May bee blocks

So I have been participating in the do. Good Stitches online bee for two months now. It is an online bee where a "circle" of us - a group of sewers who signed up about the same time - make (2) blocks each and send them to that month's quilter. This month, the quilter asked us to make a "square in square" inspired block using "adolescent boy" color theme.

After much tribulation (further explanation below), these are the blocks that I sent off.


I struggled with color choices - I find that I often gravitate towards girly colors and prints. I had a few different prints picked out, but decided that the blue "buttons" were not too girly. I had a different green accent picked out, but decided that it made the combo too girly, so i changed to this green that makes me think "camo" without actually being camo.

I have seen postage stamp style patterns pop up on various blogs that I read. I decided to give it a shot. I cut fabric into 1.5" strips, then cut those into 1.5" squares. I made the 9 patch block that is the center of the above block first. Thought it turned out pretty good, so I thought I would make a much bigger section of it for the second block.

Eeeek does making these seem tedious. I ended up getting about 10 items wide and made 4 rows. Then I decided that I would just take chunks of that overall rectangle I made and make a block around it. I didn't want to keep it as a rectangle as the quilter said "square in square" inspiration. So, I cut it into a 4x4 block. I thought I would have 2 in the block to change it up from the first block I made.

As I laid it out, I wanted more of the blue fabric, so I started to add it to each side. I thought it was looking a bit too similar to the first block, so I thought I would only add the blue to two sides of the squares and try something else to connect the two patches. I laid it out on my 12.5" square ruler (since that is our goal size) and my conception seemed to work. So I added the white stripe and then a 6" patch of green. AFTER I cut and sewed the 4 patches together, it was too Little! it was only about 12" long instead of 12.5. So, I took the green off and made it longer as I thought that would fix it. IT DIDN'T! Now the block was 12.5" by 12.25. What went wrong - I still have not figured out. But this is the failed block. GRRRR



So, I put that away, where I couldn't see it as I am annoyed with myself! I decided on a completely different idea. Green with 1" squares more sporadically placed rather than the block of the postage squares.

I cut green (good thing I chronically get WAY more fabric that I need for a project) fabric into 1.5" strips and randomly cut those into various lengths. I randomly sewed some leftover 1.5" squares of the blue and white stripe fabric to the green, sewed the strips together, and Voila. A totally different block that Actually measures 12.5"




I liked these blocks and am thinking about doing a big quilt using the above block idea on a larger scale. (likely different colors)

I thought the two blocks went together pretty well - all said and done.




Not sure if the random placement squares is my favorite or the cute little random placement of the postage squares in the border of the first block. (apparently I like the "random" look today) :)




Are you in any online bee's?? What is your favorite experience - how about your most horrific??


-Sew Sane Jane
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