Modern Irish Bee 2015- March Block

Welcome to March’s Block for Modern Irish Bee. This month Liz has chosen the

The Burst Block Quilt: An Easy Quilt Tutorial with Rob Appell of Man Sewing.

I was only looking at this on you tube last week too! I love these and Missouri Star Quilt Company’s video tutorials. Here’s Liz’s description and instructions for this month’s block – great choice Liz. Looking forward to this one!

-Ruth


Ok, so I have a really cool block for you to make and once you make one, you will have the templates to make as many as you like when you are finished. I made some changes of my own to this tutorial as I find Rob quite fast and also, I didn't have any interfacing, so I made my own templates out of a cereal box. You are more than welcome to follow Rob the whole way on this but I think my changes make things a lot more simple if you are using cardboard.

I cut out my 10 inch cardboard square and then made the marks as per the tutorial and drew my lines but then I cut out my templates as per my picture, just the templates no fabric yet. (use your rotary cutter for this)

I put my biggest template on my white fabric and drew around it and then cut 2 white number 1 templates. My other change is, I was not using a layer cake just yardage or fat quarters, so I just sewed on a large piece of my colour fabric, enough to cover the sewline and next template but I didn't even measure this. I just used a large piece that I knew would cover it. I tend to do the same when paper piecing.

Then I set my seam and pressed it and then I got my next cardboard template piece and drew around that on my sewn colour fabric and then cut along the lines with my rotary cutter. Then I sewed on another large piece of white fabric set my seam and pressed and then drew around my next cardboard template piece and cut until I finished and so on until the block is complete.

My blocks ended up 8 3/4 x 8 3/4 so hopefully all of yours end up this size too. Any questions about either method just pop me a mail. Don't worry if your blocks are not exactly the same size as mine ok.

I would like 2 8 3/4 x 8 3/4 blocks. I would love my main fabric to be grey but you wouldn't end up with the same greys so white is the safer option. I would like solids or tone on tone for the colour fabrics please. Your 2 blocks can be the same fabrics or different coloured ones I don't mind once the white is where it is supposed to be.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial as much as I did! They came together fast when I made my changes to it. Robs method is probably more economical with your fabrics, as he uses the left over triangles from layer cakes but my changes just make this whole process easier. I didn't use triangles cut from a layer cake, I just used big pieces of stash fabric that I knew would cover the areas needed.

Enjoy,

Liz.

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!

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Pop Culture Section

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 :-)