And now the Blue Bee!

I mentioned earlier that I took part in a glorious quilting bee during 2018 that brought much joy to each month. My Pink Bee girls helped me learn new skills, play with colors I may not have put together on my own, and spoiled me rotten with the most amazing blocks and extras.

So, when one of my bee mates suggested a Blue Bee for 2019, I couldn't say yes fast enough. Pink and Blue are my two favorite colors, so this seemed like a dream bee!

Here is a look at the blocks and things I have made so far!

This first chicken block was for Yvonne, and I love that she chose something different and fun. It is going to be so cute! A quilt full of blue chickens! COME ON. Soooo good.

Dawneika was our next queen, and she chose this glorious patchwork block that she plans to set on point. Patchwork is my love language, followed closely by fussy cutting. 

The next queen to take the throne was Kate, who designed this adorable patchwork block with low volumes mixed in. I fussy cut where I could. Side note: I love to include a piece of one my very favorite fabrics in each bee block I made. For Yvonne, I used my HR frogs, Dawneika got my treasured Heather Ross VW buses, and Kate got a bit go my tiny mushrooms AND my fave Art Gallery Fabrics moons. 

Tina was the next Queen Bee, and genius she is, she chose a nested churn dash block. I LOVE the churn dash block and I really love the way this block echoes outward! So cool. And take a guess which treasured fabric I used in her block. (If you guessed the HR goldfish then you get a high five from me.)

I am the queen bee for July, and I will share my block choice and color inspo in a later post. The blocks have been rolling in and I am LOVING them!!!

A quilting bee filled with PINK!

Last year, I was thrilled to be a part of the #pinkbee2018 I made blocks for 11 lovely bee mates, stitched my first dresden plate, made an adorable candy cane block, a super sweet strawberry block, played with patchwork, and then made a pink pineapple!

My first Dresden plate, but certainly not my last. It was fun fussy cutting for the unique shapes of the blades. 

I added a J inside the strawberry for our sweet bee host Johnna. 

The low volume fabric is one I should have bought a bolt of, because I love it!

Jennifer chose such a sweet candy cane block and I love this idea for a Christmas quilt!

This patchwork block was so fun!!

And Yvonne's pineapple!

I hemmed and hawed over my block and finally settled on a scrappy trip around the world quilt. I designed a certain orientation of blocks for half the bee girls, with a different orientation for the rest. That way, for fussy cut squares, they would placed right. 

Rather than talk more about my quilt, I will just share the evolution of it. It is my most used quilt and the only quilt I have ever kept for myself. I use it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 

My participation in the pink bee was a beautiful bright spot in 2018. That was the the year we had a big move, my kids changed schools, my husband started a new job, and was deployed for 9 months of the year, so the rhythmic stitching each month for my pink bee girls was beautiful therapy. And at the end, I have this amazing quilt, stitched by girls around the world, to keep me warm and happy. If you have a chance to be a part of a quilting bee- DO IT! Jump in!! It will grow you, it will connect you to amazing people, it will allow you to be a lasting part in something someone else treasures, and at the end you will have a quilt to treasure always. 

And this amazing experience led me to join in on a follow-up bee.........