Bee Blocks

My quilting bee really is quite a diverse group, and I really appreciate the many facets of the group... there's a German married to an Irish guy, a Swiss in Germany, a Polish girl in Denmark, two German girls who speak English just as fast as I do (if not faster) and then of course there's me... an American in Germany. 

The personal stories of each bee member are just about as diverse as our tastes in quilting... which is fun to work with combinations that are different than mine. Melanie was the the last quilter who was up, so I'll start with the most recent blocks and work my way back. 

Mell's vision for her quilt is a "Good Wishes" quilt... text or symbols in black on a white background. Holy smokes, if you know me then you know that there's hardly a stitch of black in my stash, which is why I had to steal borrow a Kona solid the last time we met for our HH Patchwork Treffen. 

She left the method open, and I just HAD to use the starch method for these. She wanted encouraging words/good wishes that one might find in a birthday card, etc. We could use words in another language, but it had to be a language that was relevant to us. "Segen" means "Blessings" in English.

Since Melanie actually knows both of my boys personally, I thought that she would enjoy seeing my little assistant hard at work holding her blocks. 

Magda is a color genius with a soft palette... quiet and understated, yet a certain unexpected subtle interest. She had requested shades of soft peach and carmel colors, mixed with light colored low volumes... again two colors that stretched me, but a fun color combination nonetheless. I love how her quilt is coming along so far.

Daniela wanted to make a baby quilt for a friend and requested blue's and mustard's and picked a free wonky improv log cabin pattern from Debbie of A Quilter's Table (instruction link here) She has the top together already, and it looks like so much fun... you can see it here.

I usually try impov with a fresh outlook again convincing myself that if I try it again that I might like it again, only to come to the same conclusion as before... improv is just not my thing no matter which way I slice it.

But inspite my total dislike of improv, I do love a good fussy cut block.

So...it's my turn to be queen bee for the months of July/August and I can't wait to see what my fellow bee members come up with for my blocks... here's my start.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

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Hot Off The Press Finish!

Can you feel the steam radiating out of your computer screen? When I say that this quilt top is literally hot off the press, I really am not exaggerating! I had planned to have this top finished early in the week, but a weekend cold that just doesn't want to leave has been tagging along way longer than is should have!

I decided to add two more reverse applique leaf sets, which was a nice on-the-couch-with-a-cold project. It felt like it added more interest and a certain balance to the quilt. 

I really dug deep into my scrap bins on this quilt and essentially let my scraps dictate the layout of this quilt. It was a challenge working with so many different sizes and shapes, but also a welcome change that I didn't really have to worry about matching seams.

Now that the challenge of the random and unbalanced piecing is behind me, I'm ready for the next biggie...  I'm planning to do a little FMQ on this!?! I've really only done FMQ on smaller projects and haven't really tackled a quilt, but since this is a relatively small, I thought it would be the best project to get a little practice on.

So essentially I have until Sunday to have this quilted and bound because only finished projects qualify for the Woodland QAL. I generally don't like to take on quilting projects when there is a pressing deadline. Sometimes I find that if I work on a project where my brain is on another project, it robs me of the creative freedom and inspiration to make it exactly how I was inspired.

What about you... do you find that your creativity is surpressed by short deadline on a quilting project?

Linking up to Let's Bee Social. 

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