My Bee blocks for February/ March

It's always my turn at the beginning of the year to pick a quilt block for my 'Quilty Circle of Bees'. I had my eyes peeled at the 'Rocky Mountain Puzzle' block for quite some time. It's a very traditional block but with a modern colour palette I picture a very beautiful quilt. Like this one, or this.

I have a thing for chartreuse/ mustard and have gathered quite a lot of fabric in that colour. I paired it off with some light turquoise and rose.

As a background I chose a variety of black/ white prints. I like the lively appearance, but I hope it won't look too busy. I might add some solid white and use white sashing. I'll decide once all bee blocks have arrived.

The pattern can be found for free here. I opted for the 12.5" block size, there are three different sizes available.

I don't really have a plan yet what I'll do with the finished quilt. I might give it to charity where someone is in need of a cuddly quilt. Yeah, that's sounds good.

It was so nice to work with those colours during these grey, dark and cold winter days!

2018 Quilty Goals

After a year end review it's always good to look ahead and plan new things for the new year 2018. I've had a good few ideas in my head for quite some time which I finally want to start.

But first there are two WIPs to finish, yes, I only have two. That's about the number I can deal with.

I have a finished quilt top that is waiting to be quilted. 'Playground' was a big learning curve for me. It's the first quilt I made using only prints with a challenging colour palette. You can read about the process here. I made it work though and I have a beautiful wide screen print by Tula Pink as a back and I also know how I will quilt it.

I have also started a Christmas quilt in early December 2017 but so far I have only cut some shapes, nothing sewn yet. Here's the yummy fabric selection:

Oh, I can't wait. I'm planning to make a Christmas quilt for so long, actually since I've made this Christmas table runner in 2014. I think I will just start early this year to make sure this is really finished by next Christmas!

It was just too busy and we also got a family addition in early December 2017: Biene, a 6-year-old female Viszla dog which we gave a new home.

She keeps me busy but I'm so looking forward to adventures and new things to discover!

I am taking part in the Mini Quilt Swap organised by the Modern Quilt Guild. My partner is Anne Sullivan of Play Crafts with whom I will exchange our minis at QuiltCon in February in Pasadena CA. Here's the fabric selection I picked:

I have started to play around, there will be an update soon.

I'm also super excited about the Pantone Colour of the year 2018: Ultra Violet. There will be Pantone Quilt Challenge later this year and I'm definitely taking part in this.

One of my best friends had a baby boy late last year and I want to make a baby quilt with these gorgeous fabrics here:

I have an idea for a design, nothing definite yet.

And there's my Quilty Cirlce of Bees of course. We are currently decreased in numbers but I hope to find more participants and keep it going, it's so much fun!

We will move house in March 2018 and my husband and I will have a large room all for our work, we call it 'Creative Space'. There's gonna be two large sewing tables for me, a design wall, fabric compartments and a cutting and pressing station. Oh, heaven!

I may have another pattern which I will keep a secret and see what I do with this. But it's very exciting!

Other than that I just want to put some ideas into life. Play with colour, shapes and thread.