Hello from November

I'm Helen Lay and I'm going to be doing the November block - which is appropriate as I turn 30 on 2nd November.

After growing up in Portsmouth on the south coast I came to North Yorkshire to study at The University of York 11 years ago and I've never left! I currently work there as an Admissions Officer and have just moved house and now live in York again, just up the road from work. Nick and I met at University and have been married for over 6 years now.

This photo is 3 years old - I struggled to find a more modern one at the moment with everything packed up.

I've always liked doing a variety of crafts, I did cross stitch for years and have sewn clothes and other things on and off as well as doing papercrafts. Last year thanks to twitter I discovered all the lovely fabrics you can now buy, got myself a new machine, took a few sewing workshops and since have been making making all sorts of things, dabbling in machine appliqué and have had my first attempts at hand and machine patchwork - was waiting until I'd moved to have a go at quilting these so once my new sewing area is set up I'll get going with this.

Anna persuaded me on twitter that it would be good for me to get involved with the Bee and I'm really looking forward to getting lots of practice at making different blocks and getting to know you all.

Hello!

I'm Jessica, and I'll be October's block!

I'm a Quality Assurance engineer in the automotive industry during the day, a graduate student at night, and a quilter (and fabric shop owner) during all the times in between! 


Left to Right, My brothers Nathan and Joshua, my SIL Kayleigh, and Me!

I live near Raleigh, North Carolina, USA with Kona, my Chihuahua-Miniature Daschsund mutt.  I'm sure you don't have to ask, but yes, he was named after a certain type of quilter's solid. 


Gratuitous Dog Pic

I'm super excited to participate in this bee, and I look forward to making a new group of quilting friends!  I blog at Plum Patchwork and hang around on Twitter at @plumpatchwork
See ya around!

Jessica

Hiya!

I'm Suzi and I'll be June's block. I spotted Anna's Tweet and was very excited to be in time to get a spot in the bee.



I'm originally from Barnsley in Yorkshire, but after moving to London for University 14 years ago, we moved out to Surrey a couple of years ago. Despite being in London I managed to find myself a lovely Yorkshire lad! Duncan and I have a two year old son, Ted.

I'm an embroiderer, or at least I'm trying to become one :) I am doing a Certificate in Embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework, but I'm pretty new to quilting. I made a fairly simple quilt for Ted and have been playing with a few other bits and pieces. I'm hoping the bee will push me to try new things as well  as being a chance to meet new quilting friends.

I blog at Suzical and you can find me on Twitter as @Suzical

Suzi
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Designing September's Block

I know we are still in August - the sun is finally shining for more than 30 minutes in the UK - but we are running towards the start of September very fast!

September is going to be crazy for me - I have 3 new adult classes starting 4 after school clubs and 2 scout groups to run - so I thought I would design my block nice and early.

The block design was inspired by bookcases - I am a book worm and I have a huge passion for gorgeous books! I wanted to design a block that wouldn't scare the newbie quilters in the bee, but one that followed my inspiration of book cases.

Bookcases hold books of varying sizes and their spines face out to the world in a mosaic of colours.... prefect for patchwork.

At the Festival of Quilts I had a mission to buy the fabric for the bee. Initially I had thought I would use Kona solids for the book spine element of the blocks, but then I came across Tula Pink and her fabulous Prince Charming collection... I kinda fell in love!

After buying the Candy and Twilight packs I matched them with a grey back ground.

Today I complete the block, taking photos along the way for the instructions for the rest of the bee. This is how it came out:

The patchwork book spines are varying width and heights. Everyone in the bee will be sent a range of fabrics from Tula Pink's collection, but you will notice there is a Nel Whatmore Katherine's Wheel fabric in the too (6th fabric from the left).

This is my personal 'book' in the block. I am going to request that everyone in the bee add a 'book' from their fabric stash so I not only have blocks with different book heights, but also a 'book' that is special to them....

What do you think?

Hello!

Hello there!

I'm Helen and I'm December's block. I'm really looking forward to taking part in a quilting bee, I've watched the progress of many on Flickr and the web and wondered how people know when they're going on. I guess it just takes one person to get a ball rolling - thank you Anna!

I'm a stay-at-home-Mum originally from Birmingham now living in Kent in the UK. I'm married to a lovely Kiwi chappie called Scott and have two, (occasionally), adorable little monkeys aged 7 and 5. I blog at findahappyplace. I've been patchworking on and off ever since my grandmother taught me to sew when I was about 12. Usually only small projects, I didn't complete an actual quilt until my daughter was born. After that hand-pieced, hand-quilted odyssey I decided to get a machine!

Me and my monkeys

I still love paper-piecing but feel the need to get out of my fairly simple comfort zone for machine piecing. I'm really excited about learning some new skillz and hopefully making some new quilting friends! Really looking forward to getting to know you all.

Helen
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Meet the Members!

Welcome to the Anything Goes Quilting Bee!

The bee starts in September with the first fabric packages being sent out by Anna Ryan of Quilting Along the Grain.

Until then we thought you might like to meet the 12 members of the bee who will be swapping fabric, sharing tutorials and sharing stories. Every few days a different member of the bee will be introducing themselves.

As the organiser and sender of the first blocks in September I thought I had better introduce myself!

Me and Midi Monster!

My name is Anna Ryan and I am a long time quilter based in Tetbury, England - it is the town closest to Prince Charles's country residence, Highgrove!

I have been quilting for 16 years and I am extremely enthusiastic about all things fabric, quilting and sewing. I have been many things in the past and have many life experiences, but quilting has always been there!

I am now a single parent to 3 boys, and I teach sewing skills to adults and children across the Gloucestershire.  I teach vulnerable adults for the County as well as private lessons. In my spare time I am a Scout leader - Cubs and Mini Scouts (can't use the proper title,you would not believe the spam emails I get!).

I wanted to start the bee to meet other quilter from around the world and to make a quilt that would have a contribution from people with the same passion as me!

Really looking forward to our journey over the next 12 months!