Call for Blocks: Bah Humbug!

I've continued to make great strides on the Student Letters quilt. I'll show that in another post.

I so incredibly love the quilts that we've collaborated on - they turn out so fantastically. There was Cake, which ended up on the cover of my book. Slither Eek Boo isn't in the book, but will be on my episode of The Quilt Show. (Still don't know when that episode will air, other than sometime between June and December of this year.) Okay, those are the only two finished so far, but the letters quilt is exciting so far and the names will be too.

I figure since I'm making so much progress I can now bug you again for blocks. Bug, heh heh heh. This is a challenge to make me a block or blocks and can be done as complicated or simple as you like so it's suitable for beginning and advanced UnRuly Letterers.

Bah Humbug! done with UnRuly Letters. And maybe an UnRuly Bug or too. And by that I don't mean the word. (I'll explain more later)

I want blocks with the words "Bah Humbug!" And/Or just the word "Bah!" or just "Humbug!"  with or without exclamation points. Definitely without the quotation marks.

Don't turn it into sheep, I don't need a string of "Bah Bah Bah" all together.

You can make the font fabulous and intricate, or simple and straightforward.

One option: incorporate insect fabric into the letters. I can easily see a bug peering out of the middle of the letter a or the point on the exclamation point.

If you have a reasonably non busy insect fabric you could use it to make the letters - don't get carried away, you need to be able to read the letters.

No one knows what a humbug is. You're creating it yourself. But when you look at the insect fabric do you actually see it as a humbug? For instance, there is fabric with ants. I see those and think "ants" not humbugs... Just keep that in mind.

Challenge yourself. You can make the words buggy. What would a "bug" font look like? Would it be made of antennae and creepy legs, maybe a wing or two?

It wouldn't have to be that extreme - you could just add legs or antennae to one letter. A hint of fun. You could do that with piecing or maybe there's fabric you could use just so.

Or go all out and make each letter made out of a formation of bugs. (if you do that though, please don't make it an entire quilt-sized block. maybe just do Bah! or one letter that way)

Have you seen the alphabets done using people forming each letter?  you know, they hold up their arms up and out a bit and you have a Y. What would it look like with humbugs forming the letters?

Can you piece the word HUM so that it looks like a bug?

I don't want to give you any links or hints right now of how to proceed anymore than I've already done. Cuz you guys are awesome. Just look at Slither Eek Boo with its Rattle made of bones and a shriek and eek that look like they're actually being yelled out.

Summing up the rules: All the work has to be UnRuly (free-pieced) and your own (ie nothing that will get us in trouble with copyright violations). No applique.

If your letters are really big, it would probably help me tremendously if you left the words/bugs separate (aka a "Bah" and a "Humbug" word blocks and a block of a free-pieced humbug).  Please, I don't need a block that's 84" long....

Finish all blocks off with background or even a border. Aim for blocks that finish to a number divisible by 2. In other words, a block that would FINISH at 6 x 12 or 20 x 20. yes, you can make big blocks, but there better be some interesting piecing in there!

Oh, this is a Christmas quilt. Please to use red and/or lime/chartreuse/yellow-green somewhere in the block(s).

Don't forget contrast. These need to be easy to read (if not understand right away until you get the joke).

Got questions? Ask away, in comments or you can send me an email.

and oh, I nearly forgot. I set up another blog called UnRuly Quilting for us to use as a classroom/get together to discuss piecing problems and triumphs. There is nothing in there right now, but everyone who want to participate in Bah Humbug is welcome - I just need your email address. You don't need to be playing with that challenge to get onto that blog - anyone working UnRuly is welcome, particularly if you're doing letters.

I'm so darn excited about this new challenge - hope you are too.

Another thing I forgot: Blocks are due April 1st. No, it's not all an April Fool's Joke - I just figured that would be a good way to remember it.