Katie's January blocks

I had so much fun making these blocks! I have to admit, the thought of trying to come up with original blocks, executing them and having them stand up to the talent I've seen you other ladies have was a bit intimidating. But I dove in anyway, tried paper piecing, and I am very happy with the results. I hope you are too, Katie. They went in the mail yesterday.

I'm sorry about the bad pictures- bad camera, so I took them outside for sunshine, and now I have bad shadows! I'll try for better pictures next month!

January Blocks and a Brief Introduction

Hello Everyone!

I'm coming in under the wire, but have managed to get my blocks done and post, all within the month of January.  First things first, however, a little information about me.  My name is Barb, and I live in Portland, Oregon, where liberals run free and it rains a lot.  Being fairly liberal myself, I  have been authorized to make that joke ;)  I'm a mother of three smart and beautiful Amazon warriors, 5, 3 and (almost) 2 months.  They keep me a little busy.  My sweet husband is an amazing artist/carpenter/master craftsman, who is embroiled in the mayhem of starting his own business.  "In this economy?!" you ask.  "We laugh in the face of recession." we say nervously, with fingers and toes crossed.  I'm also a professional baker at a small french cafe in the north side of PDX.  Currently, though, I'm on maternity leave, and am not sure if I will be going back, at least for some time.  I love to sew, knit, garden, cook, read comics, etc.  I also really like expanding my skill set and learning new things.  That's one of the reasons why I'm so excited about this virtual Bee.  Make new wrinkles on my brain, ladies.  Drop some knowledge bombs on me.

That said, I have to be honest about how intimidated I was when I first read about paper piecing.  Definitely took me out of my comfort zone, particularly when it came to resizing the pattern and making it bigger.  You see, Math and I have had an uneasy relationship for years.  In truth, I find Math to be a jerk.

So, after much procrastinating and mental cursing, I got to it.  And to my surprise, I found it to be much easier than I expected.  An added bonus was how fun I found it to be.  So thanks Katie, for getting me out of my said zone.

This is my first block.  Since I was so unsure about paper piecing, and the expectations of the Bee, in general, I stayed pretty conservative.  After seeing all the creative blocks I think I will be a little more free next time.  Or at least try to be.

The second block is a much more symmetrical.   I just hope it's not too symmetrical.

I had to add a border to bring it up to size (I'm glaring at you, Math), so I used some of my Kona Cotton stash.

So, here they are!  Time to drink a celebration cup of coffee.  Until next month, adieu.

trees for Katie

Hi everyone!

We're supposed to get ice here in Oklahoma, starting tomorrow, so I'm going to do my best to get these to the post office tomorrow morning. I apologize for the terrible lighting in these pictures.

 

I'm still not sure I feel about this block. There was a lot of ripping and resewing... and ripping and resewing.

I love trees, and I'm sure this quilt is going to be so awesome when it's all put together! I have been so impressed with the blocks everyone else has been making. You all are so creative.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I had so much fun

i love trees, so this whole block idea was a lot of fun for me. I hope you like them! I could have probaby even made more- see my little bitty bird. I can't wait for the next month and more fabulous fun. I planning on getting my blocks in the mail tomorrow!

Second block ready to go.

I finished block #2 this afternoon. For a little something different, I decided to raw edge applique the tree trunk and the swing, then do a little creative machine stitching to finish it all out. I will drop both blocks in the mail tomorrow. I hope you like them, Katie :)

One block down, one to go

Here is my first block, blogged about here. I don't know if it was the pattern I picked or what, but I found paper piecing to be a challenge, to say the least. But I am pleased with the way this block turned out.

I am working on a second one but haven't quite finished yet. I hope to have it done tomorrow and then have them both in the mail by Tuesday.

Trees!

The first week of the year has passed and I'm now settling into a routine. Looks like trees are on the sewing table this week..oh I ordered a new table from Sears that will be perfect for my portable Bernina Sport. The ones already posted have given me some great ideas. What a choice of fabrics to use....ok, gonna get started! Thanks Katie for getting us going.

january trees for katie

I decided not to paper piece my trees, but I think they still turned out ok. I love the top block and it turned out just as I had envisioned in my head. The second block involved a lot of picking and re-sewing and I still don't love it. Katie, I won't feel bad if it doesn't quite make the cut or is relegated to the back :)

Katie's Blocks from Bonnie & a Quick Introduction

I received Katie's fabric in the mail yesterday and had to get started right away! I can't promise that I'll always be this prompt, but we're expecting a new baby in a few weeks so I wanted to make sure to get these done right away. I didn't have a chance to post an introduction last month, so I thought I'd share a little about me now. My name is Bonnie. My wonderful husband and I have five children with number six arriving later this month. I blog at Fishsticks & Fries. I love to sew! I actually sew a lot more clothing than anything else, but recently I've been feeling a tug to quilt the way my mom and granny did. I'm enjoying learning all the ins and outs . . . and maybe even re-learning the "right" way to do things, since I tend to be a jump-in-and-do-it sewist rather than a read-the-instructions-first sewist. I promise I'll do my best to do things the way they should be done for the bee!

I loved the idea of doing quilt blocks with trees or leaves for Katie, but it took me a bit to decide exactly what I wanted to do. For the first block, I had a plan in mind but it sort of took shape as I sewed. I used several Flying Geese blocks to make the trees then pieced together the remaining pieces to simulate sky, tree trunks and grass. I love how this one turned out!

The second block that I did is a little simpler. I used the Maple Leaf pattern from Quilter's Cache. Quick and easy, but hopefully a nice addition to Katie's quilt!

I can't wait to see all the other blocks!