April Stash Fabulous Bee tutorial

I saw a fabulous tutorial on the Stash Bee blog written by Anna Streight that I fell in love with. She gave me permission to use her tutorial so these are the blocks everyone will be making for me in the April Stash Fabulous Bee.

They are somewhat improv blocks but not wonky. She gives great instructions for planning things out ahead of time in case improv is not your cup of tea. So don't stress, read all the way to the end of the post *Ü*

So, here are her finished sample blocks (she opted not to sew the parts together just yet):

I’m going for bright colored pluses on a scrappy low volume background. I would like each plus to be one color, but scrappy like the picture above. Any bright color is okay with me- pinks, purples, blues, aquas, greens, oranges, yellows... you get the idea! This block is 16”. You can either make one 16" block or make several smaller blocks that more or less equal a 16” block and I will mix them up! Whichever is easier for you.

For the low volume I really mean ONE color on a neutral background. Below are some examples of the type of low volume I am looking for

Low volume- good:

These all have some features in common. Light neutral background color, one color design. They don’t have to be black/grey/brown or anything. They can be colors on a neutral background. But I don’t want them to have tons of different colors or have so much color that they distract from the brightly colored crosses.

Here's how you go about making this? First, you’ll need to decide on the size of the pluses you want to make. I don’t have a set number of pluses I want for each 16” block. My example has 4, but you could have as few as 2 or as many as you think will fit and still have some space between them. Aim for at least two, I’d say. The ones in my example are made up of 1”, 2”, and 3” finished squares. You could do sizes in between those or go a little bigger. I don’t want them to be so huge that one plus takes up the whole 16”. But I trust your judgment!

So have you chosen a couple of sizes? Good. Here’s what you do next.

If you want to go the improv route, cut 5 squares in scraps of the main color and 4 squares in scraps of low volume in your chosen size. So, for example, if I want to make 3” finished squares for my plus, I would cut 5 - 3.5” squares of color and 4 - 3.5" low volume squares to make the plus. Make sense? You’ll do this for each plus you want to make and then either put them together improv style with more low volume scraps, or add some extra low volume background and leave them apart.

If you feel like drafting a block first, here is how Anna did that.

First, she sketched out a 16” square. She used graph paper here, but feel free to use whatever drafting method you like best! She then decided she wanted 4 pluses and sketched those out. Then she connected the floating pluses with squares and rectangles. Be careful with this part- you want it to be easy to sew together, no partial seams! It may help after you draw out your pluses to subdivide the block around each of them like this

That way you can work with the smaller areas around each block, which should make it easier to make blocks you can sew together with no partial seams.

Next you’ll want to list all the different block sizes you have for cutting, being sure to add ½” for seam allowances. Notice she left one little bit out.. She said she didn't realize it until I had everything laid out and discovered a hole! but no big deal :)

Here are some pictures of her construction to give you an idea of how to go about it.

First, lay out your pieces. She put hers in the groups she separated out earlier in her sketch.

Let's start with the easiest block, shall we? From the picture above you can see it separates itself pretty easily into three horizontal rows. In the bottom row you'll have to sew a couple of pieces together before you join them horizontally, like this:

Then you sew the rows together!

Voila! Next:

This one is less obvious. But there are columns here if you look closely!

See?

Done! She added a couple pictures of the last two so you can see what she sewed together first.

Yay! All done! You can either sew all your pieces together or leave them separate and I'll mix them up. Let's look at them again!

So you can draft a block yourself or go about things improv style. If both of those options stress you out, though, Anna has included pictures and cutting instructions below for a couple more blocks! You'll have to figure out the construction but she tried to make it fairly obvious where the block can be separated into parts like she did above. Can't wait to see what you make!

Variation 1:

Colors:

5- 2.5 x 2.5

5- 3.5 x 3.5

5- 1.5 x 1.5

Background:

6- 2.5 x 3.5
5- 3.5 x 3.5

4- 2.5 x 2.5

4- 1.5 x 1.5
3- 2 x 2.5

2- 1.5 x 2.5

2- 3.5 x 4

1- 2.5 x 5.5

1- 3.5 x 5
1- 3.5 x 2
1- 2 x 5.5

1- 3 x 3.5

Variation 2:

Colors:

5- 2.5 x 2.5
15- 1.5 x 1.5 (5 in each color)

Background:

10- 1.5 x 1.5
5- 2.5 x 2.5 
5- 2.5 x 2.5
5- 3.5 x 2.5
4- 1.5 x 2.5
2- 2.5 x 5
2- 4.5 x 3.5
1- 2.5 x 5.5
1- 3.5 x 3.5
1- 2.5 x 4.5
1- 4 x 4.5
1- 4.5 x 4.5
1- 3.5 x 8
1- 1.5 x 5.5
1- 1.5 x 4.5
1- 3 x 3.5