Modern Irish (Scrappy) Bee: January Block

Happy New Year!  Hope all  have had wonderful celebrations.  My name is Ruth and as it's the first of January I get to kick off the 2014 Modern Irish Bee!  Welcome to all the hive members and to all who are following along.   Every month we will have a new set of tutorial links and examples to make blocks up to 12.5".  We will be using our stash of scraps and have the choice of scrappy background fabrics or solids from the the following : Kona White, Kona Ash, Kona Snow or Kona Black.

So to start us off I've used this photo for inspiration at Oh Fransson!  Elizabeth has kindly allowed me to link to her picture of her beautiful Scrappy Rectangle that she made for the back of her quilt.  I would happily have it on the front!  So with that in mind here's a tutorial for 12.5" blocks inspired by Elizabeth's Color Block Happy Hour Quilt Back!

The block is made up of a scrappy pieced square or rectangle using 1.5" squares and 1" white sashing.   I used a patterned background for my test blocks but for the purposes of the Bee I would like Kona Ash please.

Here is a link to a PDF to download showing colour options and 3 versions of the block: a 3x3 scrappy square, a 4x4 scrappy square and a 4x5 scrappy rectangle.

To make the 2 blocks above I used almost 1 fat quarter of background fabric.  I would like 1 square (either 3x3 or 4x4) and 1 rectangular block for the Bee.  I hope to lay them out something like this: 

Playing with colour choices and going with a two toned background like Elizabeth's quilt back would give these possibilities as well:

I'm liking the multi-coloured one a lot.

To make up the blocks above start with 1.5" squares from any colours you like from scraps

For the 3x3 square you will need 9 squares, for the 4x4 you will need 16.

I chain pieced them using a 1/4" seam into rows.

Pressing can be open or to the side.  I pressed to the side with each row in a different direction to nest the seams.

Sew each row together and trim.  The 3x3 square should be trimmed to 3.5" and the 4x4 square to 4.5" square.

The sashing is Kona snow in 1" wide strips and for the squares add it to both sides and then to the top only. 

Using the cutting instructions cut strips from the background fabric.  For the 3" block above you will need 1 strip of 5.5", 4" and 3.5".

Take both the 5.5" and 3.5" width strips and trim down to 12.5" long.

Take the 4" strip and cut a piece 7" long and a piece 2" long.  Cut a strip from the Kona Snow 1" x 12.5" long.

Layout as above and sew the 4" pieces to the side of the pieced square with a scant 1/4" seam.

Sew all 4 rows together with a scant 1/4" seam and square up to 12.5"

And there you have it. One 3x3 block done!  The 4x4 is made in the same way cutting 3.5", 4.5",and 5" strips from your background fabric and sub-cutting as per the PDF. 

The 4 x 5 rectangle is pretty much the same with a few small changes.  Again start with the scrappy 1.5" squares.  This time 20 of them!

 

Sew together in rows using a 1/4" seam allowance and trim this up to 4.5" x 5.5". Sash both sides with Kona snow 1" strips and then both the top and bottom this time. 

  

If you are using a fat quarter cut one strip from the background fabric 3.5" wide.  Trim this strip to 12.5" long for the top piece. 

From the 4" strip from the earlier block cut one rectangle 6" x 4" and one 2"x 4" for row 2.  The bottom row is made up of rectangles 6" x 5.5", 3.5" x 5.5" and 2" x 5.5"".  I was able to use the remaining Fat Quarter pieces to make the 3.5" and 2" one but I had to piece two scraps to get the 6" x 5.5 " rectangle which is perfectly fine for this design.   

Assemble the block by adding the Kona 1" sashing to the 6" x 4" rectangle and 6" x 5.5" rectangle.  Do the same for the 2" x 4" and 2" x 5.5" rectangles.  Add the scrappy pieced block to middle rectangle on the last row 3.5" x 5.5".

Sew these 3 columns together using a scant 1/4" seam and then add the top row to finish the block.

Square up to 12.5" and there we have it block number 2!

I hope you have fun making these scrappy blocks.  Please post to Flickr so we can all enjoy and admire them!  Happy New Year and Happy Sewing !

Trip Along Donation Quilt Finish

Hi everyone! I am here to say a big thank you to all of you who helped on making this project work. It is a long time ago that I asked you to help me make a quilt. I asked you to make a "Trip along" block. This week was the big day to finally finish the beauty. Are you ready? Here she is ...

In total there were 12 blocks made and it was fun to put them together. Absolutely gorgeous and colorful. It was so exciting to look at all those different prints.

This week I took the quilt around Galway and lucky me I had beautiful sunshine. So my first stop was at the beach. I went to the life guard tower in Salthill. I really tried my best to make a lovely picture but the wind did not make it easy. Finally I went to the changing room to unfreeze my fingers but I had to put her up to the Galway hooker.

The finished beauty measures 39'' x 51''. She is quilted in diagonal lines on every second square with a yellow thread on the front and a white on the back.

For the binding I used a purple fabric with dots. This time I tried something new for me and sew the binding from the front. After a good press I stitches as close as possible to the binding to fix it to the back. This worked really nice and even the corners look really neat.

On the back I just used a simple stripy fabric from Ikea I had in my stash. It reflects the colors from the front.

Isn't she colorful? I love this pattern and all the colors used. She really brightens the day. So now she is waiting to be given away

A huge thank you to all the ladies who helped me to make this beauty. It was hard to let her go but I am sure she will find a lovely home where she gives a huge hug to someone.

Calling All Teachers!

Regularly we get emails from new Irish quilters asking for beginners classes.  Sadly we are not able to run these classes as a collective guild since we are scattered throughout the entire island of Ireland.  However, its an excellent opportunity to link up new MQI members with more experienced teachers in their local area.

If you are a teacher and you are not already listed on our Find A Teacher page, please email Cindy (fluffysheepquilting[at]gmail[dot]com) with a little description of yourself and what you offer as well as links to your blog or FB page.  We would be happy to add you to our growing list.  

Image from Just Jude's Ferry Floor class.

Many of you are also branching out and offering quilting services.  If you are one of these people, please also get in touch with me (above) and describe your small business.  I would be happy to create a new tab on the blog so folks can get in touch with you as they finish their projects.

Image from Husqvarna.

Thanks so much!

Cindy

Sign Ups: Modern Quilters of Ireland Bee 2014

Signups are now open for the scrappy Modern Quilters of Ireland 2014 Bee!  We had such a wonderful time last year I hope many of you re-join us for more fun.  Here's how this is going to work:

Each person will choose a month to be queen bee.  That queen bee will write a blog post for the first of the month describing the block they would like, showing photos of the test blocks they made, linking to tutorials and giving fabric preferences.  Each bee mama can request up to two blocks at 12.5x12.5 inches unfinished (or equivalent).  The hive members will then rummage through their stashes and make blocks according to the mama's wishes.  Hive members are to have their completed blocks in the post by the last day of the month.  Our bee will run from Jan 2014 through Dec 2014, including all summer months.

A sampling of bee blocks from our 2012-2013 bee.

For those not interested in committing to a full year of blocks, please join us on your own and treat this as a Block of the Month club.  Add your blocks to the flickr group too! We would love to see what you create.

To sign up, we will take the first 12 qualified people (see below) who leave a comment on this post expressing interest.  If you are a no-reply commenter, please be sure to leave your email address as well.  I (Cindy) will then get in touch with you to organize postal addresses, choosing months, etc.

To qualify, you need to be a member of the Modern Quilters of Ireland, living within the Republic of Ireland or in Northern Ireland.  Membership is free, but we will ask that you hop over here and complete the membership form so we can get in touch with you moving ahead.  You also need to follow this blog closely as you will need access to monthly posts giving you instructions to make your block.  Please also join the flickr group to chat, ask questions and post photos of your finished blocks.

Many thanks, ladies.  Please email me (Cindy) with any questions you might have: fluffysheepquilting(at)gmail(dot)com.  Happy stitching!

A Christmas Swap - SignUps Open!!

After the huge success of our scrappy pincushion swap, and with more than a few requests for another, I'm thrilled to announce that I am opening up signups for a new Christmas themed swap.

This swap will be for a modern Christmas table runner or table topper/centre. Table runner max size 15" x 36" and table topper max size 20" x 20". You'll also be making a small Christmas decoration for your partner, e.g. something suitable to hang on a Christmas tree.

Sign ups will be open until next Wednesday, 6th November, and partners will be assigned by Sunday 10th November. You'll then have 4 weeks to make your items for your swap partner, and posting dates will be 9th-11th December.

This swap is open to members of MQG Ireland residing in Ireland. If you are not currently a member, and want to join up (membership is free) please find the information and link to the registration form here. 

So I hope to see you over in the flickr group where you'll find the signup thread open and more detailed instructions there. Will you be joining?

Scrappy Trip-a-Long Blocks, Anyone?

Quite some time ago, the wonderful Annaliese (of Mail from the Cheeky Monkeys) so kindly volunteered to put together a donation quilt from scrappy trip-a-long blocks donated through the Irish Quilt Guild. She now has 8 lovely blocks from our members, but is looking for another 4 blocks to fill out the top to a slightly larger size.

If you have a few free minutes this weekend (and honestly it only takes a few minutes!) would you maybe think of making a block yourself?  You can follow this easy as pie tutorial and then get in touch with Annaliese through her blog for her posting details. 

Thanks so much to those who have contributed and most importantly to Annaliese for organizing us!  

Scrappy Pincushion Swap - a little update

It seems like there are lots of people interested in our Scrappy Pincushion swap, which is fantastic news. We have a great little group over on Flickr. But I know that a couple of people haven't had a minute to do the signups, and obviously we'd love to give as many people as possible a chance to join.

Happily, we're not under too much time pressure on this one, so I'm extending the signup deadline to Monday evening 26th August to give everyone a little more time :-) If you've been sitting on the fence, please do join us, it won't take too much time, and it will be FUN!

To join in, just add your name to the sign up list in the Flickr group, and fill out this form so we have your details to give your swap partner. If you're not a member of MQGI, please take 2 minutes to join us by filling out the registration form here.

<div align="center"><br /><a href="http://modernquiltguildireland.blogspot.ie/" title="The Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland"><img src="http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j433/FairyFaceDesigns/763dc9fb-e9da-4662-8e0d-98424cbe79d2.jpg" alt="The Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland" style="border:none;" /></a></div><br />

Oh - and I made a button, if anyone wants it for their blog :-)