Shhhhh - top secret!

No sewing from me alas, but look at the pretties sent to me by my Bee peeps. These six fabulous blocks are to be added to the eye spy quilt I am making for my two year old, courtesy of the 3x6 mini bee:


These beauties are the start of the top secret star wars quilt I am making for my soon to be seven year old and are from the Euro Bee:

I am very excited about making these two quilts. The eye spy quilt isn't so top secret, but the eldest has no idea I am making him a star wars quilt - I will be doing some late night sewing when he is abed to get it completed for Christmas. Oops, sorry - I said the C word :-)

Tag Square Bee

A quick update:

The Bee is now full! Yipeeee!

Tag Square Bee

Hello everyone! Thanks for your comments about the bee - I have a had a look at what people thought and have come up with a plan. Here we go:

The name of this bee will be 'Tag Square Bee' and the idea is that we 'tag' different people each month and make a block for them so all bee members end up with enough blocks to make a quilt. Over the year we will make 12 blocks (one a month) for each bee member, using our own fabric and block design but their colour choices. So once a month you will recieve a lovley block that someone else has made for you! The square bit comes in because I thought we could base the blocks on squares. There are so many block designs out there that include squares everyone should be able to find a block that they like making and that is suited to their ability level. It also means that the finished quilt will have an overall theme running through it. You could choose to make the same block each month or use different block designs each month to practice trying new techniques - the choice would be yours.

To summarise:

• the bee will be made up of 13 quilters
• start date - November 2010 (this will allow us to finish in November 2011 with enough time to make up our quilts for Christmas 2011! December 2010 however would be missed out - so we would make blocks Nov '10, Jan 11', Feb 11' etc)
• block design - something including squares, size 12 1/2 inches
• you use your own stash to make a block each month for a different bee member
• each month someone makes a block for you using their stash
• choose the same block to make each month (so just varying the colours and fabrics) or try a new block each month
• you will need to be a member of Flickr as that is where all photos, instructions, addresses and information will be based. (If you are not a member, don't worry - it is very easy to join!)
• international quilters and beginners welcome
• you request a colour combination for your blocks but the design chosen is up to the quilter
  
  

If you are interested please send me an email and I will reserve you a place. If we don't have a full bee after a week or so I will then advertise it on Flickr for more members. Phew! I hope I have explained that alright - if you have any questions just ask! Finally here is a gallery I put together of square based blocks for inspiration. I will set up the official Tag Square Bee Flickr group in the next few days.

anyone fancy a quilting bee?

I had a go making some placemats and coaters as a housewarming present and was very pleased with how they came out. Putting the binding on the coasters was extremly fiddly however - I am not sure I will be doing that again!


I also made a little bag as the wrapping for a birthday present. No lining, just a sewn square cut with crimping scissors to stop fraying.
Finally a question - anyone fancy a quilting bee? The two I have been in have pretty much come to an end. I thought I would ask here on the blog first before throwing it open to Flickr. I have a few ideas - do any out of the following list appeal?

• 2011 quilt - each month we make a block for another member of the bee using the month we are in as inspiration and using our own stash.
• Build a quilt - using our own stash we make a block for one other member each month following guidelines from them (colour, general style etc)
• Classic bee - one person posts out fabric each month for everyone else to make blocks.
• Improvtastic - some sort of bee based on improv blocks.

I think my preference is for something that involves bee members using their own stash and making one block a month for someone else. In traditional bees you might have to wait months before it is your go to have pretty blocks arriving in the post, but this way you would get something arriving each month! Let me know if you are interested. It would be open to people worldwide by the way and beginners, so if you have never done a bee before don't be shy!