Sew & Bee Happy was a 12 month sew-from-your-stash bee. The queen bee for the month specified the style of block she wanted, as well as what colours to use. We then sewed 'em up and sent 'em off.
Sew Buzzy was also a 12-month bee, but I joined when they lost a member a few months after the start. In this bee, we sent our fellow bees the fabric to make the blocks for our month.
The Maple Leaf Bee 2 had a similar format to Sew Buzzy, but there were only 6 members and we each made 2 blocks per month.
With the three bees behind me, I have concluded the following: three bees are too many; I prefer bees where I sew my stash - less postage costs! Here's a mosaic of the bee blocks I made in the latter half of my Bee year:
So I am down to just one for the upcoming year - Stash Trad. We sew traditional blocks from our stash in the colourway requested by that month's queen. October was the first month, and I made the Cracker Scraps block for Angela.
November's block looks very interesting - lots of HSTs in a beautiful Pine Tree block for Krista.
I will say that the experience of being in a bee can be really great - learning new skills, sewing with other people's fabric, making blocks you wouldn't normally have ever tried. If you've got any questions about online quilt bees, drop me a line or ask it in the comments and I'll answer as best I can.
Have a great weekend!
Bees can certainly be great fun! I also love trying all the new techniques and blocks that I probably wouldn't otherwise push myself to learn right now. It was a pleasure being in Sew & Bee Happy with you! :)
ReplyDeleteOh yes, bees definitely make me happy, too :) I love getting to try new things with my bees!! Love those bee blocks, very fab!
ReplyDeleteYou have been a busy bee! They are fantastic. I wish I had more time that I could commit myself to one. They sound uber fun!
ReplyDeleteI just love all your bee blocks. :)
ReplyDeleteI've always romanticized about being in a quilt bee. In July I finally got my wish. At first it was a little scary, sewing for someone else but now, what fun! Trying things I maybe wouldn't normally do, it's so freeing. For now I'll hold myself over with one, three bees, woof, you're hard core aren'tchya!
ReplyDeleteLots of cool blocks! I'm finding that sew-from-your-stash bees also force me to think more creatively about what blocks to make and ask others to make, knowing that the results will have a scrappy look but still wanting it to be unified. It's a good challenge!
ReplyDeleteBees are such a blast! I love the exchange aspect of it, and getting to include other people's creativity in my own quilt. I'm so happy to be in your one and only bee this year!
ReplyDeleteI always love seeing the blocks everyone makes for their bees. Sounds like a blast and I'm definitely going to try to get in on the bee action in the coming year! I just need to figure out where to start!
ReplyDeleteOoh...I especially love all the star blocks in your mosaic of bee blocks! They all look great.
ReplyDeleteI've participated in one bee and I look forward to doing more in future. I don't think I could handle three bees at a time, though! Have you made any quilts from the bee blocks you've received?
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