OMG September Finish - A Top

I don't like to post quilt tops, or flimsies, but this being only my second OMG (One Monthly Goal) finish in 2017, I felt it was a special occasion!

I linked the few Honey Pot Bee blocks that I completed together to make this little baby quilt top. I love this weird 1980s hotel style fabric that my brother in law gave me and am excited to see it as such a main attraction. 

In 2017, I haven't had too many finishes, but I do have quite a few quilt tops. I think it's just about time for a basting party!

Linking up with Finished or Not It's Friday, Needle and Thread Thursday, and more!

New Block: Scrappy Cross Patchwork (Honey Pot Bee September)

After many months of not wanting to sew any of the Honey Pot Bee Blocks, I like both the September blocks! All the blocks have been interesting and lovely, but not many sparked me. 

Lots of cat hair, threads and wrinkles on this little block. It will deserve some love before being paired with anything else. 

This block came together easily and I like that I did end up using a similar color combo to the other HPB blocks I made without even thinking about it! I made this block quite large, which I enjoy, but I can see this being a block to make in a variety of sizes. 

This block and a few others I've been eyeing lately might inspire me to start a late year MadCatQuiltsBlockOfTheMonth. I failed at my fisrt attempt this year, but what's to stop me starting anew whenever I please? I'm still formulating my plans, but we will see!! Anyone else out there starting a late BOM? Or starting a BOM late?

Linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Monday Making, Move it Forward Monday and more!

OMG September

OK, so I technically missed the cut off for the September OMG Goal link up. But I'm still making a goal and trying to accomplish it in Sept. 

This month, I'm rolling over last month's goal and will sew the few Honey Pot Bee I completed (and liked) into a little top. Easy, right? We'll see!

Jan - Quilt Maybe Lyz - Not Finished
Feb - Quilt Tom Mat - Not Finished
Mar - Finish Tom Mat - Not Finished
Apr - Finish Little Baby Quilt Top - Not Finished
May - Finish Little Baby Quilt Top - Finished!!
Jun - Baste and Tie Little Baby Quilt Top - Not Finished
July - Baste and Start to Quilt Little Baby Quilt - Not Finished
Aug - Sew Honey Pot Bee Blocks into a Top - Not Finished!

OMG August

Man, my OMG track record for 2017 is abysmal. But I won't give up! 

What I am giving up on is Molli Sparkles' Honey Pot Bee. Although this is a great quilting bee, the last few months I haven't wanted to make any of the blocks. For this month's OMG I want to turn the blocks I did make into a quilt top. 

Jan - Quilt Maybe Lyz - Not Finished
Feb - Quilt Tom Mat - Not Finished
Mar - Finish Tom Mat - Not Finished
Apr - Finish Little Baby Quilt Top - Not Finished
May - Finish Little Baby Quilt Top - Finished!!
Jun - Baste and Tie Little Baby Quilt Top - Not Finished
July - Baste and Start to Quilt Quilt - Not Finished

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts and OMG. 

Honey Pot Bee April + New Block: Starry Sky

Molli Sparkles' Honey Pot Bee has two block designs a month. This month was one of the first where there wasn't a picture block. This is also the first month where I plan to make both blocks! Here's the first one:

Starry sky was created by A Persevering Mom and my version came out pretty wonky. I could see this block being really fun for a whole quilt. I like how this block matches with some of the other blocks. After a few blocks I'm starting to get excited about how this quilt will turn out! 

Linking up with Molli on instagram and Monday Making, Move it Forward Monday, BOMs Away, Oh Scrap! and more! 

Honey Pot Bee March + New Block: Echo Fragment

Every month, Molli Sparkles picks two blocks for the Honey Pot Bee BOM. One is generally a picture block and one more traditional. Some months he even throws in some extra blocks or modifications of previous blocks! I love this idea, because it allows you so many blocks to choose from. Make one each month, or all of them! So far, I've only made the more traditional blocks (another BOM I'm doing uses picture blocks). 

But I have to say, now that we are three months in, I'm not thrilled with any of them. I know that this falls mostly on me. Because I hand sew all my blocks and tend to favor simplicity (and ease) I have modified both the Feb and Mar Block. That's fine, I like how both of them have turned out. But overall, I'm just not excited or overly inspired by the direction this BOM is taking so far. 

I'll stick with it. I do like it, I'm just not thrilled by it. Here is my modified Echo Block for March. 

Sorry I cut off the block a little in this photo: I had to include that cute kitty!

I chose this "background" fabric to tie all my blocks together and every time I get ready to sew one I think, why did I do that? It's such s particular brand of ugly. But when each block is done, I'm so pleasantly surprised!! I really like the way it works with all the scraps I've been using. I also really like how light and easy it is to sew. 

Despite my misgivings, I am interested to see what else is in store for this BOM and wonder what the finished quilt might look like. 

Are you following along with The Honey Pot Bee? What are your thoughts so far?

I'm linking up with Molli via instagram, as well as Needle and Thread Thursday, Building Blocks Tuesday, and more!

Honey Pot Bee February

For each month of the Molli Sparkles' Honey Pot Bee there are two blocks to make. Make one, make both, make many! So far the trend has been one picture block, one more traditional. And so far I have chosen to make the more traditional blocks, as another BOM I'm working on uses picture blocks. 

For February, I only used part of the Star Kisses block (one section out of four).  I liked how this block used a variation of a sawtooth star just like the January block. Not knowing what will come net or what the finished quilt might look like, I decided to use only part of this block bc it went well with my existing block. 

I chose to use random scraps for the main features of these Honey Pot Blocks, but all with the same "background" fabric. So far, these blocks are coming out mainly neutral and I'm excited to see what happens when future blocks are added. Here are the first two:

I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles on Instagram, Move it Forward Monday, Monday Making, and more. 

Honey Pot Bee January

Each month in the Honey Pot Bee there are two blocks to make. Make one, make two, make more!! For January I only chose one of the blocks selected. This is a block I've already made, but it was a good time to try it again. 

Based on the surprise block in Dec and the first blocks in Jan, it seems like some of the blocks in this bee might end up in my MCQBOM which will be announced and explained next week. So for January I only made the block that would not work for MCQBOM. It seems like the sawtooth star will be very popular this year. Perhaps that signals a return to more traditional blocks in the quilting community?
I never did a fabric pull for the Honey Pot Bee, so I decided that I would link these blocks together using the same background. Recently, I've been using this donated fabric for many uses and I thought this would be good here as well. 

I'm excited to see what other blocks are in store for my Honey Pot!

Linking up with Move It forward Monday, Making Monday, and Molli Sparkles on instagram. 

New Block: Improve Tree + Honey Pot Bee 2017

For me, this year might be the year of the BOM. There are just so many great ones out there! A BOM that's really interesting is Molli Sparkles' Honey Pot Bee. This project is a cross between a BOM and a block bee. Molli says there will be 2 blocks each month, with maybe some surprises added in. 

This block was actually one of those surprises! Molli announced this block in Dec as sort of a warm up for 2017. 

I made mine hand sewn and scrappy, using vintage wool and some fabric from old jeans. 

Mine is pretty wonky, of course. My husband is a beginner machine sewist and his came out quite neat!

It turns out that the MadCatQuiltsBOM2017 (more on that soon) is all about picture blocks so I thought that this would also be a great as a warm up for that BOM as well!

My husband is joining the MCQBOM for 2017, so he created the improv tree block, too. 

My color palate for the MCQBOM2017 is all grey so I made this block in that color way. But that means I still haven't figured out a fabric pull for The Honey Pot Bee. I Hope I will have by the  time I get to the January block. 

Please continue to share the BOMs and FALs your working on this year! Who else is joining the Honey Pot Bee?

I've linked up this block on instagram at #honeypotbee and am sharing it with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching as well as other linky parties this week!