Scrappy Crossroads Quilt

 It's beautiful here in the winter in Arizona  :)

Even with a little cloud cover outside today

it's still warm and inviting.

I just finished

Scrappy Crossroads

 Pattern with Free Tutorial

by my friend Lori Holt

of Bee In My Bonnet

can be found 

HERE

 A great way to use up scraps!

I knew I saved those little itty bits of leftovers for a reason.

 A total of 

1440

2 1/2 inch scrappy squares 

were used in this project

 For the X part of the block

I used

American Made Brand Cotton

Dark Turquoise

It's the first time I have used this solid

and it was wonderful to work with  !

High thread count and solid to the touch.

 Hey, I remember some of these fabrics

from quilts I made long ago  :)

 And these too!

A trip down memory lane.

 The actual block 

measures 16 1/2 inches unfinished

 You can make the quilt any size you desire.

I opted to make it Twin Size

by putting 

5 rows across

and 

6 rows down.

 I even used some of Lori's fabrics in the scraps

Remember her first fabric line Sew Cherry?

And Millie's Closet ?

Thank you Lori for such a great Tutorial  !!

I feel like I now have a Free Quilt

I'm even considering being brave and

trying to quilt this one myself.

We'll see.

Fancy Fox Quilt

 I have finished the top of

Fancy Fox

Pattern by 

Elizabeth Hartman 

of Ohfrannson

 I really enjoyed making this quilt!

 Who doesn't love these fancy fox faces?

 The pattern is Jelly Roll friendly

I found an old "Nest" jelly roll by Tula Pink

tucked away in a box, and knew it would be perfect for this project.

Cleaning out boxes can feel like Christmas :)

 The pattern comes in several sizes

but I decided to make the lap size 50" X 62"

which requires 42 Fox faces

 Soon I was chain piecing the sections

and the design wall began filling up fast.

 For the background I used the color gray

by American Made Fabrics

 My grandson Noah loves to sing the song

What Does The Fox Say? by Ylvis

I sang the lyrics a lot as I sewed 

Kind of an addictive tune :)

Your fur is red, so beautiful!

Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! 

Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! 

Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho! 

Joff-tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! 
WHAT THE FOX SAYS! 

Gold Fish Crackers Quilt Blocks

 I've had a very productive few days

in getting caught up making my

Bees Knees Blocks

For the month of September

Melissa Corry  (Happy Quilting)

asked us to make any kind of quilt block

with a Camping/ Outdoor Theme

She sent us the cutest fabrics

from the Smoors Love Collection

by Cosmo Cricket

 I opted to make

Gold Fish Crackers

12 1/2 " X 12 1/2" Unfinished

from a 

Free Tutorial offered by the

Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild

HERE

 I even added in a few of my own fabrics

for the backgrounds 

with one in blue

to give it that fishy water look :)

 I hope Melissa likes my choice

because these were so fun to make,

 she is not just getting one block...

 but a School of Fish !!

 I'd love to make a quilt out of these blocks myself.

I don't have any fisherman in my life

but I do love to look at Aquariums :)

The Emerald Coast Guild even gives

a possible layout suggestion.

A New Year with Bees Knees A Quilting Bee

 I am part of an on-line Quilting Bee

called the

Bees Knees

Such a wonderful group.

We are just beginning our 3rd year together.

We have 12 in our Bee

from all over the United States.

A few have had to leave 

because of  time commitments

and 

others have been invited in recently.

Many are top designers in the Industry

and I am always in awe of their creativity.

Bee Badge designed by Shari Butler of Doohikey Designs

Each month one person leads our Bee

by sending each of us a package of fabric 

along with a block pattern.

We make the block (s) and then mail them back.

I have learned many new techniques 

through this process!

 Usually all goes well.

Every once in a while a package gets lost in the mail.

 Last June Shari sent me these cute Halloween fabrics.

Unfortunately they went to an old address where the package sat for months unnoticed.

Today I finally tracked it down!

YAY!

Usually the designer sends matching fabrics to all in the group

and they can be hard to replace.

Now I can make these suggested blocks

for Shari!

And to kick off September

Melissa Corry (Happy Quilting)

sent us pieces of

Smoors Love Collection

by Cosmo Cricket.

We have been asked to use our imaginations

and make a 

Camping/ Outdoors themed quilt block

anywhere from 12" X  12"  up to 18" X 21"

I'm looking for a free block pattern

If you have any suggestions,

please leave me a comment!

Sunbeams In May Quilt Blocks

 This month 

for our Bees Knees Quilting Bee it's

Calli Taylor's (Make It Do)

 turn to host.

 I think it's quite fitting

that she would have us make

Sunbeams In May

....in May!

 *Block is called Sunbeam

*Pattern:  Summer Days

by Norma Whaley and

Calli's mom Leslie Isom

for Timeless Traditions

 Calli sent us the fabric and asked each of us in the group

to make 2 blocks

and to hand applique the center circle.

We used fellow Bee's Knees member,

 Lori Holt

circle applique technique

found HERE

Lori always provides the most wonderful

and easy techniques.

 We had enough fabric to make two extra 

Half Square Triangles

that will also be mailed back to Calli

Sure love being a

Bees Knees

Nosegay Quilt Made with Kaffes

 About a month ago I wrote of 

seeing this fabulous Nosegay Quilt

made by Deborah Engle.

It has been calling and calling to me.

 The block is a traditional one from the 1800's

and I completely fell in love when I saw it 

Modernized with Kaffe Fassett fabrics

 Kaffe Fasset is the only fabrics I collect

and I have plenty of scraps in my stash to make this quilt.

 I did some research and this block is traditionally constructed

by making your own templates.

There are a lot of "Y" seams, too.

Doesn't sound a bit fun, and I was hoping to find an easier way.

 Success!

As I did further research

I found 

Coney Island 

designed by Joanna Figueroa

of Fig Tree Quilts in 2007

I ordered the pattern from her web site right away :)

 Joanna doesn't like templates and Y seams either

and drafted the above Nosegay block

 mainly using squares and triangles.

Yay!

More of the story on her blog

HERE

For the setting 

I want to put the blocks on point

just like Deborah's.

I can hardly wait to get started!

Nosegay Quilt

The other day while I was sewing at 3 Dudes

Deborah Engle

and 

Karen Gilbert

walked in with their recently finished

Nosegay Quilts

This is a traditional quilt block from the 1930's

but they have modernized theirs

with bright happy fabrics.

Look at all of those beautiful

Kaffe Fassett flowers

and cute gingham black baskets!

I love this quilt!

Deborah just received her quilt back from the quilter

so the sides had not been trimmed yet.

She was in the shop getting tips on how to sew

a bias binding around all of those pointed edges.

So beautifully done!

How I would love to make this quilt!

Deborah and Karen are part of a group

from through out the United States 

who have gathered together for

the last 20 years for retreats

taught by Pat Grago 

Pat currently teaches the

Scraps Are Us classes

at 3 Dudes Quilt Shop

Karen also brought in her

Nosegay quilt that still needs to be quilted.

Another fun 

Show and Tell

I'm not sure if this was made by Deborah or Karen?

Traditional Basket Quilt

with a great use of fussy cut borders.

Thanks for sharing ladies!

A Bees Knees Block for Amy Smart

 Amy Smart (Diary of A Quilter)

was the Bees Knees member to send out

fabric for the month of March.

 We were asked to create a 

12 1/2 inch block

comprised of smaller

 Log Cabin combinations.

The is the layout I selected.

Amy's only request was that we include

Kona white in the blocks.

 Last year 

when it was Amy's turn 

she had each of us make one large 12 1/2 inch block.

These smaller ones will be included in the same quilt.

To give us some ideas what kind of blocks 

to create, Amy showed us a picture

of this quilt used as her inspiration.

A great way to use up scraps!

The Bees Knees ladies are 

MY inspiration :)