First July Block: Dresden Plate

This is my absolute favorite block thus far. When I think of old fashioned quilts, the Dresden Plate block is one that always comes to mind. I was excited to tackle it and it did not disappoint. I found the June blocks to be rather boring but this one held my interest. It has all the elements: precise cutting and piecing, good use of scrap fabric, lots of color and even some hand sewing if I so wish (and I do). You start by cutting 20 different "blades". I purchased a special EZ Dresden cutting template to aid in their cutting. It was $10 and worth every penny. Here is my stack of blades ready to be sewn.

You fold them in half, right sides together, and sew across the bottom of each piece. If you sew them in a chain, one after the other, it goes very fast and you don't waste thread.

Then you cut them apart, turn them right side out and iron the resulting points. I stacked them as they were finished, to keep them in order. I had already figured out the color placement ahead of time.

Next I sewed the blades together, at the sides, to form a big ring.

The ring was then starched and ironed so it would hold its shape. The finished ring, front and back.

I also sewed a center circle out of the background fabric. The pattern called for a 4" circle but that proved too small to fill in the empty space. I tried a 4.5" circle and that worked perfectly. The ring and circle were then applied to the 12.5" background square, as shown at the beginning of this post. I still have to sew them down using a blind stitch. I know there will be many, many more Dresden Plate Blocks in my future.

The Second June Block

This one features an Octagon and what better way to pay homage to my love of the UFC and MMA. I picked the manliest of my 30's reproduction print fabric. What? You say this has nothing to do with cage fighting? Look closer. How can you possibly miss these familiar faces?

Bruce Buffer

Joe Rogan & Mike Goldberg

Forrest Griffin

Roy "Big Country" Nelson

And, of course, Brock Lesnar.

The First June Quilt Block

The June blocks are pretty basic. This first one used 2 prints and the background color. The focus is on precise cutting and piecing, and sewing a "scant" 1/4" seam. There isn't any margin for error on this blocks as it finishes out to be just barely over 12.5" square. If your seams are too wide the block will not be large enough. Mine was perfect with very little excess to trim off when squaring up. Because the block is rather boring I chose prints that I thought were especially lovely together.

This quilt block pattern is called a Greek Cross and is a very old and traditional quilt block. It is a variation on what is known as a 9 Patch Block, so named because it is made up of 9 squares. I like it because you can use up smaller amounts of prints. I can see myself creating an entire scrappy quilt using this block. Yard sale season is now fully underway. I had to take numerous detours when I went to the grocery store on Friday. It seemed to take forever to travel less than 30 blocks. One of the treasures(?) I drug home was this little child's recliner for $4. I need to sew a slip cover for it, but I thought it was the perfect thing for Reggie. He has a tough time getting up onto the couch but he can jump right up on this. It didn't take long for Singha to test it out. They share, especially since it is currently covered with Singha's favorite blanket.

Doesn't he look ferocious? Not at all. I caught him mid yawn. I leave you with a gratuitous "fresh baked bread" photo. I had gotten out of the habit of baking bread since my illness. This is how I can tell I am almost back to my old self. Now if I could just catch up on the weeding.

2nd May Quilt Block

This is called a Wonky 5-Sided Log Cabin Square. I wanted it to be super scrappy and incorporate all the colors that I've been using for the previous quilt blocks. I call this one "Scrappy-doo's Dog House". The husbeast said it looks like a crazy house and there are 3 different dog prints used.

The First May Quilt Block

Yes, I'm that far behind. I haven't had much time for quilting lately. This is the first of the 2 quilt blocks from May. This is called a Modern Frame Log Cabin Block. You can make the sides all different widths of fabric giving it an asymmetrical look. As usual I used thirties reproduction print fabric. I had to knock the dust off poor Betty White, my treadle sewing machine. This quilt is being pieced entirely on Betty.

She's no great beauty but she sews a nice straight stitch. I can't wind a bobbin on her worth a damn, though.

Feeding the Bees

Last night I attended my very first beekeepers meeting. I have been keeping bees for one full year but have only recently felt comfortable enough in this pursuit to join the Pierce County Beekeepers. Although I was obviously new only 2 of the members, both female, took the time to welcome me. If there is one thing I've learned from pipe club, when you have a new person at a meeting, welcome them and encourage them. You want them to have a positive experience and a desire to come back and be a part of your organization. I did finally track down the person who collects the dues and became a paying member. I even bought my hat. I really wanted one of those nifty apprentice patches for my bee suit but was told emphatically "no". They are only for those who have taken the class and are certified. Instead of just telling me no, it would've been more encouraging to say, "I'm sorry, these are only for those who've graduated from that class...BUT the next class starts.....". I am gung ho to take any and all beekeeping classes but right now I have no idea when they are offered. I wasn't able to locate that information on the Pierce County Beekeepers Assoc. web site.

Last night was their annual potluck picnic, which was held indoors. There seemed to be a nice turnout although I overheard that there are usually more people. There was lots of good food, including some awesome smoked salmon. After dinner they had a mock honey judging demonstration....although no one really participated. Maybe because this is such a bad year and no one has any honey? There was also a fun auction for some beekeeping equipment. I didn't win anything. I had to restrain myself from bidding on the queen grafting set up. It'll be a while before I get to that stage, but it was so tempting.

All in all I had an enjoyable time. I gleaned some useful information. Mainly that this is a bad year for the bees and I better be vigilant in my feeding if I want them to be strong enough to survive the coming winter. The reason they are draining the top feeders so fast is because they are starving. I am going to use the jar feeders, instead, because they are easier for me to keep on top of and rotate. I also remembered that I had purchased some Bee-Pro pollen replacement...way back when I first ordered my wooden ware, but had never even cracked the seal. It would be a crying shame for my bees to starve when I have lots of food right here, in the house. I mixed up a couple of pollen patties and placed those inside the hives, between the top 2 boxes. That will provide some much needed protein. It takes 16 days for a queen to hatch so if I did have one in the works, she may already be out and about. If not, she'll be out sometime this week. Fingers crossed. I am going to open the hives and peek around on the 15th or 16th. That should give her time to mate and begin laying. If I open the hive and find nothing but drones, we're up a creek.

Bee-Movie: New Hive 7-1-2012

The activity is steady at the entrance to the new hive. Today it looks almost busier than the first hive, prompting the husbeast to comment that he thinks the original queen is in the new hive. The population seems to be growing. There's no way of knowing who has the old queen without tearing into the hives and it won't be safe to do that for another couple of weeks. If there is a new queen "cooking" she will hatch sometime this week. Then she will have to mate and begin laying eggs. The queens lay rather slowly at first. I plan on looking inside the hives after July 15th. I'm so excited to see what they've been up to this past month. Meanwhile, here is a peek at what they are doing outside the hive. When I pan up you will see lots of bees coming and going. At midday the sky is alive with bees. Isn't it amazing that I have over 50,000 bees in my backyard and have only been stung once in over a year? And that was my fault for opening the hive without a bonnet on. Today Reggie and I sat 3 feet from the hive entrance to shoot this video and watch the bees. It's very relaxing.