November Spotlight: Sinta

Let’s get to know Sinta!

Following obtaining my degree in Interior Design in Southern California I made a quick trip to Yosemite. I fell in love with Yosemite..,  so much that I decided to stay. I had only ever camped before with my grand parents as a young kid in Oregon. I bought a flash light, an alarm clock and a sleeping bag.  Next, I got a job there. My family had to mail my clothes to me. There I was ... I never felt more like being home and there I stayed for the next twenty years. My children even started elementary school in the park... which included rock climbing and skiing! For the past 15 years I have worked for Environmental Consultants.

When I was a child I played day in and day out with a huge stack of pot holders that my grandmother had. I would lay out the squares, rearrange them, and lay them out once again. I think that was the start of everything

I squeeze in quilting on the weekends. I am a very early riser... so I get a lot done while the house is still quite. Quilting is so therapeutic and relaxing for me. I am so glad I have it as a creative outlet.

I teach quilting classes at our local quilt shop occasionally. For the past ten years I have hosted a quilt retreat at Bass Lake CA. I also do some stunt sewing and sample sewing for the Fat Quarter Shop.

Other than quilting... my live is all about the 3 "F's" : Family , Friends and Food.

I have a combined family of my 3 sons and two stepsons. The ages are 31, 32, 32, 32, and 34. They all have wonderful women in their lives. My husband are overjoyed to have women in our lives now!!! And better yet, we have 4 grand children now too!

We all live near each other, so we see each other all the time.

I wasn't able to find a photo of just myself... so I picked one of me with one of my best friends. That's me with the Chai Tea in my hand!  My lunch hours are spent visiting with my girlfriends... getting in my "social hour"!

If I didn't quilt... I would be a baker! I love collecting recipe books...a few of my favorites are Miettes, from Miettes Bakery in San Francisco, Butter, from the  Butter Cream Bakery in Napa, and from the Model Bakery also in Napa.  Holidays are my baking time. But I made the wedding cake for one of my sons' and I have another one to make for his twin in April! And another in June!

It's been so fun doing these spotlight's of our Beehive Members! We hope that you have a Merry Christmas! December is our month we take a break and a good time to catch up on blocks you may be behind on!

XOXO!

Block for Sinta and for Abby

Hi guys! I meant to post this yesterday, but it did not happen! Where has November disappeared too? I can't believe how fast 2015 is ending soon. And to be honest... I'm kind of glad. It has been a rough year for the Butler household, and we are hoping that 2016 is our year for new beginnings! I wanted to show you my block for Sinta:

Here is my block for Abby! I got the letter M. This is from the 2014-2015 Bee round. I just found it in some mail I hadn't gone through yet. Sorry Abbey! Luckily she only sent it out in October.

We were asked to share something personal about Sinta or her family:
She's been friends with a group of women for 30 years and they just went on a little trip with each other. For amazing photo's check out her blog.
She is doing the Clover and Violet Quilt A Long
She just recently went wedding dress shopping with her "girls" that her son's have brought into her life through marriage and a soon to be married son.
Her little sprouts are Elsea and Elvie!
Happy Sewing!
Shari

Sinta, Sherri and Abby's blocks

I loved Sinta's block, it was fun to make :)

I'm putting this quilt on my wish list, although I can't guarantee that I'll get it made because my wish list is pretty long!

A little bit about Sinta....I found her Christmas favorites.

Favorite Christmas movies:  It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street

Favorite Christmas Tradition:  a candle in the window

Favorite Christmas Cookie:  snowballs 

I was able to see so many of Sinta's beautiful creations on her blog while I was looking for something interesting about her :)

    

I finished Sherri's block and added 3 of my own Bonnie and Camille's fabrics.

I don't save my HST, I cut them into 1 1/2", 2 l/2" and 3 l/2" squares instead.
Maybe I should reconsider :)

I finished Abby's "B".

I started this quilt myself but only have letters A-F.

Here are the Mama Hens I've received from my bee month, I made the red one myself.

I'm hoping to make them into a quilt for one of my children for Christmas, so keep them coming!

I have a confession to make....

I used the Mama Hen that Nedra sent me and put her into this quilt.

Ha ha! Thanks Nedra :)

November Block done early!!

Sinta's block is done!!

Since this month is gearing up to be crazy busy...

I thought I would get my Bee Block done!

Besides, it was a fun thing to do after all my

chores were finished!

I enjoyed this block and breaking it down into 9 patch squares

made it even easier.  I can't wait to see the 

final results.  

Oh, and did you know that Sinta's birthday was October 1st?

Sinta's Block

 

A finished block for Sinta!

Very easy one to make :)

We were asked to share something personal

about Sinta or her family:

Did you know that

her son milled the wood

for her sewing room table?

How cool is that!

 

Happy to be a Bees Knees

Nedra

 

 

A Parade of Bee Blocks... and November's Reveal

I have accumulated several blocks that needed to find their way

back to the hive!

I was a busy bee trying to catch up on my blocks last week.
I hope you all forgive me for being so sporadic.

The good news is that you get to see a bunch of 
our bee blocks all at once!!!

Starting here with Amy's block! 

This one was a wee bit challenging for me... and I did a little

miscalculation at one point in the cutting. 

Amy bailed me out and sent me another piece of the background fabric to get me back

on track!

I finally got it finished!

Yeah!

This one is April's block. 

An original design! 

She is so smart to figure this out!

I hope I made mine right. The fabrics are so fun...

I love seeing the other finished blocks being posted

of hers!

The next block was for the alphabet quilt that Abby 

chose as her Bees Knees project.

I thought this was such a great idea and wished that

I would have thought of it for a group project here.

I present:The letter M!

But really, this was too easy, and I wish I would have

another letter to do. If we each would have had two letters...

Abby would be nearly finished with the alphabet!

Moving on...

I have the letter "T"

Oh my gosh! I love these fabrics! Denyse Schmidt

fabrics are always a favorite of mine!

I can't wait to see this quilt get put together!

(no pressure Calli)

This is Cynthia's block. 

Another super fun idea... to use a block from 

the Farm Girl Vintage book.

Not surprisingly, we all had a copy of that!

I still need to make that block for my sampler...

so I am going to go ahead and make another one to send

to Cynthia while I'm at it.

Now, Sherri's block

was another fun one.

I didn't jump on board the HST sampler craze when

it was going on. Not that I didn't save all my 

bonus HST's... I have a nice collection now...

maybe getting to make this one for Sherri will

give me the little nudge I need to start playing with those

cute little bonus squares on the design board!

I also wanted to show you....

something that makes me smile when I look at it...

Do you remember making these blocks for me?

I love this quilt so much!
Thank you all for helping me make it! 

I had a couple missing blocks but I went ahead and finished putting

this one together! I thought that when the other blocks come back I will just

make them into matching pillows!

Now, I am caught up.

I have mailed all your blocks (shown above) out

to you beautiful people, so watch for them in your mail box!

Along with the returning blocks I have added my project for

November!

(I have mailed the fabrics for this project out now to everyone)

(photo borrowed from Red Pepper blog)

This is the project I have picked from Red Pepper Quilts.

She made this into a gorgeous quilt.

I fell in love with it the moment I saw it on Pinterest!

There is a great tutorial on her blog.

After laying out my squares...

I made my block into sections.

Then I sewed the sections together.

Like this.

Here is what the block looks like set with the alternate block.
Don't worry...
I will be making those!


(photo borrowed from Red Pepper blog)

I am super excited to see this one come together! I hope you have fun with it!

*I added a couple extra squares so you can pick
what you like best in the scrappy corner sections of the block.
 *Off white/white thread is fine to use.
* All the fabric you need is in the block kit. 
* You should have enough fabric to work with. I don't need any leftovers returned to me.

I am on instagram: Sinta or pink pincushion will get you there!
My blog link is here.

One more thing...
I have a question for you to answer when you post my finished block.

I have a large family but I don't share a whole lot about family life.
Here is the challenge...
share anything about  me or my family that I have posted about on my blog or IG...
but the catch is... there can't be any repeats in the answers.

October Spotlight

Let’s get to know Sherri!

Sherri is married and the mother of 4 children. She lives in Logandale, Nevada with her husband. She attended Brigham Young University and received a Bachelor of Arts in English from UNLV in 1989; she currently teaches English part-time at a local community college campus. She tries to spend as much of her free time as possible sewing, quilting, and writing about her creative journey.

Inspired by a rich family heritage of generations of women who love and loved sewing and creating, Sherri also loves to sew and quilt. She has the most magical memories of homemade gifts from her Mom, Aunt, Grandmother, and great-grandmother and began to sew on her own with a sewing machine at age 10. While a patchwork pillow was her first project with a sewing machine, she began sewing many of her own clothes during high school; as a college student and young mom she sewed prom and wedding attire for others. In the early 1990’s, inspired and taught by her grandmother, she began her quilting journey.

Just a few short years ago she discovered quilt blogs and the amazing on-line community of quilting and inspiration. Through blogging about creating she has come to love designing and sharing this wonderful art. She has been publishing her designs in magazines and books since 2011; her first book, A Quilting Life: Creating a Handmade Home was published in March 2013 by C&T Publishing; her second book, Fresh Family Traditions: 18 Heirloom Quilts for a New Generation was released in the spring of 2014 and is also published by C&T. Recently she has been able to continue her quilting journey designing fabric for Moda with her daughter, Chelsi Stratton. Their first collection, “Bright Sun” ships at the end of October 2015, and their second collection, “Valley” will ship in April of 2016. She continues to blog about her quilting life at www.aquiltinglife.com

Isn’t her studio just to die for! I love having a sneak peek of sewing spaces and her’s is quite delicious.

I also visited her blog and if you haven’t visited yet you need to check out her 1930’s Farmer Wive blocks. They are all the rage right now and if you haven’t jumped on the band wagon it’s a must!

And some of her favorite cookbooks are from Our Best Bites! That's another website that you must check out for fun yummy fall recipes!

Here are some of my favorites:

Apple Pie Filling for Canning or Freezing  |  Caramel Pecan Pie  |  Homemade Soft Pretzels
Overnight Baked French Toast

Happy Sewing!

Shari

Block for Sherri

Wow, I can't believe how fast this month is wrapping up! I love October and we are half way through it! I even loved getting Sherri's material in the mail and loved the block she chose for me. This quilt is going to scrappy-happy epic!

It's so bright and fun! And I love love my pinbowl from Pleasant Home! I always use this and I feel like I need to get a few more colors. You can't have too many pin bowls can you?

I know Sherri has been busy getting ready for quilt market, so I thought I would pipe in and say one of my favorite tools for quilting is pin bowls like these to hold those pins as you sew. What is your favorite quilting tool?

XOXO,

Shari

Sherri's October Bee Block

I had a lot of fun looking through my Bonnie and Camille fabrics to add to the fabrics that Sherri sent me. I think I'm going to have to eventually get it together and make a sampler quilt using what Bonnie and Camille fabric I've collected over the years. It's a shame that it's just been hiding in drawers and stashed on shelves. It's such great fabric.

Here's a picture of the Quilt BLOCK sewn up in the pattern layout that Sherri sent to me. I can't wait to see the blocks everyone else has sewn.

Thanks Sherri!! Good Luck at Quilt Market!!

October Bee Blocks

Hello everyone, and happy October! I'm running behind on practically everything right now, but I was super happy to get my block fabrics in the mail for you all today! If you're new here, my name is Sherri McConnell, and I blog at A Quilting Life. I'm an avid quilter and fabric lover, and I love the creativity and inspiration that comes with working on projects with other quilters!

So...pictured above are some scrappy blocks I started a couple of years ago. I have a whole bunch more I've been wanting to make, but I just haven't been able to get to them. So what I did was to send you some of my hst's from my Bonnie and Camille fabric hst stash. I also sent a diagram of the block for you to make. There are only 12 hst's included in your packet, so you'll need to make 4 more. 

I've included the 3" x 3" background squares and some B&C squares for the blocks...BUT...I would love it if you could add the 4 B&C squares to your stash and use 4 different Bonnie & Camille fabrics you have on hand. This will add some more to my scrappy mix! If you don't have any Bonnie & Camille fabrics to trade, that's okay...just use what I sent. My only requirement is that you use my background fabric (Moda Bella 9900 97) and Bonnie and Camille prints for the remaining squares.

The half square triangles should be 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" (2" finished), and the blocks will be 8 1/2"  x 8 1/2" (8" finished).
 

Some of the copies I sent were a little light, so I shaded in the print fabric areas where I thought you might not be able to see it well. Just email me if you have any questions.

Finally...I'd love the extra half-square triangles you get if you are willing to send them. I still have six more blocks to make, and it would be super if I could have the four left overs from everyone (use this method to make two half square triangles from each pair of squares).

I look forward to helping all of you created fun projects this year...and a HUGE thank you to Shari for taking over as our Bee Leader...I sure appreciate her organization in getting everything going!

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Sherri

 

Block for Cynthea

The block was super easy to get done with all the cutting Cynthea did for us! What an awesome job she did and I'm excited to see this all come together.

Hope you all have fun making your chickens!

XOXO,

Shari

Sewing Along and Catching Up

The peak of summer sewing... along!

I had been wanting to make this block up since last summer when Lori 

first did a tutorial for it on her blog!

 I am so glad that Kim

chose it to be her block for the Bees Knees!

However, now that I have made one... it's not enough. I need a

whole quilt of my own!

I host a retreat in the fall... so that might be the perfect time to 

work on this... the "perfect project"!

Nedra has already gotten this block in the mail! I am so 

glad it's done and in her hands now!

It shouldn't take me so long to catch up...

but sometimes it just does.

I was working on another block that I needed to catch up on too...

it is Amy's block.

Unfortunately, I cut something wrong and was at a standstill on it but

yesterday I received a little envelope first aid kit from Amy so now

I can get that one done too!

I am so thankful to be in this group with all of you 

talented women!

I hope all of you have been having a wonderful summer with your 

family and enjoying nature... and all

those fun things summer has to offer.

If I owe you a block... don't worry! I will finish up on my 

"catch-up" blocks this weekend!

Sinta

Calli's June Block

This was such a fun and refreshing block to do. I love that it's from the 1800's and I love the movement of it. It works perfect with the DS prints that you sent. Such a pretty quilt this will be! The one block is does not have a stain, it's just water from my iron. I just noticed it after uploading this to the blog!

Can't wait to see how this quilt comes together! Thanks for letting me be apart of it Calli! They are being mailed off today!

Happy fourth of July everyone!

Shari

Hello Bee Friends,

My June block is an old fashioned "T" block.  This block became very popular with the Temperance movement in the late 1800's and is sometimes called a temperance block...

I love how quilters then and now used their skills to speak their mind about what was important to them.  I chose this block for reasons that have nothing to do with temperance, but there are other t words that I love- like tolerant, trustworthy, true, teachable, thankful, and last but not least Taylor.

The fabric I've chosen for my blocks are all Denyse Schmidt, mostly from her Shelbourne Falls collection.  It's one of my favorite collections ever.  There are a few fabrics in the quilt that are from various Denyse Schmidt fabrics from JoAnn's.  The solid is a Bonnie and Camille... but I can't remember the collection.

Since the blocks are so quick and easy, I have sent you fabric to make a total of four blocks, two blocks from each print, using the method to make two half square triangles at once.  So you are essentially making two blocks at once.  

I am emailing a sheet with cutting and piecing instructions.  

What size quilt block do you want your bee partners to make? (Give finished and unfinished measurements, just to be sure.)  The finished blocks will measure 7 1/2 inches, and the unfinished blocks measures 8 inches.  

Can your partners use any of his/her own stash fabric to use in your quilt block? If so, are there any limitations?  Please only use the fabric that I sent.  

Is there a specific color of thread (white/off white) you want your partners to sew with? Any light colored thread is great. 

Does your partners have to use at least a little bit of every fabric you send or can your partners decide? You should end up with only a little left over fabric from the small half square triangles.

Can you link us to any flickr or Pinterest photos that you would like us to use as inspiration for your quilt block? This is a link to the pin that inspired my quilt. 

If your partners are super motivated and are able to make two blocks out of the fabric you send, would you accept more than one block from your partners? I am hoping you will make 4 blocks total- two blocks from each fabric sent.  

Do you want your partners to return any leftover larger size scraps to you when they return the completed blocks or can they keep them for their own scrap stash? There shouldn't be much fabric left over, but you are welcome to keep it for your stash or send it back to me whichever you prefer.

Thank you all!  I love being part of our bee even though I am not always been good at getting your blocks back in a timely manner.  You are all amazing women and quilters.  

Cheers,

Calli 

Amy Smart's May Block

I finished Amy's block last night and will pop it in the mail today! It was fun to sew with the colors you chose. Very bright and fun.

XOXO

April 2015 Block

Hi Ladies,

Sorry to be a little late in getting the fabrics for my block off to you this month.  I've been out of town, and had a few family complications.  But all is well, and I mailed your packages today.

I put the pattern in your envelope.  It's an easy block, and hopefully you will find the instructions clear.  The layout sample picture is above to complete a 12" (finished) 12.5" (unfinished) block.

Let me know if you have any questions,
Bees Knees-fully yours,
Nedra

Block Catch Up

I was so excited to finally be done with Sinta's and April's blocks! First I want to share Sinta's block!

I love the use of Heather Bailey's fabric here and Sinta made it very easy to get all the blocks done by doing a lot of the cutting. So thank you for that! You are amazing! I hope you enjoy your block.

Now I want to share April's block. I got to do A. It was fun putting the block together with little instructions. The block was pretty straight forward and easy to do.

I hope I did the color placement right. That was the only thing I wondered about, but I love how it turned out. I hope April does. Oh and here's the back, which I never show my backs.

So i guess I am behind a block for February, because I never got Lori's block. Did everyone else receive her block? I can't wait to get March's block. My goal is to try to complete it within that month so I don't get behind anymore. That's my new goal for my quilting bee's... to always try to turn them in on time. Off to do some more sewing!

XOXO,

Shari

January Bee Blocks

Hi Ladies!

We've had a nasty bug over here and I've been taking care of sickies. Sorry for the delay. Fabric went out today in the mail. 

The block I'm sending to you is a 15'' block, one of two blocks included in an upcoming pattern for my next line with Moda. SO, I'm going to email you the details on cut info, instead of posting the pdf here. :) Your fabric packet is marked with either an A or a B. Just make the block that your package is marked with!

I am hoping to have this quilt all done up for my mom for mother's day, so you've got some time. :)

Your packet has 2 fat eighths, and one grey mini dot fat quarter. The grey is the "background".

What size quilt block do you want your bee partners to make? (Give finished and unfinished measurements, just to be sure.)   Finished is 15'', unfinished is 15 1/2'' square.

Can your partners use any of their own stash fabric to use in your quilt block? If so, are there any limitations?

Everything you need is provided

Is there a specific color of thread (white/off white) you want your partners to sew with?

As long as it's not showing on the front, I don't have a preference.

Do your partners have to use at least a little bit of every fabric you send or can your partners decide?

What I sent will work nicely! 

Do you have a general theme or is it up to your partners to decide? Are there any specific themes that you do NOT want in your quilt block? Likes/dislikes?

Just follow whichever block pattern you are assigned, A or B, as included in the email dated 1/16.

If your partners are super motivated and are able to make two blocks out of the fabric you send, would you accept more than one block from your partners? 

Since I cursed you with paper piecing that one time, I'm keeping it to one block. Ha ha.

Do you want your partners to return any leftover larger size scraps to you when they return the completed blocks or can they keep them for their own scrap stash?

Please keep it, and add to your scraps!

Thanks ladies!

PS I think I only have 2 blocks to catch up on, so you should see those soon soon!

xoxo