Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Lucienne Day Block


This was a tough one. I found Yahaira's inspiration very inspirational. In fact, I didn't know where to start. I also found myself wanting to make an entire quilt as opposed to one block. In fact, I will definitely be making a quilt inspired by Lucienne Day one of these days. So much eye candy.

One of the best things for me was searching for more images. When you see the designs in context you see the scale of them. I loved that. These aren't quiet designs. They are large and bold.

Thank-you Yahaira, for pointing me, us, in this direction.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

My Beatnik Quilt

Cheers all! Here are my blocks so far! I'm going to get working on this soon! I'd love to see progress shots of your quilts as well... Robin

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Block for Blair

I had a lot of fun putting this block together...perhaps too much fun as it is not the appropriate dimensions and I'm out of fabric. Ruh-roh. Well, I have faith that you, Blair, can figure out a way to work it into your quilt top or just slap it on the back!


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Fireplace block for Blair

I love the wonderful horizontal lines in Blair's inspiration fireplaces.   This block is already on its way to you, Blair!

I can't wait to see how you put them all together!

Monday, May 16, 2011

a lucienne day quilt

lucienne_day_collage

sorry for the delay in my post! I was up against migraines, last minute projects, and blogger outages. it also took me a while to figure out how much fabric to send (hopefully I sent out enough!).

shopping the stash

I went back and forth on what I wanted this quilt to look like. after looking at way too many websites, lucienne day's prints kept calling to me. I love her use of shapes and pattern repeats. they are a little quirky, unexpected, and still very modern. all features I want in a quilt.

I'm sending everyone a selection of solids. there will either be a brown or grey fat quarter in your stack, please use this for your background. I'm keeping things a little vague because I want to see your interpretation of these shapes and, almost, random patterns. I would like 20" blocks with shapes floating about. you can use whatever techniques you'd like. have fun with this!

if I didn't send enough fabric let me know and I can try to find more in the stash. or you are welcome to add any solid scraps you have that you think work with these colors.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Block a palooza!

I know this isn't how it's supposed to go. I'm hanging my head in shame to be so behind, but here are a bunch of blocks to help me get caught up! Yippee. I hope you all like them and will forgive my tardiness.
For Blair...fab fabrics...loved the inspiration!
For Robin....I wanted to be a bit looser with these...I hope they're free enough for you.
For Rebekah...ah my fav shapes!
For Debbie...I tried to go not so literal with the house.
Lauren, I can't find the instructions for your block???

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

mid century bricks

mid century bricks for blair

I LOVE the colors you sent blair! I may need to make a quilt for myself in the same palette.




Sunday, April 10, 2011

Beatnik Block

It took me a while to settle on a plan for this, but I enjoyed the challenge!
I hope you like the result!  The block is a bit bigger than what you asked for, Robin, but I'm thinking you can either work with it or find the best way to cut into it.



Wednesday, April 6, 2011

April Block

This is what I posted on my blog last week, some of you may have already gotten your packages, here's some additional info. -Blair

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I have so enjoyed the Mid Modern Quilt Bee. Its been amazing... and a little intimidating... to see the original and unique inspiration coming from the other ladies in the bee. Some really amazing mid-century inspired ideas! The most recent block is always my favorite, and I feel like that's the point, really. It's fun.

But now April is upon us, and its my month to feel inspired. There have been more than a few moments in the last few weeks where you would have randomly found me sitting or standing, attempting to concentrate real hard on what I imagine this quilt to be, and to be inspired by. You know what? All that thinking and I got nowhere. Nothing.

I finally starting looking around online, pulling the ideas and images that really resonated with me and pinning them all together on one pinterest board. (I love pinterest!) I did not stop to look at the board and everything on it until I felt I'd pinned several things. It was so interesting to look and spot little similarities. Between that and looking at this book, I really started to get inspired.

I am a people who really prefers symmetry and balance in all areas of my life, both literally and figuatively. That idea certainly goes for quilts, I tend to like designs that are balanced and somewhat even. With that in mind, I kept looking at these two photographs of mid-century modern homes, from Mid Century Modern. The fireplaces, in particular.

Fireplace1
Fireplace2

I love the "little stripes" effect. I could definitely see this translated into a quilt. Broken stripes, letting the colors and fabrics I choose do the heavy work. I drew up a quick sketch of what I see in my mind's eye-

Quiltbeeblocks
I sat with my Kona color card and had a ball picking out colors. Each block of randomly-sized and randomly-colored stripes (all that is the quilter's choosing). I chose all Kona Cotton solids ("azure", "earth", "caramel", "flesh", "amber", "mustard", "ash", and "ivory"), and only one print, one of my absolutely pattern-y non-patterns, Alexander Henry's "Heath" in chocolate.

Ladies, I'm sending out the packages tomorrow. I'm so excited!!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Block for Rebekah

I put this on my blog yesterday, but didn't have time to post here.  I enjoyed making this block as it gave me the chance to do two things I don't often do.

I have wanted to experiment with using a line of satin stitching as a design element for quite a while and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 

As some of you know, improvisation is not my strong point - it is not my default position.  However, I don't know how to draw the shape that Rebekah wanted with any of the programs on my computer, so there was no way to make nice, neat templates :)  So, I cut the shapes free-hand, knowing that you all are not sticklers for perfection.  I hope the results work well for you, Rebekah!

Next up, Mondrian inspired for Robin.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Mid-century quilt inspiration

I had a movie-marathon quilt bee catch up day last week and what a great feeling to be caught up. I'm so sorry I fell behind you guys, I was so trying to stay on top of my blocks. I know...promises, promises...

Debbie's block (this one has all my favorite colors in it!)-


Rebekah's block (I was afraid of the curves until I started, but I decided to applique rather than piece and enjoyed the little bit of handsewing involved)-


and Robin's block (I love using shot cottons as solids!. The colors are jewel-like together.)-

I hope these all meet with your approval! So fun to do!

My inspiration for my quilt is coming tomorrow. I've been waiting for several fabrics to arrive and now they are here. Now to cut up and send out.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

behind but catching up

Hi ladies. I didn't want you to think I'd dropped off a cliff somewhere, we just got really busy here right after the holidays and things got moved around on my to-do list. But I'm happy to say that I'm finally catching up (although I'm a few blocks behind...hope to remedy that next week). I wanted to post pics of the 2 blocks I did finish and mail out.

For Cheryl-

This one was fun to put together, I love the mix of patterns, but man I was scared to death to cut the final block Cheryl. I hope I followed the directions you sent as you intended, if not, I am happy to remake it.


For Amanda-

I love the idea of this quilt, and can really envision how all the different "v's" that everyone has done will look pieced together. I was a bit worried about the final size, I hope its not too small.

I know that my month to send out blocks is upon us! I have been collecting some inspiration shots over on my pinterest board and it's helping me form an idea. I have a feeling that the overall design will be simple and symmetrical, but how that translates into individual blocks I will try to figure out asap and let you know.

Thanks for your patience!

curvy blocks

curvy squares

guys! I'm all caught up!! I finished Rebekah's block last night and mailed all three blocks I've finished this morning.

I was tempted to cut into this block and add some lines going through it, but then I was scared you would hate it. I also left it a little bigger than 14x14" so you could square it up how you like.

Friday, March 11, 2011

kelp strip

kelp strip

didn't mean to post two separate posts today, but I had to get a good photo of this panel. it's hard when you are a shorty!

I hope I didn't delay your quilt too much rossie. it was so much fun working on it. the fabric you dyed is gorgeous! I kept thinking it was orange, then rust, then pumpkin, well you get the idea. also, I keep seeing a laser shooter and not kelp....but that could be all the video games I've been playing affecting me :)


mosaic for robin

mosaic for robin

robin, I hope everything is ok where you live this morning and that you and your family are safe!

I had fun working on this block for you, I love shot cottons so much! I kinda went in without a plan (seems to be my theme for this bee), so hopefully the block still works for you. not sure if it's groovy enough, but I kept everything pretty natural with no forced wonkyness. I just have to pack the block and scraps for you and it'll be headed your way!


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Catch-up.

Yesterday was block making day. Today was block shipping day. Tomorrow will be block-fabric packing day.
I am determined to fit the last five months of bee-ness into 3 days.
So, to all of you who are waiting on blocks from me, THEY ARE COMING, and I have photographic proof, and I apologize for being such a late jerk, and thank you for your patience.
PROOF:for Amanda
for Debbie
for Rebekah
and for Robin.
I'm going to include a little commercial here: Several of these blocks required quite a few pieced curves, which, a week ago, I had never done. If this is something you do often, and you have a Bernina, GO AND BUY THIS FOOT: It's called the leather roller foot, and it isn't cheap ($70 ish?), but it is so, so worth it. You can turn on a dime, it's a ton of fun for doing quilting, and when doing pieced curves, it is BRILLIANT. I don't think I pinned anything more than in the middle-- since it takes absolutely no effort to turn the fabric, you can concentrate completely on keeping the edges together and don't need to worry about the angle. I really can't imagine doing this stuff with a regular foot, this makes it so fast and easy.
Ok, commercial over, and I should mention that I have absolutely no affiliation with Bernina, just wanted to share.

I'll be back tomorrow with my inspiration and concept for my quilt blocks!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Block for Rebekah

I'm trying to catch up while I'm on "spring" break. I hope this block works for you, Rebekah! It was a challenge to work on--I think I need to take a workshop on curved piecing as I'm sure I did this the hard way!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

1950s Fashion Print

Last fall,  I bought V&A Pattern: The Fifties. This gem, while quite small,  is full of beautiful images. I like it a lot, particularly because I'm so fond of Lucienne Day's work and there are quite a few images of her textile designs in there.

I must have bought that first book at Amazon.com, because they recommended this newly released book 1950s Fashion Print to me.  When this book first arrived and I flipped through it, I was a little disappointed as many of the images do nothing for me:
But, some of the images are just lovely:
And of course, Lucienne Day has a good showing:
Unlike V&A Pattern: The Fifties, which contains minimal text, 1950s Fashion Print is at least as much about the text as the images.  As such, it wasn't until I sat down to read the book that I realized the true worth of this book.

"Interest lay in the plant skeleton rather than the bloom, seed heads rather than the blossom, and leafless trees rather than foliage"  (Fogg, 2011, p. 8).  

Yes, yes, yes!  I've been slowly making my way through the book, really enjoying myself.  I have found it really useful to have the internet at hand while reading because Fogg often makes reference to different designers, artists, and such without providing representative images of their work.  I'm sure this is in order to keep the cost of the book down, but it is useful to have a picture of the Skylon  available when Fogg is going on about its pervasive influence.  Google Images to the rescue!
Anyway, if you are able to buy or borrow this book, I'd recommend it...inspiration awaits!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Mondrian's Nephew was a Beatnik

Okay ladies, It's my turn to host and I've got something that looks difficult, but once you get started you will find it's suuper easy and fun! The thing to keep in mind is shot cottons are very easy to work with and in the end they will all look fabulous togeter! I'll send the instructions with the fabric, but in case you can't wait to see what I have in store, here is the assignment (click on it to enlarge):

Friday, January 28, 2011

A Block for Rebekah

Hi Rebekah! I've finished your block! No, it's not this one... this one is tooo boring!
For you, I reworked my block and made you this... which is juuuust right! Hope you like it! Cheers!


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Block for Esch

This is based on the roofline and stairs of my parents' home; or, as we affectionately call it, the "very brady ski chalet."

I'm not sure it makes a very interesting block all on its own, but I think once it gets put in with the others, it will work really well.

Monday, January 24, 2011

architectural block for Debbie

This one had me stumped for a little while but I sat down last night excited to experiment with some bricks (which I think was in your original sketch, Debbie). I'm loving the effect... hope the end result plays nice with the other blocks!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

lines and curves

curves and lines


I'll admit that I kept pushing this block back because I was intimidated by the challenge. but at the same time I loved the challenge. isn't that what bees are about?

I made my own little challenge by cutting everything freehand (no rulers!, no measuring!) which may have made my curves a little too subtle. you can probably see my progression from left to right! finally got it on the last one!!




Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Amanda's chevron

I just realized that I posted pics of Amanda's chevron on my blog and Flickr, but forgot to post it here!  It was a fun challenge!
I originally intended the right side of the chevron to be fatter than the left, but had to decide on fat or curve, so I chose curve.  Hope you like it, Amanda!

my other blocks

jess's and amanda's blocks have been out of my hands for a while, but I never got to post them here. I had no hard plans for either, which made for interesting piecing.

squares and rectangles

chevron for amanda

mid mod house

I'm slowly going through all the bee block fabric I received a couple of months ago. I have three blocks done, two more to go. Maybe I'll get them done before the next stack of fabric makes it my way. All the snow this week is sure to help!

I'm not a big planner

I worked on debbie's block yesterday, though I've had a highly detailed sketch since I read the original post ;)

mid modern sketch

I took inspiration from one of the gallery photos, "building" a house with a colorful door and a garage with a window over it. I did worry that my block is too literal and not outlined enough. if it isn't let me know and I can make another one!