Bee Blocks 2.0

It’s been a long time since I’ve visited this bloggy space.  I always think I’m going to have more time than I actually do.  Making big plans to clean, sew, or visit with friends…which always ends up never happening for one reason.  

She sure is cute though!

I’ve managed to keep up with my bee blocks for the Simple Bee though.  It’s been easy since I’m using my own scraps and the blocks are easy.  See for yourself!

March Bee Block for Alisha

April Bee Block for Anna

April Bee Block for Heather Rae

We’re using the Garden Fence Block tutorial from Hyacinth Quilt Designs.  My month was March and I requested red and aqua.  I’ve received most of my blocks already and can’t wait to put them together.

Announcing….

the South Jersey Modern Quilt Guild!!!

Our first meeting is Tuesday April 24th at 7pm.

Details can be found here.

P.S. Tell all your friends!!

Thankful for….

these two.

Things are so different this year!  Who knew last year that this year I’d have this little one!

She’s changed so much already.  It feels like she was just born yesterday but she’ll be a month on Sunday!

So much to be thankful for this year!  Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Emma

She’s here!!

Baby Emma was born on October 27th.  She was a whopping 8 lbs 6 ounces and 22 inches long.  Everything went well besides the 25 hours of labor in the hospital. 

Emma is a little over two weeks old now so I snapped a few pictures of her on the latest quilt I completed.

This is a cheater quilt that I started at a guild sewing night.  I saw the fabric print on someone’s blog (can’t remember who) and knew I needed to make this for the baby!  It’s perfect for tummy time. I quilted it using an all over stipple and backed it with a  Kona cotton solid.  I saved the binding until I was “too” pregnant to feel like doing any other sewing so I finished it just days before Emma’s late arrival.

We’re all adjusting to being sleep-deprived and I almost feel like sewing again!

Scrap Bee Complete

So my first and only bee is wrapping up.  I have to say it worked out perfectly.  We’re finishing up 2 months early as we had 2 participants drop out…who just happened to have the months of November and December.  Perfect for me since who knows how much time I’ll have to sew with a newborn…who’s arrival is late!

For August. our bee mama asked for a block to make Mona W’s European Stories Quilt.  A very easy block to make…I was really hoping to send Corley an appliqued block but nothing came out quite right so I fussy cut a MoMo print.  I dove into the scrap basket for the border and love the scrappy outcome. 

I was slightly confused about September’s block…Christine requested a Scrappy Depression Block, basically sewing a bunch of half square triangles together any way we wanted.  I might have taken it a bit too literally, because my block looks nothing like anyone else’s….

Pam requested a monochromatic, crazy, scrappy block using Aneela Hoey's tutorial.  We each picked a different color to send and although my pink scraps/stash far out weigh any other color I chose red to challenge myself.  I like how it came out but I don’t think I could make more than 2 of these blocks ever.  It’s good to try new things though.

I’m currently on maternity leave from work…baby girl is a little late arriving….5 days past so far!  Here’s my 34 week belly at my last Phil’s game of the season!

Here’s hoping she comes soon!!

Milestones…

For most of my pregnancy, I’ve been pretty quiet.  But recently, I’ve hit a milestone and I want to celebrate.

28 weeks!!!  { the point at which baby’s chance of survival outside the womb is 90%.  Now obviously I want her to stay put for another 10-12 weeks but each milestone makes me breathe a little easier.}

28 week belly….{Edited:  Currently ~31 weeks…just really behind in blogging}

At this point, I’m feeling incredibly unprepared.  Baby’s room is in shambles…electrician isn’t coming until next week…and we haven’t really bought much yet.  With the electrician coming, buying anything else has been on hold since we already have huge crib and changing table boxes taking up space; not to mention the glider and ottoman in the middle of my living room since there isn’t anywhere else to put it. 

This baby girl is active…all day long.  I love feeling her little kicks and punches, but sometimes I feel like she is going to burst out of my stomach.

Since I can’t get her room ready, I’ve been knitting and sewing.  My knitting skills are limited…but I’m pretty proud that I could make cute little baby hats.  I’ve definitely picked up the knitting bug and am trying to teach myself how to knit all sorts of crazy patterns.

This is one of the hats I made…my first project using double pointed needles.  I’m finishing up the last few row using the same hat pattern but in pink.  Not sure what my next knitting project will be…surely something baby related!

More Bee Blocks

I’ve had more energy lately….and I think I might be starting to nest. lol!  I’ve been obsessed with cleaning, knitting little baby hats, and sewing for baby.  Cooking and food shopping have not been high on my list of priorities but one’s husband can only starve for too long before going to the market, right?!

Since I’m not up for basting large quilts on the floor quite right now, I decided to get a jump on July’s bee block.  This block is for Susan in the Scrap Bee.  Susan requested a “square in a square” block using aqua, orange, and green.   

Fabric for Susan’s block came from the scrap basket, except the orange.  I picked some up recently because I have very little orange in the stash.  Using orange scares me….I love the orange tulip print above, but when it comes to using orange I hesitate to put it into a quilt. 

Am I the only one with an orange (or other color) phobia?

My block for the Scrap Bee was May.  My plan was to make a few extra blocks for my quilt so it would be a little larger for the baby.

I’ve made two blocks so far using scraps from other projects.

My favorite print is that zebra one.  Isn’t it fantastic!  It came in a scrap pack I bought online so I only have a small piece.

The first block seemed really time consuming to make….these blocks go really smoothly if you have your scraps cut into strips and pressed.  The second block went a lot quicker once I organized my scraps.  Not sure how many more I’ll end up making, but if your scrap bin is overflowing I highly recommend these blocks using this tutorial.

Summer Sewing

I’m so happy to be able to show this Frenchy Bag (pattern by Amy Butler) on the blog because it’s finally finished.  I bought the fabric for this bag back in December and it’s been sitting in my “WIP” pile for what feels like forever.

Here she is!

Fabric is Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry.  This fabric line is awesome!  I might’ve picked up enough of it to make another bag….

This is a long over due gift for my brother’s girlfriend.  I hope she likes it!

Other things I’m working on….

I received this little bundle of fabric at the PMQG June Meeting.  Jay McCarroll was our guest speaker and brought lots of goodies to show us.  You can check out a full recap over on Andrew’s blog. 

Jay launched the Modern Quilt Guild’s Habitat Challenge at our meeting.  Each guild member was given a fabric pack to make an original block to submit for Jay to pick a winner.  I brainstormed for a bit and came up with something I like.  All of the blocks made will eventually go into charity quilts to send to Japan.