For Andrea

Hello Everyone,

Well, I am hanging my head in shame!  I am late, but...

I made Andrea's Peppermint Stick and sent it off in the mail today!! 

Yay!! 

So sorry, it was late Andrea, but I hope you like?

Until Next time...

Peppermint Stick for Andrea

I finished my Peppermint Stick and signature blocks for Andrea while I was on retreat at Gruber's with my prized blogging friends.  Not as fun as Amanda Jean's...But I didn't have that many bright, clear reds, surprisingly.  I found that I have a tendency more toward the brick reds.  So, I found these two great reds at Gruber's (I love gingham, and you might not be able to tell from the photo, but the more solid red is quilter's linen...it has a little visual texture).  I just alternated the two reds.  I thought that was kind of fun for a Peppermint Stick.  I hope you like these, Andrea!  They are on their way to you!

I know everyone else thought these were easy, but I tell you, I unsewed several of the seams.  I had the hardest time with those stupid angles!  LOL.  But that's just me.  Your tutorial was awesome.  Once I got the hang of it, I was okay.

Can't wait to see your finished quilt with these!  How fun!

Thank you, Andrea, for coordinating this bee.  I had so much fun, and I appreciate how gentle everyone was with me on my first bee.  I am sad to see it come to an end.  I look forward to seeing everyone's finished quilts!

Stephanie (AKA Mama Pea)

Peppermint Sticks for Andrea

At the tail end of the bee, I'm happy to be wrapping things up with this easy block.

Inspired by the fantastic variety of fabrics everyone contributed from their stash over the course of the bee and these two quilts...

...I decided I want "Peppermint Stick" strip blocks in white and red.  Here's the strip I made.

A full tutorial is on my blog here.  For this block, please use:

• True whites (nothing to creamy).  White-on-white or red-on-white fabrics are great.
• Really red reds....cherry red, candy apple red, convertible red, Christmas red, peppermint red!  I especially love tonal prints (red-on-red) and white-on-red prints.  Nothing too orangey or purply or with other colors in the print.  
• Measurements of your own choice...strip should be between 35"-45" in length and 3"-6" in width (unfinished).  The rest is up to you.  
• Clean lines and even spacing.  I love me some wonky....but not for this quilt.  Please have the stipes be evenly spaced and of the same width.

If you have fabric in your stash that will fit the bill, hooray!  Please use that.  If you need me to send anything, let me know.   I'm also requesting your signature on fabric to go on the back on a little block like this.  :)  Details for that are also on my blog.

If you have any questions, please let me know.   Can't wait to sew this up in July.  It'll be my "Christmas in July" project!

Thanks so much ladies!  Sweet sewing!

Paper-piecing: I Take It All Back

At the end of July, I figured I better get Tara's block all finished and in the mail.  I pulled out her fabulous red fabric and got to work.

I'll admit it.  I've not done much paper piecing before.  In my mind, I thought it was the "easy-peasy" way to get nice clean lines and crisp points...worth doing for unique shapes and tight angles, certainly, but easy.  Almost cheating.  Oh my, I take it all back! 

I really had to think to figure out how to best cut and place my pieces so they didn't end up just a little shy in one corner or the other.  I think I unpicked every other seam, including the last one because a sliver of white kept showing up in the middle of my asterisk.  Grrrrrrr.....


At the end of the day however, I'm so glad to have done this block.  What a fun pattern!  Now I have a few little paper-piecing tools in my quilting tool-box.  Who knows, maybe next time it will be easy peasy!

Thanks for such a fun block Tara!