Spring has sprung - though you wouldn't think so!

....and at last I have sprung into gear and conquered my fears!  Those of you who know me, will nod when I say that me and technology aren’t a happy pairing!  The car is a necessity  – the sewing machine I love but anything to do with computers I’m afraid goes to the bottom of the pile!

2018 I told myself,  was going to be a year where I tried new things and blogging is one of them!  So apologies to one and all for my late start!   I relied on Lorraine for doing anything remotely technical - oh how she is missed!

However the good news is that we’ve been pretty productive with the sewing machines in January and February and have gifted the following beauties....

These 5 little quilts were gifted to a local girl’s hostel

 for young mother's and their babies.

Love the soft colours!

Hard to beat a rail fence!

Quick & easy from a charm pack!

Bear Paw quilt - kindly donated!

Again scrappy squares hard to beat!
Quilt top kindly donated..
Beautifully long-armed...

This one was gifted to a lady who was rescued thankfully from a housefire, 

but sadly lost everything she owned including her home.

This started with a donated charm pack to make the HST's.
I call it the 'organic' quilt as it just kept growing!

Remember this – November block of the month

 has found a new home with a gentleman who is

 struggling with serious health issues and finding life pretty hard. 

It's bigger than this only I forgot to take a picture!

This beautiful quilt went to a friend of one of our Saturday Bee Blessed group,

who has recently suffered a couple of close bereavements.

  

Beautifully long-armed which brings the quilt alive!

NEW FOR 2018! 

CRAFT HUB - Making It Social 

This is a new group of creatives who have started to meet in
CFC Cafe Church on the Belmont Road -  on alternate Wednesdays from 10.30 am to 1 pm.

If you love anything creative - why not drop in and find out more, have a cuppa, meet new friends, learn a new skill or teach someone else a new skill.  So far we have knitters, mini workshops on origami, another on how to make hexies, a keen photographer sharing her skills in making photo-books.     A few of us from Bee Blessed have set up a block making corner - quite a productive way of working when the fabric is pre-cut!     It also introduces people outside the quilting world into the mystery of making a quilt.   One lady couldn't sew but she could iron.... oh happy days..... I was making lots of HST's and she happily sewed all my seams open for me!   Remember the old saying - many hands make light work!

Next Craft Hub  -  Wednesday 7th March.


BEE BLESSED dates MARCH to JUNE 2018

• March 10th 
• April 14th 
• May 12th
• June 9th

 
BLOCK OF THE MONTH

First I must grovel and apologise to those who faithfully send us your lovely blocks each month. Oh how I've missed those little packets dropping through my letter box and eagerly opening them to see what beauties are inside!

I'm keeping it simple this month and giving you free rein to make any block you like.  We throw little away in Bee Blessed and have accumulated a pile of what we call 'orphan blocks'.  The time has come to make these up into a couple of quilts.... so a few more blocks wouldn't go amiss.

• You can use any colour combination you like - either bright and scrappy or pastels.  
• The finished block should be 12.5"
• You can use one of our previous tutorials or a favourite of your own.
• Or you may have 'orphan' blocks lurking around at home that you could send us.

We would like your blocks in by 7th April please.


Last but not least a big thank you to all who help us get these quilts made - to those who send us blocks monthly, to those who turn up on Saturdays to put the quilt tops together and to Lorraine and Hilary who have done so much long arm quilting.   

These quilts really do touch people at a time in their lives when it's needed.  I love how we can all use our talents to reach out to others.   Bee Blessed couldn't do it without you! 
THANK YOU ALL.


Hey my first blog - I can only get better (Lorraine is a hard act to follow!)   Another thing ticked off my 2018 list!!

Keep warm and safe in this weather ....... and keep sewing!

Ros x

A New Era

I can't believe it has been two and a half years since Ros and I took the 'Bee Blessed reins' from Judith and Sarah - pictured below on their last day in June 2015 - and once again I'm writing a blog entitled 'A New Era'.

Saturday 6th January was my last day at Bee Blessed (I'm Lorraine and I've been running it with Ros since June 2015) and this will be the last blog I write. Life has become very busy and necessitates me handing my one rein to Ros. But, in essence, little has changed and you'll still be getting your monthly updates and Blocks of the Month.

I'll show you a few photographs of what we got up to on Saturday 6th.

The ladies had a ball as they beavered away. Welcome Hilary, who has faithfully made and posted blocks to us for some time now.  It was lovely to meet you.  Hopefully we didn't work you too hard and you'll be back to see us again. Whoops...sorry no photo of me...I'll remain a mystery.😎

Hilary got stuck into stitching down some binding on this baby quilt.

Before Christmas we set this block and on Saturday we had the opportunity to complete the top.

 This is growing...

...this needs binding...

...and this binding needs stitched down.

As usual your blocks didn't disappoint.  Many thanks to all who made and posted them to us. This is the last opportunity I'll get to thank you for all your support.  Your kindness has touched both me and everyone involved with Bee Blessed, not forgetting all the lovely people who receive the quilts. Keep up the good work! And to all the lovely ladies who faithfully turn up each month, a big thank you.  Bee Blessed couldn't exist without you and it has been my absolute pleasure getting to know you and spending time in your presence each month. 😘😘 

And finally, many thanks to all who showed their appreciation for my (much enjoyed) efforts within Bee Blessed during the last two and a half years and to those who extended their best wishes for my future.  You know who you are...😃

HAPPY SEWING

Happy New Year - January Block 2018

Happy New Year!  I hope Christmas was everything you wished it to be. Hasn't it gone by in a flash!  Saturday 6th January will be our first meeting of 2018 and I'm ready to get back to some normality and routine. If you're feeling likewise and have some free time to make us a block it would be much appreciated.

This month we are making the Greek Cross block and the tutorial can be found here... just click on the 'Bee Blessed - January 2014' link.  Many thanks to the lovely Sarah for allowing us to use it.  You will have a 12.5" block run up in no time.

As regards fabrics we are sticking to Sarah's suggestions.  We would like plain white or white on white for the background, one print for the cross motif and two prints for the corner half square triangles, scrappy and bright, please.

Could you please post your blocks to us by Wednesday 31st January.

I hope you find a few minutes to make this month's block  If you've any questions our details are on our contact page.  Many thanks for reading this.

Happy Sewing

December Block - HSTs again

If, by any chance, you are having Half Square Triangle withdrawal, I'm only too happy to point you in that direction.  Once again I'm linking to the brilliant Jeni Baker's Half Square Triangle Block of the Month Quilt Along which is on her blog, incolororder.com  Her blog is fab and worth visiting regularly.

We are making the March block this time which you can find here.  If anyone knows what the name of the block is, I'd be interested to know.

Jeni makes her HSTs using the traditional method or the alternative method (great tutorials) and for this block please remember to trim them to 3.5". 

As regards colour we would like the background to be white or white on white with three print fabrics.  You have free rein with the colours. Could you please send the completed blocks to us by 30th December so that we can use them when we next meet on January 6th.

There was a new addition to my family yesterday and he has fallen for me.  The downside to that is it's taking me an age to type this blog and actually making the block was interesting...but I'm determined that he will not be won over by my dog whispering husband!!! If I have to nurse him all day, feed him his dinner piece by piece, carry him up the scary steps to the garden, then I will...

Isn't he gorgeous!

It just remains for me to thank you for your support during 2017 and to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Happy Sewing

Quick Update

It's a dismal day in Belfast and I've reluctantly accepted that winter is just around the corner. A perfect day to spend indoors, bringing you up to date with our last get together.

The quilt top below was made from two donated charm packs; pieced, trimmed and sewn together, they produced this riot of loveliness. Borders have been chosen and are awaiting completion when time permits.

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A donated Layer Cake this time.  We saw a similarly completed quilt on Pinterest but I can't find the link to tag.  If it's yours, thanks for posting it.

...and I even found time to play with my longarm rulers!  (you probably can't see the straight lines, but believe me they are there)

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Another cutsie baby panel is ready for binding.

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This pattern came from Camille Roskelley's book, entitled Simply Retro.  How to quilt it....??

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Last month this completed quilt top made its way to us...thank you... and we decided to add some borders. Perfect fabric or what!!! I don't know where you got that fabric, Ros, but it was made for this quilt.

We hoked and poked and came up with the perfect bits and pieces of left over whatnots, to piece a back.  Waste not, want not!   I do love a pieced back but boy is it slow to cut straight when it's as big as this.  

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It just remains for me to thank you for making and sending us last month's blocks.  You can see some of them below.  Would you believe, thinking I was super organised whizzing off to Bee Blessed,  I left some of them at home!!!  So there are more...sorry if yours is missing.

I hope to make and post December's block in the next few days when I get a free moment.  So until then...

Happy Sewing 

THANK YOU

I just want to begin by thanking everyone who supports us in any way...those who are able to meet with us each month and sew...those who faithfully make and post blocks to us each month...those who donate fabric...those who hold us in their prayers and those who encourage us to keep going.  Thank you to each and every one of you.

This has been a particularly busy month for us in terms of gifting quilts.  That in itself is bitter sweet as it means that although we get to pass on our lovely quilts (your lovely quilts), there are people out there who are going through a difficult time. Thank you for enabling us to do that.

Some photographs of what we gifted.  I hope you can spot your blocks...

There were a few finishing touches added and progress was made on WIPs

I can never bring myself to crop your dainty fingers, Judith...

All in all a satisfying month and get together.

Thank You!!!

Happy Sewing

A masculine 16 Patch Block

We've had a need for quilts suitable for men, recently, and the pretty pinks and pastels just don't cut the mustard.  As someone said to me last week in Bee Blessed, "It's refreshing to make something that's not pink and pretty,"...or words to that effect!  So the good news is that this month is all about providing you with that refreshment and asking you to dig into the more masculine section of your stash.

There's a fab tutorial for the block here on the brilliant blog by Fiona @poppymakes. You'll whizz through the tutorial and won't want to stop at one.

The unfinished block will be 12.5" and is made using two contrasting fabrics.  We would ask that you use fabrics suitable for a man; blue, green, orange, red, modern brown, grey etc.  I hope you have as much fun making it as I did.

We would like to have the blocks by 25th November, please, and as always we thank you in advance for your continued support as we couldn't do it without you.

Happy Sewing

New Term

It was so good to meet up with the group on Saturday.  We had the pleasure of seeing old and new faces as well as catching up with some ladies who haven't been able to make it for a while.  Ros didn't disappoint on the cake front so my banana cake has been put on the back boiler.

Although we didn't meet in August we've been busy during the summer.  Thanks to what we had in reserve and a very generous donation we were able to gift these quilts...

...Three ladies who've been going through a difficult time received the above quilts and the three below made their way to the Grenfell Tower Disaster quilt group to be distributed at an appropriate time.

Drat, I forgot to take photographs of the ladies but I can show you what we got up to!

It seems an age since I set this block and it didn't disappoint when we saw it again.  Thanks to the lovely ladies who made short work of it on Saturday.  It's a brilliant block and tutorial by Jeni Baker at Incolororder which you can find here.

You either love or hate HSTs.  I love them but only since I found a really good ruler to trim them with.  There was much HST sewing and trimming on Saturday, using that trimming method, and it absolutely made my day when one of the ladies working on them said, "That was very satisfying!", and another said "I might make a quilt like that at home!" Above are just a few of the triangles completed on Saturday.

Borders attached, longarmed and binding added on Saturday and it's another finish!

A layer cake is such an easy starting point and I spotted this quilt on pinterest. I searched and searched for the pattern, to no avail, so that I could appropriately tag and attribute it.  Sorry! We've winged it and this is the result so far.

A bit of reshaping, quilting and hey presto...

This is growing in all directions and promises to be a little stunner!!

That's all for now. Thanks to all of you who take the time to read this blog, make and send us blocks or support us in any way... We couldn't do it without you.  I'll update our meeting dates today.  Until we meet again.

Happy Sewing