Modern Block Monday - Transitions

For September's Bee Sewcial theme, Anne from playcrafts chose the theme transitions. I decided to do an improv, bargello like block to mimic the colours in and the reflective water of her inspiration painting, Central Park by Leonid Efremov.

Getting started - lots of improv strips.

More progress. 

The finished block. 

Approx. 17" by 24".

Check out what my bee mates made for Anne in the #beesewcial feed on Instagram.

You are always welcome to follow along with the prompts and post your blocks to Instagram under the #inspiredbybeesewcial.

Mmmm Bacon Bee Sewcial Block - Modern Block Monday

I'm a little behind in sharing my bee blocks for Bee Sewcial this past year. I adore this bee because we are given a prompt for the month and we are to design the block(s). It's a little daunting sometimes, I'll admit, but what a fantastic creative stretch.

And speaking of creative stretches, July's Bacon Consideration prompt by Debbie at A Quilter's Table  was the first and only (so far) food prompt I've been challenged with.

For my blocks, I went with raw bacon:

And cooked bacon:

Debbie has finished her bacon quilt, which she calls Baconrific. Do check it out -- it's aptly named!

You are always welcome to follow along with the prompts and post your blocks to Instagram under the #inspiredbybeesewcial.

Modern Block Monday - Tic Tac Toe

Happy holidays, all! We finally got some snow here yesterday. Yay! It's actually starting to feel like Christmas...after Christmas. Go figure. The kids had a blast playing outside yesterday so I snuck up to my studio to do a bit of sewing. Win-win.

Just enough time to finish my last block for the Canadians Quilt Bee 2015. This Tic Tac Toe block (tutorial on Blossom Heart Quilts) was requested by Lisa in Port Hope. She requested the block in navy, aqua and low volume. Hopefully she'll like this one. It was a fun one to make.

Hope you are seeing some sewing time too!

Modern Block Monday - Courthouse Steps

Now in my book, Courthouse Steps is one of the most traditional blocks there is. So why am I featuring it for Modern Block Monday? Mostly because I think it's a great block regardless of how long it's been around and because I think many so-called traditional block can be made fresh and modern with the choice of fabrics. Let's go for a little modern traditionalism today, kay?

Jaclyn in my Canadians Quilt Bee asked for this block using this yummy colour palette and using this tutorial from Displacement Activity. I have made this block before, but not the way indicated in the tutorial. The tutorial has you cut the strips wider than needed and then trim down after it's been sewn to the block. This is a great way of making sure the block is accurate. As my 1/4" seams are now more accurate than they used to be, I found the almost 1/2" trim too much so I cut my strips to 1.75" after the first couple of rows.

I can't wait to see what Jaclyn does with these blocks!

I'm on deck to host TGIFF! this week so get those finishes ready and join me!

Modern Block Monday - Pinwheel Squared

Happy Monday, all! The December block for my OMQG bee is a fun and cheerful Pinwheel Squared block. Stephanie provided all of the fabric and the tutorial.

It's made with charm squares. I'm not sure the fabric line or designer, but the colour scheme is making me think of summer!

I like that the work for this one actually makes two blocks. Bonus points from me!

Modern Block Monday - Flip!

The November block for our Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild bee was simple and straightforward. Kirstin asked us to make 15 wonky HSTs (tutorial) using our scraps with a background she provided. We were to leave the blocks separate so she could mix them all together. I had fun revisiting scraps from a lot of the projects I made this year.

Once I had them made, I played a little with the layout:

Flipped them this way:

Flipped them around again:

Really intrigued with this last layout. Thinking wonky Christmas trees. Must be the season. LOL! 

Modern Christmas Tree Blocks

I'm Queen Bee for my Canadians Quilt Bee for December. It took me a long time to decide what to pick for my block, but I've decided to embrace the holiday season and ask my bee mates to make some abstract modern Christmas trees -- okay, just triangles and no trunks. ;)

I am picturing Christmas trees arranged in groups and scattered over a lot of white background. Works for the season, but not too Christmassy.

Here are a couple of test ones that I made:

I made these with a paper-pieced pattern I designed. If you'd like to do one too, use this PDF Pattern for Modern Christmas Tree Block 1. It makes an 8.5" unfinished block. I then added 4.5" strips on two sides, making it 12.5" unfinished.

This is another paper-pieced block. PDF Pattern for Modern Christmas Tree Block 2 also has 4.5" strips added to two sides, making a 12.5" unfinished block.

I can't wait to see what my bee mates come up with!

Modern Block Monday - Arrows

My habit to spend 20 minutes a day quilting is getting tested, but I finished these two arrow blocks for Sheila in my Canadians Quilt Bee so there's some progress. It uses Carla's great tutorial. 

Note to self (and anyone else who is interested): If you do the strips longer at around 24", then you can get two sets of arrow tails out of the strip. It took me a while to wrap my head around this block, but I really enjoyed making them in the end. 

Will definitely be making more of these...

Snippets

A variety of snippets today...

For fabric lovers across Canada, FabricSpark is having a 'take a break from freight' special this weekend -- free shipping on Canadian orders! Sweet! Promo code is Freeship. Made a little trip over there myself to take advantage. :)

For quilt lovers in the Ottawa area, the Running Stitch is having their first Share the Love Quilt Show at two locations -- Kanata Baptist Church (465 Hazeldean Road) and at The Running Stitch (462 Hazeldean Road). The hours for the show are today, Friday, October 3rd from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 4th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hmm, now to figure out how to sneak away from the fam for a couple of hours... ;)

***

On Day 1 of my renewed habit (I promise I won't tell you what I do every day), I made block No. 2 from Tula Pink's City Sampler book. Nice. Easy. Fast. I "heart" this.



Psst...it's Friday! :D

Modern Block Monday - The Trials and Tribulations of the Union Jack

A new week! A new block! Janet from my Canadians Quilt Bee asked for this Union Jack block by Tracyjay Quilts (this free pattern is available on Craftsy). This is a combination paper pieced and pieced block. Boy, did this one test my patience! With myself -- the pattern is just fine!

First, I agonized over the fabric selection. Janet wanted red, white and blue fabrics that read as those, but had some of the other colours in them. For a solids girl like myself, this was a big stretch (This isn't a complaint -- I like doing bees for exactly these reasons). I started with a different white and blue, but realized midway through that I didn't have enough of the white. Seam ripping. A piece of red fabric was too short for one of the paper piecing sections. Seam ripping. Did it again -- same piece! Seam ripping.

This block did not like me. And I didn't like it...until it was done. I wasn't sure about the lighter blue either, but I think it works. Hopefully Janet thinks so too!

Happy Monday, all!

A Little Retail and Block Therapy

I'm in the mood for some retail therapy! How about you?

Fabric Spot is having a Surprise Sale! Until Friday, June 6, Midnight EST, you can get 20% off the store (excludes clearance, sale, gift cards and pre cuts). Minimum cut is 1/2 yard. Remember that Charley Harper Twig fabric in Teal that I used for my needle books? Well, it's on sale at Fabric Spot! And Karen has it in flannel too! Just sayin'.

Also, if you are in the Ottawa area, Mad About Patchwork is opening today in her new location, 2477 Huntley Road in Stittsville, just south of Fallowfield Road. Check out the sneak peek for pictures and hours. Can't make it in person? Doesn't matter, 'cause Pam's offering free shipping on all orders in Canada from now until Friday, June 6th (coupon code: MOVED).

Sew what have I been up to? Not much sewing that's for sure. But I did get a few bee blocks done last week.

These fun Curved Improv Log Cabin blocks are for Carly at Citric Sugar (just love that blog name) for our Canadians Quilt Bee. She has a great tutorial on her blog. The block looks more intimidating than it is.

These are Simply Woven blocks for April in one of my OMQG bees. I love how clever this one is to make. Pattern is available for free at Moda Bake Shop. April's doing her quilt with Denyse Schmidt's Flee Market Fancy line. I can't wait to see all the blocks together -- it's going to look fabulous! I will definitely be doing this one again.

Hope you are having a great day!

Modern Block Monday - Churn Dash

Happy St. Patrick's Day, all!

Okay, so the Churn Dash is not a block that screams modern. I'm a believer though that anything 'traditional' can be made 'modern,' be it through fabric choice or layout. Carole from my OMQG bee asked for the iconic Churn Dash block. She provided the cheddar background and we were to supply the feature fabric.

I chose two prints from Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy line for my blocks. The browns go wonderfully with the cheddar.





Hmm, is it me or are these blocks feeling rather traditional? It's the colour combo, isn't it? I may have to revise my earlier statement. LOL!

In the 15+ years I've been quilting, these are the first Churn Dash blocks I've ever made. My 1/4" seams are darn near perfect -- squee! :) I feel like I've just gone through a quilting rite of passage. Any iconic blocks or quilts that you view completing as a rite of passage?

Other blocks from this series:

• Mini Me
• Sherbet Stars
• Improv Blocks
• Confetti
• Lucky Pieces
• Modern Butterfly Block
• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month (with solids) and with prints
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps
• City Sampler #1
• Cross
• Scrappy Rectangle

Happy Monday, all!

Cross

I taught my first free motion quilting workshop on Saturday for the Ottawa Valley Quilt Guild and it was so much fun. What a great group of students to work with! It was exhausting too though, and I think I was in bed by 10 that night and that was after falling asleep on the couch. LOL. Once again, I'm reminded how hard teaching is and how much I admire those who do it every day!

Lots to do and share this week, but for today, I'll share this block with you for Modern Block Monday. Chelsea in my Canadians Quilt Bee asked for this cross block (photo tutorial). Low volume prints for the back and red for the cross. I can't wait to see her pull all the blocks together -- they will look fabulous!

 

Hope you had a great weekend! What are you working on this week?

Oh, and I thought you might get a giggle out of this too:

Happy Monday, all!

Well That Was Unexpected

Thank you for the great feedback on Purplelicious! I really appreciate your input -- it's so helpful to get other people's perspectives. I'm still responding to your comments and that leads me to the reason for my gripping post title.

On Wednesday afternoon, our temperamental computer stopped cooperating altogether -- fried logic board, it turns out. Ugh! Decisions about the right shade of purple were replaced by decisions to replace logic board or the whole computer. Decisions about the right shade of purple are much cheaper and more enjoyable, I'll tell you that.

New computer won out. Yay! But we're still having problems with the WiFi. Boo! Router, now? Or the OS Maverick operating system? If the problems don't get sorted out soon, this computer may be going back so I'm trying not to get too attached. I definitely did not name it Gala. ;)

Anyways, enough of that. Some of you may remember that one of the blocks I made for my Modern Block Sampler was this Sew Mama Sew October Modern BOM in solids:

As always, I get a kick out of seeing the same block with different fabrics and I hope you do too because Heather in my Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild Bee asked for this block using the green and blue as backgrounds. We were to stash bust the arrow strips. Oddly enough, I was more excited about the green combination before making it, but I think the blue block turned out better. Such a dynamic block though and I can't wait to see what Heather does with them.

Other blocks from this series:

• Confetti
• Lucky Pieces
• Modern Butterfly Block
• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps
• City Sampler #1

Oh and while I was contemplating Purplelicious on the design wall last week and cursing the computer, I finished my Scrap{Bee} top. Yes, it was technically completed in October (it can't have been that long ago?!), but then I changed my mind. Now, it's bigger and, dare I say, better? It's Scrap{Bee} 2.0! Later this week...

Modern Block Monday - Mini Me

Remember this Diamond Ripples block?

And this Follow The Leader one?

Well, I used the triangle cut offs to make this wee block:

Looks more a little more wee beside the 12.5" Diamond Ripple:

The seams don't all meet, but I'm okay with that. I think these are the smallest pieces I've worked with so far. Unfinished, it's 5.5". I think it's going to be a pincushion. I've been needing one near my iron.

That's one little set of scraps used up! :)

Other blocks in this series:

• Confetti
• Lucky Pieces
• Modern Butterfly Block
• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps
• City Sampler #1
• Stuck in the Middle
• Improv

Happy Monday, all!

Modern Blocks Monday - Improv

I hope you had a fabulous weekend! My modern free motion quilting sampler workshop got postponed Saturday due to freezing rain. :( While I was a little disappointed at first, it was a good call. I took my son to hockey a little later that morning and was thankful that I was just bringing him to the arena nearby. Why wasn't hockey cancelled too, you ask? Hockey never gets cancelled, 'cause we're Canadian, and it would be un-Canadian of us to cancel hockey. ;) Yeah, I don't buy it either. The good news is that we were able to find another date next month that would work for the workshop. Yay!

Inspired by the work of Maria Elkins, Jean Wells, and Marianne @ The Quilting Edge, I've been wanting to do more improv and work with more complex colour palettes, so I pulled out a pile of solid scraps in the blue, purple, grey and lime greens. I started with the grey, white and black scrap pieces leftover from my laptop tutorial with Sew Sisters Quilt Shop and began building improv blocks.

It quickly became apparent that it was not one piece but three. Hmm, so much for a complex colour palette. LOL!

I'm back and forth on these; one moment I like them and the next, not so much. I'm told that's often the case with improv so I'm just going to keep going. It's fun!

I'm thinking that the palette I had originally selected would have worked if I hadn't started with the grey, white and black sets. I think the white is the problem here -- the white gives the pop that the lime green was supposed to. Pesky value issue! Oh well, something to try next time.

Other blocks from this series:

• Confetti
• Lucky Pieces
• Modern Butterfly Block
• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps
• City Sampler #1
• Stuck in the Middle

Hope you get some time to play and be creative today!

Giveaway Winner and Modern Block Monday - Stuck in the Middle

Wow, Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day gets bigger and bigger each time, eh? Thank you all for entering and sharing such fab colour palettes with me. It was inspirational to read your colour ideas and now I want to go and try a whole bunch of them. To those of you who decided to follow along with my quilting misadventures, welcome! Without further ado, the winner of the bundle of Depression-style fabrics is:

Congrats, Mary! I will be contacting you for your snail mail address shortly.  

Now for Modern Block Monday. I know -- prints. Me? Yes! The colours in the photo are a bit off, but you get the idea. Our Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild Queen Bee this month wanted Stuck in the Middle from 99 Modern Blocks. I decided it was time to break into the Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy I've been hoarding saving. I got the stripe in the green to be all straight and parallel and everything. Yay! It's the little joys, isn't it? :) I can't wait to do this one in solids for my Modern Block Sampler.

Other blocks from this series:

• Confetti
• Lucky Pieces
• Modern Butterfly Block
• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps
• City Sampler #1

Hope it's warmer in your neck of the woods! It's a 'balmy' -20C here. Brrr!

Modern Block Monday - Confetti

Happy Monday! Pam chose this fabulous Confetti block (inspired by Megan’s Party of Twelve quilt from Block Party — The Modern Quilting Bee) for October for my Simply Solids Carmine group and provided a tutorial on her blog. Confetti was so much fun! I'll definitely be doing this one again for my Modern Block Sampler.

The colours are off in the photo -- it was raining and my camera was being temperamental -- I'd get the aqua right in one photo, but then the solid scraps would be too dark. Then I'd get some of the solid scraps right and the aqua would be washed out. My poor camera's is on its last legs.

Other blocks in this Modern Block Monday series are:

• Lucky Pieces
• Modern Butterfly Block
• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps

Modern Block Monday - Lucky Pieces

Happy Monday, all! It's the last day for my Sew Sisters Birthday Giveaway so if you haven't had a chance to enter, now's the time. I'll announce the winner tomorrow!

***

It's been a while since I've done a Modern Block Monday post, eh? This is the Lucky Pieces block by Faith of Fresh Lemons (link goes to the tutorial). Janet from Caribou Crossing is our September Queen Bee for my Simply Solids Bee (Carmine) group and she wanted us to scrap bust. Yay! I hadn't cleaned up my scraps from All Things Equal yet so I thought I'd add a little light pink and coral for pop. Pretty happy with how it turned out. I hope Janet likes it as well.

Think I'm done with my red/grey phase? We'll see...

Other blocks in this Modern Block Monday series are:

• Modern Butterfly Block
• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps

Modern Block Monday - Butterfly Bee Block

This week's block is my April Simply Solids Bee (Carmine Group) block for Lisa. She designed this great paper-pieced block and you can find the free Modern Butterfly Pattern on her blog. She sent us the seafoam colour and asked us to stash bust the rest. I decided to add some purples and teal on a light grey background. Unfortunately, the colours on two of the purples are showing up more pink than purple in the photo.

Hope she likes it!

Other blocks in this series are:

• How Many Squares?
• Pinball Machine
• It's a Stretch
• Pogo Stick
• Everything Equal
• Woven Block
• Alleyways
• Boxed In
• Scrappy Asterisk
• Higgledy-Piggledy
• Binary
• Pebble Beach
• Parisian Star
• On The Fence - Modified
• Sew Mama Sew's October Block of the Month
• My Fibonacci block
• Diamond Ripples
• Four Acres
• Mondrian
• Sew Mama Sew's January Block of the Month
• Fractured Triangles
• Garden Lattice
• Selvage Strings
• Follow The Leader
• Sea Glass Steps

Look what's basted and on the machine...