Saturday, July 27, 2013

Show and Tell Bee Style

There's one thing about bees. And I don't mean this negatively towards anyone, honest. I know life is busy and it is what it is, but after you send off blocks, you don't always see a completed quilt any time soon. To be totally up front, I have blocks from two bees stashed away, plus the quilt I'm working on now. All that to say, it really is something special to see a quilt finish with some of your blocks in it pop up online. And I thought I'd share some I've seen . . .

Toni/HoosierToni actually finished her Chicopee Herringbone quilt in May; I just never got around to showing it off. She made this quilt with the help of the Always Bee Learning bee, having us all use this tutorial. The ABL bee is one where you send fabric to your bee-mates along with the block plan. We were all pretty pleased to receive the Chicopee!
Herringbone, on rail

More recently was Melissa/~Me1issa's FAITH Circle quilt. We made "butterfly" blocks, even though Melissa chose a non-butterfly layout. (You can see a sample of a butterfly layout here.) You can't really see the lovely mitered corners or contrasting flange, so you might want to check out her post. This quilt was donated to Restore Innocence, the charity our bee supports.
Wonky Zig Zags

Also with the Always Bee Learning bee, Leanne/shecanquilt asked for Octagonal Orb blocks, which were somewhat intimidating looking but really pretty straightforward. We all used stash fabric to make these large blocks, which measured 16 3/4" finished, per the tutorial. I really like how Leanne finished it off, before hand carrying it to London to donate to Siblings Together at the Fat Quarterly Retreat. This bee isn't a charity bee in general, but we had a free month, and it was really nice to work on this quilt together for a good cause.
  Octagonal Orb, ready to gift

Finished just this week, is Debbie/Blue.Ridge.Girl's FAITH Circle quilt, made with scrappy triangle blocks from our personal stashes. I thought Debbie chose a fun layout for these blocks, and the staggered squares border adds a fun finishing touch. This quilt will also go to Restore Innocence.
Faith Circle of do. Good Stitches

Lastly, I discovered Cathy/blueberry patch cathy's Black & White TV quilt just today! It's made with depression blocks from That Stash Bee. It really is striking, isn't it? And look at that one little bit of red she added!

Isn't that fun? I've seen another one or two in the works recently, so hope to share more soon!

25 comments:

  1. I hope to get the quilting started on my Feathers real soon- got the backing pieced today! I love everyone of those you've featured ! Thanks for sharing them. Off to check out Cathy's black and white TV!

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  2. How great to see the Bee blocks in a finished quilt. I have to admit to having a set of Bee blocks lurking in my to-do pile too!

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  3. These quilts are so beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Gorgeous quilts. And such a great idea for a Post. I think i have to copy it, when i finished my two actual Bee quilts ;-)

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  5. Fabulous! Now hanging my head in shame for not doing mine yet!

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  6. I am guilty of having blocks and not making the quilts, I hope to change that soon. It is so nice to see all these amazing quilts, thank you for sharing them.

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  7. Such beautiful finished quilts! It really is so fun to see the blocks all get made up into a finish :o) Thanks for sharing the Scrappy Triangles!!

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  8. all fabulous! note to self... find a bee to join

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  9. They all look great, so thanks for sharing! I'm in my first bee and August is my month, so I hope I don't fall off the wagon too!

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  10. Gorgeous quilts everyone! Busy with my bee blocks too...

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  11. I've been in a few bees and seen very few quilts finished from them - it's such a shame. These are lovely and yes, that spot of red in the depression blocks is inspired!

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  12. How fun! It is always great to see how bee quilts turn out :)

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  13. Great collection of bee quilts there :o) I just got my first 2 quilts finished - 1 took about 2 months, the other took, err, 11 months, but I did send it away to be quilted in that time (that was a pathetic excuse!)

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  14. Such a wonderful collection of Bee quilts - they all look amazing!

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  15. Beautiful quilts! Isn't it great to be a part of the quilt making?
    I feel honored when I see one of my blocks in a bee quilt.

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  16. I'm trying hard to get those Bee blocks in my possession out of the drawer and into a finished quilt! How nice of you to showcase these lovelies!

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  17. That is fun..... I dont do alot of bees for that reason, not because others dont finish, but due to my illness, I just never know ....it was lovely for you to journal that.

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  18. This is really fun. What a nice record of a quilt building community. Beautiful quilts. I've got some bee blocks but as they're from a mini bee I have to do a few more rounds to make the quilt large enough. It's exciting seeing them like up :)

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  19. Wow all of those quilts are stunning! You're bee group is very talented. It must be fun to see such beautiful quilts pop up online and know that you played a part in each one :)

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  20. Thanks for sharing these finishes! I really love the orb quilt!

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  21. What lovely quilts. But boy do I really like the Chicopee one.

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  22. What lovely quilts. But boy do I really like the Chicopee one.

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  23. Those are all really wonderful quilts! It is really fun to see a finished quilt with your block in it. I brought a long-time WIP to the RI mod guild meeting last month and another member spotted one of her blocks! We didn't know each other yet when the blocks were swapped on flickr.

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