Monday 23 March 2015

Design Wall Monday: Bee updates

So the design wall looks like this at the moment.  At least in my head it does!  The house blocks I received from my bee mates in Modern Irish Bee have been adorning the kitchen since they first arrived and I got 2 more last week.  They look so bright and cheery I don't think I want them to come down! 

I'm planning on adding to them with some trees, white fluffy clouds and 4 more house blocks to include Wilbur and Charly, pals for Harvey the dog already in Helen's block, a cat up a tree (to be fair with that many dogs where else is a cat going to go?), a birdhouse and something I haven't decided yet in the bottom corner - any ideas?

I was Queen Bee at the same time in January hive 3 and the last of the blocks arrived last week!

Stephanie sent me extra fabric and so there will be a second crafty book shelf and I think my Halloween knitting witch fabric might have to make an appearance with those scissors and skulls!

Thanks to all my hive mates for such amazing blocks. 

So my turn to make blocks and for Stash bee February Bonnie asked for brown!  Yup the dreaded colour modern quilters love to avoid!  Surprisingly I had tons of brown in my stash - who knew I didn't dislike it as much as I thought! 

A little bit of mushroom and plum added in made an improvised strip block.We were encouraged to not have the blocks too even and not too straight.  This came out a bit more straight than intended!

This months Stash Bee block was all flying geese for Carolyn of Sweet Boater Chick.  Carolyn picked this 16" block from Displacement Activity called Migration.  This one tested all my piecing skills.  My new 1/4" foot got a workout as did the meaning of scant 1/4" seam.  I spent a good part of yesterday struggling with pressing seams, ripping and sewing scantily - the block not me! 


Eventually at about 3.30 ta dah!  A finished block at last.   I did struggle finding the right colours in my stash, grey was no problem but lime, chartreuse and turquoise required a rummage, plenty of teal though!

You can tell it was a gorgeous day.  Some of the light greys are blindingly bright! 

We've had the most beautiful spring weather all weekend except of course last Friday morning during the eclipse.  I was ready with my sun visor waiting for 9.24 where the sun was 95% covered by the moon where we are in Limerick.  Didn't see a thing through the thick cloud cover for the 2 hours that was in it!   Sun came out at 12 and it stayed gorgeous all weekend long.  I did watch it on the telly though and got to see Gordon's astronomy club on UTV Ireland for 90 seconds!

I haven't Modern Irish bee March block yet.  Feb's is done but I can't find a picture!  After this monster I called it a day and we took the dogs for a long walk in the evening sunshine.  I'll get to March Modern Irish Bee this week and hopefully get to add sashing to my bookshelf blocks too!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday.

12 comments:

  1. You have brown in your stash because brown is awesome and can be as contemporary as you want it to be :D

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  2. How about a garden for the block on the lower right of your quilt top? Or something else that speaks of 'home' to you; a garden works for me! :)

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  3. Love your flying geese block!

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  4. Lovely flying geese! You are adding border to bookshelf alreay? I am still thinking what to do.

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  5. I love all of your house blocks, they are so fun!!! Your Migration block is gorgeous!

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  6. What a fun quilt your house blocks are going to be! I like Yvonne's idea, a garden with pretty flowers :)

    I have a request for a blue/brown quilt - I started looking through my stash the other day. I was shocked at the number of brown fabrics I have! I think I can do the entire quilt from my stash!! Who knew? :)

    Holy wow that Migration block is awesome and you did a fabulous job of getting them all lined up and pointy!! Looks like a major test of patience!! Love flying geese. . . not a fan of making them LOL

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  7. Isn't it strange how the instruction not to have blocks and seams too even or straight seems so difficult to comply with?
    Your Migration block is lovely, a great advert for all that hard work :)

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  8. Lots of lovely projects. I think maybe flowers, a bush or a sign post would look good seeing as that corner would be "close up". Even a post box seeing as the blocks came in the post!
    Love your flying geese block and the crafty book shelf is looking really good!

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  9. First strip piecing and then "Sewing scantily" LOL... Ruth both of the blocks turned out great!
    I really love those house blocks and can't wait to see how you do the quilt! The additions you spoke of sound wonderful! You could put a little houseboat on a pond in the bottom corner. Or a vintage camper maybe.
    I had no idea brown was a dreaded color in modern quilting. It goes so great with so many colors. Especially deep dark semi-sweet brown.

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  10. I can see how Carolyn's block could be tricky. Glad to hear that you beat it in the end. Lovely colours.
    The sensible side of me thinks more garden - shrubs, flowers, etc. - would work in the bottom corner, like a village green. The not-so sensible part of me wants a castle. I love your idea to add clouds and tress.

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  11. Ruth I "pinned" your house quilt!! I love it too!! This one will be fun to put together!

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