August!

Hi everyone! 

I can’t believe that it’s the end of our quilting bee! It’s been such a great experience for me and really helped my sewing to come along so thank you all!

 

My quilt is to adorn the bed in the master bedroom which we have recently re-decorated. It is a king bed hence why the block is a less of a block and more of a panel!

It is a chevron block and I took the instructions from the Applique Today blog and you can find them here.

 

I have sent you 15 patterned rectangles and 32 cream squares. Please could you add one 6.5” x 3.5” patterned rectangle of your choice in a similar colourway (aqua/blue/navy/duck egg) so that there is a little bit of each of you in your block!

 

The finished block should look something like this (please feel free to arrange the colours how you like them)

With the remaining half square triangles I would be grateful if you could sew them into small squares like this

Have fun!

April!

Our block for April is here!

The April block is from the wonderful Gina!

The block is called Arkansas Crossroad:

Gina is really excited about getting all the blocks back. Here is the site for one example of directions

http://www.quilterscache.com/A/ArkansasCrossRoadsBlock.html

Hope this looks like fun - sorry for posting so late, so many things to get done last week!

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

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?

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!