Meet Chickie and More Bee Blocks

I would like to introduce you to my new friend Chickie!

Isn't she cute! Yes, she is a kitchen timer... errr, a sewing timer in my world.

You see I have been thinking about sewing time, and I know that I am not the only person that has been thinking about this. I have read quite a few blogs recently where this topic came up at least briefly. I have read many times how you should devote at least 30 minutes a day to sewing. That's 30min/day = 4.5 hours/wk= 14 hours/month=168 hours/yr. Now that may be alot to you or not so much, just depends on what your projects are and what other committments are front and center in your life. 

I find I do sew that much - and more, but usually in a chunk of time, like one long session on the weekend. So my thought is to try out the 30 minutes per day and see if it is more productive, there is nothing that says you have to stop at 30 minutes. But if you are pressed for time 30 minutes is not that long - you can cut a block out, sometimes you can even sew a block up. So that is where Chickie comes in. She is going to monitor that 30 minutes for me and let me know when it is up, and then I can decide if I am going to continue on or not. 

My hope is this will make me more consistent and will allow me to finish more, which in turn makes it much more exciting and enjoyable. I'll let you know how it goes! Hey if it works, maybe I can use her to get my daily exercise in too!

The 4th quarter of the 3x6 Mini Bee is now over and I wanted to show you the blocks I received all together! The 6 blocks above are from Hive 13 which was a sampler hive--aren't they gorgeous! I love them! My colors were Raspberry, Aqua, Lime and white/grey. They are going to make a great quilt! The 6 blocks below are from Hive 2 which was a star hive. I used the same color pallette and look at all these great blocks! I am always amazed at all the different blocks/styles! Please forgive the awful lighting--so hard to get great pictures inside in the evening, during winter. The lighting really messes with the colors --more yellow, more purple vs lime and raspberry.

When you add in the two tester blocks I made shown below, there are 14 blocks, pretty good begining. I am joining one more quarter, and signed up for another Sampler Hive. That will give me a total of 20 blocks for the quilt, a good size to work with.

Hope you are have a great week! Happy stiching!
Ginny

Ribbon Stars

More 3x6 Bee Blocks off to their new homes today! Before the mailing deadline - always a good feeling! These are for Hive 2 - "Now Starring". Seems the beginning of the year is always super busy and I am glad to have these completed. I really enjoyed making them, they each have such a different personality-so fun picking the fabrics to go with everyone's request!
I used this tutorial from Lee at Freshly Pieced, which is great, and has lots of pics to help with the layout. These blocks finish at 12in.

For Andi who requested Orange, Grey and White with a touch of black

For Jodi who requested Aqua, Pink and Cherry Red on white

For Linda who requested the Green, Pink, and Purple the colors of a  Coleus plant

For Leonie who requested Purple, Orange, and Red on Grey 

For Tanyia who requested Orange, Yellow and Grey

For Dawn who requested Red, Black, White and Grey

I must say I really like them all but Dawn and Leonie's - the two on the grey backgrounds- just really popped! I really like them! Which is your favorite?
I hope these ladies enjoy their blocks and they fit with their planned quilts. Once I receive all my blocks I will be posting pics.
Back to the sewing machine! Happy Stitching!
Ginny

Bee Blocks!

Just a quick post on some Bee Blocks that are going out in the mail today!

These are for my friends in the 3x6 Mini Bee. Hive 13. This is a sampler hive, meaning we could pick what ever block we wanted to make. Each person designated the colors and background they preferred. This is a Flickr based group. It is called a Mini Bee because there are 6 members to a hive and a caretaker and you make a block for each (including yourself if you like) in 3 months time. There are many different types of hive: sampler, paper piecing, solids, 30's, a good variety! This quarter ends on Jan 15th, so if you are interested you might pop over and get your name in for the 1st quarter 2013!


Sorry for the poor pic, when I increased the size it distorted. Here is the "mini" version

On to the blocks:

For Angela

For Cathy

For Jessica

For Micci

For Meesh

For Tara

This is the Whirlygig block and finishes at 12in. I will be posting a tutorial on how to make this block tomorrow -- See you then!