A New Bee for Me

I've been working on my 3 x 6 Bee blocks today.  If you haven't heard of this bee, you're really out of the loop:) I actually stumbled upon their Flickr group a couple weeks ago, and was able to squeeze into the 16th  group.  This swap is totally my style, at least I've had a pile of fun making these blocks.  There are seven quilters in each group, and we each make a block for the other six people in our group.  We specify up to three basic colors that we'd like in our block.  Each person chooses ONE block style and they make a block for each member out of the colors that each person requested.  If that doesn't make sense, go check out the rules here.

So my mind began to churn with block style ideas.  My original idea was this:

After a few hours of resizing templates with grumpy chilluns' pulling on my legs, I threw that one out the window.

I rolled ideas around in my brain for a few days, and then came up with the idea of making paper-pieced flying geese.  Now, I've only paper-pieced once in my life, and that was about 8 years ago. . .

But after a few false starts, it worked out wonderfully, and I can now report that I LOVE paper piecing.  It speaks to the tiny little part of me that would love to be a perfectionist and churn out perfect quilt blocks, when in reality, I'm totally incapable of this.  Impatience being the culprit! 

 

(my cutting table is TOO small)

I made a block like this. . . (by the way, this is the block I made for myself, since I requested white, blue and green)

and really liked it, but I was feeling a little insecure that it was too plain, with too much white space, so I thought maybe I'd add this:

to the bottom right hand corner.  Or this:

to the top right hand corner...

But somehow, nothing else felt right.  So I just went for this plain and simple Off-Centre Column of Flying Geese.  And I love it.  I'm totally freaked out that my bee members won't like it, but I'm trying to tell myself that 1.  It's my fabric, and my time, so I'm not ruining someone else's fabric.  2.  I'm going to like every block made for me simply because it's unique, and it was made with care by someone else, especially for ME!  3.  If these lovely ladies wanted something perfect and exactly to their taste, they would have made it themselves, or gone the the nearest Home Decor shop and bought a Made in China version.

So now that I've bolstered my courage, here are the blocks I made.

First up is lnwcohen.  She requested orange, aqua, and white.  Totally awesome colors and I loved making this block.  Only regret.  That silly little weiner dog did NOT want his head in the picture.

Next is woolymama.  She wanted a rainbow with white.  Her couch is dark red and the room has a retro feel so I knew I had to add one of my fave VW vans.

Miniaturequilter requested purple, green, and cream.  I freaked out at the P word because my purple stash is tiny, but amazingly, this turned out to be one of my favorite blocks.  I'm totally gonna have to make a quilt in these colors now!

Ktelschow wanted to be surprised.  Yikes!  Can it get any harder than that?  It's for her husband, so that made it a bit easier.   That playful bulldog,  was a last minute addition, but I think he feels quite at home with all these stately geese.

                                      

Jenjohnston wanted purple, blue and white to make a quilt for her all white bedroom.  She mentioned that she liked Amy Butler, so the Water Bouquet in Navy worked out perfectly.  I wish soo much I had a piece of purple Tufted Tweets chairs to add in here, but oh well.  

Janesfabrics asked for pink, orange, with pops of green.  What a yummy color combo.  I could NOT decide between a pink background, or a safer white background like the rest.  I'm glad I chose the pink, even though it does blend in with the little bike a tad bit much.  That bike just had to be in there, because the seat is orange and the fender is green!  And there's one little mistake on this block.

Which I'm trying to reassure myself with the fact that you won't find anything funky like this at Walmart!

Thank you ladies for giving me the chance to work with such lovely color combos.

and now I've got a stack of tiny snipped triangle pieces from all those geese.  I'm thinking a Flying Farfalle quilt would be perfect.

Now I must go clean up my sewing room before I start on my next project.  

HaHaHa.  Why would I start being organized now?