ScrapBeeLicious Star Value...

This month's ScrapBeeLicious Queen was Liz at Beadqueene's Bits & Baubles and she asked for 2 Star Value blocks.  This block pattern is gorgeous and the full quilt design that it creates is really something special.

But these blocks are made up of very small squares (at least in order to make a 12" block, which we were!) - 2" and 2.5" blocks.  I was kind of concerned that my scrap bin didn't have enough low volumes to make each square unique.  I guess that means that I blocked out all the fabric buying mania, because when I added some strips from my most recent purchases, I had MORE than enough to work with.

Only about half the trimming from 1 block!!

Now this block is made up entirely of squares and HSTs - and all of those HSTs need to be trimmed down to create those perfect points.  That's a LOT of trimming!

But isn't all the work worth it? I certainly think so!

Of course I couldn't resist doing a bit of fussy cutting - this little Aladdin is my favorite addition.

And this is really a perfect bee block, because I simply cannot imagine having to make a quilt's worth of blocks like this all on my own. It would make most of us crazy!  Wise choice for the bee, Liz - your quilt will be stunning!

Little One Almost Done...

My main goal for the BMQG/SMQG retreat was to finish a baby quilt top and have it ready to baste and quilt.  One full day of sewing, trimming, and pressing later, and I was ready to check that off my list!

It seems that up here in New England we are either having rain, snow or heavy wind which made this finished top a little difficult to photograph.  Hopefully once this is a true finish, the weather will be more cooperative.

Most of my photos were variations of this...

I'm planning on doing very simple quilting along the diagonal lines of the herringbones as suggested in the Quilty pattern that I took this from, but I'd also like to add a few hand quilting details in some of the fussy cut blocks of the rabbit families - maybe a heart or two?

The Littlest line of fabric by Art Gallery is so sweet and the colors are simply delicate - it's a perfect gender neutral collection for baby quilts or garments!

\My other big goal for the retreat was to get a really good head start on the time-consuming tilted stars - I was able to get about half of the alphabet done!  More on those blocks coming soon...

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Treats from Retreat...

Last weekend was the Boston and Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild joint retreat and it was fabulous!  This was the first time I was able to participate for more than one day and now that I've been able to stay for an entire weekend, I never want to miss another one!

We spent three full days and nights of sewing and socializing in Kennebunk, Maine...although since I was just getting over a mega-flu and still had no voice (except for a squeaky facsimile), my sewing was far more productive than my socializing.  I hope that no one was too offended that I wasn't talking too much!  (And a big thank you to my tablemate Sarah for braving the germs and keeping things ridiculously fun!!)  Getting to see everyone's projects in progress and the steady stream of finishes was quite a treat.

I'm waiting until this weather cooperates so that I can get some better pictures of the Littlest quilt top that was finished, but in the meantime let me share with you all the treats from retreat!

On Saturday, we had a raffle for some amazing prizes - I bought two tickets and was totally blown away to win two prizes: an amazing fat quarter pack of 22 Robert Kaufman blue solids and a variety of charm and candy squares!!

We also received a swag bag when we checked in and mine contained a 4-pack of Mormor fat quarters and a bag of "scraps" (they were all WOF strips and one was about an eighth of a yard, but most were quarter yards and larger!).  See that peacock print?  I've been drooling over that for a while and now that I have some in my hot little hands, I've got some big plans for it!

And of course I couldn't resist the siren song of Mardens, but I was incredibly restrained.  I only purchased a large cut of Amy Butler for a quilt backing and a smaller cut of a pretty print for the stash.

I can't wait to share my finishes with you, so hope for sunny weather and dry ground - it IS supposed to be spring now, right?

Getting Ready...

I haven't been doing a whole lot of sewing lately, but there's an awful lot of prep work going on before next weekend's guild retreat.  I think the reason why I didn't get more done during the one day that I was able to attend last year is because so much time goes into ironing, cutting, and getting ready to sew.  I want to be able to make the MOST of my time away, so I'm trying to do as much advance work as I can so that when I get there, I can sew, sew, sew!

My main goal is to get a baby quilt top completely finished and basted.  Here's the my final (I think) pull for that project using a good chunk of Art Gallery's Littlest collection:

I did end up weeding out the darker coral, green, and gray fabrics in favor of sticking with more similar and muted color values, though I'll still probably whittle down one of the beige fabrics and I'm toying with replacing that brighter peach in favor of something more true to the apricot flowers.

Aren't these fussy cuts just the cutest?

So what am I doing with all this little cuteness?  I'm using this pattern from a back issue of Quilty...

Mine will be much lower volume with all of these gray, yellow, apricot and mint green tones - perfect for a gender neutral baby quilt!  For the background fabric in this pattern, I'm using this print from the Littlest collection which is white with the tiniest hint of coral and rose hues.

I'm also doing some prep work for my Alphabet Lesson blocks - I've pulled bags of scraps for each color and am busy needle punching 100 pieces of paper.  All this grunt work is sure to pay off big next weekend and I can't wait!

I'm Going to be in Hot Water...

...or at least I would be if my husband actually read my blog.

These are simply awesome

The fabric binge has officially turned into a gorge-fest.  It's gotten a teensy bit out of control and I think I'm going to ban myself from buying fabric for 6 months...

It all started innocently enough when I had to buy extra fabric for the backing and binding for my feather quilt (mere days after the last binge wrapped up).  I did get these Joel Dewberry cuts for a total steal, after all!

But then this week when I was sorting out my scraps for the Alphabet Lesson quilt, I realized that my stash was a little slim in the red bag.

Some Dear Stella, Amy Butler and Denyse Schmidt all mixed together...

And then...and then...it just sort of became a rolling ball of fabric buying.  Because I had been eyeing this panel from a magazine for months - and the store had only one left!

And then, then I couldn't resist all the bolts of Mormor that were all lined up...

(Side bar:  I hate, HATE when this LQS rips the fabric instead of cutting it with a rotary cutter...all those messy strings and the extra shredding...)

And then there weren't even any more reasons except for a total lack of self discipline.

I started losing track of fabric names/designers at this point...

...except for this cute Kokka fat quarter!

Holy moly.

Let the fabric shame commence...

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