SewBeeIt Blocks

I'm part of the SewBeeIt online block exchange on flickr.

I spent January getting caught up on almost 3 months worth of blocks while I was doing a sew-in at Shanna's house.






NOVEMBER
November choice was making 2 blocks, any size with the fabric sent.  She sent solid white and a good selection of 5 different prints.

Garden Fence

Bottle Block

My first choice is what is called "Garden Fence" -- not sure why.

Nonetheless, the pictures I've seen, people used solid fabric for the "fence."  I decided to use a different print for each corner, making it visually interesting.  The white solid is 1.5" strips, the center is 4.5" square, and the corners are 2.5" strips cut into 3" and 5" rectangles.


With the scraps, I decided on making a "bottle" quilt block since it's free form, abstract, and looks good with solid borders.


DECEMBER
We get  a break.  However, I didn't get the November fabric until it was Thanksgiving, which is the crazy holiday time which seems like nothing gets done.  I also had a 2 week vacation for New Year's to Maui in there.

JANUARY

Our beemate sent 2 solids and 3 different prints to make Kate Spain's "Flurry" presents using the pattern: www.hancocks-paducah.com/ItemFiles/PDF/MPS27080.pdf



The blocks went together really fast and easy.  I can see using this pattern for birthdays too.

FEBRUARY

Our beemate wanted "confetti" blocks made with scraps and solid light grey.  There are a couple of different ways to do this and I chose to do the random width borders around each fabric, then trim to put the puzzle pieces together.  One of the time-sucking tasks is just sewing the borders on all the smaller pieces, then trim, trim, trim.  After that, then the fun begins!

Block #1: easy!

Block #2: running out of scraps!

It's a simple concept for any beginner quilter.  I started with block #1 and moved to block #2 to realize that I was running out of the confetti.

The second block was more of a test of my patience because our beemated wanted 13.5" blocks so had to try to make the block bigger.  I did have to seam rip the right side a few times to add bigger borders, trim scraps down so you can have stretch out the block.  It can be frustrating to make it work, but probably could of been easier if I had any of the fabrics provided to just make more confetti pieces.

That is my advice: make sure you have extra scraps just in case you need to stretch out the blocks bigger.  Oh, she included a 1/2 yard of solid and I had about a 5" strip left.  A lot of trim work, seems like a waste, but it creates a cute looking block, especially if you need to use up your scraps.