Spring 2014 4×5 Modern Bee

I chose to make the Double Pinwheel Block from McCalls.

I think it’s a fun block, that isn’t seen very much around the inter webs right now.  It’s one of those classic blocks that can be modernized with fabric choices.  The only downside of the block is using the construction directions from McCalls there are a gazillion bias edges.  All you can do is starch like crazy and hope for the best.

Spring 2014 Hive #3 4x5 Modern Bee

Sarah requested aqua, lime, cobalt, and grey on a text or low volume background.

Double Pinwheel Block

 

Christina requested sea foam green, pale turquoise, pale gold, champagne, pearl white, and kona white background.

Double Pinwheel Block

 

Cinda requested aqua/turquoise, orange, yellow, and grey with a white or low volume background.

Double Pinwheel Block

Dawn requested red, turquoise, aqua and pink with a white background.

Double Pinwheel Block

Brandy requested purple and aqua with grey or low volume background.

Double Pinwheel Block

I continued with my real world red and white theme.

Double Pinwheel

– Heather

Linking to: Anything Goes MondayWiP Wednesday @ Freshly PiecedLet’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuiltsNeedle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt InfatuationWhoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt AddictFabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric, and Sewjo Saturday at My Go-Go Life.

Blogger’s Quilt Festival

Welcome to my entry to the Spring 2014 Blogger’s Quilt Festival – the Spinnaker Quilt!

This quilt was a work of love, my Christmas present to my dad for Christmas 2013 (over 5 months ago already – can you believe it?)

The inspiration for this quilt was a brightly colored spinnaker on a racing sailboat.  My dad actually requested this quilt, and when dad requests something like this, I make it.  He wanted it to have yellow, green, red and be bright and cheerful.  I like to think I met his requests.

Spinnaker Quilt
Each of the 238 rectangles in this quilt are 2 inches by 7.5 inches finished size.  I used a variety of fabrics and tan linen to allow the eye a place to rest.

The quilting is an allover design of rounded rectangles, with the goal of softening up the hard rectangles while keeping it masculine.
Spinnaker Quilt

The back is pieced with the linen and anchor fabric to make the backing wide enough to fit the quilt.

Spinnaker Quilt

  The quilt roll shows the grey crosshatch binding.

Spinnaker Quilt

This quilt measures 68.5 by 53 inches, which is 243 inches around – just barely a large quilt category.  A little more in process information can be found in my original entry on this Spinnaker Quilt.
Thanks for visiting from Amy’s Creative Side!
– Heather

Cora’s Quilts Spring Sampler

In my continuing quest to create a queen sized quilt so I can actually sleep under a quilt I’ve made, I started the Spring Sampler over at Cora’s Quilts.

Block 1 is Pyramid.  These are all 12.5 inch unfinished blocks, so a great size for bees or a sampler quilt (in my case!).
Pyramids (Cora's Quilts Spring Sampler)
Block 2 is Beacon.
Beacon  (Cora's Quilts Spring Sampler)
Block 3 is Tombstone.  I varied the fabric placement a little from her suggestion to make it look more different than Pyramid, because it is pretty similar.

Tombstone  (Cora's Quilts Spring Sampler)

So far, I’m enjoying these blocks.  Cora has done a good job making these tutorials available, and I can’t wait to keep making more!

– Heather


Linking up to:WiP Wednesday @ Freshly PiecedLet’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuiltsNeedle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt InfatuationWhoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt AddictFabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric, and Sewjo Saturday at My Go-Go Life.

Anything Goes Monday

Welcome to Anything Goes Monday!

My name is Heather, and I have the honor of hosting Anything Goes Monday for Marelize today.  I am a mom to my (almost) 15 month old daughter, who loves to sew and quilt!  While being a mom takes up more of my time than sewing, sewing keeps me sane.  I have been known to take my Singer Featherweight on more than one vacation, because I can’t stay away from sewing that long 🙂

I usually have all sorts of projects on my to-do list, from piecing quilts, paper piecing, and designing patterns to sewing clothing for my daughter and myself.  Some examples of my projects are below.  If you like what you see, please follow my blog or check out my instagram @bobbinsandbullets!


Bobbins and Bullets Project overview May

Bottom Left: Spinnaker Quilt, Top Middle: Practice Lucky Stars, Bottom Middle: Starry Log Cabin, Right Middle: Baby Blazer, Bottom Right: January Lucky Stars


In addition to my personal sewing, I am a long arm quilter.  My Millennium can handle almost any quilt you can throw at it, so if you are wanting to reduce that stack of unquilted tops, please consider me!  

As an added bonus, if you contact me for long arm services and reserve a spot during the month of May, and mention you found me through Anything Goes Monday, I will take 15% off the long arm quilting fee!  

My long arm

I also have my first pattern up on Craftsy!  The Square Dance Block is a paper pieced block that anyone can do – whether you have paper pieced before or not!  My paper piecing tutorial for the Square Dance Block will guide you every step of the way.  The pattern for an 8 inch finished block is free this month.  In June, I will be publishing the full version of the pattern with multiple block sizes.  

Square Dance Block Tutorial
Kaleidoscope Block quilt layout

 

stitch by stitch

 
Now it’s your turn to share with us what you’ve been busy with!

Rules:
1. Link up ANY recent blog posts, it can be one or more, but PLEASE do not share blog posts you might have linked up in the past.
2. Somewhere in your blog post, you must link back here to my blog, OR grab the ‘anything goes’ button for you sidebar.
3. Try to visit at least a few of the other blogs linked, the whole point of having a party is to connect, share and maybe get a few new followers…remember to leave a comment to let them know you stopped by!
 

May Fresh Sewing Day

I can’t believe it’s already May Fresh Sewing Day!  The last month flew by….  I did mostly quilty work last month, but May will be starting with some clothing sewing.
May Fresh Sewing Day mosaic

Top Row: Teaching quilting to my mom – 3 generations quilting together! (links to tutorials in blog post).

Middle Row: Left – Star Fruit Paper Piecing Pattern Testing, Right – Square Dance Block Tutorial (May is my month in the Stash Bee, so you can find the post for Stash Bee here).

Bottom Row: Dresden Plate for Stash Bee Hive 12 (tutorial here), Double Pinwheel test block for 4×5 Modern Bee (tutorial here)

Thanks for stopping by!
-Heather

Star Fruit Paper Piecing Pattern

I had the opportunity to test a fun block for Diane of From Blank Pages.  It is her brand new Star Fruit paper piecing pattern, and it comes in 6 inch, 12 inch, and 18 inch sizes.  I chose to make a 12 inch finished block.
Star Fruit

This pattern is not one to pick for your first time paper piecing, but it is a very do-able block for someone with a reasonable amount of paper piecing experience.  It makes a really cool secondary design that I chose to deemphasize in the tan area, but it just depends what you want to do with it.
I decided to play around a little bit with Photoshop and see what an entire quilt made from this block would look like.
First up is the standard, non-sashed quilt.  It makes some really nice secondary designs, and I think I would actually have an easier time deciding how to quilt an entire quilt of this block than I will when this is part of a sampler.

Star Fruit Quilt

I really, really like this block set on point!  My husband saw this picture, and I think he wants an entire quilt made just like this.  This quilt isn’t going to happen anytime soon, but I agree that it would be beautiful.

Star Fruit set on point

Lastly, we have how this block will actually be used – as part of my Real World Red and White Sampler.  I’m up to 15 blocks!  Exciting, because my goal is for this to be a queen (long ways off).

Real World Red & White as of 28APR14

This block is available on Craftsy or Etsy.  Or you can leave a comment right here for a chance to win a copy!  I will leave comments open through May 5th, and announce the winner on May 6th.
Thanks for stopping by!
Heather
 

Teaching Quilting

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to do something different – I was teaching quilting to my mom.

My mom learned to sew in the day of home economics for all girls, and made a substantial part of her wardrobe (probably from high school through her 20’s), so she is not new to sewing.  Teaching someone how to piece quilt blocks is a lot easier when the person already understands what a 1/4 inch seam is and why consistency matters.

Three generations of quilters in action!

Learning to Quilt
My mom and grandma did make a quilt at some point before I existed.  They used 4 inch squares of fabric leftover from clothes my mom made – a mix of fabric types.  They cut it out using electric scissors, sewed it together, and tied it.  My mom still uses it on the bed when my parents go camping.
Learning to Quilt
There are differences between quilt piecing and clothing sewing (or how she sewed when she did it a lot): seam size, using a rotary cutter, using 100% cotton fabric, pressing instead of ironing, etc.  Either way, she was a fast learner.

Block #2 We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler

For her first block, I chose a block based on 9 patches.  Straight lines in squares are always a good place to start.  I did selfishly choose colors that would work with my “Real World Red & White Sampler”.  We did the 9 patch block from Sewn By Leila’s We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler.

Learning to Quilt
For her second block, I introduced half square triangles.  We did the Pinwheel block from the same sampler, which was really just adding some tips to the Pinwheel Parade Block by V&Co.
Pinwheel Parade Block
My mom’s visit was great, and went too fast as always, but I’m glad we got to spend some time together doing something we both really enjoy.Linking up to Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt AddictFabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth FabricSewjo Saturday at My Go-Goo LifeAnything Goes MondayFabric Tuesday @ Quilt StoryWiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced, and Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts.

Apple Loungewear Leggings

For this spring version of Kid’s Clothes week, I made the Apple Loungewear Leggings.  It was 80 this weekend in my part of North Carolina, and Monday it was rainy and 45 degrees.  Then again today, was mid-60’s so the weather is just crazy.  Either way, summer is not yet 100% here, so the little girl needs leggings.

Apple Loungewear Leggings by Shwin Designs

Pattern: Apple Loungewear Leggings by Shwin Designs, purchased end of November and finally made.

Size: 12-18 months

Sizing: The sizing was chart was pretty good.  Technically, she would have been in the 6-9 month waist size, but I’m glad I sized up to her RTW size.  These fit more comfortably, and will be worn longer.  My daughter is a tall, thin 14 month old and these leggings fit her incredibly well.  The length is good.  Most purchased pants are too short on here, and they would not have needed the extra length I added.

The leggings even work well under a dress, especially for a new walker that still trips occasionally.

Apple Loungewear Pants in action

Fabric: Purple floral purchased from Girl Charlee forever ago, so it looks like they no longer have it.  It’s a fairly substantial knit, I didn’t write it down but I’m guessing it is at least 8 oz, maybe 9 oz knit.  It is a great weight for leggings.Instructions: These leggings have three pieces, and are incredibly easy to construct.  They are a super fast sew.

Overall Impression: I like these leggings, and plan to make more pairs.  I wasn’t sure about the fold over waistband at first, but it fits right under her toddler tummy and helps keep the pants up without requiring elastic in the waist.  This pattern is a winner!

Linking up to Anything Goes Monday.

April Fresh Sewing Day

Welcome from April Fresh Sewing Day!  Below are my March Projects, with links to the posts with more information.  While you are here, please look around and follow me if you like what I see.  I do a lot of piecing and quilting, and make clothes for my 1 year old daughter.  
April Fresh Sewing Day

March Bee Blocks and BoMs

It’s the end of March, and I finished my March Bee Block and BoMs!

First up is the block for Stash bee, hive #12.  Jennifer requested the Arizona block from the We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler at Sewn by Leila.  She wanted orange and turquoise, so I hope she likes this block 🙂  I think I am going to have to make another one of these in my colors!

Arizona quilt block
Up next, I am still working my way through the 2013 Lucky Stars BoM.  Below is the March 2013 block.  I had the absolute worst time with this block.  I don’t blame the instructions, it was completely me.  It seemed every piece of fabric I could cut wrong, I did.  Or sew on backwards.  Or run out of the fabric less than halfway through the block.  
Let’s just say I was very happy when this was done.  I am also convinced there is any easier way to get this look than the way this block was done.  If I didn’t have such a terrible experience doing it, I would probably figure out the easier way.  Instead, I just plan to have this be the one and only time I ever do this block.  
March 2013 Lucky Stars BoM
I am also doing other blocks for the sampler as I see ones that I like.  This is the January 2013 Aurifil BoM.  
Aurifil January 2013 BoM
I think this one puts me at 11 total… I did the math, and I think I need 36 with the sashing I want to get it the size I want.  Almost 1/3 of the way done!