I feel like I’ve been sewing an awful lot the last 2 weeks, but I don’t seem to have a lot to show for it!
In fact, it seems that the last two weeks have consisted entirely of making drawstring bags and working on my NuBees blocks for August.
I did work on a block for the 3×6 bee, but it turned out to be pretty fail-tastic. Turns out taking a 19″ paper pieced block and reducing it to 12.5″ gets you a bulky mess. Or maybe I just don’t have good enough paper piecing skills yet. On top of that, I somehow got the ink from the paper onto my iron, which smudged all over the block I was working on, so it was a huge letdown all around. You can kind of see the smudge in the picture below, near the head of the crane. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

The NuBees blocks went much smoother. Someone requested the broken herringbone block (tutorial here), which saved me a lot of work in deciding which block to do (the hardest part for me!) and so they got done and shipped out early.




The drawstring bags I made for some friends of mine. We’re playing a game that requires a lot of dice, so I wanted to make them each a bag for their dice. There are two I’ve made that I don’t have pictures of, but here are three of them. I used the drawstring bag pattern from In Color Order with some minor modifications. I love the pattern! It comes together so quickly and looks so sharp. Those gusseted corners just make me happy!
Finally, I’ve received enough blocks from NuBees in my color scheme, that I can put together my lap quilt! The colors I’ve used for the last 3 months are aqua, lime and yellow on white. These are the blocks laid out (I have two more coming).

Not all the blocks are facing the correct direction because I had to hurry to take the picture before the dog walked across it. As it was, there are a few outtakes with a cat wandering across the blocks!
Linking up to Freshly Pieced’s WIP Wednesday link party. Take a look at all the great things people are working on!
-Anne
54 thoughts on “WIP Wednesday”
Your broken herringbone blocks are stunning!! I love the little bags using Jeni’s pattern–it’s such a great pattern. You NuBee blocks are really pretty.
Thank you so much! I really hope other people will use the tutorial to make their own. 😀
Jeni’s pattern is the best money I’ve ever spent on a pattern! I have gone back to it time and time again and just keep making more of those bags. Love it!
I love those broken Herringbone blocks! So cool and great colours!
Fab paper piecing too!
Thank you! The broken herringbone blocks are super fun to make! My hive this month all had fantastic color palettes, I had a lot of fun picking the fabrics. 🙂
The paper piecing block I’m using is super pretty, but just is not meant to be that small! Since I purchased the pattern, i think I’ll just have to make the 19″ version and make it into a pillow. 🙂 I can’t imagine doing enough of them to make a quilt! Here’s the link to the pattern:
http://www.patchworkpottery.bigcartel.com/product/crane-star
-Anne
Wow! I was drooling over your August NuBees blocks last week, so I was very excited to find out it was your blog I was reading!
Those drawstring bags look great. My family plays a lot of Dungeons & Dragons when we get together, so I’m thinking those would make perfect presents.
All of the blocks look incredible together! Can’t wait to see it all finished up. 🙂
I’m so happy you like the NuBees blocks! They’re so much fun to make. 😀
These bags are SO great for D&D games! I made each one based on the different class people were playing, because I’m a huge nerd. lol The green one is for a ranger, the grey one is for a paladin, and the brown one is for a monk. Hahaha TOO much fun. They make awesome gifts and go super fast!
Once I get my last two blocks, I can’t wait to put together the quilt top! (where it will likely languish for a while until I get some floor space available to baste it!)
o i love the broken herringbone blocks you have there!!!Great job!
Thank you! They are super fun to make. 😀
I really like the herringbone block, and your quilt looks great.
Thank you! I can’t wait to get the last couple of blocks and put together the quilt top. 😀 It will be the first quilt that I’ve made for ME. 🙂
Your Broken Herringbone blocks are beautiful! Such wonderful colours!! Lucky recipient!
Thanks so much! They go super fast once you get the hang of them, and they’re so fun. 😀
I LOVE all of the fabrics that you chose for your quilts!
Thank you, that means a lot! Choosing colors and fabrics are my favorite part of quilt design!
Love the colours of your broken herringbone blocks. using different colours in the borders in great.
Thank you! I really lucked out this month and ended up in a hive with wonderful color combinations. I had so much fun pulling fabrics for each one of them. 🙂
I love the purple and tangerine combo. Really pretty!
The purple and tangerine was one of my favorite combos I worked with this month, but really I lucked out and had such fun combos for all the blocks!
Love the Herringbone blocks! They are amazing and I love your color choices.
Thank you! The color choices were made by the other people in the hive, I just made the block according to their colors. 🙂 With that said, I love their color choices, too! 😀
Yep – LOVE the herribones! Hey – will that smudge wash out? Unless it was a laser printer, those inks are not permanent without a fixative, so maybe it’ll come right out.
It was a laser printer, and I tried using a damp cloth to wash it off. Throwing it in the washer might fix it, though! I mean the toner came off the paper in the first place, so maybe it will come off the fabric as well. 🙂
Love love love Purple and Tangerine – such a beautiful combination!
I really liked that color combination as well! Seriously, all the color combos this month were spectacular to work with. It was a really fun month! 🙂
Yes, love those herringbone blocks! And I love the springy colour palette of those NuBee blocks.
The herringbone blocks are so fun to make and super fast! I am really happy with how well the aqua, lime and yellow turned out! They are the colors of Santa Cruz, really. 🙂
So pretty! All of it!
Also, I have to say that I love your drawstring bags and that each was made with a person’s D&D class in mind. Love it! 🙂
Thank you so much! The D&D dice bags were SO fun to make. Seriously, crafty+geeky+gaming is some very fulfilling sewing. 😀 I am sort of addicted now, though. :O
Absolutely love those herringbone blocks! Thanks for Linking up with WIP Wednesday’s.
Thank you for the compliment! And thank you so much for hosting the link party this week! 😀 I understand why Lee would want to take a break, but would really miss the link party if it went away. So I’m really thankful that you and the others have guest hosted it throughout the break!
Oh my goodness- those herringbone blocks are killer!
Thanks so much! They are so fun to make, and go really quickly once you get the hang of it. 🙂 Just straight lines and no needing to match points. Zooom!
Great projects!! I just love the Nubee blocks…the colours are fantastic!! Love the strips looking like stained glass. great job!!
Thank you! 😀 The colors in my hive this month were all gorgeous and fun to play with! It was a really great month. 🙂 I’d love to see one with black sashing and vibrant colors to really push the stained glass look!
all the herringbone blocks look amazing- i love all the colors, esp. the eggplant and mustard one!
Thanks so much! I really lucked out with the color choices this month for sure. 😀
Your herringbone blocks look great. I like the color combinations.
Thank you! I really had fun with the color combinations chosen by my hivemates this month. 😀
Love your Bee Blocks! They are really fantastic!
Thank you very much! They are really quick and fun to make once you get them down. 🙂 They look more complex than they really are!
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing that tutorial. Your herringbone blocks are FAB!! Love them!
Thank you! And you’re welcome for the tutorial. I hope you have a chance to try it, I’d love to see other people making these blocks. 🙂
I have had the smudgy ink problem too with paper piecing when I was trying to recycle paper. Bad move. I love seeing more of your herringbone blocks! Each one is so beautiful! 🙂
The block you made looks amazing and all the wonderful fabric in each one just made the blocks.
Thank you so much! Picking fabrics is probably my favorite part of quilt design. Well that and choosing the colors!
I love love love the drawstring bags! My husband used to be number one in the state for Magic before we stopped playing competitively (its sucks when being a grownup gets in the way of being awesome) and it really saddens me that I wasn’t creatively sewing at that time. I was however, knitting and my knit dice bags were always a huge hit. People underestimate the need for such creative and awesome things as personalized dice bags. You really make me wish we were still drowning in D20s!
Wow, that is so awesome!! I haven’t played Magic for years, but have a number of friends who still play. Being a grownup totally gets in the way of being awesome all the time. What’s up with that?!
I agree, people think that everyone wants a black faux velveteen dice bag and that’s that. I’ve had so many requests for more dice bags, I think I’m going to have to start an etsy store! It’s SO fun!
Its a great idea. I always meant to do that myself for my knitting bags. Here is an example: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/darklydanie/cthulhu-dice-bag but I just never really had the time to finish them. I think the knit bags take waaaay longer than sewn bags. I totally think you should make that store. I would love to see more of your work and you have inspired me to maybe pick up my needles again when I am done with my current projects.
That Cthulhu knitting bag is brilliant!! I love it. 😀 The sewn bags go SUPER fast now that I have it down. It takes way longer to cut out the pieces than to sew it together. The gussets are the biggest slow down at this point. 🙂
I hope you do pick up your needles again, your work is beautiful!
Well, thank you! You know that really inspires me to do so. I bet coming real soon my next WIP Wednesday is going to feature some knitted dice bags lol.
Okay, but I’m following your blog, so I’m gonna know if you don’t! lol (Seriously, no pressure. I just like your blog!)
!See this ts why I started blogging to be held accountabke to someone other than my lazy butt!
OK… that Chevron block is soooo cute! I love it! Catching up with you from Freshly Pieced!
Thanks so much! I hope you have a chance to try it sometime. 😀