finally found a quiet moment!

here are my blocks for sarah and jess, hooray for a baby who goes to bed earlier than i do! first, sarah's block:i decided to use fringe as my texture for this block. this was a stretch for me as i normally find unfinished edges unattractive, so i wanted to see if i could use them in a different way.
i'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, but i'm curious to know what it will look like after going through the wash a few times (assuming this is going to be a quilt that will be used and washed rather than, say, a wall hanging).

The second block I finished was Jess'my favorite part is the contrast between that lovely deep blue and the little piece of orange i used for my pop of color.i'm looking forward to seeing how both of these quilts turn out. Thanks for the great inspiration, ladies!

The Red Cross Quilt

I started with this wonderful embroidery and made it a focal point...I adored that teeny tiny cross too.
I planned something totally different when I first thought about this project, but it evolved into this and I'm pretty happy with it.
I had another bee make crosses for me as well, and of course they got all mixed up in the process. I'm working on making this two sided with another cross design on the back.
Thanks so much for all the unique crosses you made for me. Not done, but at least it's in progress.

Challenging, but so fun!

This was probably the most challenging bee block I've ever made. I so appreciate the opportunity to stretch and struggle. When I saw that you wanted it to be dimensional, I thought of those little paper fans we used to make in school. So I played with fan folding, and angles. I hope the bit of color isn't too much. I'm inspired to make a dimensional quilt of my own.

On another note, thanks for a great bee everyone. This is always my fav bee. You all are so creative and so on it. It's great to have you as quilty peeps!

Texture

There was so much fabric I decided to make two blocks -

hope that is ok!

This was so fun - such gorgeous shades of solids and then deciding on

what pops of color to add to it. I used some scraps from

Far, Far Away 2 to add another dimension of texture with the linen...

I'm mailing them off tomorrow...

Pleaty McSweety

Sarah, your block is in the mail!

I loved putting all the pleats in!

I just hope I didn't overdo the colors!

smock it to me

Texture was the name of the game this month. Origami came to mind and while going through all the books of folded fabric that our library had to offer, I came across this smocking pattern in Folded Fabric Elegance by Rami Kim. I love the suggestion of basketweave.

The green bordering it looks much darker in the photo than in real life. The other two colors in my package form a simple border.

The smocking in progress before trimming and pressing:

Below is the back view at the same point in the process. Here you can see the 1/2" grid of dots that guide all the hand stitching. Following a simple diagram in the book, dots are brought together to form the pleats with lots of knotting between stitches. It takes a few minutes to find your groove, but once I had it, I found the whole process meditative. I've got to find some other ways to use this technique and I may need to order that book. (There are 2 or 3 additional smocking patterns in it along with other fabric origami techniques. One is a VERY cool way to make continuous prairie point edging, with some interesting ways to press them into other shapes.)

Sarah, I thought I'd get this in the mail before I left on a short trip tomorrow, but I'm so enthralled with that center piece I need to bring it to my quilt group first. I promise to pop it in the mail right after the ladies get a look at it.

for jess

loved your inspiration, jess! hope the pop of color works for you.

sarah,
i'm getting to your block this week...sorry i'm late.
j