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!

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!

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.

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!