there's a quilt block in there somewhere...

I know my month isn't until July

but I have been giving this block thing a lot of thought

for those of you following along, by now you realize

I'm in pretty fast company

the

beebeautifulquilt

participants

are really really really talented quilters

and even tho I have my block fabrics cut and ready to send

(can you tell I'm excited)

I am now thinking there is so much more I'd want from each of you

other than what I have selected

so many quilts

so many talented girlfriends

you just can't pick just one

(girlfriend or quilt, that is!!)

natalie.

...or maybe something more geometric...

My Flower for Penny

I kind of procrastinated this. Then I started it without remembering the directions. Then I looked at them and continued doing it "right."

I like how it turned out. Edge stitching the applique down was a good feeling for some reason.

I like the little piece of Happy Camper fabric I got. Are we supposed to send scraps back?

Happiness is a Bloomin' Flower

I didn't want to do it.

The block.

Then when I did,

I didn't want to sew it down by machine.

Especially with white thread.

(I didn't even HAVE white thread)

And then?

I fell in love with it.

It's a great block.

And I, for one, can't wait to see all the blocks together

in a quilt top!!!

Again, here I go down this same path - now, I want to make my own 

big old bloomin' blocks!!

Thanks Penny for broadening my horizons.

natalie.

A happy tulip

I finished up Penny's pretty flower and sent it on its way already! Just noticed you can see my ironing board under the white.

Glad I got it done quickly, my machine just threw a fit and is skipping stitches horribly. I had to take it to the 'Sewing Doctor' as Becket said. Hope it's back soon!

Good thing I've started making hexagons, huh?

A Tulip for Penny

Ok, so I just received Penny's package yesterday, and well... all I can say is it must be the florist in me, because I couldn't wait to make this pretty flower :) I used some of my own fabric, and yes the seam ripper made one appearance... note: take the background fabric to a well lit area to be sure you have the correct side before sewing, oops. Hope you like it Penny!

Blocks Received So Far

Natalie, ask and you shall receive :) A picture of all the blocks I have so far... including mine, that's 13.

I love love love how this quilt's coming together! I thank you ladies for making it possible :)

-- Audrie

Audrie's Blocks

I thought Audrie was crazy to set us up with so pre-cut pieces to make a block, but now I'm very thankful that she put so much prep into her blocks.



I was worried about getting this block to work out after hearing lots of complaints from all of you. I took things slowly and I only had to rip out one seam, so there are no complaints from me for these blocks. :) They went out in the mail today so please pardon my tardiness!

Audrie's blocks

These were in the mail before the end of April (barely) but I keep forgetting to post the pictures.

Your quilt is going to be amazing, Audrie!

If only May would have come 7 or so days later......

But it didn't.
And now I'm busy finishing up the final touches to get everyone's fabrics in the mail by Thursday. Thanks everyone for being so patient with me!

Ok, so here it is:

May's block is the gargantuan tulip. I got the idea from the Material Obsession Two book.

I will be sending everyone:

• an 18 inch square white background fabric


• two side petal pattern pieces


• one middle petal pattern piece


• scraps for the petals (these will be all colors BUT green)
  
• green scraps for the stem and leaf
  

Please do not use any green scraps in the petals, but only on the stem and leaf. Feel free to use some of your own scraps if you like, but if you don't, that's fine too!

You can arrange your tulip on the block however you like.

Please keep any leftover scraps that you would like.

Please sign your tulip on the leaf instead of sending siggy blocks.

This block is MACHINE applique'd, not hand. Yay!!

Here's a how-to for this block:

These are the paper pattern pieces I will be sending to everyone. The seam allowance is already included in each pattern piece.


Sewing the fabrics right to the paper, using a similar technique to this or this, cut and arrange your fabrics to your liking onto the paper pieces. The fabrics don't have to be straight strings, feel free to get creative with it! *tip, make sure you sew the fabric to the opposite sides of the two end petals so they will fit on either side of the center petal.

Trim excess fabric around the paper pattern:

Next, free-form your stem and leaf however you like and turn under the edges about 1/4 inch and press.

**edited to add (and thanks Angela for bringing this up :), please do not use interfacing for any of the pieces. And seriously, don't feel like your edges need to be perfect. Mine are far from perfect, but I think this imperfectness will add to the charm of the overall quilt**

Remove the paper backing from the petal pieces, following the instructions in the tutorial(s), and then turn under about 1/4 inch and press both edges of the center petal. For the two side petals, you only need to turn under and press the outside edges and the top (since the inside edge will be tucked under the center petal).

Arrange your pieces to your liking on the block:

Then remove the center petal and pin down the stem and two side petals. Using a straight MACHINE stitch and white thread, machine stitch the stem down first (close to the edge), then the two side petals down.

Now place the center petal and leaf back down, pin, and straight edge-stitch them in place.

Yay! You're done!

(sorry about the lengthy instructions!)

thanks again everyone for your patience with me!

Tool Time Girl

Lookey what I found!!!

The story goes like this:

I wanted to try Julie's hexagons, so I purchased this template.

Wrong one for Julie's blocks, but lookey, lookey - right one for this month's blocks!!

So I trimmed the strips to 5-1/2" inches (actually just a little greater than...)

And went to town on - oh, sorry, LAST month's blocks.

Here are the blocks - - in tomorrow's mail, I promise!!

Thanks for waiting.

Natalie.