Modern Irish Bee 2015 Sign Ups Open!

Good morning Modern Irish Quilters!  Sign ups are now open for Modern Irish Bee 2015.

How our Bee works
Online Quilting Bees are usually made up of 12 members, 1 member for each month of the year.  Each member takes their turn at being Queen Bee. The Queen Bee chooses a block she would like the hive mates to make for her and before her month arrives, the Queen Bee writes instructions to make the block.  This typically involves testing the block, noting areas where any changes are to be made or difficulties encountered, to help the Hive have an easier time making the blocks.

Instructions are given to the Hive on the 1st of the month and the hive mates make 2 blocks and post the blocks to the Queen before the end of the month.  Hive mates post images to the Flickr group or on Instagram to share progress.

Choosing a Block
The Queen may design her own block as long as it is tested and instructions are provided to make it.  The Queen may choose a block from a free online tutorial and reference the original tutorial in the instructions and note any changes to be made.  Blocks from published books or paid patterns should not be used, as every hive mate would need to buy a copy to make the block.  Photocopying or emailing a paid pattern is not permitted and infringes on the rights of the author/publisher.  Special tools or fabric required to make the block may not be requested unless the Queen provides them to the hive mates in advance of her turn as Queen Bee.  It is expected that hive mates have access to basic quilting supplies, sewing machine, rotary cutter etc. and are comfortable piecing a 1/4" seam.

Bee Rules
The Bee is open to quilters of all sewing levels.  Beginners may have to learn new techniques to complete the blocks throughout the year.  It is a great opportunity to try new things and blocks you might not normally think of.  We are polling members who want to take part for a shorter 6 month or a full 12 month Bee in the sign up form here, and have asked for sewing skill level in the event we can put more than 1 Bee group together.  We will try and match skill levels where possible. 

This year the Bee is using fabric from our own stash or scrap baskets to make 2 blocks a month for our hive mates.  Blocks may be scrappy or may be made from a chosen colour group and hive mates are expected to pull from their stash the appropriate colours for the block.  Background fabrics may be low volume or any colour family you wish.  A specific fabric or colour from a specific manufacturer should not be specified unless the fabric is being provided.  Please give the hive mates guidance on how to choose the colour for the block for example bright white like Kona white or off white like Kona Snow.  All fabric used in the blocks should be quilt shop quality 100% cotton.

A colour, inspiration fabric pull or a photograph can be very helpful for hive mates in choosing appropriate fabrics from their stash.  If you are unsure of a fabric please post a picture to our Flickr group or Instagram (#modernirishbee) and the Queen Bee can tell you if it will work or not.  It's better to ask than disappoint the Queen who may have to relegate your block to the back as it will not work with the other blocks!

Please post your blocks on time before the end of each month and if for any reason there is a delay please let the Queen Bee know when they can be expected.  It's not fair to expect people to make blocks for you when you haven't made for them.  Please do your very best workmanship and only send out what you in turn would be happy to receive. When sending your blocks in the post please put them in a ziploc or water resistant bag to prevent them from getting damaged in the post.

Join in!
To take part in Modern Irish Bee 2015, you need to be a member of Modern Quilters Ireland (its free - join here!)  Please sign up  to take part in the Bee using this form and if we do not have enough people for more than 1 Bee the first 12 sign ups will be accepted.  Places fill up fast so don't wait if you want to participate.  Sign ups close this Friday 12th December.

For those not able to make the commitment to a full Bee please make the blocks along with us and share to the Flickr group.  All members are welcome to join in the fun!

-Ruth

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: December Block

It is the final month of the Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee 2014 and it is my month. The time was flying and sadly another bee is over. I am delighted to be Queen and hope to finish this bee with an amazing quilt!

If you ever think having 11 month to get ready helps I have to tell you you are wrong. I changed my plans last month and so now I am sitting here last minute to write the tutorial. Are you ready? I chose a beautiful HST block with a beautiful HST center for the first block ...

 ... and a much more gorgeous fussy cut center for the second block!

These are a lot of HST but at the end they come together quite fast. I had already four of the blocks on my wall and I love how they look together. Thank you so much for helping me making this quilt!

I hope you are not scared now and ready to get sewing! Each of the blocks should end in 12.5''. Please use bright colors and Kona white for the stripes/HSTs and press the seams either open or to the color fabric. Ready? Let's get started :)

Block 1:

• 16 * 4'' white squares
• 16 * 4'' different color squares
• 4 * 2.5'' different color squares

You need to make 16 HST trimmed to 3.5''. I, for myself, make them using 4'' squares. Put them right sides together and sew on the right and the left side of the diagonal line, press the seams and trim to 3.5''. You will get 32 HSTs in this step. You can use 16 for the first block and 12 for the second one. I want this quilt to be scrappy so, if you can, do not use the same fabric more than once in one block but you can use them for the second block.

For the first center you take four of the HSTs you just made. Add the 2.5'' squares right side to the white part of the HST and sew diagonaly. Cut back the seam allowance and press.

Now you only have to arrange the HSTs and sew them together. Make lines out of the HSTs and sew the lines together to make the block. Press the seams open in this step and you are done.

Block 2:

• 12 HSTs (you can use the ones you made for block one)
• 2 3/4" center cut (on point)
• 2 * 1.5'' stripes Kona white, 2 3/4'' length
• 2 * 1.5'' stripes Kona white, 4 3/4'' length
• 4 * 3 3/4'' triangles (side length)

The second block only differs in the center. You have the choice to either use the Paper Piece Template or make the block adding stripes to the fussy cut center. I would love you to use a fussy cut center that "represents" you. Feel free to use a fussy cut, stitch or applique. Whatever suits you is perfect. When you cut the center please remember the cut will be on the peak.

If you do not use the paper piecing template this is the construction for the center:
Take the fussy cut and add the 2 3/4'' stripes to the center block on 2 sides. Press and add the remaining 4 3/4'' stripes to the other sides. Press again.

Your finished block should measure 4 3/4''. Finally you need to add the triangles on two sides. Press and add the remaining two triangles to the other sides. Your finished block should measure 6.5''.

If you use the paper piecing template it should be straight forward. I used a leftover piece which I centered at the paper piecing template. After adding two white stripes on the opposite sides I cut back the seam allowance before I added the white stripes to the other sides. After adding the triangles you have to trim the block and remove the paper.

Finally you can assemble the block. Sew the upper and lower line of HSTs together and the HSTs on the sides of the paper pieced block. Add the two HST blocks to the sides of the paper pieced block and press the seams open. Add the upper and lower line and press open again. Done!

I am so excited and looking forward what you are going to make! Have fun and thank you for helping me making this quilt!

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: November Block

Round 2 for me, ding ding!

Anyone who didn't quite enjoy the lack of measuring and exactness of my April blocks will be happy to know this month's block isn't like that ;)

I have had a busy few months, with moving across the country and getting everyone settled and things into some semblence of order. There have been a few constants, one of which being this Sewing Bee, and a number of good friends I've 'met' through sewing and have listened to my moans/rants/rages and made me laugh each of the times!

I was browsing Pinterest for quilt blocks that struck me, when a quilt popped up and pulled me right in. I knew I'd seen it before, and when I clicked on the link, it brought me straight to Fluffy Sheep's blog, and her beautiful gifted Circle of Friends quilt. At that moment, the stars aligned and I had a lightbulb moment!

*warning, it gets a bit fluffy now*

I am part of a circle of women through a Shaman centre, called Moon Mná. We gather each month around the full moon, to tap into the energy, and perform a meditation circle, with some energy cleansing preceding it. It's a time for me, as a woman, to be just that. Things have changed slightly now that I live away from the centre in Dublin, but the circle has changed dynamic too, so there are now remote groups and all synchronising at the same time, in the same theme. Anyway, I digress somewhat, if anyone is interested, message me ;)

So, back to this month's blocks. Using Cindy's Circle of Friends quilt as inspiration, made up of a 'circle' of squares block, I will bring together all of your blocks to create my 'Women's Circle' quilt. I would appreciate if you could do something else for me while making these blocks.... this is entirely up to you, as it is a very personal thing. I would like you to use whatever method you like to imbibe these blocks with positivity, with female energy ;) This could simply be you making the blocks while in a positive state of mind, saying a prayer/chant/spellcasting over the blocks, dance around them, meditate with them... the list goes on, I hope you get the idea ;) As I said, it's a personal thing, I don't expect to hear the what or the how, this is more about the energies from all of you, and bringing them together into a quilt, which I believe, will be a blanket or shroud of healing. How could it not be?

Onto the block! It is a scrappy block, and I would like you to use Kona White as the background. Fussy cutting is welcome, no kiddie fabrics (Aneela Hoey style cute is fine). No heavy florals, or browns/blacks, no batiks. The scrappy squares should be bright, rainbow spiral.

The tutorial is from Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild. It is based on the 9-patch layout, using the placement of the scrappy, focus fabric, squares to create a circle. I would like you to make two of these blocks, both measuring 12.5" square. All seams are 1/4".

The block is made up of three different units: A, B, and C

The two A units make the top and bottom centre pieces, the four B units the four corners, and the single C unit is the centre.

Cutting instructions
Focus Fabric: Eight 2.5" squares of scrappy colourful fabric
Kona White:

• 8 strips 2.5" * 1.5" for Unit A
• 8 strips 4.5" * 1.5" for Unit A
• 4 squares 2.5" * 2.5" for Unit B
• 4 strips 4.5" * 2.5" for Unit B
• 1 centre square 4.5" * 4.5" for Unit C

Before assembling, decide on the placement of your focus fabric squares. If you've fussy-cut, make sure you've the pieces placed the right way up ;)

Assembling Unit A - make 4
Take the focus fabric square, and attach the 2.5" * 1.5" strips to either side of the square (press seams towards the focus fabric).
Then attach the 4.5" * 1.5" strips to the top and bottom, again pressing towads the focus fabric.

Assembling Unit B - make 4
Attach a Kona White 2.5" square to the focus fabric square, press towards the white.
Then attach the 4.5" * 2.5" strip, keeping the focus square to the top left of the block (remember any directional print positioning), and press towards the white.
Finally, attach the top row to the centre row, nesting the seams, and then attach the bottom row.
Press well, and trim to 12.5" square.

Block assembly
Now it's time to put it all together. Reposition all the units in the order you want. Then take the left Unit B and attach to the Unit A, followed by the right Unit B, for both the top and bottom rows. Press the seams on two rows towards the unit B blocks. Attach the two centre Unit As to the Unit C square, pressing towards the centre Unit C.

That's it! Your two, energy imbibed, circle blocks ;)

Finally, if you could include a few scrappy 2.5" squares (only if you have them, and feel extra generous), I would really appreciate it!

I hope you enjoy this block, I can't wait to put all these together and watch the sparks fly ;)
Anna

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: October Blocks

Hi I'm Tomomi, hive mama for October! This is my very first to do the quilting bee actually so I am very very looking forward to what I am going to get from you ladies!  After nine month going through everybody else blocks, I was bit worried somebody may come up with the same idea as mine. But you didn't! So here you go!

I would like to have bookshelf blocks please :)

My idea came when I saw this beautiful room.  We moved the house last November and got rid of a lot of books but still we have a lot. Yes we are a family of book worms. And now I want to have a book shelf quilt too.  There are some variation of them if you google it, but since this quilting bee is working with scraps, I want to make something like this or this or this.

I like being organised and my book shelf to be organized by genre. To do so, I would ask you to have a theme for each blocks you make. Grown up section, old books, pop section, Jane Austen  section, future section, exotic, or whatever your books collections are. Just no kids section please. Pretty section, maybe.

Only fabric I wouldn't want for the books are whites or very pale unless some bright pattern on it. I am going to ask you to use Kona Ash for the background, so if you can use anything brighter or darker than it, it's fine.

Blocks size : 12.5” H and about 12.5” W. I need you to make them 12.5” high but the width can be between 11” and 13”. I will explain why later. And two blocks please.

How to make blocks.

The short tutorial

Cut up the scraps of fabric for book parts between 2.5” - 1” wide and 6.5” - 11.5” long. Add the necessary length of the Kona Ash as a background fabric on top of each strips to make them 12.5” long altogether.

Fold the seam allowance to the book side together so the book gets some lift from the background.

Stitch all the strips together to make a block about 12.5” wide. You don't need to make them exact 12.5” wide, shorter or longer, both fine.

Please vary the hight of books especially neighbouring ones, means don't put similar hight books next to each other. And wide colour variation please.

The step by step tutorial.

Cut up the scraps of fabric for book parts between 2.5” - 1” wide and 6.5” - 11.5” long. Lay them in order you like with 0.5” overlapping.

  

Measure and make the total width around 12.5”. I made mines a bit longer to be on the safe side because I usually end up too short.

 Cut one Kona Ash 2.5” wide strip for the background. Measure the length of book strip which is 2.5”, say that was A”. Cut the Kona Ash strip to (13 -  A)” long and stitch it on top of the book strip. That should make the strip 12.5”. Do the same to all the 2.5” books.

Slice the left over 2.5” Kona Ash strip or cut new one to the same width as the next widest book strip. Repeat as above. And proceed to the narrower books. In this way,I Think you don't end up with too much Kona Ash scraps.

Fold the seam allowance to the book side together so the book gets some lift from the background.

When all the books has background attached on the top, stitch them together.  Please verify the hight of books especially neighbouring ones, means don't put similar hight books next to each other. And wide colour variation please.

Alternately, you can make them with this measurement.

Book strips; 2.5” *10.5”, 2.5”*6.5”, 2”*10”, 2*10.5”, 2”*11.5”, 2”*7.5”, 1.5*8.5”, 1.5*7.5”

Background Kona Ash ;  2.5” *2.5”, 2.5”*6.5”, 2”*3”, 2*2.5”, 2”*1.5”, 2”*5.5”, 1.5*4.5”, 1.5*5.5”

I wrote them in order to go together, so don't mix them up! Refert to the pic too. When all the books has background attached on the top, stitch them together whatever the order you like.

The picture is sideways for me to draw easily.  All the measurements are seam allowance included.

  

Please contact me if you find something wrong or difficult in this tutorial. I will help!

Romance Section

Pop Culture Section

It's here....the Modern Irish Bee!!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions on the names for our Bee! Eva and Cindy and I had a little chat about the suggestions and we decided that we liked the "Modern Irish Bee"  - simple and classic.  I did a little button if you are taking part and want one for your blog:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/modernirishbee/" title="Modern Irish Bee"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/7163596998_e1ff7f2289_o.jpg" alt="Modern Irish Bee" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

We had 2 people suggest this name, so we will take the first suggestion who was Judith! Congratulations Judith, will you email me your address details and I will pass them to Eva at Pippablue for your prize to be sent out. Thanks again to Pippablue for sponsoring the contest!

So, I have been working away behind the scenes and I have set up the necessary structures for our new Bee! Woohoo, I'm very excited!!

We are now ready to launch it, starting with the first month in July, and we will be running it through Flickr. We have 12 people who wanted to take part right away, so watch out for your invitation to the Flickr Bee group in your Flickrmail or email today. If you are not a Flickr member, you will need to set up a free account over there to take part.

Over in the Flickr group I have 2 posts set up, one of which you need to read straight away -the "How Its All Going to Work" thread......which does exactly what it says on the tin! This is the basic guide to how the Bee works.  The second thread is about what you need to do when it's your month as Queen Bee and is there for a reference when it comes to your month.

Please please feel free to start threads with any questions you have, for general chat etc. We want the Bee to be about having fun and increasing the social interaction in our little community. So jump in and enjoy :-)

I will take the first month (July) to get us kicked off and so that if its your first time in a Bee, you know what to expect.

I hope you all enjoy it! I can't wait. I'm thinking what I'm going to do for my blocks and what fabric I will use........I'm eyeing my Echo FQ bundle and thinking it might be time to cut into it....but I'm not sure yet :-))

Sarah

P.S. Agnes and Eleanor, I don't have email addresses for either of you, could you email me at fairyfacedesigns@gmail.com with your details please so I can set you up!

A Contest! Name our quilting bee

Are you looking for the sign ups for the mini-quilt swap with the Atlanta MQG?  Just go here....

We are absolutely thrilled with the incredible response to our MQG of Ireland quilting bee.  But saying "MQG of Ireland Quilting Bee" when we talk about our bee is just painful.  We need a great name.  A fun name.  An inspiring name.  

Will you suggest one or two?  

For the winning name(s) we have a fabulous giveaway from Pippablue in Galway.  If you have not visited their shop or blog before, I suggest you do so as quickly as possible.  They have a gorgeous array of quilting fabrics, yarns, embellishments, books, personalised baby blankets, etc.  Get.On.Over.There.  But what are they offering to our contest winner? 

Yum!  Theses gorgeous 4 fat quarters of polka dot poplin AND a 36x90 inch piece of batting.  The name ideas are coming to you now, aren't they?  What's more is that Pippablue is offering a 10% discount on batting orders for MQG Ireland members.  This batting normally retails at €12/yard and is 90 inches in width.  Just ring Pippablue blue when placing the order so they know to add the discount: +353 91 566972.  Order yours quickly!

So, to enter your name suggestion, just leave a comment below.  We'll ask Eva and Ger of Pippablue to choose a winner by next Friday, 27th of April.

Good luck!

An Irish Bee?

Are you interested in joining a new virtual quilting Bee?

Cindy and I have been talking about the possibility of setting up a Bee as part of our Guild activities so I though I would test the waters and see if anyone is interested.

If you are not familiar with the idea of a Bee, there is lots of information about how they work here. Basically, we need 12 participants, and each person is the "Queen Bee" for one month in the year. Each month, participants make approx 2 quilt blocks (sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the size of the blocks) for the Queen Bee for that month, using fabric she sends out in advance, and post it back to her.

Bees are a lot of fun - you get to work with a much wider range of fabrics than just your own stash, you get to work on blocks that you might not have come across yourself, and you get to make a quilt from blocks your Bee-mates have made which is a special quilt.  Plus you make new friends and have some chat when doing it!

For this Bee, the focus will be on Modern blocks - whether that be modern block design, or new interpretations of traditional blocks - using modern fabrics. So lots of exciting ideas to tap into! There is some commitment involved - you will need to be able to do your blocks each month for a whole year, so do think about whether you will be able to do this.

Here are some of the blocks I have made this year in my Bee:

So, are you interested? We need 12 participants, and in order to keep postage minimal we are hoping to keep the Bee to participants living in Ireland (north or south of the border!) Let us know :-)