Ready Set Sew

When I first joined this bee I was CERTAIN of what I wanted to send out.  I got some fabrics and then immediately changed my mind.  So much for being certain!  Then I ransacked the stash and came up with all those blues and greens you can see in the flickr set.  Ok, fabric decision made but what to do with them?  I didn’t want complicated or fussy.  I wanted people to get creative.  I hope you like this idea because I finally settled on something – log cabins. Here’s a quick mock-up of one I did today.

I love new interpretations of the classics!  Basic rules are 1) squares between 12.5-13 inches and 2) I’d generally like all or most solids on one side and prints on the other.  If you want to throw a print on the solid side or vice versa – go ahead!  Log cabins strips can be any size.  I’ve cut the fabrics in different widths and lengths for you but feel free to change them.  If you have any questions, let me know.  I should be sending out the fabrics next week sometime so you receive them by June 1st.  Have fun with this!

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Color Riot

I couldn’t help myself! I loved these fabrics and had a blast putting them together. I hope Valerie doesn’t need sunglasses for these blocks! I got really into the selvedge edges and added a couple more from my stash along with 2 Kaffe fabrics (Asian Circles and Silhouette). They are a bit wild!

This one still needs a wee trim to square it off.

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More blocks for Valerie!

Really fun fabrics to work with!!

One sorta standard log cabin block:

And one less standard!

It was really fun to improv piece both within the constraints of the fabric I had!! I love the combo if working in my comfort zone (log cabin-y) and also out of it because I’m using fabrics someone else chose and cut!

Hope that you like them Valerie!!

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Blocks for Valerie

I was delighted to receive the packet of fabrics from Valerie. These colors are so perfect together but it just never would have occurred to me to try them. The fabric pieces in my packet were mostly longer strips, so I chose to improvise on strip-based designs.

First, a wonky square with a more limited palette:

Second, a half log cabin square that plays the pinks-and-greens against the blues-and browns.

Both are 14″ squares.

I look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.

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Blocks for May

I got my blocks from Valerie in the mail this week and I sat right down with them to get started. I love the inspiration she chose because it is my favorite way to sew quilt blocks: improvisationally. In many casesI used the strips fresh out of the pack since they were already cut to widths that worked well for the blocks.

Here’s my first block. I actually changed it after I made my 2nd block, because it appeared too balanced/symmetrical to me. See the bees and the orange strip on the left? They used to  be lined up with the orange strip on the bottom, and some other fabric was where the bees were. I like it better this way. I added a few solids (orange, green, and blue) to this one.

I had just enough to squeak out my second block, so I ended up cutting the brown strips into thinner pieces.  I really like how this block turned out! Now, if I can just get myself to the post office to mail them back. That always seems to take me so much longer than it should, especially when I have “plenty of time”.

How are your blocks coming along?

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