Busy as a Blogtoberfest Bee

So … at last something has been sewn (and FINISHED!)  in the Pings Household!! My 4x5 modern bee blocks! Yay!





For this bee we had to produce 5 blocks …

I decided to paper piece hexagons and then applique them onto white backgrounds.

These were my first ideas back in August …

They were really fun to make, as I love paper piecing, but I totally underestimated the amount of hexies that would actually look good, so they took me twice as long as I thought they would! LOL! 





Each block is 12.5” finished.

Heather Grey, Light Teal, Green for Lainey @ LaineyBugDesigns

Cobalt, Lime, Aqua for Manda @ StayAtHomeLibrarian

Lime, Chartreuse, Grey for Nikki @ Bumbles&Lu 

Spring Green, Aqua & Grey for Lee @ FreshlyPieced

 

Red, Blue & White for Colleen @ TheBusyBean

Here they all together:






I’ve had to duck out of the next quarter because I just can’t commit the time, but I’m really keen to start again in the new year … and really excited to start getting the blocks these lovely ladies made for me!


There are some fantastic blocks in the 4x5 flickr group here … go feast your eyes!






Don’t forget to go and have a look at how others are doing in this year’s Blogtoberfest  organised by TinnieGirl … there are some great giveaways going on too, linky hosted by CurlyPops  … check them out here …





I’ll be back tomorrow or soon after with the finished projects from  The Japanese Scrap Bag Challenge … sponsored by The Eternal Maker.  You’ll be voting for the ultimate winner … and I can tell you … there are some lovely lovely creations …

Here’s to a short sweet week if you’re working and a long leisurely one if you’re not!

A bit of a plan … {Blogtoberfest #8}

Apologies - but yesterday’s lack of Blogtoberfesting was due to 3 hour dental appointment & extractions & partial denture fitting – let’s not even go there eh?

But I did use my time well – calmly (!) sewing hexies together for some new pincushion gifts … but then I thought … hang on a mo … 

… these produce a perfect double sided bigger hexie … and I am in need of a slow hand-sewn project … 

(there are more trips scheduled to the d******t) 

So, when I got home (very late at night as my dentist is up in London and my appointment wasn’t till 7pm!) I started experimenting:

I made a 6cm sided template & cut a large hexie out of batting and slipped it inside the pocket.  Ta-Da!  instant quilting !!  In the top most picture you can see the green hexie is a bit more puffy than the orange – it’s got the batting in.

 

Obviously, if I were to continue with this I would probably tack the batting in once I’d removed the piecing and before turning right side out, but I think I like the idea … you could make a pretty funky double sided quilt reasonably quickly like this.

The idea of making a quilt with a gazillion individual 1”hexies put me off big time because of the long preparation time that would mean for me, but I feel this would be quite fun – especially if you add your block colours into the centres or around the edges to break up the patterns a bit … You could also cut two large hexies from plain blocks and piece them to really make the colours pop…

What do you think guys?  Is it viable?