I'm Queen Bee again!

Believe it or not, I am Queen Bee for both January (the Modern Bee Instabee) and for February as part of the Little Blogs Quilt Bee.

For February I have asked Jacquelynne Steves of The Art of Home if I can use her #SewSweetSimplicity blocks as the basis for my choice for the LBQB.

Jacquelynne has been running a Sew Sweet Simplicity block of the month sew-along. You might have seen her "Catch Up Sew-Along Day" on the 7th January 2015 ... it was fun to watch what was happening through the Instagram feeds. I didn't get a chance to join in with the sewing as we were hosting some friends from Poland but I did sneak a peek from time to time through the evening!

I think the blocks have a real country feel and I love the way she has provided embroidery designs for the centre of each of the blocks in her version of the quilt. You can get a better look at how these have been replicated if you search the #SewSweetSimplicity hashtag on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Twitter.

So I would like me LBQB buddies to make me a block from this set of blocks, with white as a background fabric.

Each of the blocks requires 4 colours in various shapes configurations, I would like these to be a mixture of small print and plain fabrics in Navy (for the main contrast instead of the red) and 3 other softer focus fabrics (similar to the pink, green and lemon fabrics in Jacquelynne's blocks).

How the colours are configured I don't mind, the blocks are bound to look lovely however the colours are placed. I would love ginghams, spots, paisley and ditsy floral prints ... there are some amazing softer focus fabrics from Tilda ranges (just Google them) but there are lots of lovely choices out there!

I can supply you with some fabrics if you would like so there is no need to feel stuck. Just message me or comment below!

To download the Sew Sweet Simplicity block of the month patterns you will need to follow the link and sign up here.

Meanwhile Nick has a chest infection and my daughter Alex has tonsilitis again ... and the bathroom looks like this:

 Hopefully by the end of next week it will look radically different!

It's my time to be the Queen Bee!

Late in the spring of last year (2014) I joined the Modern Instabee quilting block swap based on the Modern Bee: 13 Quilts to Make with Friends book by Lindsey Conner. It's a really great book with lots of handy hints and tips as well as a great variety of blocks to choose!

12 people from the UK made up the second 'hive' through Instagram and I ended up connecting again with Nessa who I already knew, of Nessa's Place (@nessahux on Instagram) along with some new Instagram-ers ....

Amie (@sew_much_havoc)
Becca (@bexbriscoe)
Brenda (@brendaclough)
Carol (@muckerbee)
Kerry (@kezstar4)
Sian (@sian1505)
Sonja (@sonjap74)
Toni (@tonileggate1)
Tracey (@tracym2433)
Victoria (@victoriangw1)

We started in June 2014 with the intention of putting some of the easier blocks in the book at the beginning of the swap.

Amie who blogs over at Sew Much Havoc (@sew_muc_havoc) went first in June and this is the mosaic tile block I made for her:

This was a nightfall blue background which she posted out to us all for continuity with red, yellow and turquoise colours in the different sections.

Carol requested the Bluebell's cabin block in July, this was made out of scraps in different colours with white as a base:

Toni sent us all her fabric for the Come Together block for August and her fabric selection included 'Patio Lights' by Kayajoy for Michael Miller which I adore!

Kayajoy's Patio Lights (Flight Pattern collection)

This block was huge and differs slightly from the shape in the book as well.

Sadly I think the bold solid colours  overpower the delicate watercolour details of the patterned fabric. 

In September it was Victoria's turn and she opted for Stacked Windmills, in pink, purple or lilac and requested we added butterflies into the design using our fabric choices. You can't see the butterflies very well her but they are there I promise!

In October Cordelia's Garden block was requested by Kerry. With a colour palette of navy blue, lemon and turquoise/aqua based on a light grey background (which she sent to us all) she got an interesting mixture of different looks to the blocks she received. Here's the one I made with navy as the main colour:

Nessa also sent us background fabric for her Cordelia's Garden block in November. It was a light green Oakshott fabric and she asked us all to choose one colour or tone (in floral prints) to make our block so that each would look like a flower. I saw a number of 'flowers' created before I made Nessa's block so that I could avoid duplicating her colours. I decided to go for green and to fussy cut it to try to make it slightly less angular, this is how it turned out:

December is always a really busy month and Sonja was well organised and sent her white background fabric out in plenty of time for the Triple Star she had chosen. We were each allowed to choose a colour, I was happy to do any colour and I was allocated pale pink (insert *mini squeal* of joy here).

Having made the Triple Star block a few times I have decided this is by far my favourite! I polished this off in next to no time and loved breaking out all my Tilda fabrics for Sonja:

For some reason I had always consulted an older version of the spreadsheet which had months missing from the plan ... so January crept up on me without me realising it was my turn!

I have shared my request for the Trellis Crossroads block: I would love this block to be made with pale or mid-tone greys and pale pinks. The fabrics can be made of any patterns - floral, plain, striped but I have asked people to refrain from the novelty type fabric prints like clowns or dogs.

I also promised to send the background fabric out .... oops ... this will have to go in the post on Monday! 

For the Trellis Crossroad block one of my Quilty Sisters, Cassie (@hillcass) has written an excellent tutorial for the block on her website www.cassandramadge.com. It is not an easy block and these instructions and her great photos along with details as to how to mark your ruler with washi tape (to help you get the angles correct) are marvellous!

The direct link to Cassie's tutorial is here: Trellis Crossroads block tutorial 

Another one of my Quilty Sisters, Fiona (@bendigolioness) has lots of these and wrote a post about them with some great photos of blocks made by and for her. Check out her post here: Fiona's Block Swap

I hope the UK Hive 2 enjoy this month!