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21 October 2014

building blocks tuesday

I've been wanting to link up to Jen's Building Blocks Tuesday for ages but weeks keep going by so quickly ! but today I'm jumping in with a rundown of the Aussie Modern Instabee blocks that I've done this year.

These are blocks from the Modern Bee book by Lindsay Conner.  When the book came out earlier in the year there was much excitement over on instagram to start a bee based on the blocks in the book.   After a few days there were quite a few bees started in the USA and then the girls in Australia decided to join the party - I think there are 6 or 7 Aussie bees now - maybe more !!

I'm in Hive 4 with 11 other Aussie girls and we started making blocks in March and will go onto next February.

My first block was for Jess who requested the Stacked Windmills block in soft blues and beige - being colours way outside of my box I was a bit concerned if I'd actually have any in my stash but I found a few fabrics and put together the block. After my initial hesitation, I thought the colours played really well together.



April's block was for Hayley who liked Cordelia's Garden and asked for scrappy flowers and a low volume background - I notice quite a few of the other girls are requesting low volumes so I needed to add a few to my stash !



The May blocks were for Kathy - she is doing a little boy's quilt and asked for orange, blue, and white Ziggy Stardust blocks - while the star is a little fiddly the finished block looks fabulous - it reminds me of a ribbon wrapped present.



Khristina asked for Bluebells Cabin blocks for June and as it was for a little girl my large pink and pretty stash was very handy.  I really love these blocks !



September was Lianne's month and she requested Trellis Crossroads blocks in scrappy colours with low volume backgrounds - this was another fun block to make !



if you're on instagram - use the hashtag #moderninstabee2014 or #aussiemoderninstabee to check out all the fab blocks that have been made this year !

Linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday

20 October 2014

sew sisters bee

I make monthly blocks for the care circle at do.good stitches with a great group of aussie and NZ girls and we have so much fun in our group that we've decided to start a bee to make blocks for each other that we get to keep!

The Sew Sisters bee will be making two blocks each two months so its very low key and low stress and all about the fun of making for each other.

The first Queen Bee is Gina who asked for Rocky Mountain Puzzle blocks with fussy cut centres.


I haven't really noticed this block before but after making these two blocks for Gina I've decided to make a whole quilt of them - its such a gorgeous block and quite easy and quick to make - it also has my favourite half square triangles and an opportunity for sweet fussy cutting !



I'm going to make a quilt using scraps of my favourite fabrics - you don't need much fabric to make these 8" blocks - and I'm happy to say that I have enough fabric to replicate these two I made for Gina cause I love them so much !

I'm going to make it one of my slow sewing projects for next year and try and make 2 blocks a week - I''ll need 72 blocks - so hopefully this time next year I'll have a finished quilt !!

13 October 2014

last quarter - 2014 finish along

I've decided to join in the last quarter of the 2014 finish-along.  I was so over my list that I decided not to play in the third quarter - even I'm sick of seeing these unfinished projects !!  On a bright note I did finish two of the quilts that were on my second quarter list - yay.

I've posted about one of those finishes here and I haven't even done a post about the other little one - must do that soon !

so for the last quarter I revisited my second quarter list and decided I'm only allowed to transfer two of them.

the first one is the spinning stars quilt - I haven't even looked at this project since early this year - but I have decided to remove those pieces of pizza (thanks Linda!) and replace them with a hopefully better choice of fabric !


the other one is the Care at Do.Good Stitches pink spiderweb - I managed to get this one quilted in May and it just needs the binding - I don't know what it is that takes me so long to put the binding on quilts - need to address that problem !



I have two other Care at Do.Good Stitches quilts that need to be finished so I've listed them for this quarter.

the first one is the Nested Churn Dash quilt - the amazing Jane of QuiltJane published this Nested Churn Dash pattern early this year and I couldn't wait to try it out - so I chose it as my May block and I'm so happy that the care circle girls were into making these blocks too ! needs to be sewn together then quilted and bound.


the other one is the scrappy stars quilt - it was my month again in September and I asked for scrappy star blocks - again, blocks need to be sewn together and then quilted and bound.



I'm currently making the postcard from sweden quilt - its an amazing pattern by Kelly from Jeli Quilts - I've only been working on it on Saturdays and I'm almost finished sewing the top together so I'm adding it to the list.


and my last one for this list is my mini war and geese quilt - its another pattern by Kelly and the top is done - just needs to be quilted and bound but as my record for finishing off isn't great I thought I'd list it!



I have a list of other stuff that's due at various times over the next couple of months - littlequilts swap due late November, instabee modern blocks monthly swap, and a couple of pillows for a wedding at the end of October.  I'm also taking part in the Modern Quilt Guild challenge which is due at the end of November as well as my monthly Care at Do.Good Stiches blocks so I think I'm going to have more than enough to keep me busy !

linking up to Katy at The Littlest Thistle

Finish Along 2014