Stash Bee 2016 Hive 8 - June Block

This month we had a treat, our queen bee sent us fabric to use in the block!  A beautiful pale blue.

The directions were very clear.  Katrin used a tutorial by Missouri Quilt Company to help us, but she customized those directions so the pieces were larger, and there is a wonderful wonky triangle insert that we add before sewing the subunits together so more of her wonderful blue shows!

My first version of the block was made while at a friend's in Rhode Island. I had left my fabric behind, but because Katrin had told us, I knew the fabric she had mailed each of us was Kona Cotton  ‘Periwinkle Blue’ so it was easy to get more background fabric and to proceed.

Once I returned home I made another block using the actual fabric that had been mailed to me...

Then I made my block that I am keeping out of polka dot material and neutrals...  It looks very different with these random fabrics. The orange got caught in the machine so the triangle had to be extra big in the center - oh well...

I added some steps when I was preparing the block:

Here is one I had to unstitch and redo!

• Drew a line to show where to stitch the squares that were sewn down then trimmed.
• Sewed on the inside of the line so the fit of flap that would remain wasn't tight.
• Before trimming any of the angles, pressed them flat then back and double checked to be sure the background was covered.  If it wasn't then the stitches were removed and resewed.
• Only after I double checked and press did I put the piece face down on the cutting board and if needed trimmed the fabric to match the shape of the background.

By sewing on the inside of the center line, the flap covered the background shape.

   

I used the ruler as the guide for shaping the triangle, this way I was sure to have a 90 degree angle.

This is a really nice block and was pretty easy to sew up.  It will make a dramatic quilt.  

I hope to make a quilt filled with these blocks someday!

To see the other blocks the hive has made for Katrin, click here! Then scroll down to the June 2016 entries.

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Here are a few May 2016 photos showing the area in Rhode Island where we were staying.  The photos aren't in a particular order.  Of course I have many more, but these caught my eye and thought I'd share here.