Just in the nick of time

I completed my third quarter 3x6 Bee Blocks.

Another paper piecing block that I found on http://www.quiltiger.com/. A designer block named Allana. Luckily it they went together pretty quickly. The most time consuming part is always picking out the fabrics.
Got them out in the mail the day of the deadline. Nothing like squeaking by....I seem to do that a lot.

Quarter Two 3x6 Quilt Bee Saga

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I've actually been sewing quite a bit in the last month just slacking on the picture taking/blogging part. Hope to remedy that now. 

So I signed up for another quarter of the 3x6 Quilt Bee swap on Flicker. I missed getting signed up for paper-piecing so I signed up for a star block. 

I checked out one of those 'quilt block idea' books from the library. The one where they show you all these neat quilt block ideas and then let you figure out on your own how to accomplish it. 

Apparently I need some major work in that arena. I chose the block below: 

Love how it turned out, but it came in too small. The quilt blocks for the bee have to be 12 1/2" square and this one was under 12". So I tried a little math and came up with this one:

Too big. Like 14 or 15 inches. I literally started this darn think 6 different times. I'd get to a different part on each and realize my math was off. I couldn't get this dang thing to work for the life of me.
So time is running out and I decide to move on and try something else. Something someone else came up with.
Found this great website and this really awesome block, Jeri's Star.

Really lovely, but a little time-consuming and came out at 12" even, not 12 1/2". I was not even remotely interested in trying to make it 1/2" bigger. I'd had enough math that didn't work on the first block.
So the search began for another block. I bought a book at my local quilt shop and also checked out another book from my library. I combined elements from both books for a variety of far too complicated reasons and came up with my final design choice:

Made a total of 6 and frantically sent them off barely meeting the deadline.

I really need to stop being so flipping nit-picky about the design (and the fabric, good lord the fabric) I choose. My life would probably be so much simpler. Ah well. One project completed, several dozen left to go. :)

Look what I got!

I finally got around to taking pictures of the blocks I received in the two quilt block swaps I participated in the last couple months.

3x6 Paper Pieced Hive

Nubee April Bee

It's so much fun getting blocks in the mail. Like a little mini Christmas.

Bee block #2 & #5 redo, redid? redone?

Since I didn't really like how my bee block #2 & #5 turned out I decided to remake them. 

I am very pleased with how they turned out. 

Block#2

Block #5

Here are all six (minus the test block I made for myself): 

Bee Blocks #6 & #7

I sewed these two blocks up at the same time and was able to complete both in just over 2 hours.
I just doubled my productivity. ;)

I've got all 7 blocks created, 6 for my hive mates and 1 for me.
I'm definitely going to redo blocks #2 & #5 though...they're not working for me as they currently are.

Bee block #5

I didn't have a lot of time to sew over the past couple of weeks. I tried sewing another Bee block intermittently and am not overly thrilled with how it turned out.

The outer points are so scant I won't be able to square it up to 12 1/2". I really needed to overlap the gray fabric a bit more. Also, I'm not really digging the color arrangement. I think I needed to break up the two orange triangles. It feels a little off balance. Oh well, live & learn.

Bee Block #4

One more block down. I cut the fabric out last night and sewed the block up today during my little one's nap. He woke up just as I was tearing off the paper backing. Excellent timing. :)

Only 3 more to go, maybe 4 if I decide to redo Block#2.

Quilting Bee Blocks #2 & #3

I've finished up two more blocks for the paper-pieceing Quilt Bee I am a part of over on Flickr.

Quilt Block #2

Quilt Block #3

As I'm sewing the third quilt block I was hit with a 'eureka!' moment. Up until this point I've been questioning whether or not I really should have joined the Bee.  Seeing each of the blocks that the individuals in the Bee were selecting, I was wondering how in the world would the 6 blocks I received even go together despite having a similar color scheme.  I'm so infernally picky about the things I make it's almost silly the amount of time I spend getting it 'just right'.  Will I even be able to use these blocks together?

Sewing my test block and block #2 were not making me feel any better. My test block failed to show the great star design because the fabrics I'd chosen were too similar. Quilt block #2 was definitely better but the center seam is off and I'm not sure using the patterned fabric as the 'background' really does the star any justice either. I may actually re-do that one.  Then block #3 came along and I finally got it! I am absolutely in LOVE with block #3. There are SO many things I learned while doing this block.

What did I learn?

Placement of each fabric in relation to the others. Having a solid colored fabric connect to one with a white background made each of the fabrics noticeable and made the star design really shine (wink wink).

Each block consists of four 6 1/2" blocks,  I learned that cutting the two inner sides at 6 1/4" and the other two outer sides at 6 1/2" gave me perfect alignment for sewing the four blocks together while still giving me enough fabric on the outside to square the final larger block into 12 1/2".

Tearing off the paper is the very last step. I tore the paper off block #2 before putting the four smaller blocks together and the points & center suffered because of it.

Being in the Bee was DEFINITELY a good choice. Being challenged to come up with the same block in different color schemes is a fantastic way to learn how to work with color, push yourself outside of your comfort zone and try something new. Additionally it really forces you to practice practice practice, something I'm never patient enough to do with my own projects.

This is such a valuable experience and I'm really looking forward to seeing how each lady completes her block and see what inspirations I can get from them even if I don't end up using all 6 blocks together in the same final product.

My first paper pieced block

After many (many) trial runs I finally finished a paper pieced block. I used Carol Doak's Barbara's Block from her book 40 Bright & Bold Paper-Pieced Blocks: 12-Inch Designs.

I'm thinking that I need to make different fabric choices in order to really show off the nifty piece work. 

More contrast and either smaller prints or solid colors. I have 6 more to make for the ladies in my Quilt bee hive. I'm really looking forward to seeing how each one turns out.