The Latest Buzz

The bees are here!  This is as close as I am getting to the box for now until I learn more


A while back I posted about a swarm of bees that were in my tree.  I didn't know what to do about it back then.  I posted a picture on facebook.  A friend from church asked me if I wanted to borrow a bee box from her husband.  I was afraid to because I didn't know what to do with it.  After we got to talking, we realized that I had the bees and the space on my property.  She and her husband had all of the equipment but couldn't practice their hobby any longer because they now live in the village..


My bees buzzed away.  It seems people sometimes call her husband to get rid of their bees but he hasn't been able to do it because of space restrictions.  We quickly put our heads together and decided the next time he got a "bee" call that he would go get them and set them up at our house.  It's our little co-op.  I have been interested in bees for quite a while.  This is a great way for me to learn!  YEAH.  I'm so excited!

Happy Quilting QA -- Cutting

Melissa Cory has invited us, once again, to quilt along with her.  She has designed a fun pattern with just enough curves for this summer called Summer Solstice. 


I will be making a one block quilt.  But it will be one BIG block that is big enough for a baby quilt that is 48" x 48".




Here are my fabrics all cut and ready to sew!  I'm adding them to the linky cutting party at Happy Quilting 6/23/16 post .  and the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long flickr page.

These photos were copied from the Happy Quilting Blog Post.  Aren't her designs gorgeous?  Come join in on the fun!
 


 


 

Allietare! Quilt Top is a Flimsy!

I this this pattern, designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's Quips & Snips, is one of my favorite quilts yet.  I LOVE the colors! Interesting that it is the same color scheme as the Cleveland Cavs (2017 NBA Champs).  (We are not sports fans in our house, but I am considering orange and brown for the Cleveland Browns on the next mystery quilt to see if it brings them some luck.)

I'm considering adding a 3" (finished) black border to frame it and that would help it fit our California King bed.  Any comments on that decision would be helpful.

I'm linking up with Pat Sloan for her UFO Busting Challenge. 






I'll be linking up with Jo at Jo's Country Junction for the UFO Challenge on Wednesday.  I'd like to get this quilt finished by the time Bonnie's new book comes out in September.  Jo will be having a link-up party every Wednesday on her blog to show our progress.

Block Lotto -- A do over...

The blocks I posted yesterday didn't meet the criteria of the bullseye block for the June Block Lotto.  Yes, they were pretty, but there are guidelines in place to make beautiful, uniform quilt blocks for the Lotto.  I rushed through making the block that I did not read the instructions that the first and 3rd ring had to be the same fabric.  Doof!  It happens to me.  I deleted the other blocks in the drawing and submitted these.

 

Bullseye for the RSC16

Today I played with some of my favorite quilt colors, teal and aqua and white.  Here are my four bullseye blocks for the June Block Lotto.  I love the Sophie combined the monthly block with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC16) colors.  It just simplifies things for a busy schedule. 

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for the RSC16.  Check out all the fun others are creating.


 

Winter Wall Hanging Friday Finish

It's finally done.  I finished the winter wall hanging for a customer in Georgia.  Here it is complete with hanging sleeve and all.





Here's the back with the Ohio sun shining through.  What a gorgeous day.

I'm linking up with A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIPS be gone!

Allietare! is pieced and awaiting the inner border!

Allietare! is pieced and awaiting the inner border!  I need to shop my stash for a gorgeous gold.  I got all the rows together and realized I didn't have the last block.  I had to make one, but it went together quickly.  Luckily new scraps arrived to the scrap basket to make my decision easy.  I didn't have to worry about if any of the colors were close to any of the others. 


I this this pattern, designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's Quips & Snips, is one of my favorite quilts yet.  I LOVE the colors!  I'm not sure if I'll go with the black outer border that she did, but I know the perfect one is waiting to be discovered in my stash.

After I posted this I realized that the 2nd star on the left had one of the yellow four patches turned the wrong way.  Don't worry, it has been fixed.

In the above photo I was so excited that this top made it this far that I forgot to sew on the bottom right corner piece.  Whew! I found it in another scrap basket.  Good thing, because all four corners are the same fabric and I didn't have much of that scrap to spare.

I just LOVE it!

I'm linking up with Jo at Jo's Country Junction for the UFO Challenge.  I'd like to get this quilt finished by the time Bonnie's new book comes out in September.  Jo will be having a link-up party every Wednesday on her blog to show our progress.

FNSI Results

Summer has been pretty laid back.  My blog posts have been a little behind.  That means we're having fun. :)


I finished the quilting on the winter wall hanging.

It's fun to sew together for the  Friday Night Sew-In with Wendy for FNSI

 

A Red & White Friday Finish

It's been so long since I've had a finish.  I'm happy to show off todays crib quilt.


This is a gift for the librarian at our local library.  She is always so sweet and kind to us.  Her baby is due at the end of June.  It's kinda small, but I'm sure it will be a hit with the new little one.  I made it red and white because it needed to be gender neutral.  Can't wait to see pics of the little one.

I quilted it with Circle Lord Swirls.  It's one of my favorite quilting templates for sure.

I got the inspiration from a Moda Bake Shop recipe called Lattice and Chains, a beautiful design by Karin that blogs at Cascade Quilts.  Here's the link to the Moda Bake Shop Recipe.   I used my Accuquilt dies and had to make a modification to the pattern.  You can read about the different measurements and dies here.  I originally was making a table topper for my kitchen, but I decided it would be a better crib quilt.  It measures 33" x 39".




I'm happy to link up with Richard and Tanya Quilts for a LAFF (Link A Friday Finish).  Check out all the other fine finishes here.

FNSI Plans

It's time for a Friday Night Sew-In with Wendy tomorrow for FNSI

I plan on working on the quilting on this customer quilt.  My customer lives in Georgia and only comes to Ohio to visit her parents.  She gave it to my last summer. Yikes!  It's time to finish the longarming of it. 

Here are some pictures.  I'm doing a custom freehand (for the most part) on it.

If you haven't signed up already you can do sew HERE .  

Red Table Topper

Just for fun I wanted to play with my new Accuquilt signature die.  I bought this die a few months ago and hadn't used it yet.  It's Accuquilt 55356 Signature Block 4.5" Finished.  When combined with Accuquilt 55047 Quarter Square 4" Finished Triangle, I get one quarter of one of the X blocks in this quilt.  Cool, huh?

I didn't trim the corners yet.  That will happen after I quilt it.

I got the inspiration from a Moda Bake Shop recipe called Lattice and Chains, a beautiful design by Karin that blogs at Cascade Quilts.  Here's the link to the Moda Bake Shop Recipe.  The below phot was taken from Cascade Quilts blog.  Check it out! Karin has GORGEOUS stuff!

I did have to modify my 9-patch blocks to fit the x blocks.  My 9-patch is made with 2.5" squares.  The corner pieces are 2" squares, and 2" x 6.5" strips for the outside background fabric.  I think it looks fine for this table topper. 

RSC16 Teal (Pool Blue)

I realize I'm supposed to be working with teal.  But this week I worked on different shades of blue.  Here's what I did...

I'm working on a red project right now, hence the red hourglass block. 

These blocks are for the quilt of the cover of 2011 Sew Scrappy Magazine.

 I'm caught up through May with the 2016 Quilt Doodle Designs BOM.  Here are my Star Mittens (*Mittens).  (I posted one of them last week and finished the other two on Sunday.)

I'm linking up with Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC16. Check out what all the others made this week.

White Bantam Silkies

I only bought two white Bantam Silkies.  They were over a week old at TSC (Tractor Supply).  They are close to three months (90 days) old now.  I still don't know if they are male or female.  I'm hoping I have one of each.  I'm pretty sure that one is a roo, but still not sure about the other.  They are definitely developing a little different from each other.  Hoping that is a good sign.


I'm thinking first two pictures are a rooster (same bird, just two pictures.)  See the "longer" feathers at the top of its head?  It also has a larger comb and larger waddles.  It also has longer feathers on its body.  It doesn't crow yet, nor does it seem to be dominant.  But it's in a flock of 44 with two other full-sized roosters.  A Bantam is about half the size of a regular-sized chicken.

 

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Now the next two pictures I'm hoping are a hen (female).  It has a much smaller comb and smaller waddles.  She is very friendly.  She seems fluffier, probably because of the shorter feathers.  Could I be so lucky that I got a male and a female when choosing from a straight-run batch.  (Straight-run chicks are unsexed chickens.  You don't really know what you are getting (male/female) until they mature.  This breed cannot be sexed by color.

Let me know if you have expert advice.  I posted pictures of them on Backyardchickens.com.  The first person that commented today said they could both possibly be roos.  Time for the waiting game.

Quilt Doodle Designs 2016 * Mittens

Whohoo!  What a difference a week can make.  I'm caught up through May with the 2016 Quilt Doodle Designs BOM.  Here are my Star Mittens (*Mittens).

I'm looking forward to making the checkerboard wreaths this week!

Here's what I accomplished last week:

Here's the rest that were done in January:

Looks like I'm using a lot of different scraps.  I think I need a few more dark backgrounds here and there to balance a little more.  Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by my blog.

You can join in on the fun of this QA, lead by Cindy, at Quilt Doodle Designs.

RSC16 -- June Blues

This month the color is blue!  What a great time to get caught up on my 2016 Quilt Doodle Designs BOM scrappy Christmas quilt that I am doing in all blues!  Here's the progress I made this week (except one of the trees that I did months ago):

I also started a new leader/ender project because I got a new Accuquilt die.  It's number 55396, 3.5" (3" finished) hourglass.  I really like it!  Here's two blues for this week and I finished up the greens that were scraps on my desk.

These blocks are for the quilt of the cover of 2011 Sew Scrappy Magazine.

I'm linking up with Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, 2016 (RSC16).Check out what all the others made this week.