Bee blocks

I have finished up my last bee blocks for the year. I love the Modern Stash bee, as each round only goes for 6 months and you generally end up with blocks you want, rather than those that don't fit with what your vision is for a quilt.  I think this is the only bee I will keep on with next year.  Karrie pretty much gave us free range of whatever block we wanted to make but had specific colour ranges. When she first said coral, pink and aqua, I thought, yikes, coral is not a colour I have in my stash, but a bit of searching revealed some Tula Pink in the perfect shade.

Both blocks are from Modern Bee: 13 Quilts to make with friends by Lindsay Connor.  The first is Elizabeth Dackson's block, which I scaled down as the original is a 20" block and the second is by Lindsay herself. I had some troubles with the second block getting it to remain wrinkle free around the circle edges, but I ended up using spray starch which seemed to help. Some swearing was involved as well!

Flea Market Fancy wonky stars finish...

I hope everyone has had a fabulous Christmas.  I just had family here at home which was lovely and relaxed...my sister, her partner and children, my mother and her partner and all my tribe....14 of us in total.   As usual, I ate too much, but it's hard to say no when there is so much delicious food.

We always take a photo on Christmas Day.  It's always fun to look back at how much they have grown. I'm the shorty of the family now, even though I am 5'7".  My kids from left to right Sarah (12), me, Hannah (17) and Nick (14).  

I managed to get some time in the afternoon when everyone was having nana naps to finish my FMF wonky stars quilt.  I decided to FMQ uneven loopy stars to match the wonkiness of the stars.  For the back I made one large wonky star and used some of my fav FMF prints at each end.  The binding is a Denyse Schmidt print.

Close-up of the quilting

More Tula Pink blocks

Blocks 88, 89 and 90 are all done...just 10 more to go.

My baby girl, who is all of 12 years old, had her Year 8 ball the other day.  In NZ, this is the last year before they head off to high school.  It's become quite the tradition to end of year balls or dances for them now. Seriously, some of those girls go all out.... get hair done, make up done and buy very expensive dresses and look like they are about 18 years old.  Some of the girls were tottering around in heels and could hardly stand up.  It's ridiculous, but Sarah was quite sensible about it all and there was no way I was going to buy her high heels!!

Yay...another finish

I worked like a mad woman over the weekend finishing my quilt. I chose one of my fav Lizzy House prints and an Art Gallery fabric for the back. Nothing fancy...just half and half.  I decided to straight line quilt it as I was fairly time pressured.   It is for a friend who has cancer and I need to give it to her this week, so wasn't sure if I did FMQ I would get it done in time.





I found a cute little saying on the internet "Friends are like a bra: Close to your heart and there for support". It was just perfect for her so I attached the label with this on it.

I have also finished another 3 Tula Pink City Sampler blocks, so this is 85, 86 and 87.  Yikes, I can't believe I have nearly finished all the blocks.

I'm on a roll...

I have finished 3 more Tula Pink blocks (82, 83 and 84)

 

So I have put my distaste of basting aside and am tackling another quilt to finish.  This is a quilt I started at Sewing Summit in Amy's HST class. I don't have a hard floor so for the bigger quilts, it means I have to get down on the carpet.  I usually wait until some trashy TV programme is on and then it's not so tedious. I think Sheldon and Penny kept me amused for a while last night!!

And then I got a helper...

But he helped just a little too much!