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River Heritage – Tree Line

September 10, 2018 / The Bee

A tree block is in store for the final piece in the River Heritage Block-of-the-Month Mystery Quilt.

Called Tree Line, this tree block features three trees of varying heights, making a diagonal line. Similar to a tree line along the river, these guys will take a side roll in your finished quilt.

The River Heritage Mystery Quilt Block Review

First, we began with the Paddlewheel block, made from a traditional block with mostly a dark paddlewheel on a light background. Next, came the Railroad Crossing and Flock of Geese blocks. These, too, are both classic blocks which fit our river theme beautifully. After that came Lighted Bridge. I designed this block based on the Bill Emerson Bridge stands over the mighty Mississippi, connecting Cape Girardeau, Missouri to East Cape, Illinois.

My favorite adventure in designing River Heritage was taking the ferry ride across the Mighty Mississippi. See the photos in Port and Starboard block post.
Karla Kiefner

More River Heritage Quilt Blocks

In addition to learning about the next block, Trail of Tears, I also learned much about the history of the trail in our local museum at the Trail of Tears Park. Another classic block followed called Port and Starboard. Getting photos for this block involved a ferry ride across the river!

Eagle’s Nest was another fun block to plan because we hiked up to a look-out for those photographs. This block will land high on your quilt! Your last block was Hovering Hawks. For this block I learned that hawks generally don’t hover – at least not in groups!

Month Nine Tree Line Block

The Tree Line block was designed with it’s placement in the overall quilt in mind. With the shortest tree to the left and the tallest on the right, a diagonal line is formed.

This block is made with six flying geese units to make the three trees.

You’ll start by making the trunks for each tree and then add the tree tops and sky to make three columns. Use your own color scheme – your trees don’t have to be green and sky doesn’t have to be blue! Remember to check your values by taking a black and white picture of your fabric choices.

Tree Line Quilt Block PDF

Click here: River Heritage Month 9 Tree Line for a printer-friendly version!

Finally, the River Heritage Setting Reveal is HERE!

Enjoy YOUR quilting journey!

Friendship, Laughter & Quilts–Oh My!

September 3, 2018 / The Bee

Once a year we head out of town to a quilting cabin in the woods.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Once a year we head out of town to a quilting cabin in the woods.

Okay, so it’s not really a quilting cabin. It’s a deer camp for the hunters in the family all year round. But for one week, we try our best to “chick” up the place!

Step one, clean it up.

Image of Cabin — After cleaning, but before the invasion!

We spend a bit of time when we arrive to vacuum, mop, disinfect surfaces, wash bedding, and do mouse and spider prevention– because it really is a cabin in the woods!

Step two, bring it all in!

First, we’ve set up the table. Followed by the tables, machines, fabric, thread, needles and pins, design walls, quilt blocks, music, movies, lights, food, food, more food. Lastly, and best of all, friends!

Image of Sewing Machine — Featherweight is set up and stitching on night one.

In this quilting cabin, we sew among various trophies on the walls and hanging above us from the ceiling.

Get ready to work!

Image of demonstration at quilting cabin — Linda gives a demo for making clothesline bowls.

Image of Quilters at the Design Wall. — Design work.

One day, we stood in the field at the top of the hill and made an impromtu target for a money/food/water drop with this water bottle as the target. It felt like a scene from Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

We did get a flyover!

Mules rides!

A few days later, got us a ride through the property, complete with thorns and briars and overgrown brush. So, it was a Polaris, not a mule, but that doesn’t sound as exciting.

We were truly blazing trails! This was our view from riding across the the dam.

It was all fun and games until we broke down! Fortunately, the abrupt stop didn’t happen in the middle of nowhere OR in the middle of the briar patch. A brief, downhill walk back to the truck was welcome! We stayed close to the quilting cabin after that.

Image of Hanging Quilts at quilting cabin — Completed tops hang from the banister.

Learn more about the Floating Flower Garden quilt! It’s made with BOTH beautiful sides of fabric.

Sunrise at the Quilting Cabin

One morning, about 4:30, Linda and I met in the kitchen and since we were both wide awake, we decided it was time to take the coffee to the porch. The moon had a beautiful red ring around it. We rocked, talked, drank coffee, watched the stars turn into a sunrise, and heard an owl in the tree.

Quilting Cabin, Mamma Mia Style!

How does Mamma Mia fit in? Well, one annoying quilter (there’s always one) couldn’t get “Waterloo” out of her head. Knowing only that word of the song, that’s all she would sing…over and over until they finally turned on the movie and then NO one could get that or any of the other songs out of their heads. Let’s see…”Dancing Queen”, “Waterloo”, “Super Trouper” “Honey, Honey”, “Momma Mia”, “Money, Money, Money”, and “Our Last Summer”

Yes, friends, you are all welcome – you’ll be singing those songs the rest of the day!
That one Annoying Quilter

Yes, friends, you are all quite welcome for the reminder (blowing kiss).

We had a wonderful week. I regret we didn’t take more pictures, because, believe it or not, some quilters, quilts, and activities didn’t get photographed!

Quilting Cabin Gallery

Image of Bear Quilt — Peggy’s Bear Quilt

Image of Beth's Quilt on Design Wall — Beth’s quilt on the design wall.

Image of Sunset — Sunset at the old barn site.

Image of Shelter — The new shelter at the site of the old red barn.

Image of Quilters by Window — Merle and Nancy trying to get cell bars while Mary is hard at work.

Image of Ladies on Porch — Coffee on the porch.

Retreats are about more than just getting away.

Image of Quilters Working — This is what happens when you play hooky from quilt class!

In conclusion, when you’ve left the quilting cabin and you head back to civilization, let me leave you with this song…

“Back to life…back to reality” (another song for you…by Soul II Soul, 1989) You’re welcome, friends!

For more retreat fun, plus a yummy recipe, read One Sweet Retreat.

See more than 50 quilt patterns that use both beautiful sides of fabric HERE!

Enjoy your quilting journey!

Quilting-Dakota Style

August 27, 2018 / The Bee

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

This little turtle quilt just made the trip to two of my favorite places in South Dakota!
Why South Dakota?

This little turtle quilt just made the trip to two of my favorite places in South Dakota!

Dakota is a Southwest style turtle quilt made with both beautiful sides of fabric!

Choose a focus fabric that’s beautiful on BOTH sides.

Every Creative Bee Studios pattern, including this turtle quilt, comes with a guide for auditioning both sides of fabrics. First, start with your focus fabric. See how legs, head and tail of this turtle quilt (made from the REVERSE) are a lighter value but just as interesting as the RIGHT side?

Learn how to “remove” color to see only value.

Black and white photos are a great tool for auditioning both sides of fabric.

Pick a variety of background fabrics.

Secondly, audition possible background fabrics for your turtle quilt with both sides of your focus fabric. You’ll discover the nuances of value as you learn to audition both sides of fabric.

Why South Dakota?

To summarize, our daughter was working shows at the Black Hills Playhouse in Custer, SD for the summer. Our treat was to watch her play the role of Laurie in OKLAHOMA!

Black Hills Playhouse & Dakota Dream

The Quilt Shop

On our trip we visited The Quilt Shop, Inc. in Chamberlain, SD. Owner, Sonya Kroupa is holding Dakota and Tanka quilts below. Creative Bee Studios patterns have been featured in her very cool shop! In addition to rooms and rooms of interesting and different fabric, kits, and patterns, she has local artwork, jewelry, and beads. Visit The Quilt Shop website HERE.

Also, see this post which shows more fun things to see in Custer and the Dignity statue in Chamberlain HERE.

This turtle quilt pattern is petite design, finishing at 18 x 24 inches. It’s a great “afternoon quilt” – quick and easy. Even after making more than twenty #usebothsides quilts, I can’t decide which is more fun, choosing the focus fabric or the background fabrics. Both are vital to the charm of the quilts!

Think outside the box!

Imagine all the different “turtle “fabrics you could use! Your turtle could be playful with children’s motifs, realistic with mottled dotty fabric, or wild with large florals or geometrics! In conclusion, anything will work as long as the reverse passes the audition!

Read about Tanka quilt pattern HERE!

Enjoy YOUR quilting journey!

Wild West Quilts

August 20, 2018 / The Bee

Tanka is a bison skull quilt made with a rugged flare.

This bison skull quilt was inspired by a visit to South Dakota.

First, as a mid-westerner, the beauty of this state is like nothing I’d ever seen. Particularly in the Black Hills, there’s wildlife everywhere, incredible terrain, and bison strolling along the roadside. It’s not surprising that animal skulls are a popular item. When I found this fabulous feather fabric with white background, I knew a bison skull quilt would soon be born!

Finding the focus fabric is the first step.

First, the fabric I chose, from The Quilt Shop in Chamberlain, SD, was a feather toss on a white background. Since the feathers are made using a fusible broderie perse technique, I knew the background around the feathers would be cut away, leaving only the colored feathers.

Turn the fabric over.

Second, choosing a great focus fabric means auditioning both sides! Turning this fabric, I saw that the feather motif showed just enough to give the skull interest. It didn’t overpower the feathers from the RIGHT side.

The skull is made from the REVERSE side of the focus fabric while the hanging feather decoration is cut from the RIGHT.

Mix it up with background fabrics.

The background fabrics for this quilt were really fun to play with! Don’t you just love that black and white fence row fabric at the bottom?

One of the fun parts of making these quilts is mixing up the background fabrics. This one has batik, southwest, gold circles on gray (but reversed), grunge and a fur look to really give interest to the quilt. It’s all about VALUE.

Tanka, in Lakota, means “big, great”.

Read about our trip to the Black Hills Playhouse in Custer State Park, statues, monuments and, of course, quilt shops in “South Dakota Quilts & More” (click here) !

It’s so much fun to #usebothsides of fabrics.

In conclusion, using both sides of fabric is a great way to learn about the nuances of value. You won’t look at fabric the same way again!

Shop HERE more than 50 patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides!

Image of Deer Quilt — JACK Quilt Pattern

River Heritage – Hovering Hawks

August 13, 2018 / The Bee

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The Hovering Hawks quilt block is the featured design for month eight of the mystery quilt, River Heritage.
Click here for printer-friendly version: River Heritage Month 8 Hovering Hawks
- River Heritage Month Nine
SHOP more than 50 patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides of fabric HERE!

The Hovering Hawks quilt block is the featured design for month eight of the mystery quilt, River Heritage.

The Hovering Hawks quilt block is another classic quilt block that’s been around a long time.

Variations on the history of this quilt block.

Of course, it’s easy to understand why hawks would be commonly seen along the river. But the meaning of this block has numerous variations. Some accounts simply say the block pays homage to the common bird of prey scene in everyday life.

Additionally, the Hovering Hawks quilt block is considered to be from the family of the Jacob’s Ladder block variations.

Finally, another explanation of this block relates it specifically with the Civil War. It is said that the facing triangles symbolize the foraging soldiers on each side of the war.

There’s an interesting history lesson by Barbara Brackman HERE about the block and it’s symbolic meaning with the civil war.

The past months of the River Heritage Mystery Quilt has given you seven blocks that each have some connection to life along the river. Such is the case with this one.

I think you’ll find this quilt block is fun to make.

Photographing actual hovering hawks proved to be quite a challenge!

First, the red-tailed hawk (which is likely what lives here) doesn’t actually hover, according to the experts. They may appear to do something similar, but experts say it isn’t actually a hover.

Furthermore, the hawk is usually a loner, not flying in groups like turkey buzzards. I’ve learned a lot on the adventure through the River Heritage quilt! I hope you have, too!

Here’s the overall description of the Hovering Hawks quilt block.

Hovering Hawks is made from sixteen squares, ten of them made from half-square triangles. This block has been made over the years using lots of different fabric and value combinations. I played with my fabrics quite a while before making my final choices for this block. Use your own color scheme to make your block. Remember to check your values by taking a black and white picture of your fabric choices.

Image of Hovering Hawks Quilt Block — Hovering Hawks

First, you’ll arrange half-square triangle blocks with single blocks. Therefore, the piecing is easy and familiar.

Use your value tests to help determine placement of fabrics.

The challenge for me was deciding where to place my fabrics. However, testing the values really helped me have confidence in my fabric choices.

Click here for printer-friendly version: River Heritage Month 8 Hovering Hawks

In summary, like the glimmer of “river” in my “Eagle’s Nest” photos, we’re gonna say that the bird shown above is a hawk and it is hovering!

Most importantly, have fun making this Hovering Hawks quilt block!

River Heritage Month Nine

SHOP more than 50 patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides of fabric HERE!

Sunrise Quilts

August 6, 2018 / The Bee

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Sunrise with a quilt, locusts, birds, and coffee.

Sunrise with a quilt, locusts, birds, and coffee.

The morning was crisp and the air wet. Steam was rising off the pool water. It was definitely a sunrise quilt kind of morning!

The sun hadn’t peaked over the ridge yet, but the birds were singing from all directions. I could still hear some lingering locusts in the woods. I grabbed my favorite “pool quilt” and a cup of hot coffee in my favorite mug. My bible opened to Psalms.

My days always go better when I start them this way. It’s one reason I love summer so much!

Everything about the day is better. The challenges, the frustrations, even the joys and opportunities-gets put into perspective when I consider the majesty and power of God and the unbelievable sacrifice of Christ on my behalf.

Snuggling in a quilt you love is good, too.

This favorite sunrise quilt was made using Misty Fuse fusible web and Leaves Galore rulers. The best part for me is the background fabric. It looks like the bottom of a pool when the sun is shining.

Image of Quilt by Pool — Read Summer Quilting HERE.

This sunrise quilt is not show worthy.

However, the imperfections are completely taken over by the colors, the sparkling water fabric and the softness of the snuggles.

Image of Quilt with fusible web — Water Colours

A time to sew.

There is a bible app on my phone that gives me a new scripture each day. I chuckled when I read that there is “a time to sew”, think it should be “sow”.

Then I realized it was from a later verse in the chapter and my version usually used the word “mend”. Of course, I’m thinking, “how appropriate”. Yes, I needed to hear this message.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (7) A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
Ecclesiastes 3:1,7 KJV

Furthermore, there is a time to keep silence.

Enjoy YOUR quilting journey.

SHOP more than 50 patterns that use BOTH beautiful sides of fabric at www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeBeeStudios

Meet Jack-the Deer Quilt

July 30, 2018 / The Bee

It’s a boy! Jack is a deer quilt made with BOTH camouflage sides!

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

It’s a boy! Jack is a deer quilt made with BOTH camouflage sides!
See The Marine Behind the Quilts.
- The Jack quilt pattern comes with:
SHOP JACK and more than 50 patterns that use BOTH sides!

JACK (buck) is deer quilt wall hanging that’s made with both sides of one camouflage fabric on a scrappy background.

The focus fabric for this deer quilt is camouflage.

I found this Mossy Oak fabric at my local quilt shop. I tested the value of both sides, auditioning the fabric right there in the shop.

First, I made sure RIGHT side was plenty dark, so the deer head shape would be crisp. Next, I checked that the REVERSE was light enough to use as antlers and highlights for the ears, eyes, nose, and throat.

Fortunately, camouflage fabrics seem to be a staple in the fabric market every year.

Some camouflage fabrics aren’t the normal quilting quality. It’s okay for this type of quilt hanging. I thought this one was a stiff when I pulled it off the bolt, but after a quick wash and dry, it was great to work with! (I normally don’t laundry the fabric for a wall hanging.)

The backgrounds are scrappy.

Additionally, having a wide variety of background fabrics is key. This helps draw the eye through the quilt. Also, it adds an element of interest. This deer quilt sports a variety of fabric types including beige batik leaves, grassy geometric, beige stone, white on white floral, sandy batik, and painted grass.

The deer quilt comes to life.

When quilting this deer quilt, I added “scribble” quilting with black thread to the eye areas. However, even before that, the features of his face just appeared, almost magically. VALUE is key for using BOTH sides of fabric, especially for JACK (buck)!

deer quilt in mountains — JACK in the Rocky Mountain National Park

See The Marine Behind the Quilts.

The Jack quilt pattern comes with:

Complete, detailed instructions.
Full-size paper template.
Guide for auditioning focus and background fabrics.
BONUS: Prairie Point Hanging Method.

SHOP JACK and more than 50 patterns that use BOTH sides!

Image of Final Show Scene — OKLAHOMA! at the Black Hills Playhouse

South Dakota Quilts & More

July 23, 2018 / The Bee

Our visit to South Dakota was nothing short of breathtaking!

Overall, the visit to South Dakota included stops in Chamberlain and Custer. What I didn’t expect to see were quilts everywhere!

First, we saw a huge quilt monument, quilt shops, a quilt in a musical, and quilts at our bed and breakfast. What more could a quilter ask for?

A quilter-friendly visit.

Our visit to South Dakota happened because our youngest daughter was hired by Black Hills Playhouse in Custer, SD. We knew little about the playhouse or South Dakota, but planned our visit right away when we learned of her opportunity. She would play the role of Laurey in OKLAHOMA!

I had no idea the South Dakota visit would be so quilter friendly!

Dignity in Chamberlain, SD

Dignity is a 50-foot-tall statue in Chamberlain, SD, to honor the cultures of the Dakota and Lakota people. She represents courage, perseverance and wisdom. Made from stainless steel, Dignity wears a Native dress from the 1850s and holds a star quilt made from 128 stainless steel blue diamonds. Dignity was designed by artist laureate Dale Lamphere and gifted to the state of South Dakota by Norm and Eunabel McKie. Learn more about Dignity HERE.