Online Quilt Block Sewing Bee

I just wanted to take a minute to say how excited I am about a quilt that a fellow quilt block bee-er finished recently. Linda made a purple and pink "I Spy" quilt for her granddaughter. Isn't it lovely?!

My "Care Bear" block is second row, first block. :O)

At Linda's Chirp blog you can find a tutorial of her modified quilt-as-you-go method and more pictures of her beautiful quilt. Here's what Linda said about using this method:

The point of this technique is that with a full size backing, I could work on a section of quilting at a time without manipulating three heavy, bulky layers all the time, and there are no awkward joins that have to be covered, hand-stitched, or disguised in any way. No shoulder pain, no sewing machine getting pushed around on the table!

After reading her tutorial, it's something I definitely want to try out!!

In case you are wondering, an online quilt block bee is where sewers from all over the world come together and make blocks for each other. The bee I recently was part of is housed at Flickr. This particular group was a "mini bee" with six hive members and two months to complete the blocks. It's a fun way to discover and try new color combinations and see what other people have going on in their sewing rooms. Online bees come in all shapes and sizes -- it's all about finding one that fits your mood!!

At the beginning of the bee each person tells what particular colors or patterns they would like to have in their block. Then each sewer makes one block for each fellow hive member in the colors they requested, but uses the same pattern for each block. You mail your block to the right person and blocks come in the mail to you. Happy mail for once. :O)

I ended up making six unique blocks for my bee hive:

Here's the center of my Care Bear-themed pink and purple block for the I Spy quilt:

The goal in the end is to get enough quilt blocks from bees to make your own quilt. I love the idea of having a quilt full of blocks made just for me by fellow sewers all over the world!!