A Year in Review - the Year of the Bee!

I've been so busy this month I've just remembered I didn't do a review of my quilting year! To be honest, there isn't a huge amount to report on and I mentioned a lot of what I have been up to quilting-wise in my Around the World Blog Hop post a couple of months ago.

 

2014 was definitely the Year of the Bee for me where I dipped my toes into the online world of the virtual quilt bee. The first bee I joined was the Little Blogs Quilt Bee. I blogged about it here last year. We are almost at the end of this bee now with just one more queen bee in February but we hope to keep some joint quilting efforts going in some shape or form.
The second bee I joined was the Modern Instabee on Instagram. This has been a fun bee too making blocks for each other from the book Modern Bee by Lindsey Conner. I am queen bee in March so looking forward to receiving my blocks then!

 

My recent quilting has been to make a quick Plus Quilt for the designer of my magazine who left to have a baby

 

 

 

And I finally found a bit of time to join my #LBQB blocks together. Looking forward to quilting this soon!

 

 

 

So I think that's probably about it quilting-wise for 2014. I've already got lots of ideas bubbling around my head for quilts I want to make this year, including getting back to my City Sampler quilt.

 

Let's see how I get on!

 

Joanna

 

 



 

 

Around the World Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog as the Around the World Blog Hop finally reaches my little corner of blogland! Thank you to Nina at BossyOz for nominating me. Nina and I met on instagram when we both joined the first UK ModernInstabee that I set up earlier this year. We're a group of twelve ladies making blocks from the Modern Bee book by Linsday Conner. We met for real at this year's Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham.

 

A little bit about myself for any new visitors to my blog. I'm a single mum (by choice having divorced my husband a few years ago). I have a teenage son who is now taller than me and have lived most of my life in East Anglia. I run my own online quilt shop, The Crafty Quilter, and I am also the editor of British Patchwork & Quilting, which is the job that pays the bills! In between my sewing and work I have an allotment which is my new love and somewhere for me to escape to, and enjoy the fruits of my labours a few months later!

 

I made my first quilt when I was 18 for my now ex husband ( I got to keep the quilt in the divorce) and really haven't looked back since then.

 

And so onto the blog hop questions........

 

What are you currently working on?

Obviously as a true quilter, I have more than one project on the go! I'm just trying to finish quilting a little quilt for someone who had a baby recently. It's a plus quilt and backed with cuddle but I'm not enjoying quilting it as I've managed to get a fold in the backing and haven't got the time to redo it.

My latest bee blocks for this month are done; Trellis Crossroads for the ModernInstabee and a scrappy Trip Around the World for the LBQB.

 

 

I have several long term projects that I am working on - a City Sampler designed by Tula Pink. I'm using a Robert Kaufman Remix stripe in every block together with matching solids.

 

 

And the other long term project is Sylvia's Bridal Sampler that I am making by hand. My mum and sister are also making their own versions of this, as is my son.

 

How does your work differ from others?

I'm not sure that it does that much. I am very much a traditional quilter at heart but have modern quilter leanings. I like using batiks but also like using fabrics where I can make them do the hard work for me and make a design look more complicated than it is. A lot of my quilts reflect this. I haven't got many recent finishes to show you but this is one I finished this year called The Red Cross.

 

 

Why do you write/create what you do?

A lot of what I do in my quilting recently has been to do with making quilt samples for my business. A few years ago I realised that in order to sell fabrics in my business, I needed to be more productive making quilts using those fabrics. And then that I need to actually quilt them, so I taught myself to machine quilt, kind of. However now that I have gone down that route, I have struggled a little with finding the time and inspiration to make quilts for myself and have lost my quilting mojo a little; something I need to try and rediscover next year I think!

 

 

How does your creative process work?

Like many quilters, I find inspiration wherever I go. I don't usually have the time to sit down and let these creative juices flow though so quite often I'll get a simple idea in my head and work with that. I can also get inspired by a fabric which will lead me to trying out a design. I will usually just do a rough sketch on paper or draw something in my quilt design programme, but often I'll just dive in having worked out some rough cutting instructions!

 

 

 

Next stop on the blog hop.........

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I hope you'll maybe stay a bit longer and continue to read my somewhat sporadic posts! In the meantime please take a look at my fellow LBQB bee member, Alison's blog at Patchwork Alley as the next stop on this Around the World Blog Hop.

 

Joanna

July Update - Quilting

It's been a funny month. I'm sure I've done more than my July Bee blocks, but I'm struggling to think what!

Here's a quick update of my recent LBQB blocks.

Heidee chose the traditional Spinning Star block for her block for June. June was a really busy month for me so I only managed to get it done towards the end of the month. I tweaked it a little and made each of the points from little HSTs

 

Claire was Queen Bee for July and chose a block that has been featured in Love Patchwork & Quilting. Somehow I managed to forget to take a photo so I've pinched it from the Instagram feed

 

In our Modern Instabee it was Isobel's turn to be Queen Bee and she chose the Stacked Windmills block from the book. A lot of HSTs in this block but it avoided having bias edges all over the place. Isobel kindly supplied us with some of the fabrics for our blocks.

 

I've also been piecing with some wonderful fabrics called Terra Australis, but that's under wraps for now 

Quilting Update..........it's about time!

Oh dear! How long has it been since I've done a blog post? Let alone one on my quilting antics?

 

Too long is the answer!

 

Well lots has been going on, mainly with the two bees I've joined. I think my last post about my quilting was a tutorial for my Wonky Churn Dash block. This was for the month of May when I was Queen Bee in the LBQB. I received eleven wonderful blocks from my bee ladies and now all I need to do is decide how to put them all together in a quilt. I'm thinking of white sashing but adding something wonky at the posts. Because of the variety of colours used, I'm planning on picking up a charm pack or two when I go to the UK Robert Kaufman distributor in a week's time.

 

I'll do a proper post on my bee blocks once I've joined them together into my quilt.

 

The other bee I've joined is Instagram based. We are using the Modern Bee book by Lindsay Conner. I love most of the blocks in it and change my mind every month about which block I want everyone to make for me when it's my turn to be Queen Bee. That's not until March so I dare say there will be a few changes before then!

In the first month we made the Painter's Palette block for Gina. She asked us to make them a little different so I made mine with pinwheel blocks.

 

 

It was Catrin's turn in June and she chose the Come Together block, requesting certain colours in certain places. I loved putting this block together. It's a big one but so quick and easy to make!

 

 

I got to use some of my new fabrics in this block, which made me happy!

 

I've been making more blocks for my City Sampler quilt but concentrating on the striped version now.

 

And lastly here's a quick quilt I made using the wonderful Dreamin' Vintage fabrics I've got in stock. This collection just oozes summer and makes me smile.

 

 

LBQB - May

So the LBQB block for May............that's me!

 

I've been whetting the other Bee members' appetites with teaser tweets and mentions on Flickr, Instagram and Twitter but its now time for the big reveal..........

 

I finally decided on my block after swaying between a shortlist for weeks and decided to continue the wonky theme that we have going on and no pressure on subsequent Bee members to take it on further (although it would be nice).

 

So my block is..............a Wonky Churn Dash!

 

This is another of my favourite blocks and one I have used in several quilts. Its also quite easy to wonkify. In fact it should be possible to do it with any simple traditional block.

 

I looked up some tutorials and found a couple I found one I really liked but couldn't get my head about some of the piecing so I was going to go back to a basic Churn Dash like this one, but then I had a eureka moment and combined the best of both tutorials to make my own version!

 

Here's my trial block to see if it worked and also to find any potential pitfalls.

 

 

I was really pleased with how it came out! Really excited in fact!

 

So how to make it.......the tutorial bit!

 

The great thing about this block is you can use all kinds of small scraps, even those leftover from making Jenny's Wonky Log Cabin block this month.

 

Cut nine, 4.5" squares from a background fabric.

 

Join assorted scraps together to make a pieced rectangle 2" - 3" high and about 5" wide. If you cut angled strips it makes it a bit more interesting.

 

 

Trim the top and bottom edges so they are straight. Again they can be angled.

 

 

Position and stitch the pieced strip right sides together on one white background square ensuring that when it is flipped back over it will still cover the bottom edge of the white square. This is basically the same technique as we used in Lou's Wonky Star block.

 

 

Press the pieced strip down. Although a little trickier, it will look neater to press the seam towards the pieced strip.

 

 

Trim the bottom and side edges so that the unit measures 4.5" square and trim the excess white on the wrong side.

 

 

Repeat to make four side units, varying the width and angle of the pieced strips.

 

 

Make the corner units in a similar manner but make two pieced strips measuring approx. 5" wide by 6" high.

 

 

Trim the top and bottom edges as before

 

 

Cut the pieced strips in half across one diagonal to make triangles.

Position and stitch one triangle on a background square, ensuring again that it will cover all of the background square when its flipped back over.

 

 

Press and trim as before to complete a corner unit

 

 

Make four corner units. Each pieced strip will make two triangles.

 

Join the block pieces together in rows and then join the rows together to complete the block. If you press the seams in alternate directions it makes matching the seams a bit easier as there might be a bit of bulk depending on how many scraps you have used in your strips.

 

And voila! A finished block!

 

 

I'll post my actual wishes etc on Flickr. Hope you enjoy making it as much as I did!

 

Joanna