Strip quilt detail.

Last time I said I would show in detail, the wonderful quilt top my strip bee friends made. After a year on the road it has returned home having been transformed into a beautiful quilt top.

 
I started with the row of wonky houses and then sent it off on its journey.

The first stop was with Fran who added a row of sweet little trees. I'm pleased that the houses look out onto a beautiful wooded area.

Next stop was with Jen who made a row of beautiful butterflies to flutter over the roof tops.

Jen designed the pattern herself. The wings are paper pieced and the sky made using a template.

Amy was the next to work her magic. Another talented lady who also used her own design, a row of beautiful roses for the neighbourhood.

The street is a very happy place, so, during its stay on the island of Jersey Sarah added a row of hearts. As Sarah put it, she included "a little bit of love shining down on the street".

Every street needs some kitty cat residents, the ones here even ride bicycles. They must be very posh cats as they come from Liberty no less!

Finally it was Julie's turn.She paper pieced some perfect little birds to fly over head, they even have their own house too, but as Julie pointed out she thinks the opening may be a bit too small for them to fly into!

I couldn't be more pleased with my new quilt top. Thanks so much to Fran, Jen, Amy, Sarah and Julie for all the hard work they put into it. It's been such a fun swap and I'm so glad you all agreed to join.

It's now up to me to finish it. I'm planning on hand quilting but must admit I'm rather nervous about sewing into their beautiful work, I think I'll start with my row.......
 Linking up with WIP Wednesday and Needle and Thread Thursday, links to both of these in side bar.

Maria.

Strip Bees reveal all!

Almost a year ago I started an online bee. Six quilters from all over the UK and Jersey each made a patchwork strip which were then sent round the group with each member adding a strip until the quilt tops were complete.

This weekend we all met at Jen's for a wonderful get together where the big reveal took place. None of us had seen what had been added to our strips since we sent them off on their journeys a year ago.

Huge thanks go to Jen for hosting the weekend, as Fran put it on her blog, Jen turned her home into a five star hotel for the weekend.

First of all I must apologise to my bee mates for any photos of them which they may feel are less than flattering. I had limited photos to choose from as most of my pictures were out of focus. I'm told it was pilot error, it appears that in my exitement I didn't give the camera time to focus.

I started with a row of wonky houses.

 Here I am with my wonderful completed quilt top. I'm going to do a separate post detailing each row.

Here's Sarah from Quilt Candy about to see her quilt top for the first time.

Here's (a rather poor) of picture of it. 

I didn't manage to get even one vaguely in focus of Amy, from Cloud CouCou, with hers. She started with an improv. block which gave some of us quite a challenge when deciding what to add.

Didn't it turn out fantasically?

After the riot of colour of Sarah and Amy's quilts, Julie's (mackandmabel) was a more subtle, but just as beautiful quilt.

Here she is about to have her first look.

Our wonderful hostess, Jen of Glinda Quilts, was in competition with the sunshine when she revealed her quilt!

Last but certainly not least was Fran of Patchyrose. As with Amy I didn't manage to get one usable picture of her with her quilt.

Wow, what a riot of colour!

Thanks to all the ladies for agreeing to join me in the bee. I've enjoyed it so much and it was fantastic to meet you all at the weekend. Extra special thanks to Jen for opening up your home to us for the weekend.

I'll be back soon with more of we got up too.

Maria.