"Oh Beehave" - August Block

August is Andrea's month in the MMQG quilting bee "oh beehave". Andrea is making the "small plates" quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's book "the practical guide to patchwork". As the blocks are very simple she asked us to make her four blocks:

I hope you like the blocks Andrea, I enjoyed making them, the fabrics are gorgeous.

"Oh Beehave" - My Finished Quilt

So, I have finished my quilt for the MMQG quilting bee "Oh Beehave". As you may or may not remember, I asked the ladies in the bee to make me two wonky star blocks - one red on sand, and the other sand on red. I then put the blocks together into essentially two tops, and quilted it with perle 8 thread by hand - first 1/4 inch around all the stars (on the front and the back), and then adding some more stars into any big spaces that still needed some stitching.

I was initially thinking of binding it in a solid red a little bit darker than the red in the quilt, but didn't manage to find any fabric in any of my local quilt shops in the right colour. However, while I was at Amitie the lovely lady serving me suggested a stripe that they had - which conveniently happened to be in exactly the two right colours.

I have entered this quilt in the "Quilts from All Over" show that's being organised by Hawthorn Rotary Club, so added the binding to finish the quilt this weekend. Now I just need to add a temporary hanging sleeve before the show.

"Oh Beehave" - July Block

 Just realised that I had this post written as a draft but hadn't published it yet...

July's block for the MMQG quilting bee was for Frogdancer. She asked for a quilt as you go block following this tutorial:

This block was fun as it was something different. It took quite a long time to quilt the 1/4 lines and my lines were a little more wonky than I would have liked them - sorry about that Frogdancer. In all honesty, most of the fabrics in this block are far from what I would choose, but they come together really well and I'm sure that the final quilt will be gorgeous.

"Oh Beehave" - June Block

I'm currently waiting on corrections of my thesis at the moment, so have finally had a chance to take some time out and do some sewing, so this evening I decided to get caught up on my bee blocks.

June's block for the MMQG quilting bee "Oh Beehave" was for Helene. Helene asked for a scrappy, but not wonky, 15.5" log cabin block:

Aren't her fabrics gorgeous!

What are you doing on Thursday evening?

What are you up to on this Thursday evening (the 2nd of June)? If you're free you should come along to the MMQGs first sit and sew evening.

It's 7-10pm at GJs in Brunswick and should be heaps of fun! For more information see the post on the MMQG website.

Retreat Recap

A certain friend has told me off for not posting about the retreat last weekend yet, so I thought I'd better get on that this weekend!

The retreat was AMAZING. We were a little worried going up there because when it was being organised we had the pick of dates we wanted, so we were worried it would be too good to be true. However, a sneaky peek through the windows while we were waiting to be let in put our minds at ease - the place is beautiful! It turns out that Craft Retreat had only opened in March, which was when we were making our booking. It sounds like it's already filling up for the rest of the year.

We had Friday afternoon and evening, all day Saturday and Sunday morning to sew, and PLENTY got done!

Our Retreat Group. From left to right: Helene, Me, Bronwyn, Kirsty, MJ, Annabel, Marg and Andrea. (plus Louise, who arrived late so isn't pictured)

When we got there on Friday I got to working on my genome quilt, until dinnertime which was a delicious "planned pot-luck" dinner at the house. We then watched Murials Wedding and added green border hexys to a couple of hexagon flowers while watching the film.

Making use of the design wall

Saturday was dedicated to sewing together my wonky stars from the MMQG quilting bee into two tops (well technically a top and back, but the quilt is destined to be reversible). I did the last couple of seams on Sunday morning, but was very happy to have achieved the goal of getting them done. I'll post a more detailed post about how I went about putting the tops together at another date. (I took lots of in process photos on Helene's lovely camera).

My two finished wonky star tops

Saturday night we went out for a delicious and decadent meal at Mercato, after which some of the group watched another movie, and the rest (including me) chose to continue sewing.

All my genome quilt blocks so far

Sunday morning before leaving I chugged out a few more genome quilt blocks, bringing my total for the weekend to 16 blocks. 29 down, 20 to go, I'm getting there slowly.

The sheet I've been using to mark off the blocks as I've done them - the red crosses were from when I was rotating the HSTs, and now colouring them in means I've sewn the block together.

So all in all, an AMAZING weekend! We had such a good time we're planning to go back in November... hopefully I'll be able to go too.

Retreating

Image from here

Next weekend I'm going on a MMQG Retreat. I'm disproportionately excited about the whole thing, and as the date gets closer am getting more excited (if that's possible!) An entire 48 hours of sewing, eating and gossiping with some fabulous company - what is there NOT to be excited about?

I've started writing mental lists of what I need to pack (which will be converted into actual lists very soon I'm sure), and have been worrying about forgetting some vital thing that will mean that I can't do the sewing I want to do, so I will, as they say, be making my list and checking it twice.

I have no idea how much sewing I'll be able to get done while I'm gone, but I'm planning on taking plenty; something truely magical would have to happen for me to get through it all. The major thing I want to make headway on is the piecing of my genome quilt (in itself enough to last more than the weekend). I'll also take the star blocks for my "Oh Beehave" quilt, I'm sure having the other 8 ladies around would do wonders for helping work out layouts. And I think I'll also take along my hexies, just in case I want to do some hand sewing rather than just machine sewing.

SO excited!!!

Pin Cushion Swap - Thank's Kirsty!

The pin cushion that I recieved for the MMQG pin cushion swap was from Kirsty, and it's seriously awesome! A really cute pattern, lovely fabrics, and it's HUGE! I won't be running out of space or pricking myself with pins poking all the way through the pin cushion.

(pictured next to my iphone for scale)

The only potential problem is that it may not get used as a pin cushion as it's also lots of fun to throw around!

Thanks heaps Kirsty, I love it!

Pin Cushion Swap - Alissa, I hope you like it

Here is the pin cushion that I made for the MMQG pin cushion swap. My partner was Alissa, and as I know she likes rainbows I picked the rainbow-y-est fabric striped fabric I could find.

I made paper pieced stars with matched rainbow stripes...

 

... which became a double sided hexagon shaped pincushion.

 

I hope you like it Alissa.

Pin Cushion Swap - Sneak Peek

I took some time this weekend to make my pin-cushion for the MMQG pin cushion swap, here's a sneak-peek:

"Oh Beehave" - May Block

This is the block that I made (a little early) for Shirley for the MMQG Quilting Bee "Oh Beehave":



Shirley asked for a 14.5" Mondrian style blocks made from the solid fabrics she sent us. Lots of fun to make!

My previous blocks: October, November, January, February, April

MMQG April SASD

Yesterday was the April sit and sew day (SASD) for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild (MMQG), so it was nice to have a scheduled day of sewing away from any guilt that I should be working on my thesis.

This month we were at our south melbourne venue, which is only one tram ride away from my house (unlike our other venue, Ashburton, which is a tram and two trains) so I decided to take my sewing machine to a meeting for the first time. Thankfully my machine fits perfectly into my suitcase, so with some cushions as padding it was very easy to transport.

I took along my genome quilt to work on, which has been stashed away in a shoebox and not touched for the best part of 9 months.

I made good headway and finished 4 more 5x5 blocks, bringing my total number of blocks to 12. There are 35 of these blocks, so only 23 left to go...!

The advantage of having this project stashed away for so long was that the fabrics were no longer at the forefront of my mind and I could rediscover my love for them as they popped up in the blocks I was piecing.

Beautiful, beautiful fabrics! Although given how involved the project is, I'm really glad I'm still in love with this quilt

"Oh Beehave" - April Block

This is the block that I made for Marg for the MMQG Quilting Bee "Oh Beehave":



Marg asked for a 12.5 inch block made primarily of flying geese and/or half square triangles.. Something I'd never done before, so interesting to learn something new.

My previous blocks: October, November, January, February

Oh-Beehave - First Blocks Back

Las week I got back the first blocks for my month of Oh Beehave. Anna made these two blocks, and they're absolutely perfect:

And then yesterday I received blocks back from Shirley, aren't they great:

Thanks Anna and Shirley!

"Oh Beehave" - February Block

This is the block that I made Alissa for the MMQG quilting bee "Oh Beehave":

Alissa asked for a scrappy (but straight) log cabin block.

My previous blocks: October, November, January

Pin Cushion Swap

The next swap for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild is going to be a pin cushion swap. If you're a member of the MMQG and you fancy joining the swap you should head on over to the forum and sign up before the 28th of Feb.

Not a member of the MMQG and live in (or near) Melbourne, what are you waiting for? Don't know much about it, you can learn more here. We have our next Sewing Day on Sunday if you're free and want to join us.

Oh Beehave - Block instructions

This post is for my fellow participants in the MMQG quilting bee "oh beehave". My month is March, so I'm due to post requests/instructions for my block as the fabrics went out this week.

First off, here are the instructions that went out with the fabrics:

‘Feel’ of the quilt
Simple, Non-uniform, Reversible

Colour Palette:
“Sand” and “Ruby” Kona solids only

Block size:
An assortment of different sizes with the biggest up to approx 12” and the smallest 4” square

Block type:
Wonky Stars – here is a good tutorial: http://thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com/2009/02/wonky-star-tutorial.html

Scrap
Please return all useable scraps. Larger scraps will be used when making the quilt top, decent size triangle scraps may be used to make some more (small) stars if necessary.

Adding fabric:
Please do not add any fabric; I only want to have Kona “sand” and “ruby” in this quilt.

Intended purpose of quilt:
My quilt is for my friend Alex and her Fiancé as a wedding present in November

Specific construction requests:
I plan to make this a reversible quilt, with one side all sand stars on a ruby background and the other all ruby stars on a sand background.
Please can you construct two blocks – one of a ruby star with a sand background and one of a sand star with a ruby background (If you think I am being too cheeky with this request please send back the extra fabric and only one block and I will make the other.)
To try and make sure that I end up with a mixture of sizes of both types of blocks, I have included a post- it in your envelope that specifies which colour star should be bigger, please use this as a guideline.
Please use the same colour for the centre square as the points of the stars, so that the stars are all the same colour.
Some key points to think about when constructing the blocks:

• Please make sure that the points of the stars are at least ¼ inch away from the edge of the block so that points aren’t lost when I sew the blocks together (This is particularly important)
• Blocks do not have to be exactly square or in 1/3 proportions, but please don’t make them too exaggeratedly rectangular/disproportionate
• Please try to make the triangles meet or overlap where they’re attached to the centre square.
• Please try and give your stars “balanced wonk”.

First off, here is a flickr gallery with some inspiration photos that will hopefully show you what I'm going for (and what I'm not going for). I've put my comments next to the photos for you to read:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maiestia/galleries/72157625987600392/

Also for some more information, here's a diagram I made up to describe some of the points listed above and in the gallery:

1- This Star is an example of a 1/3 proportioned wonky block and if you made me one like this it'd be great. It has no gaps between the triangular points where they meet the edge of the block, none of the points go right up to the edge of the block (and thus won't be lost when sewing them together), and it has "balanced wonk"

2- This is an example of how you can play around with the proportions a bit if you like. This one has the star not centered in the block but off to the top left hand side. It's still good because it hasn't moved the proportions too much so still looks balanced.

3- This is an example of how you can make a block that isn't square. This rectangular block is still good is it doesn't look too stretched out.

4- This is another example of how you can play with the proportion of the block by making the centre square smaller. However I do not really like this block as the proportions are too extreme. You can make the centre square smaller, but please do not make it as extreme as this

5- Similarly, this block plays with proportion again, this time by making the centre square larger. Again, I don't like this block as the proportions are too extreme. You can't make the centre square bigger, but please do not make it as extreme as this.

6- This block shows you an example of "unbalanced wonk" As you can see, there is a HUGE difference in the widths of the points, particularly at the top and bottom of the block. There is also no balance of the different sides, with the much larger points all on the bottom left of the block. I definitely want wonk, but not as extreme as in this block. This block also shows you an example of having a gap between the points (on the right hand side of the block). I don't want that either

7- This is a "star block" rather than a "wonky star block". I do not want beautifully precise and symmetrical stars, I want wonky ones.

Apologies if that's all a bit thorough and it sounds like I'm being really really picky, I promise you I'm not, and I'm positive that whatever you make will be fantastic, I just figured the more information I show you all the better.

And lastly, here's an example block that I made up:

I can't wait to see the blocks that you guys make!!

"Oh Beehave" - January Block

Here's the third block i've made for the MMQG quilting bee "Oh Beehave". This one was for Anna:

Anna asked for wonky, deconstructed log cabins with the range of solid reds, yellows and oranges that she gave us.

My previous blocks: October, November

Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild - January Sit and Sew Day

Are you going to the first Sit and Sew Day of 2011 for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild?
Sadly I'm not as I won't be back in Melbourne in time. But if you're in Melbourne you should go!




A whole day of sewing and great company in one of our swanky new venues for this year (Ashburton Library). Click here for information about the venue and a link to register (so they know numbers to expect)

If you go, be sure to report back how much of a great time you had!

"Oh Beehave" - November Block

As I mentioned before, I'm participating in my first ever quilting bee. Here is my November block, which was for Gina:

Gina asked for slightly wonky log cabin style blocks with some geometric shapes in the centre using the colour she provided.

My previous block: October