow.

At the end of the year, I will have to tally up how many blocks I made and mailed off during 2015. The number is growing!