Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Miss Bee APRIL - Denise

The bee month when YOU get to choose the block!  Yes...YOU!

Last summer I joined the 4x5 Bee on Flickr...in this bee you pick your colors, post a mosaic of the colors and everyone in your bee makes a block of THEIR choice for you in your colors.  It was quite fun to see what I received in the mail. 

It was also kind of funny because my colors somehow got interpreted from aqua/red/pink to aqua/red/ORANGE, but only to some of the ladies.  In the end, I ended up with a really cool color combo though and want to continue with it to finish off a quilt. 

Here are the blocks I have so far from the 4X5 Bee:

4x5 round 1 & 2 blocks


See how the orange seems to fit in?  It really seems to work, so I am going with it.

For my month, I am turning to you my fellow bee ladies to see what you come up with!  On Wednesday I will give you each a bundle and you can make whatever block you choose as long as it is 12.5".  It can be your favorite block.  It can be one you have wanted to try.   Or just pick a random block and make it.  Anything goes!

I do ask that you sign your name to the block however you want...ink, embroidery, etc.  A fun memory of this bee!

Ok, now I am told I have to share some Q&A, I can't just blab on about my blocks : )  Here goes...

A little bit of your quilting history and experience:

I made my first quilt for my husband when he was away in the 1st Gulf War in 1991.  My mom had bought rulers, rotary cutter and a pattern, made a quilt...hated (GASP!!) the entire process of quilting and passed her supplies off to me.  The rest, as they say, is history! 

The only time I have stopped was when my kiddos were really little and I literally had no time to get dressed much less quilt! LOL

The quilt I made for my husband is a favorite in our house.  I wanted to make it look "quilted" but didn't know how to actually quilt so I cheated and bought the prequilted fabric for some of the blocks!  Makes me laugh now!  I tied the quilt and have had to retie it a number of times over the years.  It has tears and rips, but it is soft and comfy and well loved (aka looking shabby). 


I was totally self-taught until taking a class a few years ago (hubs bought it for me for Christmas...little did he know where that would take me!).  I learned a ton of shortcuts and handy tricks that really changed how I quilted and looked at quilts.  I highly recommend taking a class! 

And then the internet and quilting blogs came in to my life...well now quilting has become a bit of an obsession.  There is so much "out there" to learn and do with quilting I don't think I will ever get tired of it or stop learning. 

What quilting means to you:

Hmmm...to me quilting is a creative outlet and a sanity keeper.  I like to sew, but I love to quilt.  I like to make things with my hands and quilting is a perfect outlet for that.  I suck a painting, but love color and quilting is a way for me to create with color.   Sitting down to quilt is something that I do "just for me" even when half of the things I make I give away or make for someone else.   Getting to spend a little bit of time each day (if I can squeeze it in) makes me a happier person...just ask my family : )

Why you wanted to join a bee?

Bees are FUN!  I love to see how others can be creative using my color or block choices.

The reasons or thoughts behind your choice of block/design/project for the bee:

As above!  I want to finish up this quilt!!! Plus, I could not settle on a block choice for you all to make and these blocks on my wall just kept staring at me....