Chemistry Couture: April Bee Blocks and Quilts of Valor

The first one you see here is for Heather of the Snip.Sew.Send bee. She sent me some orange fabrics and very simple instructions for this block. I love orange, so it was very tempting to keep this one for myself! One of the pieces she sent was just a little too short so I substituted in a strip from my own stash. I think it blends in nicely. It was fun to have such a simple, straightforward block.

The blocks below are for Amy of the Pretty in Pink bee (yes, I joined ANOTHER bee. In this one you have to use pink fabric, obviously. How could I resist?). She wanted those cute little wonky stars I see everywhere and she sent out some Gawjus pink and orange fabrics. I really loved making the wonky stars. I even pieced both of the centers. Here is the tutorial she linked us to on the flickr page if you want to try your hand at some. You can adjust the size of the squares to change the size of the final block. I might make a couple for the Quilt of Valor I'm working on.

So, more on the Quilt of Valor. Some of the ladies in my Stitchin' Bee have offered to make and send me blocks to be sewn into a quilt or quilts for injured soldiers (through the Quilts of Valor program, click the link if you want to read more about it). A few of us know people (or are married to people!) serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, and I thought it would be nice to help out in an old-fashioned sort of way. The blocks are supposed to be 12.5 inches square in either red and white, blue and white, or red white and blue fabrics. If anyone out there would like to help out just send me an e-mail and I will let you know where to mail your blocks! They do recommend that you use only "mature" fabrics, so no cartoons please. I know, it's hard. All of my fabrics are very girly and juvenile. I like 'em that way.