Tuesday 31 March 2015

Bee Blessed Farewell!

Almost 4 years ago, Sarah and I were chatting one day about the joy and blessing that comes from making quilts together with friends, and gifting them to others.  We spread the word and very quickly Bee Blessed was born!

We put out a call for help to the blogging community and have been blown away and greatly blessed ourselves by the response, support and regular contributions from you all!


However both Sarah's and my personal circumstances have changed dramatically in the past year and we are no longer able to continue running Bee Blessed.  Over the next few months we will be winding down, finishing off quilts until our final meet-up at the end of June.


We are sad to be saying farewell to our monthly sew-ins, blogger block collections and copious cake eating!!  But we take great heart from the fact that by the time we get all finished in the summer, our donated quilt total will be over 125!!


And so there will be no further blocks of the month set, however we will continue to post about our winding down progress and quilt finishes. If you have donated fabrics that haven't yet been used, we will be using them to either finish our Bee Blessed quilts or donating them on to Siblings Together.


Thank you so much for being such an important part of making these quilts for others.  It is our prayer that the legacy of Bee Blessed will continue on as each quilt is snuggled, stroked and loved.

Jude xo

Sunday 29 March 2015

Mad March Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my Mad March giveaway!

The winner is .......


Congratulations to Amy! I have emailed you and will be sending you the fat quarters and your chosen fabric tomorrow!

Jude xo

Thursday 26 March 2015

I Predict A Riot!!

A riot of colour that is!

Scrappy Rainbow Quilt top

It was a windy day for rainbows today!

Scrappy Rainbow Quilt top

And look who appeared underneath after a gust of wind lifted the quilt up!

Scrappy Rainbow Quilt top

This rainbow quilt will be for my daughter's birthday in June - she loves bright colours!!  There are lots of novelty prints in it too, great for playing Eye Spy!

And if you'd like to make one of your own similar to this, you can buy Rainbow Charm Packs here in my Etsy Shop.

I've had a great response to my new sale of discounted fabrics from my Etsy Shop.  Thank you to everyone who has made a purchase (or two!).  I'm pleased to say that I'm now able to ship to the rest of Ireland, Europe and beyond!  But fabrics are selling fast, so if you want to grab a bargain, get in quick!

And don't forget to enter my fabric giveaway, details here!

Jude xo

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Discounted Fabrics & Giveaway!

We all love a bargain, right?

Well I'm delighted to tell you that I've listed some bargain quality fabrics in my Etsy shop!

Discounted fabrics in my Etsy Shop - from £5 pm.

Tilda fabrics for sale in my Etsy Shop from £5 pm

All are 100% quality quilters cotton, from £5 per metre - yes you heard right!!  Michael Miller, Riley Blake, Tilda, Amy Butler and even Denyse Schmidt, all at silly prices!!

Discounted fabrics in my Etsy Shop

Plus Essex Yarn dyed linen, Flax (£10 pm) and Kona Solids (£5pm).

Discounted Fabrics for sale in my Etsy Shop
I am adding fabrics to the shop on a regular basis, at these permanently discounted prices, so keep your eye out.

This is shop stock leftover from my classes last year, so when it's gone, it's gone!!

Discounted Fabrics for sale in my Etsy Shop

At this stage I'm only delivering to UK, but my Rainbow Charm packs are available Internationally.

And to celebrate this Mad March Event, I'm giving away this fat quarter mixed bundle PLUS 1m of a fabric of your choice!

Mad March Giveaway!

All you have to do is pop over to my shop and tell me which fabric you like the most! If you win, you will get 1m of that fabric (stock permitted) together with the fat quarter bundle above!

If you are a 'no comment blogger' then I have no means of contacting you, so please leave your email address in your comment otherwise you won't be considered in the draw.

The giveaway is available to all, UK and international readers alike, and I will announce the winner on Sunday 29th March.

Have fun!

*** THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED****

Jude xo

Monday 23 March 2015

Strip Piecing Tutorial

I've had quite a few enquiries about how I made the blocks for my 'Stripping' Quilt top!

Scrappy Strip Quilt top

So here is a quick tutorial on how to make an 11.5" (unfinished) Strip Pieced Block without foundation paper or fabric.

The centre/white strips in my blocks are all 2" wide.  All other strips used are of varying widths.

Use a scant 1/4" seam allowance.

Step 1: Measure a white 2" strip  diagonally along a 12.5" ruler, making sure it is slightly longer than the ruler (this will be the centre strip, which creates the secondary white diamond shapes).


Step 2: Lay 2 patterned strips either side of the centre strip, making sure they are either the same length as the centre strip, or long enough to extend beyond the edges of the ruler. Sew the strips either side of the centre strip and press the seams away from the centre.


 Step 3: Place the joined strips back onto your ruler, and lay the next 2 strips either side.  Again make sure the ends of the strips are reaching the edges of the ruler.  Carefully flip the strips over, right sides together with the existing strips.  Pin, sew & press as before.



Step 4: Continue adding strips until the ruler is covered.  (Note: When you reach the corners you may want to use a wider piece of fabric, rather than narrower strips.)



Step 5: Aligning the ruler - this bit is important!

Place the pieced strips onto your cutting mat, with the centre strip laying vertically. Next put the square ruler on top, making sure the diagonal line on the ruler is centred evenly along the centre strip with the numbers on the diagonal line running from 1 at the top down to 12.5 at the bottom.


At this stage we are making sure the top adjacent edges of the ruler are as far up as they can go without missing the edges of the fabrics. When you look at the bottom adjacent edges of the ruler, it appears that there isn't enough fabric, but remember we are trimming this block to 11.5" (not the 12.5" ruler size).  As long as the bottom edges of the strips are within the 11.5" lines on the ruler, then we will be ok!



Step 6: Trim away the excess from the top 2 edges only.


 Step 7: Turn the block 180 degrees and realign the ruler so the diagonal line is centred again down through the middle white strip, with the numbers running from 1 at the top to 12.5 at the bottom, as before.


Step 7: Place the 11.5" lines of the ruler along the trimmed bottom edges of the block. This will reveal the excess fabric needing to be trimmed at the top of the block.  Carefully trim these without letting the ruler slip!




And that's it!  A finished strip pieced block!


When you make lots of blocks and sew them altogether, all you need to match up are your centre white strips!  Simples!

You can of course make these blocks any size you wish.  However if you want to go larger to a 12.5" unfinished block, just make sure you extend your fabrics strips a little bit further beyond the 12.5" ruler.

I hope you have as much scrappy fun as I did making these easy blocks!

Jude xo

Sunday 22 March 2015

Yesterday at Bee Blessed!

Despite the temptation to stay outside and enjoy the gorgeous spring sunshine yesterday, a few of us motored on and had a productive afternoon.

Here are some finished baby quilts, which will go as a batch with other quilts to the Mums and Babies HIV unit at one of our local hospitals:

Bee Blessed baby quilt
Bee Blessed baby quilt
Bee blessed woven strips quilt

And here are some quilts tops all sewn together and ready for quilting:

Bee Blessed Sail Boats Quilt top
Bee Blessed Strip Steps Quilt topBee blessed Scrappy triangles quilt top

Thank you to everyone who has contributed blocks, fabrics, time and effort in making these lovely quilts. They will greatly bless their eventual recipients.

Jude xo

Friday 20 March 2015

Charming!

If you love rainbows and fabric as much as me, then you might like to know that both are now available in my Etsy shop!!!

Charm packs & mini Charm packs available in my Etsy Shop

I am now selling packs of 5" squares in sunny rainbow colours.  The double rainbow pack has 168 squares (24 of each of the 7 rainbow colours), enough to make a rainbow quilt similar to this one:

Eye Spy on Rainbows Quilt

Or if you are replenishing your rainbow stash, or want to make a baby quilt, how about a single rainbow pack of 84 squares (12 of each of the 7 rainbow colours)!

Charm packs & mini Charm packs available in my Etsy Shop

There's even some cutesy mini rainbow charm packs (56 x 2.5" squares), perfect for mini quilts, cushions and small projects.

Charm packs & mini Charm packs available in my Etsy Shop

And that's not all!

Scrappy Charm Packs (42 x 5" squares):

Charm packs & mini Charm packs available in my Etsy Shop

Scrappy mini charm packs (50 x 2.5" squares):

Charm packs & mini Charm packs available in my Etsy Shop

Low volume Charm Packs (42 x 5" squares):

Charm packs & mini Charm packs available in my Etsy Shop

So if you fancy making your very own Rainbow quilt, Eye Spy quilt, or charm square project, then pop along here and have a look around!

Jude xo

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Done Stripping!

You'll be pleased to hear I'm finished with stripping!

Scrappy Strip Quilt top
(approx. 66" x 77") Just look at that glorious blue sky today!
After 42 strip pieced blocks, I think I've well and truly satisfied that particular itch!!

I love this 'ode to all things scrappy' - it epitomises scrappy with a capital E!  Leftover jelly roll strips, pieces of leftover binding, random sized strips, carelessly thrown together.  The only consideration was not duplicating prints or colours beside each other! Complete and utter therapy!

Scrappy Strip Quilt top
The back
My 3 daughters love it too, which means they have either inherited my love of scrappy, colourful quilts, or I'm finally 'speaking' teenager (methinks the former!).

Scrappy Strip Quilt top

I've already decided to park this one for a bit, until I'm inspired on how to quilt it and to whom it will be donated/gifted.

The next project on my table is on a much smaller scale and something I haven't tried before!!

Wish me luck!

Jude xo

Saturday 14 March 2015

Been Stripping!

I've been doing a lot of stripping this week!!!

No, not that sort of stripping!!

This kind of stripping:

Strip blocks

Armed with a bag of scrappy strips, some white fabric and a large square ruler and I'm one happy bunny!

Strip blocks

These quick and easy strip blocks (11.5" unfinished) are so addictive.  I've already made 2 more since taking this photo, and not sure when I'll stop!  The strips just aren't running out!  Weehee!

There's nothing quite like Scrap Satisfaction!

Linking up with Nicky and Leanne's Scraptastic Tuesday!

Jude xo

Thursday 12 March 2015

'B' is for Baby Boy!

I was commissioned by a good friend to make a cushion for a baby boy.  The criteria were the colours orange, aqua, navy, doggies and the name HARRY.

Commission cushion baby boy

I had just enough of some Riley Blake doggies on aqua, and it went from there!

Commission cushion baby boy

This is a 16" finished cushion, quilted in a 2" cross hatch, with a simple envelope back!

Commission cushion baby boy

Fingers crossed this cushion fulfills the remit.

Commission cushion baby boy

Other sewing today was this baby boy quilt top for Bee Blessed.

Bee Blessed orphan quilt 5

I received 4 x 16.5" orphan blocks from Alison and set to trimming, piecing and adding borders to bring this subtle top to 42" x 50". I love the soft colours in this wee baby quilt, and am looking forward to seeing it quilted up (eventually!).

I've also been beavering away today on some scrappy strip blocks, but I'm hoping to get a few more made before I show them to you.

Happy Thursday!

Jude xo