Buzzing Bees

This year our Guild has decided to put the emphasis on getting to know each other.  Several initiatives have been put together, one of them being the Bee groups, either Improv Bees and Queen Bee.

Are you familiar with the concept of Quilting Bee?  Initially, it was a social gathering amongst quilters to make a quilt faster, each members would sew a block or more, and all together they will work on the top and eventually quilting it.  Things have evolved, but the goal stays the same.  If you want to find out more, go and check this article on Craftsy.

A few months have passed and we have started to see some interesting blocks popping up on social media or at Show’n’Tell at our meetings.  The Blue and Green Hives, and the Queen Bee, with 12 members each, and work on a monthly schedule.  Whereas the Yellow hive has 2 Queens and produces 2 blocks every other month.

So far we had some interesting prompt leading to even more interesting blocks.

Here are Sarah and Ashley blocks from the first round.  Their respective prompts can be found here and here 

The second month of the Improv Bee brought some bright blocks for Aradria.

If Improv is out of your comfort zone, don’t feel intimidated.  Start with small steps: do not use a ruler or a rotary cutter, go for solid or low volume fabric.  You can also get inspiration and tips from Sherry Lynwood book (The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters - it is in our library!)

The Queen Bee, which work on a set block requested by the Queen bee each month, had some super nice results too.

Here is an article about Quilting Bee Etiquette.  My take on this, like in most life situation, communication is key.  To help with communication, Ashley recommends to create and share a Pinterest board.

As the months are going by and new prompts and blocks will be shared, I hope you will be inspired to join a Quilting bee.

Still in need of inspiration?  Here where to find more:

• #beesewcial on Instagram (a long-running improv bee)
• Some inspiration from the Modern Quilt Guild Gallery 
• 15 Minutes of Play: Improvisational Quilts by Victoria Findlay Wolfe (another great book, especially helpful for working with scraps in an improv manner)
• What really counts as Improv quilting on Cheryl Arkinson's blog.

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Improv Bee - Blue Hive, May Prompt

Hi Blue Bees!

I'm excited to kick-off our Blue Hive Improv Bee this month!

While on our honeymoon to Japan, I became fascinated with the precise Japanese joints and patterns in woodwork and textiles and the perfectly groomed, graceful parks juxtaposed with the concepts of wabi sabi, boro, and kintsugi (all ways to embrace the imperfect or repair a damaged item).

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Improv Bee - Green Hive, May prompt

Hi Fellow Green Bees!

Did you know there actually are green bees?  They are beautiful.  Here's a pic I took at Lukas Nursery a few years ago:

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Speaking of pictures...our May prompt is Black and White:  Contrast and Negative Space.  I've compiled a bunch of photos on my Pinterest board (https://www.pinterest.com/cera979/black-and-white/) to serve as inspiration, but here's a few to get the ideas started:

So here's the specifics:  I want to focus on these design concepts - contrast and negative space  (we're building skills this year, right?) .  

I'm asking for blocks that are 12*18".  Black and white or off white or very light grey.  I do want solids or tone one tone.  Contrast is the key.  Also, I want the black to be the negative space...the background (as in the above photos).  The white (or off white, or light grey) will highlight the form.

Your block does not need to represent literal forms, it can be totally abstract.  They can be minimal, maximal, or anywhere in between.  They will be "due" at the June meeting.

Ready to go?  Great!  Still unclear?  No worries, call or email me.  You can do this.  Remember sometimes fewer parameters can actually create more of a challenge.  I'm thinking this one might be a little more on the challenging side.  

-sjl-

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