Year in Bee's

I just love participating in Bee's.  I love a new creative challenge each month.  I love that the block I make often expands my quilting skills.  And I love the ability to put a super amount of time and effort into 1 block because you only have to make 1.  But most of all, I love getting to know new friends through these shared quilting endeavors!!  This year I was able to participate in 2 bees with some absolutely amazing women!!

The Beejeebers group!!  We sew from our stash in this group and I love that, because we all know I have a mass of scraps to whittle down.  This year was filled with some super creative blocks.  From game boards, to trees, to pictures, and trucks, the creative basis was totally covered.  The the favorite color scheme seemed to be blue and green, and there was some major precision quilting with lots of points in stars and strings.

The Sew Bee Create group!!  This group was an International group which is so much fun because when your quilt comes together it comes from all over the world!!  This group covered a whole variety of blocks from precision piecing to total improv   I always looked forward to the beginning of the month for that squishy package of fabric to arrive.  So fun!!

Here is my Beejeebers quilt.   I call it Convoy and it was a gift to my Father to keep in the cab of his Semi.  That middle truck is a paper pieced truck based of a picture of his rig.   I asked the ladies to make the Semi Truck blocks around it.  They did an amazing job!!!  The creativity blew me away!!  Needless to say, it was a very treasured gift for my father.  Thank you to each one of the Beejeebers ladies for being a part of it.

Here is my Sew Bee Create quilt.  I call it Spinning or Spiraling.  I designed this block and then did a tutorial for that gals to make it up.  Countdown to Christmas is probably my all time favorite Christmas line so it was a little hard to cut it up.  But I just love the way it turned out.  It has been snuggled with daily over this Christmas season.  Thank you to the ladies of Sew Bee Create for this fabulous Christmas treasure!

The Beejeeber's group will continue into 2013 absorbing a few new members from Sew Bee Create.  I can't wait to get going on another fabulous year of Bee's!!

Convoy!!!!

Well, thanks to the help of the amazing ladies of the Beejeebers Bee, each of them making one of those awesome semi's around the border of the quilt,  this  is ready to Roll On Out in time for Father's Day!!  Yippee Skippee!!!   Convoy is a special quilt for my dad designed to fit in the cab of his truck.  He started driving trucks again last year (after a 20ish year hiatus while we kids grew up) and just loves being on the road!!

I struggled for a while trying to decide on how to quilt this without taking away from all of the awesome semis.  In the end I decided to go for a basic straight all over stipple that I think tied it together without distracting to much.  Most of the quilt is done on a larger scale in white but I wanted the semi in the middle to really pop.  I designed that particular block to look just like my Dad's Semi.  Down to the logo on the door :)       So I quilted it with blue thread instead and did a slightly smaller scale of quilting.    I really like the way it turned out :)

I found this super fun backing fabric in my stash.  It really ties in well with all of the fun colors from the front and just reminds me of my dad because it is a little on the wild side!!  (His nick name is Wild Man because of all of the crazy shorts he wears that my mom makes him out of the wildest fabric she can find, including flames :)

So now I just need to wrap it up for Sunday :)  I can't wait to see his face.  I will be sure to take lots of pictures :)  Thanks again Beejeeber's Ladies!!!  You all rock!!!

EDIT - -  Several of you have requested dimensions for making this quilt.  While I don't haev all of the dimensions for each of the trucks as my Bee Mates made up their own, this post has the basic small truck block  dimensions that we used for most of the trucks, and this post has the basic large truck paper piecing pattern I drafted for the large semi in the middle.   Hope that helps ;)  

A Paper Piecing Saga :)

I am thrilled to say that my large (about 20" x 34") paper pieced semi is now complete!!  Yippee Skippee!!!  And, I am happy to say that I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. (And that is always a bonus :)  So I thought this morning I would share the little saga of how this block came to be.  

This is my Dad's semi.  The last time he stopped by (My mom and I use him as our personal delivery guy :) I snapped a quick picture of his truck through our front window.  So I took this picture and brought it into my EQ 7 program.  

From there I drew the lines in with the picture as reference.  Once I had the basic outline of the truck I imported the image into excel and went to print it off and decided it needed color.  So I went back, added some color and then printed it of to use as a paper pieced pattern.  (I made it rather large so there was a lot of cutting and taping going on to make 1 large pattern.)  

Then I sat and stared at this and tried to figure out how in the world I was going to turn that drawing into a paper pieced pattern.  I started by breaking it into 4 sections and then adding some connecting lines :)  And I figured from there just go at it and make the best of it.  So I pieced the first section which went all right and then upon starting the second section I dedided that I could probally put it together just as fast doing normal piecing as it was mostly squares and such.  So I did that.  And this is what came from it.  

Ya, silly me didn't think about the fact that when you paper piece the image is reversed.  So when I regular pieced it wasn't reversed.  Needless to say, piece 1 was not matching up with piece 2 as the front of the truck was facing the rear :)  So I got frustrated, scribbled on the piece I had done wrong and wen't back to all paper piecing.

It was slow going at first but the more I practiced (this is only my second time paper piecing and my first time attempting to make a pattern:) the more the technique started to make sense and the easier it got to adjust my little "pattern" to reflect more of a standard paper pieced pattern.  (not that I am saying it is anything to write home about :)  So all in all, it was a learning process.  I can't tell you how many times I changed things but in the end, after tons of new drawn lines and lots of scribble lines, I came up with this as is the final paper pieced verision :) And I figured since I had spent so much time to put it together I might as well share it, right :)  So if you ever need a large paper pieced semi truck you can find this image in Google Documents here :)

You can download the image and then put it in any program you wish.  You can change the size to the size you need and then get paper piecing (I stretched this image quite a bit to make it longer :)  Oh, and like I said, this isn't a fabulous paper piecing pattern as you will have to add the 1/4" seam allowance around each of the sections on your own since I didn't make the sections separate.  (Also, I found out that you have to piece the frame of the door regular as I couldn't figure out how to paper piece it once you had cut out the center, but it is symmetrical so you don't have to worry about piecing it regular because it won't mess it up :) Basically, if you ever use this and have questions just email me, I would be happy to explain my crazy way of doing it :)

And so after all was said and done, I had one pretty awesome Semi, if I do say my self ;)  It was a rather large challenge, but I learned so much along the way and that makes me so happy!!

 I actually sewed all of the blocks together yesterday and basted the quilt.  So now I just have to get it quilted and then I will share the full reveal :)  I am just so excited, it is going to be such an awesome Father's Day gift :)

And since it is Tuesday and I actually posted a finish (well part of the finish) I might as well link on up :)

The Last of the Blocks Rolled On In!!

I am so excited to have the last of my Semi Bee Block arrive.  Don't you just love when you get squishy packages in the mail!!!  It is just so much fun :)

Lisa made this amazing Car Carrier block.  Can you believe she pieced in those cars!!  So amazing :)  I just love how creative and fun it is.  (And I want a purple polka-dot car!)

Ursula  made this super fun Horse Trailer Semi.  I love that one of the horses has turned his back on the camera.  Apparently, he is not a fan of the Paparazzi.  And isn't it fun that Ursula took the picture by her own horse :)  Such a clever girl!

Once I had all of the blocks, I went back and added a bit of detail to some of the blocks.  You know, doors, ladders, just a few little basics.  Except for this block.  When Danny originally made it she intended to add the transformer logo to the carrier.  But she was having printer issues and ended up bagging the idea.  So, when it arrived looking all Optimus like in the navy and red I couldn't help but finish her plan.  Didn't it turn out cool!!! (It was super easy too, I just laid the paper print out on the wrong side of the fabric and zig-zag stitched over the lines, when I was done, I just tore away the paper :)

Last, but not least on the Semi Truck news, I finished paper piecing the big semi in the middle.  Yipppee Skippee!!!  However, I will save that story for tomorrow.  It is a whole saga and I have to get the kids ready for swim lessons.  (My 3 year old is in a tots and mom class so I suppose I better be getting ready as well :)  Until tomorrow, Happy Quilting!!

Bee Blocks for May

**Note - if you are looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Post you will find it here :)

So I got my Bee blocks in the mail yesterday.  A little later than I normally like but hey, it is still in the month so we are all good, right :)

Karen asked for a beach themed orange peel block.  I loved working with these colors, and it was so fun to go through my scraps and pick them all out!!  And it was even more fun to make the block, but I totally love applique so no surprise there :)

Tony sent each member of the bee 4 solids and asked for anything improv or wonky.  Now this gets the creative juices flowing.  I decided on doing a 16 patch block and then slashing and whacking and spinning and sewing.  This is how it turned out.  I love that there is one (brown) square that never got touched.  Kind of fun how that works out :)

And . . .  I have had a few more of my bee blocks come rolling in from my month of the Beejeebers group.

Pat sent me this awesome semi :)  I love that it is hauling chickens and roosters.  I would hate to be following that on the freeway :)  And aren't those wheels just so cool!!

Danny sent me this awesome truck!!  I love the colors (Very Optimums Prime) and the fabric she made the trailer with is so cool.  It has maps on it.  My dad will love it!!!

Jamie Lee sent me this super cute patchwork truck!!  I love the little headlights on the top of the truck as well.  That trucker is probably a bit of a rebel :)

and lastly Colby sent this log hauling truck :)  I so love the fabric that she used for the logs.  It totally looks like they are actually timbers :)  So cool!!

So now I am just waiting on 2 more trucks!!!  Yipppee Skippee!!!  I best get to making that large semi for the center of the quilt :)  Father's Day will be here before I know it :)