~ Save the Bees ~ Block 2 ~ GIVEAWAY! ~

***GIVEAWAY CLOSED***

Happy Monday Sweet Bee Lovers!  I'm super excited to share my Block 2 of the Save the Bees BOM.  Once again my fabrics are from my scrap box of Lakehouse Drygoods.  

This month I thought I would try something a little different with the stitching.  It's not a drastic change but it is out of my comfort zone a little bit.  On block 1, I used gray thread to stitch down and outline the bee.  The rest of block 1 I tried to match the thread to the fabric.  

Block one

This months bee is also outlined in gray.

But this month I decided to use a darker thread for ALL the applique instead of being so matchy-matchy.  The thread I choose for the flower and leaves isn't quite as bold as the gray around the bee but it is darker and stands out a bit more than my usual style.

It really makes the leaves and stems stand out.  All of my stitches are machine stitched.  A tear away sticky stabilizer was used on the back to reduce puckering.  If you don't have stabilizer you can use newspaper, tissue paper or copy paper.  If you have a little quilt basting spray it helps to hold in place but not necessary.

Now for a word of caution.   Even though I know how to make half  rectangles, I still made a biggie mistake.  I had the music blaring, just singing and stitching not paying attention and as soon as I made that first cut it hit me...UGG...I stitched them wrong....BOO-HOO-HOO.  Well at least it was only one cut, I picked out the stitches on the rest. 

If your just finding out about this BOM and would like to join you can find all the information you need to get started over at Jacquelynne's blog by clicking here.  Your blocks can be share on social media using #SaveTheBeesQuilt and #SaveTheBeesBOM  You can also join and share them in the Jacquelynne's Facebook Group here.

The prize for September will be a copy of the Carpenter's Apprentice pattern courtesy of EvaPaige Quilt Designs and Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmers courtesy of New Leaf Stitches.

Make sure you visit all the bloggers for block inspiration and to enter the giveaway on each blog.  That's right you have multiple chances to win this awesome giveaway!  GOOD LUCK!  Open to everyone from everywhere! Giveaway ends September 9th 10 A.M. EDT

 The Crafty Quilter

Podunk Pretties

The Quilting Nook

The Sewing Loft

Flamingo Toes

Kathy's Quilts

Freemotion by the River

A Quilting Life

To enter the giveaway on this blog.  All you need to do is click on the blue button at the end of this post  that says "Add Your Link".  It will look like this but smaller.

Just add your name and email address.  Leaving all other fields blank.   Your email not be visible to anyone but me.   

 Leaving a comment in the comments section of this post will not enter you in the giveaway but you can still comment!  

~ Lea Anne ~

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~ Love is in the Air ~

Yes it's true, my little ole heart is going pitter-pat.  Flying by the seat of my pants with this quilt design has let the creativity flow.  The design layout has changed several times, I think it might be finished evolving.   

It all started with this little 5.5" Dresden Block.   You would think by its tiny size that it was a pain to make, but really it wasn't. If you can make a normal 12" block you can make this.

Fussy cutting is fairly new to me.  In the past I would avoid it at all cost.  It just seemed so tedious.  Well what was I thinking?  The fussy cutting has taken the simple design from the cutesy little ...awe...   To a big WOW!  

As usual there's a few quilty rules being broken.  Fusible and turned edge applique techniques are used in this project.   I'm sure that makes some ruler maker cringe.   The Dresden's and all the circles are turned edge. Turning the edges of the circles is the only way to get them perfectly round...at least for ME to get them close to perfect.

There's a few more final touches to make before sharing the entire 24" block.  See you in a few days for the big reveal! 

Before leaving I want to give a big Hillbilly Hollar to Aunt Em's Soap.  This Mint soap has changed the look and feel of my skin.  It has the most amazing cent that you can't find at Walmart and it's gentle enough to use on my entire body.  Since I started using this a few months ago I no longer need to moisturize, the constant itchy skin is gone   It's priced higher than the yukky store bought stuff but it last so much longer, and I don't need to buy any products to repair the dry skin as with the other soaps. I think I'm actually saving money!  And to put the icing on the cake Em is a quilter and uses her tiny little scraps for packaging.  That's my kind of gal...use it up and re-purpose.  You can find Em's quilt an soap shop by clicking here.  Make sure you hop over to her quilt blog,  Em's Scrapbag, she always stitching up a scrappy beauty.

~  Lea Anne ~

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~ It's PKM Playtime ~

This past year has been  a whirlwind of deadlines, tech work, numbers crunching..yukky this and yukky that.  It's so nice to just play.  Nothing soothes my soul like a little PKM playtime.     

To once again feel that freedom of just sewing and design as I go.  Back in my element of flying by the seat of my pants feels so right.  When there's no pressure to get it done I can just enjoy the little things like how pretty these fabrics are as they sit in a pile waiting to be sewn together.

Or how much I love the look of the scrunched mess behind the presser foot.  

Dresden blocks are my go to blocks.  They have never let me down when I want  to stitch up something cute and unique.

I'm not sure exactly how this is going to finish.....And that makes me happy.  Just letting it take on a life of it's own.   *sigh*  Life is good.

Maybe I need a few more blocks?...Only time will tell!   So I'm curious about your quilting process.  Are you like me and just fly by the seat of your pants?

Do you like to have a design plan with drawings?

Do you buy patterns so you don't have to think about the quilt design?

Linking up at all these fabulous linky parties.  Hop on over to be inspired!

http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2018/07/design-wall-monday-july-30-2018.html

https://www.cookingupquilts.com/mcm-125-tackling-another-ufo/

http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/2018/07/monday-making_29.html

http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/2018/07/oh-scrap-somebody-stop-me.html

~  Lea Anne ~

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~ Pin Cushion ~

Come on in quilty friends!  Grab a cuppa whatever and pull up a chair.  Lots of secret sewing has been going on over the last few weeks.  And it's finally over...YEAH!  But I still can't share the secret.  Well it's still busy, busy, busy, everyday.  I get so busy that the occasional break is needed from the secret and technical stuff .  That brings me to what I want to share with you today.  A few weeks ago the most loved pin cushion in the studio tumbled to the ground, breaking the the base in half.  BOOHOO....but... This BIG ole cutie is moving into it's place as most loved.

No pattern was used, I just flew by the seat of my pants after pulling a few pretty scraps of LakeHouse Drygoods.  Pam Kitty and Holly Holderman come together and worked their sweet magic once again.

Linking up over at

http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com/2018/07/moving-it-forward_23.html

and

https://conniekresin.com/2018/07/linky-tuesday-july-24th.html

and

https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2018/07/lets-bee-social-235.html

~ Lea Anne ~

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~ Save the Bee's ~ My Fabric Pull ~

Hi quilty friends!  It's almost time!  Are you ready?  Have you signed up?  Have you pulled your fabric?  Well I've been as busy as a little bee in the Podunk Studio.  Jacquelynne Steves has designed the cutest little Free BOM called Save the Bees.  This one hits close to home for me, Mr. Podunk is a bee keeper!  It's going to be so much fun and I can't wait to see everyone's creations! You need to sign up so you'll never miss a free block.  They'll be sent right to your email every month.  Just CLICK RIGHT HERE TO SIGN UP.

So here's my pull.  I'll be working from my treasured Lakehouse DryGoods scraps once again.   These two little boxes may not look like much but they have made several quilts in the past 3 or 4 years.  No scrap is left behind, every little bitty piece is saved.  They come in quite handy when its time to do applique.  

The really good stuff is in the plastic baggies.  To get the fabric requirements for this quilt click here.  There's  tons of  Save the Bee's color inspiration if you click here.  But remember you still need to sign up to receive the blocks by email.

The 3 baggies of scraps are sorted by size.  

1.  2" or larger but not a FQ

2. Smaller than 2" wide 

3.  Itty bitty scraps but no smaller than a dime.  Yes that's right if I can place a dime on it I save it for itsy bitsy applique.  You can see one of my projects using them here.

The plan is to not to use any fabric out to the boxes unless there's nothing that suits my fancy in the bags.  There's lots of good stuff in the boxes but these smaller scraps need to find a home in a quilt.

As a featured blog hop participant for the Save the Bee's BOM we are given the same freedom as you to step outside the box and play with the pattern.  All we are required to do is make the blocks, then we can set them however we like.  So this year I've chosen to make mine into wall hangings for my mini quilts wall.  The fabric below is my pull for background fabrics.  Not all will make it into the quilt.   

 After about 30 minutes of fabric play here's what I've decided for block one.  I can't wait to show you the finished little cutie on August 6th.   So who's with me?  Are you going to join the fun?  So you're still not convinced.  Well if you fly on over to Jacquelynne's blog you can see the finished quilt layout.  It's ADORABLE!  Click here to be amazed.   Oh....I almost forgot to tell you, there's prizes every month.  You'll definitely want to be a part of that!  So if you don't follow me or Jacquelynnes Blog you might want to, lots of great stuff.  You don't need to make the quilt to win great prizes.  There's several follow me options on the right hand side of my blog.

~  Lea Anne ~

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~ Stars and Stripes Forever ~

 Hi Friends!  Thanks for dropping by Podunk!  This week we've been blessed with  picture perfect weather.  The sunny days with low humidity are amazing for outdoor quilt pictures.  So you're scratching your head thinking, low humidity?  How does that effect picture taking?

Well, high humidity really doesn't effect the quilt or the camera, it effects ME and my willingness to stay out in heat to get the perfect shot.  Wallace Farms has so many awesome little nooks great for staging quilt photos.  I have my favorite spots but have decided to expand this properties full potential.  The owner, Debbie Wallace, gives me the freedom to roam about and take all the pictures I want.

While trying to set up the perfect quilt photo it's easy to forget I'm here to get good detailed photos of the quilt and not the background.  However the lighting was perfect yesterday for quilting details.  There was no need to up close and personal with the quilt.  My simple, quick and easy free motion quilting shined bright in every picture.

There's a little ruler work on the stars to make them pop out to the quilt.  I used the same backing on this quilt as in my last patriotic quilt.  It's from the fabric line Hope Chest by Penny Rose Fabrics.   When I saw this fabric at Ben Franklin Crafts in New Albany Indiana for $2.99 a yard...I bought the entire 12 yard bolt!   That's better prices than Walmart fabric.  Which reminds me, most of the fabrics in this quilt are from Walmart.  There's a few designer prints.  The binding and the star in the bottom left of this picture is Lakehouse Drygoods.  

The truth be told I wish we could all afford to work with nothing but designer fabrics but that's just simply not the case.  When you love what you do, you will find a way to do what you love.  Will these fabrics last as long as designer fabrics?   Only time will tell, so lets just enjoy our creations now and hope for the best!  

What I can tell you is, as I stitched down the raw edge applique stars, they all behaved the same.  Meaning....none of them frayed on the edges, the fusible wasn't more visible, the whites didn't shadow the background fabrics any worse than the designer fabrics.  The wavy blue border is designer fabric that is bias cut and not fusible applique, it too behaved well with the cheaper fabrics as I glued and stitched it into place. You can see how the wavy blue was attached here.

But the one thing I loved was seeing this on the cheaper fabrics.  

Stars and Stripes will be a published pattern sometime next week.  I'm gonna say Friday but it could be sooner.  Keep your eyes open!  There will be a special offer when it's published!

See you soon!

~ Lea Anne ~

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