Bee Noob

I’ve had so much fun with the couple of virtual quilt-alongs that I’ve joined, as well as the Doll Quilt Swap, that I decided to jump headfirst into the world of Quilting Bees.  For the non-quilting friends who might be reading, a quick run-down of the differences (as I understand them):

Quilt-Along

This is just a bunch of people making (roughly) the same pattern at (roughly) the same time. The Flickr pools for the nine-patch quilt-along and the ORBCo quilt-alongs give some idea of the immense variation that is possible, even when everyone is technically following the same directions.

Quilt Swap

This is when you make a quilt and send it to someone else, and you are the recipient of another person’s work. Sometimes (as in the case of the Doll Quilt Swap) there is an element of secrecy, such that I only know to whom I am sending a quilt, but no idea who is sending one to me!

Quilting Bee

These usually involve making quilt blocks (not a finished quilt) for each other. In many cases, there are 12 people in a group, and each month, one person sends some amount of fabric to the other members. They request a particular style and size of block, or leave it open to interpretation. The blocks are sent back to that month’s person, and they can make a whole quilt out of what other people send them.

At any rate, in the way that these sorts of things tend to snowball, I have joined three “virtual” quilting bees (virtual in the sense that I’ve never met these folks face-to-face). One started in August, one starts in September, and the third starts in January. I’m trying not to freak out about embarrassing myself with all of the talented people who are in these Bees. Hopefully my blocks won’t be awful!

I got my fabric from Anna for our inaugural month in my first bee, and she actually sent rather specific instructions.  We each got a fat quarter and some scraps in one color (mine was red), plus a bit of white, and some paper templates for string blocks. I had been meaning to try string blocks, anyways, so that was nice, and the very specific instructions at least meant that I didn’t have to agonize over what to do!  So, as soon as I can get a proper mailing envelope, here’s what’s heading out the door. Not bad for a first try! A little wonky, perhaps, but I think it works in a scrappy block like this…