Finished! Jenny's Four Bee Quilts

One of my favorite things to do is search out finished bee quilts in our Flickr group and in many of the other bee groups we have listed on the Master List of Virtual Quilting Bees. Recently I hit the jackpot when I was reading through blogs and saw a bee quilt that had just been finished. In fact, my friend Jenny (mommymae) might hold the award for most completed bee quilts at FOUR! Isn't that amazing? She's made each of her four kids a quilt using blocks she's received in different bees.

What's more is that she included patchwork pieces of 2" squares that she inherited from her grandmother on the backs of each quilt - isn't that the sweetest extra detail? All four of the quilts are just gorgeous and so different from each other - take a look for yourself:

The bee members of Busy Little Quilting Bee helped her make these red and pink beauties for her twin daughters:

details:




She made this darling quilt for her son with the help of the bee members of A Notion or Two:



My favorite block:



Some of Grandma's squares:



And finally her most recent finish, this lovely quilt for her other daughter, from the members of Tethered Threads:



The patchwork from the back:



She has an amazing full Flickr set with more pictures of this quilt if you'd like to see more.

I just know Jenny's kids are going to cherish for many years having such special quilts made by their mom!

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Finished! Ann's Are We There Yet? quilt

Recently Zonnah emailed me with a quilt she wanted me to feature. She is in the Snip.Sew.Send Virtual Quilting Bee and one of her fellow bee members, Ann, completed this great map quilt.  Thanks, Zonnah, for pointing out this great quilt to me!

Ann sent everyone a fat quarter of Alexander Henry's "This Land is Your Land" fabric and gave the instructions: "I would like to ask for “Map” blocks. They can be interpreted as loosely as you want. It can be a map from your kitchen to your sewing machine, a map of the stars, a map of your city or state, anything you want. The same goes for technique. Embroidery, piecing, applique, painting, whatever you enjoy doing."

She included notes on the back of the quilt containing information about each person that made a block for her on printable fabric.

The finished quilt is gorgeous and each block is stunning in it's individuality!

This quilt is definitely something that Ann is going to treasure!  Read more about it on her blog, Film and Thread in her two posts here and here.

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Do you have a finished Quilting Bee Quilt that you want me to feature on the blog?  I would love to! Email me with links to your blog posts or pictures of the finished quilt on Flickr!  

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Finished! Dana's Gorgeous Stars on Gray

I knew from the moment I saw the picture of Dana's little fabric packs all lined up and ready to be mailed out that I would love this quilt - I have a thing for gray and the combination of green and turquoise right now is one I'm loving. Look how pretty these fabric stacks are:

Dana from Old Red Barn Co sent them out to her bee members in A Notion or Two and requested traditional star blocks - anything but wonky. Look at some of the gorgeous blocks she started getting back (and I couldn't resist adding in the picture of Dana's adorable three-legged cat, Jezebel):




(credit: 1. Don't know if Jezebel approves, 2. March Block - for Dana, 3. Missouri star, 4. Dana's star block, 5. Dana's North Star, 6. Feb A Notion or Two, 7. A Notion or Two March for Dana, 8. for Dana #2, 9. Dana's March Block)

She had a beautiful quilt top put together in no time and then asked for some advice on her blog on how she should finish it. She said she had originally planned on a scrappy border but didn't have any more of the gray fabric to include.





She got lots of suggestions but finally decided to just let the blocks speak for themselves and be the main focus of the quilt ... and the results couldn't be more beautiful.







She wrote more about the finished quilt again on her blog - go visit her to see more pictures, including one of the scrappy back. It's a gorgeous quilt - everyone in A Notion or Two did an amazing job helping Dana bring it all together!

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I'm currently looking for more finished bee quilts to feature on the Quilting Bee Blocks blog!  Please email me if you have a finished quilt that you'd want me to write about - please include a link to the picture of your quilt on Flickr so I can find it easily!  :]

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Finished! Heather's Princess and the Pea quilt

It's the quilt that started a love affair ..... Heather's love affair with the beautiful combination of aqua and tangerine fabrics together.  She told me she wanted to make a feminine quilt using more masculine colorways ... because she's the only girl in a family of 4.  (Hmmm ... that sounds familiar!)

She sent out a selection of Heather Ross's Far, Far Away line to each of the members in the Sew New to Me Virtual Quilting Bee. (Which - if you remember - was also the group that created Gretchen's green and gray baby quilt).  Heather asked for everyone to create for her a wonky/improv block that really showed each member's unique personality.

Everyone did an amazing job and she got back the best variety of blocks that were all truly unique!  She used Kona Ash for the sashing and took the risk of using a coal colored IKEA sheet for the backing.  The sheet had a sateen finish to it that made for a snuggly and luxurious finished quilt!  Heather said that the risk paid off and that the sheet quilted up nicely.

She then used simple & modern straight line quilting to keep the focus of the quilt on the gorgeous blocks.  It looks AMAZING and is a quilt that she's going to be loving for a long time!

Thanks Heather for being one of my favorite online friends and letting me feature your quilt!  Go visit Heather at her blog, A La Mode Fabric, or join her in one of the many awesome Flickr groups she creates and helps run!

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Do you have a finished Quilting Bee Quilt that you'd like me to feature?  Email me!

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Finished! Kate's dreamy Blue Daze quilt

For Kate's month in the Around the Block bee she sent out a beautiful combination of orange, blue and grey fabrics. (Or maybe you call it Sweet { Aqua } and Tangerine??!)

Here's part of the instructions that she posted for her bee members about the kind of blocks she wanted:

"The blocks you will be making are going to be made into a quilt for my son Alfie. I have posted a 'Inspiration Board' photo to our group which has about 9 photos of my favourite log cabin quilts.

I want these to be inspiration only as I really want each of you to 'come out' in your blocks.

I will be sending more fabric than is required purely because I am really crap at math and can't for the life of me work out how much to send! And also, I am sending out a real variety of Japanese, blues, greys and orange fabrics...I don't want you to feel you have to use every single piece in each block - I want the combinations to be your own.

I will be sashing with either a white cotton or nautral linen/cotton blend.

For any larger pieces of fabric I will be enclosing a self addressed envelope and ask that you can send these back to me - thank you :) Scrap pieces are yours to keep.

The only criterias I have are:

A) that the centre or focal piece of each block be a piece of fabric/s that are character/novelty based (Japanese and Heather Ross stuff). You will see what I mean when you receive the fabric bundle.

B) Blocks need to be a minimum of 12.5" and up to 15.5" but am happy if they are square or rectangle - up to you. No wonky"

This is an example of a wonderful set of instructions for her blocks. All the pertinent details in one place!

And here's her inspiration mosaic that she posted in their Flickr group for everyone to see (this is a WONDERFUL idea! I see inspiration mosaics all the time for various Flickr swaps, but not too often for VQB's!)


all photos credited on Flickr

Here's a mosaic of some of the blocks that started coming in for her (there were just too many to feature individually, make sure you click on the mosaic to see it BIG and check out all the cute details!)



1. MJ's block for Kate, 2. DSC_7290, 3. Kate's block #2, 4. Kate One Flew Over Wonky Cabin, 5. CIMG1757, 6. Around the Block - Kate's Sea block (almost), 7. Around the Block, 8. around the block 1, 9. 2nd block for Kate - Around The Block, Sept 09, 10. Around the Block - september 09, 11. Around the Block - Second Block for Kate, 12. Block 1 for Kate by Sheridan, 13. One Flew Over Wonky Cabin, 14. September - Blocks for Kate, 15. around the block 1, 16. Around the block - yarnplanner, 17. Around the block - yarnplanner, 18. DSC_7289, 19. Kate's block #1, 20. Kate's block #2, 21. CIMG1758, 22. Block 2 from Loulou for Kate from One Flew Over, 23. Block 1 from Loulou for Kate from One Flew Over, 24. MJ's block for Kate, 25. around the block 1

And for the finished product:







She wrote about it on her blog, One Flew Over, here and here.

Isn't it amazing?! Look at that beautiful quilting. And I love the orange striped binding. Such a pretty, fun, boyish quilt! You know I'm always on the lookout for great boy quilts! :)

She wrote (and I completely agree!!) "The thing about this quilt that I really love is that although no two blocks are the same, they all work so well together. Each time I look at the quilt, I find small, teenie, little details that I didn't notice before."

The girls in Around the Block did an amazing job and I know it's going to be a quilt that Alfie cherishes!

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To make a mosaic like the one I made above with the bee blocks, or that Kate did for her inspiration mosaic, visit the Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker. Very easy to use and uploads your finished mosaics (links credited and all) right to Flickr!

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If you've got a finished Quilting Bee Blocks quilt that you want featured on Finished!, email me!

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Finished! Nettie's crazy flying geese quilt

This week's Finished! quilt is one made for and by Nettie, of A Quilt is Nice. Nettie is in the VQB "Bee Insipred" and her month was last May.

She requested blocks based off a Dutchman's puzzle block, but gave her bee members free range to interpret the block however they wanted. She asked for 12.5" unfinished blocks. She sent out some of her stash of Japanese fabrics and hard to find prints. Here's some of the blocks she started receiving:

Block made by kvinta


block made by lydigann


block made by giggle_gear


block made by lharsma


block made by the bee Mama, rachelgriffith

Here's the quilt top when she got it all put together:

>

She blogged about having some reservations about not using sashing between the blocks, but then look how beautifully it came together once it was all quilted and bound!



The binding:



And the back (featuring one block that was hand-sewn together!):



Didn't it turn out cute! I love that she didn't use sashing ... even though I usually like sashing in Bee Block quilts because it really showcases each block individually, I think it worked better in her quilt because it let them all flow and work together!

Here's her post about the finished quilt at her blog.

Thanks to Nettie and the other members of Bee Inspired for letting me feature their blocks and finished quilt today! If you'd like, grab the new "I Was Featured" button from the sidebar to post on your blog!

Tutorial these blocks were based off:

Dutchman's Puzzle block at Quilters Cache.

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Finished! Cristin's gorgeous green & gray quilt

Psssssstttt ... click here to go to the Grand Opening Giveaway post where you can enter to win great prizes all this week!

One of my favorite things about Virtual Quilting Bees is to see the full quilt come together -- after all the blocks have been sent home and they're sashed together (or not), basted, quilted and bound ... stick it in the washer and dryer and a little bit later this AMAZING quilt comes out that's been put together by 12 (if not more) people from all over the place. How cool is that?

One thing I'll be doing weekly is featuring a finished quilt that's been put together with blocks from different VQB's. Do you all know about our sister Flickr group, Quilting Bee Quilts, run by the lovely Rachel of PS I Quilt? If you've got a finished quilt made with quilting bee blocks, make sure you get your pictures in that group and maybe you'll find your quilt featured here next.

Cristin (HazelnutDesigns) is in the Sew New to Me Virtual Quilting bee, and January was her month. She put together this beautiful selection of green and gray fabrics and asked her bee members to make a block using squares and rectangles.

This is a great way to get a really personalized quilt as it allows each bee member to create and make a block especially for you. And you're pretty much guaranteed to have no block be exactly the same!

Here's a few of the blocks her bee members started making for her:

block made by sewdeerlyloved

block made by Little Miss Shabby

block made by alamodefabric

block made by Fresh Lemons : Faith

block made by Lpinette

block made by kimwoolf

block made by gretchen891

block made by SophiaAster

And a few pictures of the quilt in progress:

And finally, the finished project! Isn't it gorgeous!?  It measures 80"x80" and has a scrappy binding.  Love that.

The back is a mixture of a bunch of prints used on the front.

And a picture of the quilt all folded snug. (Did you know there's a Flickr group for that too? Quilts: Folded Edges and Rolls)

Thanks so much, Cristin, for letting me use your quilt as our first feature on a finished quilt! You guys all need to go visit Cristin's blog, Sew This is my Life and congratulate her on the adorable little baby boy she just had 4 days ago. Yes, she was putting this quilt together when she was 8 & 9 months pregnant!

So what do you think of this quilt? And of this idea to feature finished quilts? Let me know what you're thinking.  Can't wait to read your comments!

If you've got an idea for an article for QuiltingBeeBlocks.com or want your finished quilt featured, send me an email!  

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