Summer has just flown by for our family! Just this past weekend, we moved our oldest boy into his dorm room to start his second year at college, and this week our two younger boys are starting school again too. This summer has just been a whirlwind of coming and going and, in my opinion, it was not long enough, and certainly not as relaxing as I would like summers to be! Boohoo. And so, just like that, we go from a house filled with activity and noise and laughter to a very quiet place just for me and the pets ( and occasionally daughter when she is not working)….so it’s a good thing that I recently  received my templates for Lori Holt‘s new quilt along called Bee Happy. I am going to need something to do in all that quietness!

I have been following Lori for a few years now and I just love her whimsical style and the happy colors she uses. She has written a few books ( all of which I’m lucky to own!), and she also provides free patterns for quilt- alongs, where you buy the templates and follow her block by block. She always gives great instructions, both in her books and on her blog, and I think that is part of what makes her quilts so fun to do.

In the past I have made Farm Girl Vintage…well, I should just admit that I made the BLOCKS, not the actual quilt…really should get to that sometime. The blocks are so cute and I used lots of scrappy colors.

 

 

The next quilt I made was called BLOOM, and that one is ALMOST finished! That is, the blocks are all put together but I just have to add the border….shameful, isn’t it?!

 

 

The third quilt I ACTUALLY made~ and FINISHED. It is called Cozy Christmas and I love the way it turned out!

 

 

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These are the ones that I have made, but there have been some other really cute ones….but sometimes you have to pick and choose, you know?! Anyway, it has been a year since I did one of Lori’s QAL’s so when I saw the Bee Happy pattern I knew I would be participating! I mean, just look at all that cuteness!I printed off my free pattern and really wanted to get everything all organized, so pulled out this cute green binder, hole-punched my pattern, and made a label for the spine.

 

 

The templates come in a little bag. There are 33 of them and I didn’t want to keep them in that little bag, because it’s tricky to find the shapes you are looking for. So  I decided to group the shapes by number (1-5, 6-10, 11-15, etc.) and got myself some printer paper. I then traced the shapes onto the paper and inserted the paper, with its corresponding shapes, into page protectors.

 

 

 

Those went in the binder, behind the pattern, as well as a few blank pages in case I want to take notes when I follow Lori’s tutorials. There! All nicely organized and all ready to start sewing! Although I was very tempted to buy Lori’s corresponding fabric, I decided to be good and just use my stash. It will be a scrappy look and that suits me just fine. Don’t you find that scraps look good together, no matter what? And we all know that I have TONS of scraps I should be using up….

I will be sharing progress on my blocks as the Quilt Along is happening….maybe you can all do me a favor and prod me along once in awhile if I seem to lose direction?? That would be much appreciated :D. How about you? Will you be sewing along too?

While I’m waiting for the Quilt Along to get started I have been busy making the ADORABLE ornament that Kristie designed for our Merry Christmas Sew Along! This month’s theme is a gnome and mushroom and I LOVE gnomes and mushrooms! So I couldn’t stop at just making one….I ended up making a whole bunch!

Adorable, right?? It is not too late to join in the fun! I will be sharing the next pattern ( this one will be an embroidered ornament) on Monday, August 28th,right here. If you would like to learn more, you can check out this post.

Until next Monday, happy creating!

Monique

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