Sunday, April 9, 2017

Honey Pot Bee March blocks - paper piecing

Not gonna lie. Paper piecing was a challenge for me. I downloaded that pattern for the As You Wish letter block, and watched a video, and tried my luck. With very frustrating results. The most frustrating of which was putting the project aside for a while. (this version was headed for the trash) I didn't want to give up on the quilt block bee, but the last two March blocks were paper piecing, and I just wasn't ready.

Then the April blocks were posted. Another paper piecing block. But this one was a star block, and I could see the logic in the construction, and could have built it without the paper. AH HA! So, once more into the fray. This time, I looked at the pattern and cut pieces that I was going to need. I cut them larger that they would strictly need to be, because I know that placement is one of my weaknesses. You know, that "how do I position this fabric so that after I sew the seam it lies where it is supposed to?" Yeah, that. So larger pieces helped. Not humongous, but half to a full inch bigger all the way around than they would actually need to be to fill the space on the paper. It really helped to have the pieces cut out. One my first attempt, I was trying to cut the pieces as I went. It didn't help much, which contributed to the frustration.

Yesterday, I sewed. The putting the back of the fabric to the back of the paper still felt weird, but I managed to be consistent with that. (Yes, sometimes I still have to check if I got the front to front of the fabric - even after many YEARS of sewing.) I still made some placement errors and had to pick out a line of stitching. I even made a cutting error and had to cut that piece again and resew (boy did that feel dumb!) But nothing that I couldn't recover from. Nothing that made me lay the piece down and walk away.

As You Wish, a letter block
This is the March block, that caused me such problems on the first attempt. It isn't perfect, but this bee isn't about perfect, for me. It is about stretching my sewing boundaries. and this block certainly did do that.

I learned several things in this process. The first was about precutting the pieces. Which, if I was thinking, is what I do for other blocks, so why would I think I shouldn't for these? Having to cut them bigger seems kind of wasteful to the Granny in me. (My Granny lived and made do through the Depression, and wasn't big on wasting ANYTHING.) But then, I've saved these scraps of fabric in big tubs so that I have them to do this with. I have to tell myself the learning means it isn't wasted!

The second thing I learned is that even though I can do paper piecing now, and I will not shy away from any of the paper pieced blocks on the bee, I wouldn't want to make a whole quilt that way. Some people love a process like paper piecing provides. Some people are all about that process. To me it seems fiddley. Like I'm going over the same material too many times. Printing the pattern, sewing the pattern, picking out the paper afterwards. It DOES help get the points in the right places, and that is an attraction, so I may have to revise this opinion some day in the future, when I have more time on my hands. At that point, I think I would also experiment with different (lighter weight) paper as well.

One thing that was helpful about the paper pattern, was that I could mark the various pieces with which fabric I should cut them from. Of course, it helps to look at some finished example of the block so that you get the finished look that you are going for. My star block turned into a variation on the theme as I mistook which parts of the "rays" should be in the background fabric. Basically which parts were actually the rays.

April star block
I don't think it looks bad, just different from they others. The same piecing was there. The same learning. I am actually pretty happy about my points on the triangles, and that I got the various sections to meet up where they should, so my corners are pretty good too! And, even after my admission that I don't love paper piecing, I will probably print out another pattern of this and have another go at it. Maybe not this weekend, but...

I'm not sure I would have taken on the challenge of learning to paper piece on my own, so I'm glad that the Honey Pot Bee pushed me to try something new. I'm also happy that I went into the Bee with the attitude that I was willing - and wanting - to learn along the way, so I was open for the challenge. I also like to acknowledge that there was reinforcement of some things I already knew, and now, I actually know that I know them!

By the way, there is still one paper pieced block that I have yet to tackle. it is a numerical block for 2017, that I think will be perfect for the quilt that I am putting together from these blocks. What a way to mark a memory.


Sunday, February 26, 2017

The February Crown - Honeypot Bee

This month, in the Honeypot Bee, there was an extra, surprise block. A crown. A very fun block, with many variations possible, and so many of the quilters on the Bee showed off some awesome blocks.

I liked that the block used a technique that was previously used, the half square triangle, and then took it a step further, creating a block with three triangles, two smaller than one. I don't know where I got off in my measurements and/or construction, but while the crown called for a total of 4 of these blocks, I managed to create 8, and then need 5 of them to fill the space of the "body" of the crown. I went with it, and didn't fret too much, although I suspect I will try this block again, to see if I can improve on it.

I dub thee...

I thought the celestial fabric was fun for this block, but the big pieces get too cut up. I like the blues, and the movement in the checker fabric, although if I do try this block again, I will probably make different choices. The learning for this project is not just about doing the sewing, but also choosing the fabrics.  I really like seeing what choices others make as well, so I can see what might and might not work for me.

I also worked on some more pantry jars, but had no luck finding more of the fabric I wanted to use for the background... I'll look some more in different stores, but I do have a backup plan. I also finished up my tiny pinwheel blocks. Why does it take a photo to help you find all the flaws?

pinwheels
I also found another block. Don't even remember what I made it for, but I figured it could go into the pot for this bee quilt, anyway.... and it has pinwheels too!

...and around they go...
Soon we are on to March, and new blocks. Looking forward to it!


Sunday, February 19, 2017

Star Kisses Block - Honey Pot Bee

This week's challenge was the Star Kisses block. This block features flying geese, which are made similarly to half square triangles. Instead of matching up two squares, the flying geese are made with a rectangle, which one sews two squares to, diagonally, one at each of the long ends. It ends up being a rectangle with a big triangle in the middles, and two smaller right angle triangles, one on each side of the larger one. It is - and isn't - harder than the half square triangles. Making the geese wan't bad, but getting the points to show as points, but not float too far off the seam is a challenge, but a different challenge than getting all the half square triangle points where they should be.

I picked three fabrics that I liked together, and went to cutting, cutting, cutting. I chose where I would like my paisleys to end up. Not exactly a fussy cut, but definitely not random. As I made the flying geese, I sewed a second, smaller half square triangle from what would have been discarded. Some of the quilters in the bee had done so, and they were very cute.

Mini pinwheels
I knew that the small scale would not make me happy, but I tried them anyway. After all, the bee is a learning challenge, and you can't learn if you don't try. Some of these meet up better than others. My plan is to alternate these pinwheels with a solid color and make to narrow "filler" blocks for the quilt. I feel like these small half square triangles fall into the "waste not, want not" category, but they are definitely not my thing.

Once the geese were made, the construction of the block went along pretty well, and while my block is not perfect, it is certainly recognizable as a star kisses block. I have now made flying geese. Yay, me!

check out those paisleys
On the one hand, I have a fondness for a trellis type design, and I think these blocks would make a very nice over-all design. On the other, I can't say I'm fond of making the flying geese, and I'm not sure I would want to make a whole quilt from them. I suppose they would have gone more quickly and easily if I had not been making the secondary smaller half square triangles, though.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Honey Pot Bee - Where "Someday" Meets "Today"

I'm so glad I decided to join in on the Honey Pot Bee. I've enjoyed stretching my boundaries, even here, barely starting the second month. The blocks for this month are Star Kisses from Living Cloth, a block that incorporates the flying geese pattern, and the Quilter's Pantry from On the Windy Side.

I'm mostly going to be focusing on the jar block today. About 10 years ago, a friend and I were trying to egg each other into quilting. Here is one of the patterns I bought, and collected some fabric for, and then put them in a shoebox tub and there they sat. I kept thinking, I'll make that for my daughter, someday. She'll love it. Some day...



Now that she's 14, I don't think it is quite her style any more. But it is so much fun! I think it's just my style, now.

This month, the Quilter's Pantry block took me right back to that fun little quilt that I never got started on. Then, the sewists who are more on-the-ball than I am, started posting their jar blocks. Oh. My. Goodness!! The variety! The versatility! The cuteness!! I just have to make a Dina's Pantry Quilt. Oh, yes I will!  I've no shortage of novelty fabrics, and I will throw in a few that aren't as they will make great jars as well. I'll stack some, too and.. and... and...

Yeah. This thing just took off. The blocks are easy, almost foolproof, and very easy to modify into a wide variety. I could get going on a production line as long as my lid, shelf and background strips lasted. My biggest problem this week was remembering to put right sides together. Yep, that beginner's issue (and I'm no-where near a beginner, but still...). I even had to pull out the seam ripper.

I got some jar blocks started, and have a few almost finished. (I'm going to have to decide on a shelf height before I put the top rows on) You can see what fun I've been having:

jars on the shelf!
This is only part of the fun. It wouldn't be me without...

To boldly go...
There are more in the pipeline, so to speak, as well.

jars in the works

I want to make some shorter ones to stack. I also need to make at least one to lie on the shelf. Also, a few people were making smaller lids for their jars. While the one I'm making is easier, I think I will do some of those as well. My lids won't all be green, and I have several fabrics I want to use for shelves. I am planning to be consistent with the background fabric though. I  really like that light tone on tone not-quite-white background.

What are my plans for this quilt? Well, I have a little trailer, which has twin-sized bunk beds. A twin sized quilt or two are just what the camper ordered, and if they aren't perfect, they will still be warm and snugly... and therefore, perfect anyway. And great practice for me. Now I have a plan for the other blocks I'm making, too. Win/win for me this month.



Sunday, January 22, 2017

Honey Pot Bee Strawberry Style

The last of the January blocks for the Honey Pot Bee is a strawberry. There were two sizes to choose from, and  I pretty much just picked the first in line. It was the smaller of the two.

Here's my finished block, and although it isn't perfect, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Cute tiny birds on the white fabric

I mostly got my corners and points to meet up. I definitely still need to practice those, although I think I'm learning to manage them a little better. The small blocks feel rather fiddley to me, which I mentioned in a previous post, but there is less fabric for them to stray from meeting seams, so maybe that is helpful.

Not that I think I'm being profound here, or anything, but here is where my learning curve is. Precision cutting is important (and probably not my forte). Being carefully even on my seam allowance also seems pretty important, and I think - no, I'm sure - I did better on that in this block than the Starflower block.

Another thing I noticed in the construction of this block is that the fewer the seams to sew across the better. So, I did not put this together in rows, but built it up in twos and threes, eventually having only one seam that had all four seams to match up. Of course matching up the squares is easier than the half square triangles as there is a difference - at least to my brain - between where the diagonal seam will match up, and where it seems like it should match up. I have to learn to just take it on faith that if I go by seam allowance, it will come a lot closer to matching.


The other January blocks
Here are my other blocks for January.  Now I get to look forward to the February blocks!

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Rainy Sunday Sewing Honey Pot Bee Style

Hooray for a three day weekend. If you think I wouldn't be ready for one, only one week into the new semester, you would be wrong! It has been raining off and on all day, and except for a short patch around noon, cloudy and rather gray. I'm not complaining, we don't get the rainy days that other places get, so it is nice for a change, and the water is always welcome. It also makes for a great day to sew as I finished up laundry, and let the crockpot do the cooking. (MMM, and a perfect day for 15 bean soup with sausage.)

So the day of sewing meant that I could work on my Honey Pot Bee Blocks. I sewed together my January Star Flower blocks.

two blocks!
Half square triangles are a challenge for me because of the precision that well-made blocks require. One of my personal philosophies of sewing and crafting is to NOT be a perfectionist. The finish is important, and I know myself that the quest for perfection can stall a project. Still, the technical challenge of them is also important in the learning process. Mine are not perfect, but they aren't bad, either. Extra bonus that even having done those, I'm willing to practice with half square triangles again soon.

Another Honey Pot Bee finish is the mug rugs that I wanted to make. I got them Machine quilted today. I just used a long stitch and followed the shape of the tree. Usually I use the multiple layer stitch,, but since I was planning to use more stripes of quilting, I just went with the regular stitch.

Ready for a cup of anything!
Something I learned from these was that I should have quilted these to the batting, and then added the backing. Then quilting off the edges would have been covered by that sewing. Still, I like the effect of the quilting showing up on the back, too, so...

Finally, the last Honey Pot Bee block for January is a Strawberry block. More half square triangles. This time there are 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch blocks. Almost too small of a scale for me. I know there are quilters who do an AMAZING job with teeny blocks (not that 2 inchers qualify for that) but those just seem too fiddly for me. But there are fewer half square triangle on the strawberry, so I think I will attempt it. Oh, yeah, my stash is not so full of pinks and reds to make that strawberry. Oh, but some of the others in the bee have posted blocks made in blues and purples, and they are gorgeous. I ran across some scraps today that inspired my strawberry block pallete, and here's what I came up with...

Berry block fabrics

The fabric I'm using for the background is a vintage remnant that I think I inherited from my mom's stash. The purple weavey one is from her too. It makes me happy to be reminded of my mom like that. I'll work on cutting out the blocks later, and may get a chance to sew up the half square triangles at least tomorrow.

Progress definitely made today!


Sunday, January 8, 2017

Honey Pot Bee January

One of my goals for this year is learning crafty/sewy stuff. To that end, I decided to try out a quilt block bee, and the one I chose is the Honey Pot Bee, which I found out about on Facebook, from one of the Sewing pages I have show up on my timeline. You should also be able to find them on Facebook. I know there is a Facebook page for the bee.

The first block - a bonus block - was for a tree. Actually, you make two of them, reversing the fabrics. Here are mine:


Trees!!
I haven't decided whether I will complete the challenge and make a whole quilt top from my blocks, or just figure out projects for the blocks. I'm leaning toward the quilt, because well, yeah. QUILT! But, I know I will also find projects along the way. For instance the top set of trees is becoming mug rugs. Here's the progress on that.

Front of one block, back of the other. They both will have the same fabric on the back.
I just need to stitch around the edges, and machine quilt them to be done. I haven't decided what exactly to do for the quilting. I don't really think just outlining the shapes will be enough.

The second set of trees got sewn together to make a block for the quilt-to-be. The blocks for this bee will be many different sizes so I will probably have to figure out something for borders, but that can be a future decision.

one quilt block CHECK!
The two official January blocks are a star block and a strawberry block. I have been working on my star block, and haven't decided on whether I will take on the strawberry or not. I probably will if I can find fabric I like for it in my stash. I will also decide whether it will be red/pink or some other combination.  One of my personal challenges for something like has more to do with aesthetic than it does with sewing skill. Don't get me wrong, the precision piecing takes practice and patience, and one of the things I really like about the tree block was that it didn't have to BE precise. I'm fine that the trees on my block above are a little wonky and off center. I don't think that hurts the block at all. But the half-square triangles on the star block will have to be more precisely sewn. It will be a challenge, but not like the challenge of picking fabrics that work together. Again to the trees above, I really like the yellow with the busier browns and reds, but that so could have not worked. Some times, my taste is all in my mouth. So that is a challenge. For a finished quilt, will I be able to pull them all together somehow?

Anyway, the half square triangles are sewn for the star block, and my next step will be to sew them together in the block. The instructions suggest working out from the middle of each row, and I will definitely try that. In the mean-time, here is the layout for the star I'm making.

A star in black grays and black.
I like it, I think, even though some of the grays have some pinkish tones and others do not. I tried to be thoughtful in the placement so they would play well together. I have enough for two blocks, but I won't sew them together like the trees. I'm not even sure they will both go into the quilt pile, but I think they will.

I'm happy with my progress so far, even though it is only the first month.


Tuesday, January 3, 2017

New Year 2017

I'm not so much of a resolution maker. I am, however a goal setter. I think there is a difference. Resolutions are kept or - more often - not and then they're gone. Goals are a process. Something that gets worked on until its met, and the process may be as much about the road as the destination.

Generally speaking my goals are to improve my health, physical and mental. For me, mental health includes creation. I haven't posted much creatively this year, sadly, and although that doesn't mean I haven't been creative, I haven't been as productively creative as I would have liked. And I haven't been as good at recording my efforts as I have been in the past.

Blogging about my creations seems... braggy? Show-offy? Attention seeking? Perhaps I am willing to do all three of those things, but to do it continually gets to be a little much. For a while, I was reading several sewing blogs regularly, but not so much any more... and many of those bloggers have moved on... to new blog sites if nothing else.

I think I've written about creative learning process here, and making this space about that. The problem is, I haven't made as much of a point of sharing that as I set out to do, so I will remind myself of that and set some goals.

1.   Sewing with knits. I need help and practice. I bought a Craftsy class on it, and on using my serger and somewhere between those two things, should come some improvement, and some practice. I bought some (what I hope is) lovely bamboo jersey knit. I know, right? I can't wait to feel it! And I definitely want to make something wearable from it! So, I have some incentive to work on this creative goal.

2.  The Christmas ornament boxes. You know, the ones I wrote about in my last post. I've made a little progress getting snowflakes crocheted and I've been soaking them in sugar water and stretching them to dry. They still need to cure some, to really harden up, but they look something like this now.

stack of snow flakes

I need to make some more and get them through the process, hoping to add a dozen snowflakes to each box of ornaments. I also want to do some smallish cross stitch ornaments, which will also store flat and fit easily into the box. I have plenty of patterns to choose from, and none should be a huge project in itself.  I have cross stitched some ornaments onto perforated paper in the past and been happy with how they turned out. A little fabric paint on the back holds the threads in place, and makes the whole thing  a little more substantial.

3. I have been wanting to do more quilting, and so I think I will participate in a quilting bee this year. I found one that will be happening all year, and at the rate of 2 blocks per month, I think I could do that. And then have a quilt by the end of the year.

4  One last project that I would like to get done this year, is a Christmas tree skirt. I thought about making one while I was on this winter break from school, but the motivation didn't really happen. Sigh. I helped Carl with some sock monkeys, so it wasn't like my sewing machines sat totally idle.

smile, sock monkey, smile!
I also hemmed some receiving blankets in case of any new arrivals.

So cheerful and happy...

So, I should keep myself busy, right? And write about it to, right? Part of processing and internalizing that creative process.

I should also update the afghan progress. It did get repaired, and finished. It has also received the feline nod of approval.

Artemis and Janis say it is quite comfy.
I also admit to enjoying some social creativity, so maybe, that will happen some this year, too, one way or another...

Happy New Year!