Stash Bee

Happy New Year!

Lucky me, I get to start the year as Queen Bee for my Hive in the Stash Bee.  Which means that I get to pick the block.  Yay!!

Here is my write up for our Hive:


I am so in love with my quilt from last year's Bee,  (It is at the long-armers now, so I will be able to share it soon), that I wanted to pick something for this year that would be just as special. I love taking traditional blocks and playing around with them, and I LOVE scrap quilts!

So, I started out with a traditional bear paw block.

Then decided to take out the sashing.

Then tried flipping the paws around.

Then I thought that if I was going to break it apart, it should be scrappy, of course!

Winner! Winner!

To make things easier on you, I am going to have you make all 4 quadrants in the same fabrics just like I did, but ask you NOT to sew them together.  That way I can mix them all up when they get here and make it super scrappy!

Now on to colors!

I have chosen a color palette based on that gorgeous Les Fleurs fabric.  So dreamy.

Navy, shades of cornflower blue, shades of peachy pink and a hint of gold.
Here are some thread colors to help.

And a few bolts I pulled as examples. As far as fabric, pretty much anything is fair game.  I love dots, plaids, stripes, florals and even novelty - just no batiks please.

Now on to the tutorial:

You will need 3 different fabrics.

From fabric 1 - cut (4) 5 1/2 inch blocks
From fabric 2 - cut (8) 3 1/2 inch blocks
From fabric 3 - cut (8) 3 1/2 inch blocks and
                          cut (4) 3 inch block

Choose the lighter set of your 3 1/2 inch blocks and draw a diagonal line on the back of each.

Pair them up with the darker set, right sides together and sew 1/4 inch on each side of your drawn lines.

Cut on the drawn lines and press to the darker side.  You should have 16 HSTs.  Trim to 3 inches.

Lay out your 4 quadrants as shown. I stack them together so that I can chain piece.

Sew together.

Easy Peasy!!
You should have (4) 8" square sections.  Remember you do NOT need to sew them together.  That way, I can play around with the settings and mix them all up.

I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Tracy