March bee blocks

I just realised that I forgot to share the bee blocks I made for the March queens in my different quilting bees.

First up are some Wanta Fanta blocks for Katie, who chose a colour palette of bright pink and low volume.

For my second beehive quilts group, Caroline chose the Checker block in large scale florals and white. I had a lot of fun picking flowers from my stash for this one.

I also joined a new bee group which focuses on Thimleblossoms patterns and Bonnie and Camille prints. These Vintage Remix blocks were made for our March queen Cindy.

I'm loving being able to play with different blocks and fabric combinations without breaking my 'no new projects' rule and look forward to seeing what our April queens will choose.

Kat

February beehive blocks

Gosh! I can't believe it's almost the end of the month already! Although I made them a while ago, I forgot to share the blocks I made for my quilting bees this month.

First up are some Tic Tac Toe blocks for Jospehine. Josephine is making a quilt for her daughter and requested a variety of different pinks. Pinks are plentiful in my stash so these were fun to make.

I also make a pair of Fizzy blocks for Maree, who requested greys, navy and yellow.

I'm excited to see these quilts come together.

Kat

January Beehive blocks

This year I'm participating in a couple of quilting bees. Not only are they a great way to connect with other quilty peeps, they encourage me to work with blocks and colour schemes I wouldn't normally choose. They are also perfect because they provide the thrill of pulling fabric and making a new block, without having to break my 'no new projects' rule. These Double Star blocks were made for our January queen, @curlyquesue, who chose a refreshing colour palette of navy, emerald green and pale grey.

I've actually been thinking about using this block for my month as queen, but in a different colour palette. I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'm not queen until November so I've got plenty of time to make up my mind.

Kat

Ripples quilt

I've finished my first quilt for 2018! This quilt was made mostly with blocks sewn by the lovely members from my 2017 quilting bee. For my month as queen bee I chose the Ripples block in saturated colours and a scrappy low volume background. I love that every single block I received contained prints I don't have, resulting in a quilt with hundreds of different pretty prints to look at.

I'm so happy with how it turned out. Despite some blocks being made with slightly off colours (e.g. peach instead of bright orange), the blocks all seem to work together perfectly. It's light and bright and scrappy, which is just the way I like it.

For the backing I chose a Cloud 9 print from the Brush Strokes collection by Holly De Groot. I had this print put aside for another project, but when I saw it while hunting through my stash, I knew that it would be perfect for this quilt. And as the old saying goes, "a quilt on the bed is worth two in the stash" (or something like that). I can always buy more fabric later, right?

I'm linking up with the Elm Street Quilts January One Monthly Goal finish and the 2018 Finish-along as this quilt was on my list of proposed finishes for quarter 1 and my specific goal for this month.

Kat

2017 Beehive wrap up and January One Monthly Goal

Now that we have ticked over into 2018, I thought I'd share the collection of blocks that I made for my Beehive Quilts quilting bee last year. One of the reasons that I enjoy being part of a bee is the chance to experiment with different block designs and colour palettes that you wouldn't ordinarily choose yourself.

My favourites are the two Wanta Fanta blocks chosen by Eleri and Sue. Although it's not my favourite block to make, I love how they challenged me to chose prints outside my comfort zone (I usually avoid mutlicolour prints).

I can't wait to make a quilt with the beautiful blocks that I received during my reign as queen. I've already got 16 so don't need to make too many more. I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts January One Monthly Goal and setting finishing the quilt top as my January goal.

I'm looking forward to doing it all again in 2018 and am excited to see what blocks and colours will be chosen by the members of my new Beehive group.

Kat

December Beehive blocks

Just a quick post to share the blocks I made for our December Queen for the Beehive Quilts bee. Bec requested the Fizzy block in low volumes, black, dark grey, dusty pink and mustard. The dusty pink was a little hard to find, but a rainbow F8 bundle from Pink Castle Fabrics saved the day.

I'm a little bit in love with this colour palette and think I might replicate it in a quilt for myself.

Kat

November Bee Hive blocks

Just a quick post to share the blocks that I made our November queen, Mandy. Mandy requested the tic tac toe block in magenta, bright orange and chartreuse. This is going to be one vibrant quilt!

I'm also linking up with the Elm Street Quilts OMG link up as getting these done by the end of the month was my goal for November. I'm now officially up to date with my bee blocks!

Kat

September and October Beehive blocks and November One Monthly Goal

I've been a bit behind on everything lately but am slowly getting caught up, including catching up on sharing my beehive blocks for September and October.

September's queen, Kara, chose the Bunting block with a super saturated rainbow background. I love rainbow blocks so this was a delight to sew. I also didn't need to look much further than by scrap bins, which was a bonus.

October's queen, Sue, chose the Wanta Fanta block in sunny yellows and low volume. This was a little more challenging for me because Sue encouraged us to include a splash of colour in the background. I hadn't really done low volume with colour before (I usually play it safe with greys and blacks) and blacks, and had to do quite a bit of stash diving to find enough prints, but I quite like the result. Perhaps one day I'll be brave enough to make a colourful low volume quilt for myself. 

I'm also linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal November Linkup and sharing my goal for November - to have my November blocks done and in the post before the end of the month. Hopefully an achievable goal!

Kat

August Beehive block

Just a quick post to share to blocks that I made for the August Queen Bee for our quilting bee group. Jane requested the Checker block in navy, teal and aqua and a white tone on tone for the cross bars.

I found out after I had finished the blocks that the teal I had used in the small HSTs was one of Jane's all-time favourite prints - a nice surprise for both of us :)

As usual, I am looking forward to seeing this quilt come together.

Kat

July beehive block

Just a quick post to share the block that I made for Alison, our July Queen for my Beehive Quilts group:

Alison chose the Fizzy block in white, aqua, bright orange and a soft, pale, baby pink. This is my third time making this block (I made it twice for last year's bee) so I am no longed daunted by the curves. Perhaps one day I'll make a whole quilt with curved piecing.

Kat

May Beehive block

I realised that I forgot to share the block that I made for our May Queen Bee for the Beehive Quilts. Our may Queen, Eleri, requested the Wanta Fanta block with "navy, pink and dirty yellow in a crazy riot of colour and pattern". I'm normally more of a tone-on-tone (or same desinger) kinda girl but for this block I strayed way out of my comfort zone and made a block with multi-colour prints from different designers:

I have a feeling her quilt will be absolutely sensational.

Kat

May One Monthly Goal Update

Just a quick post to share my completion of my One Monthly Goal for May.

This month my goal was to finish a second Autumn Chain baby quilt for baby number 2 using teal/turquoise/mint/aqua prints. As I had already cut most of the pieces, the quilt came together pretty quickly.

I used the block tutorial by Alyce of Blossom Heat Quilts to make 9 Autumn chain blocks with different low volume prints for the background.

I then sewed the 9 blocks together on a 3 x 3 format without sashing and quilted with some horizontal organic wavy lines. Once again, my apprentice quilt holder did a pretty good job of helping me with the photo.

I'm also linking up with the finishes for quarter 2 of the 2017 finish-a-long as this quilt was on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

It's just as well that it came together quickly because the babies arrived earlier than expected (more details to follow).


Kat

Autumn Chain baby quilt and May One Monthly Goal

Yesterday I finished a baby quilt for one of the babies I am expecting in less than a month! My apprentice quilt holder was almost as excited as me about this finish.

This quilt was made using Autumn Chain blocks that I received last year as part of the Beehive Quilts quilting bee (my first ever quilting bee). One of my 2017 Q2 finish-a-long goals was to use the blocks to my a baby quilt.

I used nine Autumn Chain blocks to make a cot-sized quilt (approx 36" square) and backed it with a fun print from Elizabeth Hartman's Rhoda Ruth collection. I kept the quilting pretty minimal because a) I wanted to keep the quilt nice and soft and b) quilting while heavily pregnant is hard work!

My One Monthly Goal for May is to make a second quilt (for baby number 2) using teal/turquoise/mint/aqua prints. I've got all the print squares cut but need to choose some background prints and get sewing.

I'm actually hoping that I can finish it this weekend so I can kick back and relax for the next few weeks but the end of the month is more likely :)

Kat

The Beehive Quilts - April blocks

Just a quick post to share the blocks I made for our April Queen Bee, Erin.

Erin requested the Tic Tac Toe block in saturated colours (in all colours of the rainbow) with pale grey and white tone-on-tone background. I made her a couple of blocks in some orange prints by Carolyn Friedlander (one of her favourite designers).

I love this block - so quick and easy to put together!

Kat

The Beehive Quilts - March block

I've been a bit slack about keeping my blog up to date lately as this past month has been super busy at work. I worked a lot of looooong days last month trying to wrap up everything before I commenced maternity leave. Now that I'm on leave I am hoping to do some serious crafty catching-up.

While I didn't get it blogged in March, I pinky promise that my March bee block was sewn, sealed and delivered by the end of the month. March's Queen Bee (Leanne) chose the Hidden Gems block in scrappy navy, teal, mustard, orange and light blue. Here's what I made:

Please don't look too closely at some of those points - this is probably the most complicated block I have ever sewn. I have no doubt that Leanne's finished quilt will look spectacular!

Kat

The Beehive Quilts - February block

This month for the Miss Beehavin Beehive Swarm our February Queen (Josephine) has selected the Checker block in aqua and mustard, with block cross bars and a low volume background. Luckily for me, aqua and mustard are some of my favourite colours and are quite plentiful in my stash :)

After spending hours raiding my stash for different prints (and making a huge mess in the process), I finally got around to making a block:

I also made a few (nine) extra blocks because Josephine is planning to use her bee blocks to make a boys quilt for the Very Snuggly Quilts program.

I'm planning to drop them off in person at tomorrow's Charity Quilt Making Day. I'm really looking forward to meeting some of my lovely Instagram friends in real life!

Kat

The Beehive Quilts - January block

Another quilting bee that I have joined this year is the Bee Hive, hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts. I was part of this bee last year and really enjoyed it. You can see an overview of the blocks I made last year here.

This year I'm part of a new group with a few of the same swarm members and a few different ones. The queen bee for January is none other than Alyce herself (talk about pressure!).

For her block, Alyce picked the Treasure Hunt block and asked for a scrappy mix of navy, teal, aqua, mustard and coral. Here's what I made for our fearless leader:

I just love this colour combination and can't wait to see Alyce's finished quilt.

Kat

2016 Bee Hive recap

Last week I finished my final 2016 bee block for Ms December.

2016 was my first time being part of a quilting bee and I loved playing with patterns and colour combinations I wouldn't have otherwise tried. We had a couple of ladies drop out so I ended up making nine blocks for my bee mates:

I also had some lovely blocks sent to me.

All of the blocks are from the Bee Hive quilt block tutorials, which can be found here.

I can't wait to do it all again in 2017!

Kat