Bee Blocks - August

As for the Stash Bee, Sarah Nunes, who blogs over at Berry Barn Designs, asked for a red, low-volume white, and blue half square triangle block for this month's Stash Bee Hive #3 block. It's still in four pieces because she wants to scatter all the members blocks for more evenly dispersed scrappiness. You can check out the other blocks created for the Stash Bee on Flickr.

I have joined a new bee formed from participants in the New Quilt Blogger's Hop at Plum and June.

Lin March over at Lin's Quilts is our queen this month. She requested 9" nine-patch blocks using white and brights.

Cath Hall, author of Wombat Quilts, asked for Arkansas Traveler blocks for this month's Hope Circle of Do. Good Stitches block. Lee, over at Freshly Pieced, gave a free pattern for this block as part of her Summer Sampler Series, which has a Flickr group.

I had been wanting to make this block for a while; it's so beautiful. Honestly, I think I've got that ambition fully out of my system. The instructions were clear, but the creation of these blocks requires many steps and a decent time investment. There are several opportunities within the process for things to go awry if you aren't careful. Many seams come together in the center of the block. I'm not certain of the best way to coerce this intersection to lay flat, but I suspect it involves a mallet and some extreme force. Cath's color choices were yellow, orange, and gold with a light gray, scrappy background. View more Hope Circle blocks on Flickr, if you so desire.

I'm off to the post office.
Update: Cath finished her quilt. Check it out!

TGIFF

If you are visiting from TGIFF, welcome!

This week, I completed my art quilt featuring two crabs in battle over an oyster. I used a painted, non-woven material called reemay for the appliqué. You can see more about the process in my tutorial.

Applying a faced binding was a first for me, but I found the tutorial at The Silly BooDilly to be very thorough. Here's the backside.

Now, let's see what you've been working on. Please check out the other links, and leave a few words of encouragement for the other participants. Include a link and/or TGIFF button so others can join the fun.

Crafty Quilt Kit Giveaway

Which quilt would you love to win? One randomly selected quilter will get to choose their prize, whether it's the starry True Blue Quilt Kit OR the elegant Blue Garden Quilt Kit. (Psst ... the prize also comes with the coordinated backing for the quilt!) 

**Only residents of the U.S. and Canada are eligible to enter.** 

Enter to win here: Enter to Win a Quilt Kit from Craftsy 

Schooled

I wish I could say these were my blocks, but alas, it isn't so. These belong to Suzanne Shannon, one of my improv quilting students at the University of New Mexico Continuing Education. She was initially dubious about creating a block with an unknown visual conclusion, but kept at it with awe-inspiring results.

As if that wasn't enough, she also churned out a fantastic bag between classes using her stitch and flip triangle blocks. Suzanne is interested in using her blocks in a greater variety of projects beyond quilts and bags. If you have suggestions for other projects that incorporate improvisational piecing, I'd be much obliged if you'd leave them in the comments.

Debbie Bowen was determinedly working through a her stash of Christmas fabrics. Kuddos to her for integrating both string piecing and stitch and flip triangles in one festive piece.

Susan Steel incorporated the same type of improv blocks in a completely different, and completely wonderful way. It's great to see how the same process can enable so many creative possibilities.

Marcia had a fun, whimsical collection of fabrics containing everything from caterpillars to vehicles. I love how she pulled them together with red sashing.

She made these monochromatic braid blocks too. Aren't they lovely?

Students, thank you for making my Wednesdays nights so much fun!