Queen Bee Block Swap

Last fall a group of friends asked if I would join in their block swap that would start in January of 2021. I had never participated in one before so thought why not.  This swap is a Queen Bee block swap as each month one of the participants is queen for a month and all the other members make the block she chose and you sent the blocks you make to her that month. Since there were 9 of us participating we decided that we would all make each queen two of the blocks she chose so that we all end up with 16 blocks total.  I got the month of April and chose the paper pieced butterfly block that is a free pattern on Lilyella's blog which you can find at this link here.  The pattern has 3 different butterfly designs so I got a lovely mixture in the 16 blocks I received.

I asked for bright colour fabrics and send the ladies the above picture for inspiration. 

So here are the blocks I received from my wonderful swap buddies! 

Lori 

Yvonne

Sheri

Amy

Reneta

Shalane

Jocelyn

Wendy

Now to figure out how to make them into a wall hanging as the blocks are only 5" square.

Once the year is over I'll share all the blocks I made for the other participants.  But if your on Instagram we have been sharing our blocks with the hashtag #badassmbquilters and #beebadassblocks and I have been sharing the ones I have made so far on my personal Instagram at 'tamarackshack1' 

Moonlight Serenade Quilt

Lori made this lovely quilt using a panel called Moonlight Serenade designed by Greta Lynn for Kanvas Studios.   Lori loves dragonflies so I quilted with the Dragonfly Pond pantograph.

I used bright blue So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

So this is my last client quilt for the next two month as I take the summer off.  I'll be back at it in September but have a few personal sewing projects planned that I will share over the summer. I have been doing a Block Exchange with some friends this year that I will share and I'm starting a new International Round Robin with Lori and our Australian friends. I can't remember if I shared the final results of our last Round Robin, I hope to quilt that one this summer too!

Had to add these dragonfly pictures that I took last year in keeping with the theme of the quilt.

Bramble HST Quilt

Peggy made this modern HST quilt using oversized blocks and a dominant red accent.  She was inspired by a blog post by Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  The fabric line she used was a Layer Cake called Bramble by Gingiber for Moda. It has images of cute squirrels, deer, raccoons and hedgehogs. 

I quilted it with the Fascination pantograph, used light beige So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

I'm still being entertained by the hummingbirds at our feeders.  

Hope to get better shots of them at my Fuchsias and Salvia this summer but happy to catch these one so far.

City Slicker in Pinkerville

Vicki made this fabulous quilt using our Highway 10 Designs City Slicker pattern.  She chose a Tula Pink jelly roll called Pinkerville and added grey Grunge for the background. 

I quilted it with the Flourish pantograph, grey So Fine thread and used Quilters Dream Blend batting.

On the weekend we went for a drive in the rain to look for wild pink Lady Slippers that grow in our area.  The blossoms don't last long and are so pretty. My friend Suzette gave me heads up on what road they were abundant along this year so we went to check it out.  So happy to report we found them!

We also came across some wild irises as well.  One of my favorite flowers.

Snowflake Quilt

Robin made this lovely blue Snowflake quilt using a pattern by Modern Handcraft. She adapted the pattern to make the full snowflake and added borders to make it a bed sized quilt.

I quilted it with the Bora Bora pantograph to give the feel of wind blowing all the snowflakes in the prints. Used white So Fine thread and white Quilters Dream 80/20 batting.

Robin brought a beautiful blue Grunge backing.

So I have been playing with my new macro lens which has a good learning curve when it comes to taking pictures in manual mode. Here are a few images I have captured so far in my yard.

Ctenucha Moth

Damselfly

Bees in the Snapdragons. 

Bees in the Lupins

The unwelcomed forest tent Caterpillar but when you get up close the markings are beautiful.

Delphinium

Geranium