June Block for Linsay

I found this a fun block to make, so much so, I made it twice! 

You see, I'm typically an "add on a strip of the correct width, and trim down to correct length after piecing kind of gal...", but, I followed the directions to a "T" carefully cutting each piece, chain piecing together, pressing each seam as I went, and when I finished, it was 12".  NOT 12.5"!  Apparently my 1/4" seam allowance was just slightly too wide and ate up and entire 1/2" in the seams!

So, I'm also a "hate to waste fabric kind of gal", I very carefully picked out every seam except for the first two seams, pressed the fabric pieces again and reassembled it.  12.5" -- perfectly square!

Next time I'll know better.  

The fussy cut center is from this fabric that I refer to as sassy girls (it's little dancing, playing, daydreaming little girls with kitty cats).  And they show some serious sass -- which just makes me smile.  This little gals was one of the few I could fit into the 2.5" fussy cut.  And the outer border is one of my fave Dear Stella fabrics in a pinkish red shade - love it!  This quilt promises to be awesome...

July is my month, I have less than a week to move beyond "wavering daily on a block choice" and getting a post up! 

Katy's Square(s)

I offered to sew Katy's square this month because she is very busy and a wee bit stressed! I was happy to sew up a square for her. My sewing to-do list is surprisingly short, and I've come to love how these come together. I found the blue floral on the right in the same line as the polka dot and loved it. I found the red and white circles and though, "perfect". I wanted to incorporate Red Riding Hood, so put her in the middle. However, when I finished, I found that the polka dot blended too much with the blue, and Red didn't pop as much as I wanted. I can't stop thinking that it looks like Red is lost in the mire of a Japanese blossom forest, and that kept me from ripping it apart. So, I felt compelled to make another square with a center that popped more and one where the polka dots didn't blend. Hence, the camera square. I bought the camera fabric for a close friend of mine who is a photographer. I made a wallet as a birthday present out of that fabric for her this year. So.... I will send them both to you, Linsay, and you can decide what to do! 

And, here is the rest of the repeat of that fabric. I made matching dresses for my older girls with it. Juliette will just now fit into the smaller one!

Amy's (Canada) square for Linsay

This square came together much more quickly than I thought! The directions were amazing. Thanks Linsay! I hope you have a sense of humor, Linsay, and are not offended by my raccoon on fire in the middle. My brother (a Buddhist monk in India) bought this fabric for me ages ago, and I love putting bits of it in special pieces. The whole repeat is of this poor raccoon on a camping trip that is tortured by a fox and a rabbit. Here he is on fire, in another sequence he is tied up, and another is drowning. Kind or morbid, but I have to admit, I like it! Anyway, I like how this came together. I hope you do too, Linsay!

Amy (USA)'s block for Linsay

Not sure what is going on with the lighting in this picture, but the pink is a true "hot" pink. I think the picture makes it look more red. I liked picking out the colors and knew instantly that I wanted to "fussy cut" the hummingbird. This will be a fun quilt!
Amy (USA)

Pre-dawn Quilting!

I was wide awake at 4:45 this morning...this is the day that our lovely bee member Chris arrives, I'm so excited to see her! We get together with Linsay on Monday or Tuesday so I wanted to have her block ready to hand over. This was an easy block to make, I think from start to finish it took just about an hour (I had chosen my fabrics last weekend). I hope you like it Linsay. I'm afriad I didn't have much to choose from to be creative for the center square and I hope my polka dots are not too wild! Can't wait to see what you do with this quilt to make it fabulous!   xoJennifer

A note from Stephanie (a.k.a. The flakey one) from America.....

Hello Ladies, I would just like to say how much fun this group is. I have really been forced out of my comfort zone and I LOVE it! I would like to apologize for not having my blocks for April and May done yet. We moved into a new home in February. My sister bought our old one so I was slow to pack up my sewing room. I finally packed it up in April. We are within a week of having my new one finished. YAE!!  Carpet goes in Monday and heating and air on Tuesday! I will post pictures. It is going to be gorgeous! Anyway, I have had my sewing machine out but all my fabric is packed. If you can be patient with me a little while longer I will get caught up as soon as I can. Happy sewing!

Stephanie (USA... Iowa)

Amy's (Canada) Tree Block for Shauna

The Waterloo Region chapter of the International Stashes had the pleasure of meeting up this week at Shauna's house. We were given a tour of her amazing backyard with a glass of wine in hand. Perfection! As we sat down to chat, we all mentioned we were thinking of incorporating circles into Shauna's tree blocks, as we all know that is another favorite of hers. I felt drawn to blues, for some reason. Perhaps because due to my lap quilt, I have more blues in my stash? Anyway, I included owls so that Jennifer's owls would have company. I hope you like it, Shauna!