Virtual Quilting Bee: July and September

Here are a couple more of my completed blocks for the Virtual Quilting Bee.

July's nine-patch block goes to Erin. She sent the Denyse Schmidt aqua print and I added the two orange-y ones. I really like this block -- the colors, especially. (The center square is another Denyse Schmidt print, and the four corner squares are My Folklore, from Superbuzzy.) Erin's nine-patch quilt is simple but it's going to be lovely -- tied together with all the Denyse Schmidt prints she sent out. I think it's going to have a really great look when it's finished!

September was Melissa's month, and she requested tree-inspired blocks. I thought about how I wanted to do this for quite a while, and suddenly the inspiration came to me from an art print I've had on my wall for the last 9 years: Oriental Feast by Paul Klee (my favorite artist). I love the shape of his cypress trees, and I thought it would give a really different look to the quilt block. I also really loved the idea of having half of it cut off.

I used an applique technique described in Last-Minute Patchwork Gifts. (Although -- I did it from memory, I didn't actually follow the directions in the book, so I'm not sure if I did it exactly the same way.) I sewed the patchwork piece with the right side facing the paper side of a piece of Heat'N'Bond Lite. Then I trimmed the seam allowances very close -- actually, I cut off almost all of the seam allowance of the Heat'N'Bond -- and turned it right side out. I ironed it together, and then peeled off the paper backing and ironed it down onto the white square. Then I just top-stitched around the edges. I think that by the time Melissa sews my block to the others, quilts it, and washes it a couple of times, the Heat'N'Bond Lite should soften up considerably but it should still hold together nicely. I loved that I could have a turned-under applique look (as opposed to zig-zagging over it) without having to hand-turn it. I really love this block -- and I hope Melissa does, too!

I have one more already-completed block to share later this week (and hopefully can add at least one more to that tally before then). But tomorrow, I'll be sharing a project of a different kind that I've been working on over the last couple of weeks, a collaboration with a friend, which is very special to me. I hope to "see" you then!