Tuesday 16 April 2013

The Blocks That I Made

Yesterday I showed you what my wonderful Stitch Tease quilt top looked like. Today I will show you the seven other blocks I have made over the past year and give you the links to the other quilts, if you have not seen them yet. I am showing these in no particular order as I cannot for the life of me remember when I made each one.

The wonderful thing about this bee is that each and every person set an entirely different challenge. New skills had to be learned (by me at least) and a lot of thought needed to be put into the blocks, as you will see.

Di asked for a long (10" x 70") strip with a word on it that reflected her. I did several words. Yes, I know, impossible to shut me up even on a quilt.


I wanted words that summed up all the other words that were already made for her quilt. I had the honour of piecing Di's quilt top and therefore I had to decide what order to place the strips in, and make the final strip to tie things together. I hope that I have achieved my goal. You can see Di's quilt in its entirety here.

Hadley was in this bee too. She asked for long strips that were scrappy and colourful - though no red please, and yes, she was partial to a little Heather Ross. Interspersed would be white squares of random sizes. Sort of like my quilt but squares instead of stars. Obviously a woman of good taste then!


You can see Hadley's quilt here.

Danny was the most difficult to make a strip for because she basically told us to do what we wanted. Without much guidance I dithered for a long, long time. What I eventually came up with was this strip. I have showed you from both ends as it was a hard one to photograph on my own.

Because we had such a open remit for Danny's strips her quilt was going to be the most unusual and I wondered what it would turn out like. No way did I ever imagine that such disparate blocks would come together in such a stunning manner. You can see her quilt here.

Helen asked for wonky stars on an ash grey background. I love making wonky stars so this one was a joy to make. No angst at all. Just a matter of choosing fabrics I thought she might love and would balance the colours used by some of the others already.


You can see Helen's completed top here.

Dianne asked for pinwheels of any kind on a white background with a rose pink and greens being her primary colour choices. I hadn't done a lot of pinwheels prior to this block so did a little online pinwheel hunting before I decided what to do. I hope I struck the right balance.


Dianne's quilt top can be seen here.

Annabella challenges us further by asking for curves, in jewel tones. I took a while thinking about her block too. Eventually I went with my method of using freezer paper to make wonky dresdens and applied the same method to some circles too, which were all appliquéd on the white background.


Annabella's quilt top can be seen here.

Last, but not least Katy set us an entirely different challenge. She had a feature Monaluna fabric which she wanted us to make blocks based on the vehicles on it. Well, seeing as how often I have begged people to make VW camper vans for me and they have so nicely obliged, I thought it was time I coughed up and made one for someone else. My fmq is a little wobbly, but I think I did okay.


Katy's quilt top is seen here.

And that, my friends, is the round up of what one bee and seven good friends can accomplish in one year. I hope you enjoyed it.

Susan

30 comments:

  1. Fabulous! Your VW van is amazing! Still kicking myself for saying no.....

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  2. What a wonderful Bee that was - your blocks are blooming brilliant Susan, and I have just taken the whole blog hop, thank you.

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  3. What a brilliant idea. I have just been to all the blogs and had a look. Congratulations to you all. hugs

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  4. 7 good friends? 8 surely unless there is something you're not telling one of us! ;) Lovely blocks Susan and look at me in the snow!! Wonky Dresdens - that's the words I was looking for!

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  5. Your blocks are amazing S! You all achieved amazing quilts! Jxo

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  6. I love all the blocks you made and they all work really well in the finished tops!

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  7. Great strips. I love the strip you made for Danny :)

    Rachael

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  8. Oh my goodness! I have just looked at all of those quilts and am completely blown away by how beautiful each and everyone is. So envious right now, lol.

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  9. Thanks for sharing the links to the others, I really like Danny's random quilt but I think your stars one is my absolute favourite

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  10. All the quilts are amazing, it sounds like a great bee to be in! All your contributions are just fabulous :-)

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  11. Thank you for my lovely block. You got the colours just right! Looking forward to the next round
    Xx

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  12. Wow! Your blocks are wonderful! You did such a great, creative job on every single one of them. You should feel really good about your work. what fun that must have been, I have visited all the blog sites and viewed each quilt top, they are all fantastic.

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  13. Wow, wow, wow. Great blocks, Susan! Such variety with design and colour. I'm in awe (and especially crushing on that VW block - too cute)

    Each quilt is just fantastic - you and your bee mates are so talented and very creative.

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  14. Brilliant blocks Susan, and everyones quilts are so individual

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  15. The camper van is sooooo cool! You are clearly much more organized than me in that you at least managed to take photos of all your blocks/strips!!!

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  16. All the blocks look stunning! The quilts are so lovely and the VW is fun!

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  17. You summed it up perfectly, one bee, one year, and a group of friends!

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  18. You are just so super. I love your use of color and creative stitching to so nicely encapsulate each quilt top owner. Well done, Miss (Quilt Master) Susan.

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  19. Thanks for making it so easy to see all the completed quilt tops Susan. What a brilliant assortment of blocks you all made, the finished tops are all amazing. x

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  20. Thank you for the links to all the quilts. They are all so different and all fabulous.

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  21. What an amazing line-up - I just spent ages nosing at everyone's quilts - they're totally brilliant!

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  22. Every single block is a work of art. Im really enjoying seeing all of them individually and then put together into fabulous tops.

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  23. Oh my goodness, what amazing quilts. A really brilliant idea and a great way of getting to know your quilting buddy's better. I love your blocks x

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  24. I've been stalking all of you this week and Lovell the quilts, but yours is my absolute favourite, what a Great idea, and didn't they do well!

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  25. Looks like you were suitably challenged!

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  26. They are all wonderful contributions...I love the words and the VW...great work!!

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  27. I love VW kombi! So classic.

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