Success!

After my gigantic fail the other day I had to seriously rethink the bee blocks for my fellow hive members. OK, it wasn't that big of a failure, but I did "waste" most of Sunday on a now orphan block.

I decided to stick with something I know & go back to my friend the square. I chose Heather's Orange You Glad I Chose a Nine-Patch! Block, designed for the Blogger's Block a Palooza sew along. Here are my blocks for my 4x5 hive members!

Mustard, coral, & raspberry for Janeth.

Tomato, corn, & ash for Amy.

Aqua, red, & white for Elaine.

I love the Little Apples turtle & the sewing machine. :)

Green, grey, & aqua for Laura.

Blue, green, & grey for Michelle.

{Sew} Modern Monday

It's Monday! Which means it's time for another {Sew} Modern Monday with Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations. It's been a few weeks since I linked up, but I've been stitching quite a bit lately. Plus I'm super excited to meet Megan & many others at The Sewing Summit in less than 2 weeks!!!

They're taking registration until October 1st. So there's still time if you want to go.

I did some more crochet this week to ensure that I got the basic stitches down. I actually learned some crochet several years ago, but I now realize I only learned the single crochet. Which is probably why I grew bored with it after only a few weeks. :)

A fun new scarf...

...with a scalloped edge!

Next up was these Citrus Twist Dishcloths. I made too many stitches for the border of the blue dishcloth so the sides are a little wavy, but I figured out my problem for the green one & I think it came out pretty nice.

Next came a big fail. This block was supposed to be for the 3x6 & 4x5 bees. Remember my first attempt which was a little boring? Well, this was my "fix", but the squares came out to 6 1/4" instead of 6 1/2" which made the final block too small. Plus, look at all those unmatched "corners."

Maybe I'm being too picky, but honestly I think I'd be a little disappointed if this showed up in my mailbox, everyone is these groups are so talented! Unfortunately, that means I just wasted some of my very special 1001 Peeps, but I'll figure out something to do with this poor little orphan block.

Sadly, this also means I'm back to square one with having no idea what block to make and, of course, I waited until the last week to make these. I had the best intentions to get them done sooner, but it just never happened. :(

If you have any suggestions on what block to make (11 times over) I'd love to hear your ideas!

Another success! I finished my I Love Patchwork Pouch.

I used Martinique by 3 Sisters & Whimsy by Fig Tree & Co for the blocks and muslin for the rest. I'm beginning to discover that I love muslin as much as Rashida loves linen! It's such a great neutral. Especially for the colors that I normally work with.

So this week I'll be sew sew sewing bee blocks and hopefully making a bag or two to carry with me to The Sewing Summit.

Thanks for visiting!

WIP Wednesday...on Thursday

So I wrote this yesterday and then forgot to post it. So here's my WIP Wednesday post...on Thursday.

The ranch my husband, Jake, works for is primarily a cattle/hay operation, but they also outfit for hunters throughout the year. They guide for deer, antelope, buffalo, elk, pheasants, coyote, & picket pens (prairie dogs).

So I decided that Jake needed a camo shirt to look "legit" for the hunters. I found a camo t-shirt fabric on sale at Joann's. I can't remember what pattern I used, it's a baseball tee style pajama top. The problem with finding shirts for Jake is that he's tall & super skinny. He has a long body & long arms so I added approx. 6"(!) to the lengths when I cut. I didn't hem the bottom because I was tired of fighting from the sleeve hems, but he tucks his shirts in anyway so it doesn't really matter. He also had Popeye arms so I had to let out the seam in the forearms about 1/4". For all the alterations I had to make it doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself. :)

Showing off his bobcat.

Now he's just showing off, but isn't that a beautiful buck he's pointing at? That's mine. :)

Instead of putting a tag in the back I embroidered my brand right below the back collar. At first I tried to add it directly to the fabric with no additions, but it kept bunching so I cut a small piece of mid-weight fusible interfacing. I ironed that to the inside of the shirt & then it was a piece of cake to embroider.

I've thought & thought on my 3x6 & 4x5 bees forever and finally decided on a block. The problem is it's almost to "simple" of a pattern. Good thing I tried it in my colors first. I'm going to stick with this block, but make 4 smaller ones to add more movement.

Pouch from I Love Patchwork by the very talented Rashida Coleman-Hale. This is the lining. I just have to attach the lining then you can see what it really looks like. ;)

My first large-ish crochet project, a new scarf for winter.

Bee Blocks

Yesterday I showed you several projects that I've been working on this week. Here's a couple more...

String block for Vicky using Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane.

String Me Along bee

This was my first string block. I've seen them before, but had never really been interested in making one. Now that I've had the opportunity to, I love them! It was so easy & seems to display a collection very nicely. :)

Confetti block for Sara

Fat Stash bee

She sent Denyse Schmidt's Fairgrounds Modern Texture in yellow for the frame & a bit of Anna Maria Horner's Loulouthi Summer Totem for some of the confetti. It was a fun block to make as well.

Blocks received so far from 3x6 & 4x5 bee. I requested coral & olive. Aren't they gorgeous?!

A few weeks ago I won a couple giveaways. And all the lovelies showed up on the same day last week. It was a great day to open the mailbox!

These cute charms came over from Australia. The lovely Kat sent them.

I love the turtle!

I also won some Tula Pink patterns from Jeanne's Charity Challenge. Be sure to stop by and enter her Aurifil thread giveaway which is going on now.

Also in the mailbox were these beautiful Veranda fat quarters by Amanda Murphy. I won them in a quiz show that Ryan Walsh was hosting on twitter earlier this summer.

I thought it was fate that the everything showed up on the same day. The fat quarters are going to be made into Tula Pink's Kiss Kiss pattern. I was lucky enough to find a coordinating teal blue at work for the background color. I still haven't decided what to do with the charms, but I'm considering modifying the Pancakes pattern for charm squares & making it a fun I Spy quilt. We'll see!

Thanks again for all the fabulous goodies!