Saturday, November 25, 2017

Spelling Bee Saturday - Week Eight!!

Happy Saturday!


It's nice to see you in school today for 
Spelling Bee Saturday:)


Grab your book HERE...


And let's make the
 BIRD block!


This is one of my favorite quilts and
 was super fun to make each and every block.
You can see the Bird block on the top row:)

There are 18 Picture Blocks 
in the book 
and all of them are made
 with the 12" block size...
but if you want your quilt smaller...
there are directions 
to make it with the 6" blocks as well. 


Looky at this adorable mini made by
She used the 6" block size and 
added some cute hand quilting
around the outside.

I love it!


Next up is the
 BUTTERFLY Block:)


The cute butterfly mini quilt 
is made with four 6" blocks.

I cut my sashing strips 
1 1/2" wide 
and the outside
 background border strips
 2 1/2" wide:)


I love this darling pillow made by @buttonsandbutterflies
The quilting is amazing!!


Thanks so much for sewing with me in my little studio today.


You all get an
A+ from Miss Bee!
xx
Lori



Saturday, November 18, 2017

Spelling Bee Saturday - Letter F!!


Good morning students...
it's Spelling Bee Saturday!


Are you having fun making the
 Alphabet Sampler?



Grab your 
Spelling Bee Book


And let's make letter F!

These were made by my friend
 Pam from 

I always love her fabric choices 
and everything that she makes
 is super cute...
Thanks Pam!


This letter F was made by Heidi from
I'm crushing on her
 background fabric...
So perfect!
Thanks so much for doing 
"show and tell" this week Heidi:)


"F" is for 
FAMILIES 
and also 
FOREVER!


"F" is for FLOWER...




And FOOTBALL:)


Let's play!!


And finally...
"F" is for 
sewing FUN during 
xx
Lori


Monday, November 13, 2017

Bee Happy Sew Along - Week 12 the Big Finish and Bee Blossoms Tutorial!!!




Today is the big finish post ...
where I show you close up photos of 
my Bee Happy Quilt 
after it's been quilted:)

YaY!!


But before all that...
let's take just  a second to
 talk about the 
Vintage Trim!



This is the large size and 
is what I used to 
put inside the binding.

I absolutely love putting ric-rac
 in my quilt binding 
and I do it a lot!

It's super easy peasy 
and if you have 
never done it before...
to see my tutorial 
from a while ago 
on how to do that:)



I designed the large size 
especially to
 fit inside the 1/4"
 seam when binding...
so that the other half 
would stick out just the right amount 
and show cute little scallops:)


The color that I used in my
 Bee Happy Quilt is CLOUD
 and matches the CLOUD solid in my bundle.
There are 8 colors so far 
and all are named the same as the coordinating solid 
to make it easy to match up!

CLOUD - NUTMEG - RILEY RED - RILEY AQUA
PEONY - BEEHIVE - DENIM - RILEY GREEN



Both small and large sizes come on a 
super cute wooden spool...
I wanted it that way because I have plans
 to use the spools for fun things!

You can get my Vintage Trim 
at your favorite quilt shop!


Okay...back to the quilt.
Here it is hanging at The Lodge
 where I taught a retreat 
for quilt shop owners.
We sure had a lot of fun!

Can you see how cute the 
Vintage Trim looks in the binding?
I think it adds just that extra cute detail.


I laid my quilt out on the floor
 to take several photos for you...



so that you can see the quilting.



My friend Juli quilted it for me
 and as usual...
 I love it!



I asked her to quilt small swirly lines around the appliqués...



and the piecing...



to give each piece a nice pop!



I really love how it turned out...



and I love each and every detail from the appliqué
 to the embroidery...
 and then the added embellishment 
of the Cute Little Buttons.



It's been so fun!



Thanks again to everyone participating:)

I have said all along that 
"this is not a race"
 and it's perfectly normal 
for everyone to be 
going at their own pace. 

If you are just getting started...
or right in the middle ...
or almost finished...
remember that there is
 a link to each and every blog post 
of this sew along...
right here on my blog.

Simply look on the right side bar
 and scroll down to find the 
Bee Happy Sew Along...
 and  click on the post 
that you would like to read!


Okay...
get ready for
 a BUNCH of photos!

Remember way back when...
 I told you to keep all of your 
leftover bits together 
after cutting your quilt 
from the kit?

I sure hope you did...



Because now you can make 
a bunch of my 
Bee Blossom Blocks!



I really wanted to use up 
the leftover squares
 from the two gingham panels
 and that's where 
this quilt was born:)


I paired the ginghams up 
with the leftover bits of the prints 
to make Bee Blossom Blocks!

Each block takes 2 of the same gingham 
(you can get 2 from one square)
and 2 of the same print.




I grabbed my D-20 and traced two of them
 onto a 3 3/4" square of my 
Sew-In Interfacing.

I did all of the same usual steps
 and made two D-20 shapes that matched.

You can make as many sets as you want...
I decided to add a bit more fabric
 and make 100 sets for 100 blocks!


Remember that however many 
sets of gingham petals that you make...
you will need to make a set
 from leftover coordinating prints 
so that you have a total 
of four petals per blossom:)

I used a few of the prints 
to sub for the gingham...
as you can see in the 
lower left red block 
and the 
upper right green block:)

So after I made all of the petals...
I prepared for the backgrounds:)



I cut 6" squares out of all
 the leftover backgrounds that I could...



And then I cut 3 1/2" squares 
from the rest that were
 too small for a 6" square.

I pieced four of those smaller ones together to use for backgrounds as well.

Those background squares end up 
a little bigger than the 
6" background squares 
but it doesn't matter...
 because all of them get 
trimmed down after appliqué anyways:)



For the 6" squares...
I pressed them in half twice 
so that I could center the petals
 when basting for appliqué.

For the 4 patch backgrounds 
I did not press because 
they were already divided into 4's:)

I placed all of my gingham petals
on the top right and 
bottom left when basting:) 



After appliqué...
I used my 
5 1/2" Trim It Ruler...
and used the lines for 
easy peasy centering ...
and trimmed them all down to
 5 1/2" square.



I did all of the 
4 patch background blocks first...



And then the rest!
What a cute little pile of 
Bee Background trimmings:)





YaY!!
All 100 blocks are trimmed up
 and ready for their blossom centers:)


I made 100 cute little D-1 circles 
from the leftover bits of the 
10" Stacker of Bee Solids.

You could totally use 
Cute Little Buttons for 
your centers if you wanted...
or use the D-2 Sew Simple Shape 
for your circles 
if you want them bigger. 



I used my matching 
Bee Basics Aurifloss ...



And did a running stitch 
around the circles
 using all 6 strands 
for that "chunky" look:)



I super love the texture 
and also the contrast 
that stitching adds onto the solids!


One cute little circle 
appliquéd onto each blossom!



You could totally just 
layout your quilt for placement 
and sew each block into rows now...
but I think it's much easier
 to sew 4 blocks together first.
It makes the process go much faster!



After sewing 4 blocks together...
 your new block of 4 
should measure 10 1/2" 
before sewing it into the quilt...
then it will finish at 10"


Because I have 100 blocks in my quilt...


I did 25 of the 
"10 1/2" four blocks"
and sewed them into 
5 rows across and 5 rows down.


I decided to add more background 
fabric for borders.
I cut 2 - 5 1/2" x 50 1/2" 
for the sides
and then added 
2 - 5 1/2" x 60 1/2" 
for the remaining sides.



My Bee Blossoms Quilt 
finishes at 60" x 60":)


I just love a square quilt don't you?
They are so versatile!
They look great on any shape
 of kitchen or dining table...
They fit nicely no matter if 
the table is 
round...oval...rectangle or square.


A square quilt always
 looks great hanging...


Or folded over the back 
of a sofa or chair.


Here's a peek at what Bee Blossoms
 could look like as a runner
 if you don't want to make
 100 blocks:)

Cute...right?


Oh my goodness!
I almost forgot to tell you 
about the binding!


Did you know that...
 both of the gingham squares print 
also look great as binding?

Just cut 2 1/2" wide strips 
on the bias for super cuteness!
Of course...
 you should trim off the quotes first
 and save them for another cute project:)


I just love this as binding!


I used my 108" wide Coral Chicks 
backing fabric and it 
sure makes me smile!


And so does this
 "meadow" of Bee Blossoms!


One more peek at the 
gingham binding:)


I have all the heart eyes 
for this quilt...
and I hope you do too!

I'll be back with a post in a few weeks 
about my next 
Sew Simple Shapes 
sew along that starts up next year 
after the holidays are over...
see you then!
xx
Lori