Bloggers Quilt Festival Entry - Scrap Happy!

It's bloggers quilt festival time again and I been struggling trying to decide what to enter!  I've been trying not to enter exhibition quilts to save them for hanging on display and that's almost all I've been working on lately.   So I'm giving in and going with it and entering my Modern Irish bee quilt.

In January 2014 I was Queen Bee of the Modern Irish Bee (annual bee formed from members of Modern Quilters Ireland).  I decided that I really wanted to pick a modern block that would be a nice gentle start to the bee, it being the first month and all.

Inspired by the back of one of Elizabeth Hartmann's quilts I came up with these blocks, all squares and strips and no curves and thought this will be great, an easy going block that only needs 1 fat quarter for 2 blocks.  Ahhm, my hive mates didn't think so.  I had given them the job of piecing 1.5" squares and 1" strips with lots of little seams.  Sorry guys!

Still they did a brilliant job and threw in some fussy cut pieces to really give charm and whimsy to the quilt that really is a happy one for sure!  For the bee we had the choice of a Kona solid background, white, black , snow or ash.  I chose ash with scrappy centres and white sashing.  I love how it turned out, the scrappy colours work really well with it.

All I had to do was figure out a layout and make 3 more blocks for a 5x5 layout.  That only took me about a year!  No idea why I was complicating it so much in my head.  In the end I just sewed them together, rotating the blocks until they looked good together!  to break up the squareness I made my 3 blocks as stars and dotted them about in the layout.

Tomomi suggested square quilting and it worked a treat (thanks Tomomi!)  Just stitched in the ditch in the squares and finally finished  just in time for the Happy exhibition on display from the 25th onwards in Dublin.  I hope all my bee mates get to see it hanging there and thank you guys for all your gorgeous blocks!

It measures 60" x 60" and I'm not sure if it is best entered into the scrappy category or the original.  In the end as there are so many people involved adding such lovely little touches I'm entering it in the original design category!

I am nearly finished writing up the pattern, just working our yardage! but if you want to make some scrappy blocks the tutorial is here on Modern Ireland Quilters blog for the 3 different square and rectangular centres.  Hope you enjoy the blocks as much as we did, small and all as the pieces are!

Thanks again Modern Irish Bee members 2014!