November's Fussy-cut Bee Block

I really enjoyed our November block. Most months we make an improve block, so it was nice to do something different. When I first saw the block design, I really wasnt sure what the finished quilt was supposed to look like. Then I saw a picture of the inspirational quilt...and oh my. I've definitely got a quilt in this pattern in my future.

These blocks are made up of a half-square triangles with the fussy cut appliqued on top, then a border added on just two sides. Then when the blocks are all placed together, the borders turn into sashing and make the blocks look like their placed off-set.

July Fussy-cut Bee

If you stop by here often, you probably have heard that I participate in the Fussy-Cut Bee. Well it's finally my month! Wohoo! Im so excited. I had a really hard time deciding what I wanted to do, so I went with something that I've had in the works for a long time.

Here's what I started out with:

Alexander Henry's Starlings bird print for the fussy-cut block centers and coordinating colors taken from the print (red, light blue, lime green, yellow, light pink, dark pink, and black/white.)

And finally decided to go with a wonky log cabin block.

You can find a tutorial over at QuiltDad's for the wonky log cabin.

I am so horrible with anything that's "free-style", so this is a great one for me to have a little help with from my bee members. Im really excited to see what they come up with.

You can see more blocks as they are finished up by my bee members over in our group pool on flickr.

June's Fussy-cut Bee Block

June was Ryan's month and I absolutely loved all the fabrics he sent. I secretly just wanted to keep them all for myself! And I am totally jealous of his Munki fish.

He asked for free-style pieced blocks with the fussy-cut fish to be off centered, plus a little wonky. So that's what he got...or I at least tried to do!


Click here to see more blocks from the Fussy-cut Bee.

May's Bee Block

Chelsea's request for her fussy cut blocks was "framed" squares. I love her inspiration quilt and think the fabrics she chose will look great with this quilt. And the fabric she gave for the fussy cut centers had soo many options of what use.

April Block for the Fussy Cut Bee

I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to put these fabrics together. In the end, it wasnt so hard because I barely had enough fabric to squeeze out this block. I wish there would have been enough of the purple fabric to have it in the center and the other corners, but I think it still turned out well. I love the tree print!


I had also read about the problems everyone else was having putting this block together and was a little scared to try it out. But I finally made myself. And I almost gave up soo many times. It is a really difficult block to piece! Hence the name Jig-Saw. But I miraculously was able to get it put together. The whole time making this block, I swore I would never make this block again, ever! But in the end, I actually really like the way it looks. I like how it takes the traditional whirly-gig block and adds the center square. I'd probably alter it for myself and not have the triangle pieces in the corners.

If you are interested in making the block, the template and instructions can be found here. Even it you're not interested, take a look at how it's pieced together. Once you get the hang of it, I dont think it would be too difficult to make an entire quilt out of. The hardest part is figuring out which direction to offset the pieces when putting it together. The instructions for this block are horrible, if you can even call them instructions. They're more like just diagrams. All in all it was a great learning experience!

See more blocks made by other bee members here.

Fussy-cut Bee

I finally finished march's bee block for Lisa.


I love how the brighter pink brings out the stamens of the flower and the darker pink draws out the leaf from the fussy-cut center flower.


Sorry it's late Lisa! Hope you like it!

(click here to see more blocks made by the other participants.)