Practice block first

The quilting bee I joined is going well, and we're already heading into the third month. The March queen bee picked a paper pieced block, so I finally had to bite the bullet and jump in. Thankfully it was an easy pattern, but it definitely takes some practice and my machine doesn't love bulk. She chose bright colours with a low-volume background, either neutral or colourful. As you can see, I went colourful. I made a cute signature block with the wee bits I cut off while making the block.

Each month I have been making a practice block, so by the time the bee is done I will have two quilts. Here's my two latest ones, including my first ever paper-pieced block (thankfully not too much of a disaster) and the practice April block.

Sorry for the terrible quality of this photo. I'll offer a few excuses: 1) It's a very grey, rainy day and the lighting was bad; 2) I was perched on a rotating wheely chair, which makes photography challenging; 3) I was also on wobbly knees that are battered and bruised after a fall in April showers that turned into freezing rain (and back to #1). Oh and I'm on vacation, so suck it.

Rainbow kitty

Call me the cat who ate the canary, but oh boy am I proud of this mini! I started with a popular pattern for cat faces that I knew lots of people would be using in this kitty-themed swap, then I made it my own! I even got the quilty math right on the first try!

My partner, who just happens to be the head of the modern quilt guild in Saskatoon (no pressure there!), said she likes "modern design with a hint of cat." I think this fits the bill perfectly!

I've really gotten into rainbows since joining the #rainbowminiswap, so that's where I went. Inspired by the three colours of my favourite tiger kitty fabric from Cotton + Steel. While making the faces, I noticed I didn't have the kitties in pink. I was confused. I like pink. Did they not make it in pink? Long story short and frantic online search later, I now have pink kitties!

Once I had the four faces, I decided on a star for the middle and then a neat arrangement of HST in different sizes for the corners. Each corner used both colours from the adjoining cat block, like green and blue in this one below. I even had some fabric in my stash that incorporated both colours for the big triangles.

Then I did straight-line quilting in four colours - teal, hot pink, orange and green - to match the colours of the sections. I love how that turned out.

Then on the back a label with adorable kitten faces. In the package I also included a linen tea towel I hemmed, featuring the C+S kitties, cat toy and treats, and a drawstring pouch for my partner's daughter with sparkle crayons, stickers and a My Little Pony toy. The package just arrived yesterday and my partner seemed very happy with it.

A few extras

Deadlines for two swaps are coming up fast and I have been busy trying to finish the minis and a few fun extras. This weekend I got the binding half on both minis, so soon I will need to sit down with a needle and thread and get stitching.

For my rainbow mini swap I made this cute zippered pouch. My partner really likes Heather Ross fabric, so I fussy cut this busy little bee lady for the focus. I put the same churn dash block with the bee in the middle on the back of her mini. I tried a new way of finishing the bottom and really like how it turned out. Although I should have planned better and not had all those bulky seams come together. Two sewing needles were snapped in the process. I finished it will a metal zipper pull stamped handmade that I recently found on Etsy. I love all the details on this pouch and kinda wish I could keep it!

For my cat-themed swap, I whipped up this tea towel with my favourite Cotton + Steel tiger kitties. I mitered the corners and added a twill tape loop in one corner to hang it, if she likes. Again, this will be tough to let go. I love those odd little creatures.

Both my swap partners have the sweetest little daughters, and I wanted to make something sweet just for them to include in the package. What could be better than two drawstring pouches? I figured I couldn't go wrong with anything Frozen themed, and the animal parade fabric I picked up last fall in Spain. I bought a few fun little things to tuck inside for the girls.

And I'm still busy sewing for the quilting bee and looking after my group. I made these two extra Tic Tac Toe Blocks. Love this colour scheme and the low-volume background.

This month's queen bee chose a paper pieced pattern, so I made a practice block. Definitely a must this time since I've never done paper piecing before! But it went OK, thanks to much cheerleading from IG friends. I'll post my first ever paper-pieced block later, along with the one I'm making for the queen bee. I already have the fabric picked out and cut, I just need the time. I feel like that's my constant refrain!

All mine!

Finally I finished a quilted pillow just for me! I had this awesome paint-by-numbers fabric from Moda for quite some time. It's one of those prints languishing in your stash that you keep pulling out and then putting back. The large design of the deer and bird fabric made me hesitant to cut it into bits. Then I spotted this pillow pattern and it was perfect to preserve those deer.

The quilting is quite dense, but I left the centre square mostly alone. Two different thread colours were used and I just had fun with the straight-line quilting. I love the back just as much with the bird fabric and faux wood. And more of the crazy bright orange from the binding. (Truth be told, I had to add the cuff because that was the largest bit of the bird fabric I had left after fussy-cutting flowers from it for the front. But, shh, it's our secret!)

The pillow looks great on my deep brown couch. Now to make my Hazel into a pillow to join it!

Hello Hazel!

It's so tough for me to resist a fun quilt-along that pops up, even when I already have way too many projects on the go. The lovely and talented Gnome Angel is hosting this quilt-along in February featuring the adorable Hazel Hedgehog pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. I have a couple of her patterns that I haven't yet made, so this quilt-along was a good push to finally try one. And oh was it fast and fun to put together!

And how stinking cute is this?

Mine is made all in Cotton + Steel fabric. (I have more of the arrow print in the mail, which is the only reason I wasn't freaking out about cutting into it. Crazy fabric-hoarder behaviour, I know.) I love how it looks like she's got a twinkle in her eye and a wet nose with the silver dots on the blue fabric.

I definitely want to make more Hazels, which come in different sizes from teeny to giant. I plan on making this one, which is 20" square, into a pillow. And keep it for myself! If you want to see all the amazing Hazels people are making in the quilt-along, check out #hazelqal on IG. Some are wearing retro glasses!

Just keep sewing

I've been busy as a bee in the sewing room, juggling a bunch of different projects. That includes making my very first quilting bee block! (Get it, busy as a bee?) The first Queen Bee for our group picked the Tic Tac Toe block, and asked for purple corners and a dark paisley-type print for the middle cross. Oh boy, did I have trouble finding the right fabrics. But then good luck intervened! I sent her a bunch of options for the middle and the one she liked best proved to be difficult to get at a reasonable price online and not in any local shops. Then what did I spot in the scrap bundle I got in a recent swap, but that very fabric! And just enough! I ended up picking up the purple and white-on-white from my LQS. I think it turned out very nice and I will mail it today. I did manage to write my name and hometown in the signature block legibly.

As the group leader, I suggested we could all make a signature block the Queen Bee can put on the back of her quilt. How cute is this little churn dash block? Plus I used salvaged HST from the main block for the corners, so it came together fast once I got the math down. I also suggested we could send a few charm squares of leftover or co-ordinating fabric. I may have gotten carried away when I started cutting, as I ended up with a considerable pile. Then I also made her a fabric basket. I tucked everything in there with a card to mail.

I've also been working steadily on my mini for the rainbow swap, which is quite time consuming for something relatively small. Look at all those wonderful colours!

Just cutting out the fabric took quite some time, and then I had 128 wee HST to trim before I could start piecing. Oh, the piecing. Each block takes quite a lot of sewing and ironing with 25 1.5" pieces. But now I've got 12 done, and only four to go! I hope it turns out nicely. I'm at the point where I'm having doubts about my plan, but I'm in the homestretch and must forge ahead.

Not so sweet

My latest swap was super fun, although a real challenge. Called #bitchesgetstitcheswap, it was a profanity themed swap. The field was pretty wide open. Pretty much make anything crafty with your partner's favourite swear word. Where to start?! People made crazy awesome, inspired things! Although not specifically a sewing or quilting swap, that's where lots of people went and of course it's my comfort zone too. Here's a fun picture I posted during the swap. My team was #foulmouthedmakers. So much effing fun!

Luckily me and my partner both have the same go-to for cursing: the f-bomb. And oh boy did I drop a lot in the course of making my item! So many problems and so many changed plans! Right away I knew I wanted to use pretty fabric to make hexies to spell out the word, cuz that's just fun to spell a bad word with pretty fabric.

The original plan was a zippered pouch with two letters on each side so she could use it without offending anyone. Well, dummy me, I thought about the height of the letters but not how wide they would be. When I started laying out the 50-plus hexies, the problem became immediately apparent. Insert f-bomb. Oh and that was after I discovered a massive tea spill I had in my work bag leaked into the pouch with my hexies in progress and I found a bunch of soggy, wavy hexies with a minty aroma. And so many other problems popped up, but I forged ahead with my mini quilt plan and I love how it turned out. No swearing there! How fecking awesome is this, if I do say so myself!

I top-stitched the hexies down with a light blue thread, and then echo quilted around the letters. It doesn't look like a lot of quilting, but it took a while. I really like the effect, though. And that hot pink is awesome. I was originally going to put it on a grey and then have pink and orange borders on the top and bottom, but this looks so much better. I cannot wait for my partner to get it. I really hope she loves it as much as I do, otherwise I want it back! I love that the swear word is subtle, so I hope she feels OK to have it out somewhere. She can always turn it and then the word disappears and it's just pretty hexies.

Here's the great package I got from my partner all the way up in Alaska. There was so much happy swearing when I began pulling out all these treasures. How fan-freaking-tastic is all this?!

The WTF basket is my favourite. And all those fun goodies! A wee Vincent van Gogh keychain, sans one ear! A little comedy book from someone who shares my love of vodka! Oh and in the fabric bundle is a bit of the fabric that is just what I need for my first quilting bee block. How perfect!

In the meantime, I signed up for two more swaps, putting the total in progress now at four. But oh I have so many great ideas and can't wait to get started on those!