Wonky Stars are FUN

Wonky Stars for Rebecca SSS2
Originally uploaded by Clicky the Moose

After one false start I was able to make four wonky maverick star blocks. Way back when I first saw these blocks, I knew I would love making them, I just never got around to doing so. I am so glad you asked for these, Rebecca. I loved making them. =]

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

This month begins round two for Snip.Sew.Send. Unfortunately some of the ladies had to step out due to life changes but they will be missed! Now there are only seven of us and we will make two blocks so that we end up with a total of 14.

July was Lula Dahl's turn and she requested wonky stars. The sky was pretty much the limit on what we could do with them. I decided to make one a bit normal and one that was not.



First up is the so called simple one. I say that because it gave me a lot of trouble. It is funny how a simple block can be the problem child while the more complex one was easy. The issue with this block was due to me sewing at one in the morning. I know, bad zonnah for sewing when tired. Always a no, no. But for the record I could not sleep :( Also, I had to get creative with the blue fabric to make it fit the block and I used every last piece of it!



Did you notice the star was rotated? I also copied Anne's star block and put muliple fabrics in the points.

Next, is my favorite. I love this block and think it would be interesting to see a whole quilt made out of it.





I hope you like it Rebecca.

SSS Road Trip

Again, still catching up on some belated blocks. Anne, I have yours all finished and ready to send back to you.

I love road trips. I always have. Growing up we would drive to our vacations whether it was "up north" to my grandparents house or out to Cedar Pointe for some camping and roller coasters. As an adult I still love a road trip. Dirty (my boyfriend) and I have plans to drive out to a big VW show in California.

This block was inspired from my love of a road trip. I used MapQuest to plot out the routes I would take from my house to visit all of the SSS bee members. Each leg of the 7818 mile trip is represented with a different strip of fabric. I wrote our initials to mark each member, but smudged it in the photo. That's why it looks like part of the block is taped together.

The green part was fused on the white background, then the strips were appliqued in place and stitched over a few times. I also added a VW bus (or maybe a camper) from my highly coveted remaining scraps of this fabric.

And did you notice? The person by the bus is holding a map! =]

A map of my childhood

Anne requested "Map" blocks which we could interpret as loosely as we wanted, and she said the same goes for technique. I really hope mine's okay... it feels pretty loose!


This is a map of my neighborhood as a child. We lived on 40th Avenue South.


My house is at the bottom of the cul-de-sac (Jeff is my brother). There were a number of families in the neighborhood with kids-- those names penned in the houses are theirs. There was always lots to do in the 'hood... playing ball, dance parties over at Stephanie's house (thus the music notes), climbing into the treehouse over at LeighAnne and Johnny's, or racing down from the top of the cul-de-sac on our bikes and big wheels (I'm not so good at drawing those-- but I tried!).


There was often baseball action too-- home plate was always in front of our house, the pitcher would stand on the blue reflector in the center, first base was the ever-present truck, second was the manhole cover, and third was at the mailboxes. When I was little, we also had a cat named Sammy... she's hanging out near Ben's house.

I used a number of techniques in this one, including some that were new to me.

• I started by using a Pigma pen to sketch out the cul-de-sac and things I new I wanted to embroider.
• Then I colored in sections with crayons (using Carrie P.'s tutorial for coloring on fabric as a guide).
• Next I used fusible web and did the "Sketchy Stitchy Applique" technique, as described at Bloomin' Workshop. I really loved how that worked! The look really appeals to me, and it was so simple to do.
• Then I went through and embroidered all over the place, mostly with two strands of floss, but sometimes with one.
• Lastly, I finished the trees. I used two different colors of green thread and threaded both of them through the needle on my machine (so two threads were going through the needle). Then I freemotion stitched the treetops. Using two threads gave it a nice thick look, and the different colors gives them a little more dimension.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it all came together. The only bump in the road was my inability to do math. The block is supposed to be 10.5" x 14.5", including 1.5" borders. Mine ended up 12" x 15". Whoops. I'm really hoping that Anne won't mind it being a little big, or trimming it down and ending up with slightly narrower borders. I blame my baby-brain! (I wonder how long I can get away with that excuse?) :)

I can't believe it has already been a year of Snip.Sew.Send.! I've had so much fun making blocks for all of you fabulous bee buddies, and I've learned a lot too. This virtual quilt bee really gave me a chance to push myself and try some new things. It has been fabulous! I'm looking forward to participating in another, once life settles down again.

Thanks so much, ladies!

Tragically Late...

...but made with the sincerest of apologies. I am so terribly behind on making bee blocks. It is disgraceful. Rebecca, here are 3 (well, 2 1/2) blocks for you. I misread the instructions and two of the blocks are only 9". One more was started, but I didn't have enough long strips to finish it.

I received your SSS2 fabric Saturday. The plan is to finish those this week, too. I'm going to send them all together if that's OK with you.

These colors and fabrics are so happy and cheerful together! =]

Film and Thread

Anne from Film and Thread asked us to make a block with the theme of maps. She said it could be loosely interpreted. My first idea was to do a treasure map but that was quickly vetoed when I thought of this block which plays of her blog title.



Everything but the border was hand stitched because to me inset seems are easyier to make by hand then on the machine.





The block went together smoothly until I got to the end I realized that I made it too big and that adding a 1.5 inch border would make it bigger than asked for. I emailed Anne and she was very nice and said it would be ok. Then when I went to add the borders I once again made a math error and made the border to small! This whole fiasco sums up this month for me. Oh well, in the end I love it. It is so fun imagining something in your head and seeing it come to life.

Retracing My Steps

I loved Anne's map idea and for this one, I thought it'd be fun to retrace my steps around the country. I grew up in Minnesota and if you follow the arrows around, you can see that I moved to California for college and during college spent time living in New York City and then outside Philadelphia. After returning to California, I moved back to Minnesota and then to upstate New York where I am now.





It's kind of crazy to see where I've lived on a map like this. I hope Anne likes how it came together.



I also can't believe this was my last block for this bee! It's been a great year and I'll post pictures when I get my quilt put together. Thanks to all of you lovely ladies!

Round 2 ~ RTG (aka Ready to Go)

I know we aren't quite finished with the inaugural round, but we do need to get the schedule set for Round 2. If you are participating in Round 2 (so far it is Zonnah, Anne, Rebecca, Lisa, Gretchen, Tina and me) please choose which month you would like us to make your blocks*. Just leave a comment on this post. If a huge issue comes up where two ladies want the same month, I am sure we can work it out.

Monthly Schedule (check back for updates)
July ~ Rebecca
August ~ Tina
September ~ Lisa
October ~ Anne
November ~ Gretchen
December ~ Zonnah
January 2011 ~ Adrienne

*Rebecca and Anne suggested keeping Round 2 smaller but make two blocks each. I didn't see any objections, so for Round 2 we can either make 2 blocks for the month or put a little extra into one block such as embellishments, more intricate patterns or extra large blocks, etc. We'll make it the fabric sender's choice. =]

Pinwheels in green

I was excited to find some time last week to go into the quilty room and actually use my machine! It gave me a chance to make my May blocks for Rebecca. She sent an array of fabulous greens for me to work with.


I enjoyed making it so much, I had to make a second...


It was hard to send these off, as I really love the look of them. But I did keep one of the scraps of leftover fabric to use in my Jane Stickle quilt. That definitely made it a little easier to give them up (and it will be so cool to have a sort of SSS memory/keepsake in my Jane). :)

I'm really excited to see how Rebecca puts these together as all of the blocks I've seen so far look so cool!

Orange Pinwheels for Rebecca

I loved working on these blocks for Rebecca. I got orange and I'm really excited to see this quilt come together since it looks like she had a great vision.

Snip.Sew.Send - May

This month for Snip.Sew.Send, it was Lula Dahl's turn. She asked for log cabin blocks with a pinwheel in the center and sent tons of fabric which was nice! This is what I came up with.



I need to say that I am in love with this block and had a hard time mailing it off today but alas I did. I am going to keep this color combo in my head because I love it, the bright yellow with the muted orange.

Thanks Lula Dahl for letting me make this for you :)

Happy, Springy Blues

Snip.Sew.Send. April ~ Springy Blues
Originally uploaded by Clicky the Moose

I finally got to sit down with Midge and put together this block. It went together so easily and I am embarrassed it took me so long to start.

=]

Round 2?

Zonnah started a discussion in the Flickr group asking about the possibility for round 2. Check that out and let us know if you'd like to take part in round 2. I'll keep the "official" list over there.

Quick Notes (let me know if you object to any of this or would like to add something):

• Keep 12 members total
• Round 2 will run July 2010-July 2011 (skipping December 2010)

I got orange too!

I loved making this block. Something out the simplicity of it just made me happy. And the colors were nice too! One of the strips she sent me was just a little bit too short, so I substituted a fabric from my own stash that had similar tones (the bottom strip). Hope you like it! I really want to see all of these colorful blocks together!

Easy :)

April is Heather's month for Snip.Sew.Send. She had a block picked out for us to make and all we had to do was follow the instructions. She sent me these pretty orange fabrics.

Happy aqua

Heather sent me a pile of happy aqua fabrics to use in her block.


The instructions were very straightforward, the block went together quickly, and I love how it turned out (such pretty fabrics!). However, I'm a little worried because the block isn't 13" square as the instructions indicated it should be. Mine ended up 13" x 12.75". :(

I checked and re-checked, and it seems like maybe the cutting instructions in my direction sheet were a little off? The last piece needs to be cut a quarter-inch wider-- 5.5" x 13" (instead of 5.25" x 13")-- in order to make it work out correctly. Meep! Since I don't have any extra fabric to fix it, I'm really hoping that Heather will be able to make it work.

Pink & Yellow

I'm coming in a little late with Tina's block, but life has been a little crazy with work and then adding the wedding, I just got a little behind. Sorry!

I loved the pink fabrics that Tina sent, but I didn't have quite enough to finish the last square, but I hopefully she has more pink at home.


Heather's instructions were really straight forward and although I normally enjoy the challenge of doing something new, it was perfect to have something simple (thank you!). After listening to an episode of "This American Life", I had this block:


Hope you are all having a good weekend! I can't believe we've been doing this bee for almost a year already!

Girly time!

Phew! I just made it! (I cannot believe that it is already the end of March!) I loved all of the pretty pink and aqua fabrics Tina sent.


It was a lot of fun getting my girly on for this one! Such a treat! I hope you like it, Tina. :)

May-tree-osh-kah

Snip.Sew.Send. March ~Tina
Originally uploaded by Clicky the Moose

This was a really great day to put this block together. My sewing room is all windows (it used to be a balcony/porch), the weather was warm, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. It was like being outside, but without the bugs. (Don't fret, I did spend some time outside sewing binding and knitting. I can only take so much of the bugs.)

I liked the bright, Spring-y colors. Tina, your daughter is going to love her quilt. =]

Cross posted at my blog.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

I have to say I am pretty proud of myself because I used almost all the fabric Tina sent me :) The scraps in the corner was all that was left and it is slightly bigger then twelve inches! It was really nice being able to work with pink for a change. Thanks Tina for this opportunity. To see more snip.sew.send block click here.

Pink Squares for Tina

Once I got over the initial urge to take that little kerchief girl square for myself (too cute!), I sat down and got started on this block. It was completely improvised at the sewing machine, just cutting and sewing layer by layer, and I really love the way it looks.I used some really skinny strips, which I think is becoming a signature of mine, and I tried to include some little suprises. It ended up being just over 12.5 inches, but can easily be trimmed down or added to if need be. Enjoy, Tina! Headed your way on Monday.

Four more blocks for the city planner

Making wonky little houses and trees makes me happy so I was looking forward to making these blocks.

I first made this purple house. I saw Kris likes purple and so do I. Every girl should live in a house painted her favorite color. A fat, little gray kitty is poking his head through the striped curtains. The curtain fabric is from a pair of capri pants I loved, but Dirty said looked like curtains. Now they are. This is the only one I could get to 12.5".

Next was this little wonky building. I imagine it as the local fabric shop. I hope it is bright and mellow enough. I am a little iffy on the mellow part of it.

It needs a little greenscape so there are two trees, too. The one on the left reminds me of a little kid's drawing. The right one is good for having a picnic under on a warm summer day. =]

Welcome to the Neighborhood

February was Kris's month for the Snip.Sew.Send bee. She wanted little trees and houses and, I must admist, I was totally intimidated by this block! That's why I kept putting it off. It was silly of me, though, because it was a lot of fun to make.

The tree is based off of the flower tutorial that Kris posted on her blog a little while ago. I didn't have enough fabric to complete the block, but Kris can add more fabric to it when it arrives.

The house is my favorite. It's a dog house! And just in case you couldn't tell it was a dog house, I appliqued a little dog onto the block. So there you go. If you recognize the colors, I used the scraps from the fabrics I used to make the Zakka pillows. I love these colors. Love them. Hopefully Kris will like them too.

This was fun fun fun. I think I need one of these neighborhood quilts now!

House party!

I really loved the idea for Kris's Snip.Sew.Send. blocks this month. All of the examples she put together in her flickr gallery are so fun. But I was a little worried because this kind of block is just so not my style (or so I thought) and rather out of my comfort zone.

I knew I wanted to make some trees (because every neighborhood could use trees!). But then I was stuck. Fortunately, the deadline loomed ever closer helping me to get off my duff and just do it.


These were so much fun to do!!! I actually ended up making 3 blocks (well, nearly 3... I ran out of background to frame out the tree blocks-- hopefully Kris won't mind finishing them up). I'm sorely tempted to keep the little house, I'm so happy with how it worked out.

Here's a close-up of one of the trees:


I think the little kitty may have spied a birdie up there!

Based on the blocks I've seen so far, this is going to be a really fun quilt. I can't wait to see how they all come together.

I hope you enjoy your blocks, Kris!

Pink and Green headed your way, Mama

Robin's idea for her quilt blocks was awesome. I got to make the green and pink blocks. The goal was to make one straight log cabin and one wonky.

For the straight green cabin I tried to put the fabrics in shade groups light, medium, bright and dark. The middle block is a faint-ish floral that I really liked. It had all the shades in it and was perfect for the center square. Then I spiraled out using one strip of each shade as I went around. I put a star on the fabrics from my stash.

The final strip on the right is a fabric Chen sent me at the beginning of this bee. I thought it was a good addition.

Next, I worked on the pink block. This one was going to be wonky and as soon as I opened the package from Robin I knew the bunnies were going to steal the spotlight of this one. They are so flippin' cute. I LOVE making wonky log cabins and didn't really plan ahead much other than the bunny in the center. The dark pink stripes are from my stash. I didn't notice them jumping out quite as much until I cropped the picture. I hope it settles in.

Robin~Although I made these last weekend they are still in the envelope addressed and ready to go. I kept forgetting to take them to the post office with me. They are now in my bag and (as long as I don't space out again) they will be on the way to you tomorrow. I'm not blonde, but I sure can act like it sometimes. =]

This month for Snip.Sew.Send was Kris's month and she wanted small houses. Well the first thing that came to my head was a barn. Even though I think this barn is cute, it is far from perfect or exactly what I imagined it would look like. I do need to warn Kris that it is very thick and I am sorry for that, call it poor planning.

purple!

I'm so excited for Robin's quilt. I got purple, my favorite color! Here's what I came up with

Hope you like it!

I just packaged up all of next month's packages, so watch your mailboxes soon!