I’ve been participating in three different quilting Bee’s for several months now. Two are through Flickr (Fresh Modern Bee & Vintage Sheet Quilting Bee) and the other is through the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild (Bee Happy). My month for Fresh Modern Bee finally came up and I got to have blocks made for me!
I decided to go with a Christmas theme and use all that holiday fabric I purchased last year and never got to use. It’s a mix of Michael Miller’s “Funky Christmas” and “Have a Sheri Berry Holiday” fabric with a few other things mixed in.
I asked each Bee Member to make two “pictoral” Christmas-themed blocks. They could be any size between 6.5″-14.5″. Yeah, pretty general, but look at these amazing blocks I received back!
Everyone in this bee is so amazingly talented and they wow me every single month with their creations.
Here are the blocks laid out together:
(Three were lost in the mail, which makes me SO sad. One of the risks of doing an online Bee and having to mail everything back and forth)
I love the randomness of the sizes yet how nicely they fit together. I still need to make two blocks myself and I’ll probably add a border.
My plan was to have it done by Christmas, but I didn’t realize I would be facing morning sickness and exhaustion, so my new goal is to have it done by next Christmas along with a matching tree skirt and a matching stocking for each family member. I’m also trying to figure out how I want to quilt this (it’s HUGE). I am thinking I will keep it simple, so that I don’t detract from the beautiful images.
I am hoping that the kids enjoy getting this quilt out each year. My mom had some handmade Christmas items and I always got really excited to see them every December and discover each little detail all over again.
Congratulations – this is going to become a beauty! Combined with a matching tree skirt and matching stockings… cool!
It is going to be beautiful!
It’s beautiful already! Bummer about the lost 3, but I’m sure you’ll whip something pretty up 🙂
Oh, this is absolutely fabulous!! What a wonderful idea and isn’t it fun to see how different everyone does something when given the same instructions?! I love the stack of presents and the little triangle Santa’s (so stinkin’ cute!) but they’re all great! Can’t wait to see it all finished!
I started a Christmas quilt for myself *before* I even joined the guild, and it’s still not together. You will have this gorgeous piece forever, so why rush it?!? And I think it will be a great chance to practice long-arm quilting…..
I love this so much. There is something so fresh about the colours and I love that each block is different but that they co-ordinate beautifully together. I am in Fresh Modern Bee 2 and my month was November so I am starting to put my blocks together now.
This is such a beauty! Wonderful on so many levels. Amazing that the blocks came from different people and worked so well together. PLEASE tell me how the block with the tree and the Dresden skirt was made. Is there a pattern for it somewhere?
In case your wondering, I found this old post by googling “Michael Miller Funky Christmas fabric.”
Oops. I mean, “Michael Miller Retro Christmas fabric.” 😀