Pretty Pretty Pretty!

The blocks I have so far are making my head spin! They're so gorgeous sitting together like that! :)

I love the blocks and I love you guys for toughing it out and doing them despite wanting to cause me bodily harm.

Vicki sent me a little pressie in her package! How'd you know I love Orla Kiely! lol! Thanks Vicki! :) It was very, very sweet of you!

-- Audrie

angela & audrie!

march was crazy..
but angela told me not to worry..
i finally had some time over the weekend to work on her blocks..

and i ended up making 2 for her.

first i started with a square... and built around it..
and around.
i made the last border in different widths so it ended up being off center.
i like this one a lot!!

and for the second i started similar..

but then got a bit more "free" with my piecing.
i sewed the greys together with the green & white dot..
and then chopped them into strips.. and so on.
last step was adding the blues..
i just love the blue on blue dots!

then it was time to work on audrie's blocks.
and i had similar issues that other people did.
and let me just say.
audrie you are lucky i like you.. and fought through the bias for you!!

they aren't perfect.
but i think they look good!

and like i said on my blog...

"i'll never make this block again."

"sometimes bees inspire you to make blocks

and sometimes you learn what you don't want to make"

audrie's block, one of two.

Well, hopefully. This block came together rather painlessly, over three weeks ago! I LOVE the style of these blocks...this is going to be an awesome quilt. I used one or two little pieces of my own scraps I'm sure you'll spot it, Audrie. I had so much confidence going into the second block a few days after the first. I didn't re-read the instructions. Instead, I turned on my Pandora Internet radio really loud and dove in with an air of fearlessness that turned out to be my downfall. I was so caught up in piecing that I just kept adding my wedges in a clockwork fashion. Of course, everything was going smooth until that last wedge! Ummm...lets just say I had to use my seam ripper very creatively. After seam ripping and sewing 3 times I decided to let it rest a little. So on my ironing board it has sat. Tomorrow I will try again. If it doesn't come out or my seams become too threadbare to sew again I promise to send along something sweet Audrie.
Aside from the drama, I really love these blocks. :)

...me too, me too!

...I made the stars too...

natalie.

Audrie's Blocks

Here are my blocks for Audrie. I really enjoyed making them, but I wish they had turned out a little better. I love the fabrics chosen. I am having so much fun and have learned so much already from this bee. Thanks everyone!

Maverick Star Quilt

Thank you all so much for contributing such lovely blocks to this quilt!



I received the quilt back from the long arm quilter on Tuesday and sewed the last bit of binding on last night. I wish I would have taken a "before washing/drying" picture because the quilting is so pretty (my first experience using a long armer to quilt any of my projects). She did a fun daisy pattern with some wandering loops.






The quilt ended up being 70" x 84". I binded it with a teal flowery polka dot print and used a big pink polka dot print for the backing. It's such a fun and cheery quilt!






I'm passing this quilt along to my dad tomorrow so that he can give it to his coworker for the collection of quilts. Thanks so much for your contributions! I know that the girl at Children's Village who receives this will really appreciate the quilt!

Fish Heads!

After posting that I hadn't heard this song, I thought I'd look it up to put Penny out of her misery. Thanks for the laugh Penny... the song's extraordinarily ridiculous haha!

(The song only really starts after the 2 minute mark so either be patient or skip ahead.)

-- Audrie

through the ringer

Yeah. I totally put myself through the ringer when making this block.

It went like this: L-man was on the computer, so I thought, "I can totally do this without the instructions". Not so much. My first version had a nice big mountain in the center, since I sewed each piece together one at a time instead of by twos, as Audrie recommended in the instructions. I wish I would have gotten a photo. It was really quite comical.

I ended up using one piece of fabric from my stash in the block, can you spot it Audrie? For some reason, I thought you needed some fish heads. Which reminds me. Have you ever heard that song? "fish heads, fish heads. rolly poley fish heads. fish heads, fish heads. eat 'em up, YUM!" L-man swears I made it up, but I didn't! I need someone to help me prove him wrong, please?

p.s. I'll just come out now and apologize too Audrie, I pressed all my seams to one side. I should have read completely through the instructions BEFORE I started sewing the second and third time. I'm a total spaz. I know.

Inspiration is at your fingertips...

I just have to say.

IF you want to move your quilting forward,

join a quilting bee.

I did.

And with a little inspiration...

I combined the string quilting

and the quilt as you go

and a jaybird's binding tutorial

(well, a little modified)

and some flicker group 'surfing'

about

potholders

After cutting and sewing 5-1/2 yards of fabric for a new quilt

I needed a quick project.

I'm participating in the Seven Sisters Quilt Show in San Luis Obispo

Central Coast of California

and staying with friends

I needed a hostess gift

I wish you could all come to the show

and we could quilt and shop and look together

all of us

But until then

we can all surf right in our own homes and revel in

our inspiration

our design

our quilting

by being

US

the virtual quilting community

bee beautiful

BeginAgain

2010

natalie

Audrie's Blocks for April

These were making me a little nervous. I think it's because I'm not always the best at having points meet up, but I think they turned out well. I added three scraps of my own, and had so much fun matching all the scraps together. Great scraps Audrie!

Hope you like them :)

Now I need to go locate my packaging tape, there will be a LOT of tape on my envelope, sorry mailman no pretty quilt blocks for you!

early in the month

Here are Audrie's April blocks. I hope you like them! I am enjoying trying out block styles that I probably wouldn't have come across if not for my 2 quilting swap groups.

I added one strip of my own fabric, can you spot it?

belated blocks for angela.

So....You send me fabric in my favorite colors, in some of the cutest prints, you tell me to do pretty much anything and I am supposed to have it done on time? You are asking a lot out of this fabric lovin' girl. :) These fabrics sat on my ironing board for weeks...I went in to iron them, then pet them and lay them out. Then I would get online and see what you ladies came up with, then back to the studio where I would pet them again, followed by a sigh. The horror of cutting into these cutie bits overcame me, and then I would have to leave the room.

Obviously, I overcame my fear and consumed with the guilt that I was hoarding other people's fabric, I took the plunge. I love all of the blocks you ladies have made, this is going to be one seriously cool quilt! I hope you like them Angela...I left a little wiggle room for you, and they were mailed yesterday :)

p.s. Audrie is so lucky her pretty fabric is pre-cut AND has a definitive design! She may just get them on time. :)

Charity Quilt

Here are the last three blocks that I made for the charity quilt:



And here's the result of all of our hard work...



one pretty quilt top! Thank you so much for putting together such cute blocks. I think they look great together and make for a fun patchwork quilt. I had a lot of fun seeing the different fabrics you chose up close and smelling the different detergents you used to pre wash your fabric while I was pressing the blocks.

I dropped it off with the long arm quilter today and it should be ready in a few weeks. If everything goes according to schedule, I'll be able to make the April 30 deadline.

Cool 90deg blocks!

How awesome are these!? Thanks for all the blocks so far!

So how do I sash it - snow, ash, other? The back is going to be cool, too with all these little signature blocks!

barely made the deadline

I sort of forgot exactly when these needed to be done. I looked it up the night before last though, and I got them made and in the mail yesterday!

Block for Angela

I had fun playing with such beautiful fabric. I hope you like the block Angela.