Bee & Hive

There's an extra pattern in my Simply Shading Workshop, based on a quote from the Lorde song 'Royals': "You can call me Queen Bee". It's fun to stitch, it has shading and lettering and some shiny satin stitches too.

Right now I feel more like a worker bee than a queen bee though. A very tired worker bee. Tomorrow is the last Shading Workshop. I really put a lot of energy into writing and revising the Workshop. I got help with editing the text which was such a good decision! All the Dutch-isms and other odd things were weeded out by a native speaker/reader. :)

Then suddenly, last week, amidst all the busy workshop-last-minute-editing and end of the year at school activities, our youngest was admitted to hospital. She's back home now and on the mend but it was all a bit worrying and unexpected. It has definitely tipped the balance and I'm going to take a break for a few weeks. I'm go to tend to the 'hive' more than anything else now, and read,  do crafty things for fun and play lots of games with the youngest. Hope to see you all back in a few weeks. :)

X & Plus part one

Apologies for sharing this non-ironed quilt top attached to a mossy looking garden fence, I hope the overall impression is good. I'm really pleased with it :)  It's a (single) bed quilt but in the photo it's hanging sideways...

About 2,5 years ago I joined a European Quilt Bee and when it was my turn to be Queen Bee I asked my fellow bees to make the X and Plus Block for me (well two blocks actually). I don't think I had many restrictions except for the colours, which as you can see were black, white, grey and a dash of colour here and there.

The blocks I received were fabulous (the only thing I recall that one pair of blocks was 1/2 an inch smaller than the others) but for some reason (new quilt projects probably) I didn't get round to putting together the quilt top. Sewing the quilt top was quite easy really because the blocks are so big (12,5"). Now to decide on how to quilt it....

Next week, in  X & Plus part two,   I will be including links to the tutorial I used and show you what you can do with 'leftovers' from making an X and Plus Quilt!

P.S. Maybe it's time I'd join another bee? Nothing too complicated or ambitious though, I like a relaxed bee. :)  If you have tips for Quilt Bees let me know!

Wonky Supernova Quilt Bee Block

I don't often blog about the quilt blocks I make for the Quilt Bee I'm in. Sometimes I struggle a bit with getting the blocks done in time and often I'm in such a hurry to send them off (as I am a s-l-o-w bee) that I don't even make time to makes photos of the blocks I made. Anyway I was so pleased with the block I made today that I thought I'd share it here.

This month Elisabeth gave us free reign with our blocks. We can send her any quilt block in any size, we just need to do them all in a blue/teal and white or cream colour scheme. I took the fabric I had designed earlier this year as starting point.

On the Bijou Lovely blog I found the perfect block for my Tap dancing Polar Bear. It was simply called Wonky Star but I'm calling it Wonky Supernova! :)  There isn't really a tutorial for this block but it was simple enough to figure out how to make one. I know 'wonky' blocks are not for everyone but I had fun sewing this block which requires very little measuring and looks great finished.

Bee Happy Free Embroidery Pattern

So tomorrow I turn 42 (eeeep!) and I thought it would be nice to give something away on my birthday. This Bee Happy embroidery pattern is much like a mini-sampler. Great for beginning stitchers but fun for embroiderers of all skill levels (at least I think so!) Please read the whole post to find out more about the idea behind this pattern... :)

Download the Bee Happy pattern here

I got the idea for the pattern when I was reading about the decline of bee colonies (which is bad news for all, as they very are important in our eco system) and how you can help bees in your own garden (or balcony) by planting bee-friendly plants and herbs like lavender and rosemary. I will definitely try and make my garden bee-friendlier and I hope you will too! Find out more about what plants bees like and their behaviour here.

You will find some stitch and colour suggestions added to the pattern but please feel free to do your own thing. I mean the Turkey Stitch for the bee is fun (imagine a soft furry bee!) but can definitely be a challenge! Feel free to share this pattern on your blog or Pinterest etc but please but do link back to this blogpost.

Of course I'd love to see your version of this pattern in my Flickr Group or Facebook page.

Happy Stitching everyone!

Hello...new fabric!

A couple of months ago I joined a European Quilt Bee and in January it's my turn to be Queen Bee, (or Princess Bee or whatever) which means all the other bees will be making quilt blocks for me!  I chose this block:

It's called an X and + block, not an entirely original choice as I found out later. Apparently it's been going round in bees and stitch a longs since it's made it's (re)appearance in a quilt by Setsuko Inagawa on the Tokyo Quilt Festival in 2011. You can find a great tutorial for a smaller sized 7.5" block here. The block I made is 11.75" and is based on measurements found here.

Most blocks will have the colour scheme you see in the example block I made: grey, black white and red with a splash of colour here and there (blue, orange, green etc). Ideally the fabrics would have quite bold, graphic and/or retro prints. I did have some fabrics in my stash (even some long time stash dwellers like the sewing themed one in the upper left diagonal) that fitted that description but I also purchased some extra to send out to my fellow bees.

These are all from a fabric shop on Etsy called Sew me a Song. I love the unique and fabulous selection of fabrics they sell: stylish and fun prints, great basics and lots of 'texty' prints as well. I especially like this 'Happy Thoughts' fabric by Julie Comstock:

And the fabric with the Writing paper print (Sugar Pixie for Timeless Treasures) is perfect for stitching lettering on!

Hope you all are having a wonderful crafty weekend! I'm kind of stuck to the couch right now due to a inflamed joint in my toe so I'm embroidering, reading Cloud atlas (I'm halfway, it surely is intriguing) and looking at pretty fabrics in online stores. :)