Improv, resizing & pattern issues

First of the month means new bee blocks

The first bee block I want to show is an improv block I just finished for the NQB Bee Group.  Our queen sent us a simple tutorial and said to make it any size with a low volume background.  I had the perfect fabric in mind, I received it with a low volume swap I participated in earlier this year.  I was excited to get started!

How is this not perfect?  I would love to do a children's quilt with lots of these.

 

For my second the background is actually from a Christmas line, I think it looks like raindrops.

 

For the next two bees the queens asked for ANYTHING- make 2 of your favorites that will then create a sampler style quilt.  I don't have favorites but I do have several books with lots of blocks I would like to try before committing an entire quilt to it.  I decided to use a couple of those dog-eared pages to make these blocks.

This one was originally a 6 1/2" block I needed to do some math on to get it up to 12 1/2".  Very easy, I like the block and will use it again.  It is the perfect block for some medium size fussy cutting.

This one is a version of a block called crossroads, what made this block special was the fabric, its a gorgeous line my friend from mvquilts introduced me to and I purchased it ASAP. (by Katarina Roccella for Art Gallery Fabrics) The issue was the pattern was to be paper pieced after you make the center, hummmmmpf.  Now I am not new to paper-piecing but this one gave me issues.  I had to ripper it twice and re-size the pieces as the paper-piecing didn't line up when I did follow the instructions.  Well. I must have done something wrong.  Instead I went back to quilty math because I hated wasting this fabric, this is actually the second one I cut- the first one didn't make it so sad.

 

These next two are for the WNY MQG Bee, her request was no pastels and not neon, I can work with that.  These two are block patterns I will set aside for one of my future queen months.  What I liked about them is if someone sent them at 12" instead of 12 1/2" which happens, trimming them to size wouldn't cut any points off, I hate when that happens. 

 

This one is my two favorite Kona colors together, wasabi and bubble gum, when I saw the printed fabric on Etsy I had to have it, matched so perfectly. I love this block, its not from a book, I was just playing but like many I am sure it appears somewhere with a fancy name.

My last one is the Ziggy Star from the Modern Bee book by Lindsey Conner,  if you don't have this book it is so worth the purchase.  She host ModernInstaBee on Instagram using her book, genius!  This is the same block I will use when I am queen in January and this one is actually for my quilt sample,  I want prints with a solidish star and stripe.  The November queen wants white backgrounds with jewel tones, I am thinking a deep ruby color.  

 

Almost done with my bee blocks for this month, off to sew that last one!

 

Pam