NewBees March Block

Welcome NewBees!  I'm having so much fun with this round of Jessica's Bee!  

Because Jessica was the only one I knew when we started out, here is a little about me.  I met Jessica and Scott in their grad school days when they lived in Eugene.  Jessica was in the Relief Society with me and she was awesome! Her oldest and my youngest were born only a few months apart =)  Ironically enough, I didn't realize at the time that she enjoyed quilting ... and I didn't find my love of quilting until many, many years later.  I grew up just outside DC in College Park, MD; married a farm boy from Moses Lake, WA; and finally settled in Springfield, OR.  I have 3 kids ages 17, 14 and 12.  I'm a sporadic blogger, but I try to sew a little bit every day.  Other than quilting & sewing I enjoy reading, substitute teaching and baking.

This time around I'm making a new quilt for my bed.  I love looking at the stained glass quilts and decided to incorporate one of these into the quilt top.  I made this block as a part of my Stash Bee experience (December 2012)  This tutorial is really good and I encourage you to check it out.  In particular this link to a Flick'r photo with the layouts will be helpful.  I'm using Taisia's expanded form of the original Rectangle Cubed block tutorial.

The fabrics that I sent out are from Beth Studley's Henna line for Andover Fabrics that came out in November 2013.  I chanced upon them when I was shop-hopping on vacation last summer.  I picked up some fat quarters from American Quilting in Orem, UT and knew these were where I wanted to start.  The yardage came from Fabric.com.  The solid is one my very favorites, Kona Nautical.

Use scant 1/4" seams throughout.  Press all seams toward solid strips.

Cutting:
Depending on the layout you choose, you will need to cut:
Squares: 3.5" x 3.5"
Rectangles: 3.5" x 7.5"
Solid Frame Strips: 1.5" x 3.5", 1.5" x 7.5", 1.5" x 11.5"
The quantity of squares, rectangles and strips you need will depend on the layout you choose.

**I cut up all fabrics that I included in your packets so I could play with them and show maximum options.  Because you only need to make one square, your cutting should be  less. =)  **

I cut all my fabrics first then played with them to find layouts that I like.  First I cut the Nautical into 1-1/2 strips.  From there, working largest cuts to smallest I ended up with 2-11.5" strips, 4-7.5" strips and 9-3.5" strips from the original.

From each of the prints you should be able to cut one 3.5" square and one 3.5" x 7.5" rectangle.  That means you could have up to 9 of each to play with for layouts if you choose.

Assembly:
Once you have all your pieces cut and ready to go, you'll start sewing it together smallest pieces first.  Once all the squares are attached to their framing strips, sew them to any adjacent rectangles.  Make sure that any strips that appear to cross are aligned.

   

From one of my packets I was able to put together {almost} 3 blocks, all different.  I used each print once in each block; I did need to cut 2 more 11.5" strips from scraps, but you should easily be able to make 2 from what I sent out.  Since you only need to make one (unless you're feeling generous!) there should be plenty of leftovers.

All done!  Let me know if you have any questions! Yield one 11.5" stained glass block (11" finished.)