Sometimes influences and chances conspire so that two people are creating the same thing at the same time, say the Wright Brothers and Richard Pearse all getting off the ground within a short space of time but on other sides of the world. It can be that there was a unifying influence or they all just thought of the same thing at the same time. This quilt could be said to be the result of a perfect storm of inspirations. While I was stitching away in one little corner, I had no idea that there were so many others doing the same.

I started this quilt last September, cutting strips and sending them out for friends and have recently had the chance to stumble upon the Liberated Amish Get Together hosted by the lovely Lazy Girl Tonya . It could be an opportunity for a down hearted sigh, thinking that I was the only one doing this, thinking that I was being uniquely creative only to find, I wasn’t. Instead it is an opportunity to say, “Isn’t it great?”. I’m not the only one and there is till so much more to discover.

I had been inspired by the cover of Gwen Marston’s “Liberated String Quilts”, my mother’s 1980’s collection of Roberta Horton books, especially “An Amish Adventure” and then spurred on by the opportunity to have a selection of blocks made by my ANZAC Bee friends.

The quilt along was similarly inspired by the works of Gwen Marston, but also takes in liberated letter piecing and appear to have been spurred on by the publication of Liberated Quiltmaking II earlier this year.

Now I’m left with a quilt top that still has me buzzing. There is also a long list of possible inspirations to look up and hunt down, knowing that they are guaranteed to appeal. With a both diverse and shared influences, we have ended up in the same place. I’ve discovered people who are just as fired up about the possibilities as me, a truly perfect storm.

I have been catching up on my bees recently. If you look to the left side bar there is an updated list of the bees and links to all the lovely ladies sewing along. 3 Bees just kind of crept up on me. I’m really enjoying running the Anzac Bee. I feel honoured to be an international member of the U.S. Stash Busting Bee and the Australasian Bee is just up and running. If you are following along in reader, take some time to have a look. There are some new friends waiting to be met there.


This one above is for Abi at Home Heart Happiness as part of the ANZAC Bee. I had great fun experimenting with the hearts. Watch out for a tutorial as the experiments grow and grow.


Christine R. has requested houses of any size for her ANZAC month, resulting in a fine wobbly neighbourhood of little houses. The larger one needs something in it's garden so I will think a little more on this one.

To add to the catching up fun, we have been learning about posting letters in our house. Little E is my helper at the post office on regular occasions. One nice thing about sending parcels is getting to use different stamps. We choose dinosaurs where ever possible.

The Anzac Bee is progressing well, but we need some help. I am looking for one more member to join our bee. If you are interested, please let me know as I'd love to hear from you.

This month, we are all making red and black Essendon stars for Corrie. It had me reaching for the dictionary thinking Essendon was colour I hadn't heard of. Turquiose maybe? It turns out it is a sports team. I guess it is like making a Canterbury Rugby quilt really.

The blocks are looking awesome and, as usual, you can check us out on Flickr.

Has it really been over a month since my last post?
Recently, I have been taking delight in small moments of peace. When E is out and Miss H is asleep, I get a few moments to myself. I used to rush around madly and trying to get everything done but now I just stop. The jug is boiled, coffee brewed, computer turned off and I get to choose a grown up cup to have my coffee from. It is nice to have those uninterrupted moments before I get into everything else. In a similar vein, I am going to take a moment to say thanks for some wonderful mail love before I send one out myself and get on with the crafting

Thank-you to the Anzac Bee ladies. My blocks have arrived and with the exception of two still to go, I am looking forward to laying them out at quilting on Tuesday night. They look amazing. You can take a peek above.

I have been lucky enough to win some giveaways. First up was a set of hand painted buttons from Steph. Deciding on a project based on the buttons is kind of like buying a Ferrari because someone gave you a wheel, but in this case it will be worth it. I am thinking natural linen cushions with an elegant button closure. That way they shouldn't go through the washing machine and can be easily rescued when the cushions are worn out.

Then there was the wonderbundle from Joanna. A parcel stuffed with the tidyings of her craft room – vibrant morsels of fabric, some great wool tweed, a frog and a magazine. There was even some park slope in there which has already been put to good use. I have never been so delighted to sort through the mail.

So here’s the giveaway – I will fill a wonderbundle and post it on. I know I can certainly lay my hands on felted wool jersey in many shades, liberty swatches from recycled clothing and maybe a magazine too. Most likely, I will do a little research and tailor the package to the recipient. Just leave a comment below and let me know the best thing to come through your mail box this year. I will leave this open for a week, before choosing a winner.

I have been plotting and scheming. While admiring all the wonderful virtual quilting bees that are going on at the moment, I wondered if there were any local ones. It appears, so many are only open to residents of the US and international postage from NZ can get quite steep. I got to thinking and the Anzac Bee was born. This month we are kicking off 8 months of bee hive activity spanning between New Zealand and Australia.

To see our progress, you can visit out flickr group here. To read more about some of the individual members you can visit the Australian members below:
Blue Tulip
Novi 73
Unpicking is the Pits
Tessophia

Fellow New Zealand quilters were a bit slow off the mark to reply to the flickr messages on Quilting Bee Blocks, so I convinced some of my friends from the Tuesday night quilting group classes to join me.

To get the ball rolling, I am first up. My fabrics should be in the post tomorrow and they look a lot like this:

The Blocks

I am asking for two 12.5” blocks (12” when sewn in) using any form of string piecing. All the fabrics in the pack can be used in the strip piecing. To tie the blocks together, if your block has a background, please use the blues.

I have put together some ideas of string pieced blocks below:

Film in the Fridge - foundation pieced method for crosses

Quiltville - foundation pieced spider web quilt

I haven't been able to find any tutorials for Gwen Marston's method of string piecing, but will try to describe what I have done, as best I can, in words.

For my sample blocks, I cut the strips into 1” to 1 ½” widths. Some strips were then cut shorter and joined with other strips of the same width. Then, the strips were all sewn together to create two wider strips of fabric. The blocks were then made using this fabric as my patterned fabric and the larger pieces of blue as my background.

The Fabrics

The fabrics are all plain Lecien cottons. I adore these Japanese cottons. They are just a little bit finer than your usual homespun and have very little loss of colour when washed. To keep me from scooping up every colour in the store, the colours for the bee are based on a traditional amish colour scheme. This scheme is greens through to reds with no orange, yellow or yellowish greens. There is enough fabric to make two blocks in each pack. If you would like, you can add from your stash but please keep it plain and no yellows.

As I cannot find a foundation free string tutorial, I am sorely tempted to make my own, so watch this space.