Just One More Stitch: Sew Bee Wonky

Showing posts with label Sew Bee Wonky. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Easy Wonky Tree for Sew Bee Wonky

This is the July block for Sew Bee Wonky. It's from the book Modern Quilts in the Blogging Universe.

My wishes for this block:
Background/Neutral - anything from solid white to beige. Any white-on-white or cream-on-cream or beige-on-beige or solids in white/cream/beige will do.
Trees: BRIGHT rainbow colors in modern prints which can include dark pastels (say bright pink but not pale pink, for example). Please do not use black, brown, or any civil war or 30s repro fabric. I'd like my trees to be as bright and modern as they can be. Multicolor trees are fine, too - as long as they're bright and modern.

So here goes.
1. Start with a tree - a triangle shape (wonky or even - doesn't matter) that's no taller than 8" and no wider than 4".
2. Cut a piece of neutral background fabric about 11" tall and any width from 5" to 8".
3. Lay your tree on top of your background fabric as I did below.

4. Using your ruler, cut the background off the bottom even with the bottom of the tree. Set aside for later.

5. Slide your tree about 1/" to the left of its original position. Use your ruler to cut the background fabric along the right side of the tree. Set the piece of background fabric aside for later.

6. Slide the tree to the right so that it extends about 1/2" past the edge of the background fabric. Use your ruler and cut the background fabric along the left side of the tree. Discard the little triangle of background underneath the tree.

7. Lay the tree along the left piece of background fabric as shown. Sew together.

8. Press the seam allowances open.

9. Repeat with right side of background fabric.

10. Press seam allowances open.

11. Attach the bottom piece of background fabric. Press seam allowances open.

DO NOT TRIM THESE BLOCKS. I will trim them to shape and size that I need.

Note: If you'd like to get fancy and add a trunk to the base of the tree, that's fine. It's up to you.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Tutorial - Woven Strings block

I was fiddling around on Pinterest the other day, and saw this quilt. The artist calls it Ribbon Lattice. I really, really like that quilt. Then last year there was a month in Stash Bee where the block we did was called Simply Woven (a Moda Bakeshop Pattern). Here are the Simply Woven blocks I made for Stash Bee:

Now it's my month for Stash Bee in 2015, and I've edited a post from the last time around since I'd love to have more of the same blocks.

Please use a SOLID WHITE background, that's truly white. Examples would be Kona White or Bella, but just make sure it's not cream, or even a light cream. For the strings, use bright colors, but no black.

I figured I could follow the steps in the Simply Woven tutorial but use 1" strips, and come up with a block to my liking. So here we go, and I'll call this Woven Strings.

You'll need 1 9" square of background fabric, and 6 to 8 "strings" that are 1" wide and between 10" and 12" long.

1. Make a freehand slightly curved cut about 1 1/2 - 2" from the left side.

2. Add one of your strings. Press towards the dark.

3. Turn the square so that the first string is horizontally across the top. Make another cut - either slightly curved or straight. Try to mix them up.

4. Insert another strip.

5. Turn the fabric again so that the most recent string is at the bottom as shown. Make another cut.

6. Insert another strip.

7. Keep going - you can make the strings closer together if you wish, to get 4 strings across instead of 3.

8. Keep going!

9. Another one!

10. (I cut before I took the photo...)

11. More...

12. Looks like I have room for yet another string.

13. So make another cut.

14. While this is the last one I inserted for this block, it's possible that you've cut yours close enough together that you can do four across and four down. I'd like any combination - 3 + 3, 3 + 4, or 4 + 4.

15. Please do not trim the blocks - I'll trim them to the size I want when I get them.

Friday, October 11, 2013

A little of this and that

I haven't posted for a month - but have been super busy cranking out tops and blocks! And earlier this week, I dropped off four tops to be quilted - so when those come back, I'll have four completed quilts to share. Here are some things I've been working on lately:

Spools blocks for guild BOM

"Boomers" - made for September Block Lotto

The above block is a double four-patch. Bonnie Hunter made an entire quilt in greens and tans with this block here. I decided it would be a great way to use up my 1.5" squares. (Bonnie's uses 2" squares for the smallest pieces; I used 1.5")

Here are four of the double-four patch blocks laid out.

This top is called "Flower Boxes," from the book Scrap Basket Sensations. I donated it to my guild.

Crayon Box block - October Block Swap Adventure - for Charlene

Crayon Box Block - October Block Swap Adventure - for Charlene

October blocks for Sew Bee Wonky

Stash Bee Hive #4 October blocks for Christy

Chaos Star - Lucky Stars BOM - October

Friday, August 23, 2013

Home! And starting to get caught up

I never did say in this blog where I was going for the summer - and now I'm back. I told all about it on Facebook and on my travel blog Wanderlust, so I guess I need to tell a little bit here.

I was working in Yellowstone National Park. I thought I'd try working for a summer while Don fished, and got hired at the General Store at Mammoth Hot Springs (at the north entrance). We took our trailer, and stayed at Yellowstone RV Park in Gardiner, Montana. At first, the job was fun. It was hard work - I was in the fountain, where we sold ice cream, drinks, and hot dogs. But for a variety of reasons, it became NOT fun after a while, and eventually I got to a point where I decided to leave 3 weeks early. The biggest reason is that I injured my index finger - nerve damage - and I NEED that index finger for my sewing. (Sewing is much more important than a summer job.)

We left here May 5th, spent a couple weeks in the Sierras, and then I worked in Yellowstone from May 20 until August 18. We got home Wednesday the 21st. After a day of grocery shopping and unpacking and organizing, I finally got into my sewing room to sew today. I decided I needed to work on some "obligation" blocks.