QUILTING newBEEs June Blocks

For June in QUILTING newBEES, Elizabeth requested 12.5 inch star blocks.  I had fun making both of these and have a new rule for myself, "Think three times, measure twice, cut once".  (See second block.)

I made this block following the "love in mist" tutorial from "Modify Tradition".

And this block was something I came up with on my own.  The two stars are called friendship stars and then, I set them like a four patch block using the aqua check for the other blocks.  (I didn't intend for the points to be broken off of the stars but that's what happened...If you really want to know where my math went wrong, I can explain - star blocks were 6 1/2 inches unfinished and I cut them down to 6 so, when I attached the aqua, off came the tips...).  I fussy cut the centers of the stars to show off the flowers in the fabric and added the cream border to bring the block up to 12.5 inches.

QUILTING newBEEs April Blocks

Here are the blocks I have received back so far from hosting QUILTING newBEEs in April.  I still have a few to receive and plan to make a few more to fill in.  I am considering using the "quilt as you go" method since this will be a larger quilt.  Have you ever tried that?  There is a tutorial/quilt-along from "sewtakeahike": Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

I am planning on an arrangement like this alternating between brown border and scrappy borders of the log cabin blocks and no sashing in between.

May Blocks for QUILTING newBEEs

This month is Alek's turn to host QUILTING newBEEs, a virtual quilting bee.  She requested Modified Bento Blocks using two different Kaffe Fasset prints for the centers and lots of different Kona solids for the strips. Here is what I came up with:

Each block measures 10 inches square.

For those of you that think I'm speaking a foreign language, I provided lots of links! :)

QUILTING newBEEs - April Blocks

April is my month to host the virtual quilting bee, QUILTING newBEEs. Yesterday, I sent out fabrics to the 11 other ladies to make blocks similar to these.
Most of the fabric is Debbie Mumm for JoAnn fabrics. This style of block is called a log cabin and is very simple to make. If you would like to see step by step pictures check out my flickr set here.

I'm looking forward to receiving all the other blocks that the ladies create and putting them together to make a picnic blanket for this summer!

QUILTING newBEEs - sneak preview

Here is a sneak preview of some of the fabrics I will be sending out later in the month for my online quilting group. I am requesting scrappy log cabin blocks using the tree/bird fabric as the center. Three green and tree fabrics are Debbie Mumm for JoAnn Fabrics.

I started an online quilting bee.

Did you know that there is a such thing as virtual quilting bees? One of my goals for 2010 is to learn more about quilting so, I started one! I decided to call it QUILTING newBEEs since most of the members are new quilters. (And, in case you didn't know that newbee or newbie is a word, read this.)

Here's how it works: There are 12 members and we each take a turn hosting a month over the course of a year. When we host we send out fabric to the other 11 members along with the type of quilt block we would like them to make and then they send it back to us.

If you want to check us out you can go to our flickr group. We even have a cool icon that one of the girls came up with! And she turned it in to a fancy button for our blogs too so, whenever you want to see our flickr group, just click on the button!There isn't much in the flickr group yet but, I am hosting the first month (April) and will be posting a sneak peek of the fabrics I bought soon! If you are new to quilting, follow along with us to learn some beginner friendly quilt blocks (our group is full now but you could still learn the different blocks with your own fabric if you would like) or better yet start your own virtual quilting group!

Here's who is in the group: Me, Melissa, Judy, Nora, Trina, Brooke, Elizabeth, Susan, Cindy, Ruth, Leah, and Alek!