String Me Along - Quilting Bee

Well, I suppose it was bound to happen - I've signed up for my first online quilting bee. It doesn't start until January, and runs for 17 months, skipping December for the holidays, so 16 blocks total. Having to make a different block each month doesn't sound like too much to handle, so I'm really looking forward to this. It'll be fun to work with different fabrics & patterns as well, so less of the boredom I sometimes face when I work on the same sort of project or fabric for too long.

I think the hard part will be deciding what fabric I want to use & what sort of block I would like made. Fortunately (and unfortunately!) I have plenty of time to decide since my month isn't until February 2012. Yes, that's right, over a year from now! Who know's what I might want by then! I've been thinking that maybe I'll start picking up fat quarter & scrap fabrics here & there, and cutting them into different size/shape "scraps" to put into separate baggies. Then when my time comes around, hopefully I'll have enough fabric for each block without having to think about it too much at the last minute. We'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I'll also be working on finding & saving all kinds of inspiration so I can get an idea of what sort of block I'd like to ask for. My first thought is to ask for any kind of a wonky block, since I prefer the look over some more "traditional" quilt patterns, but we'll see what else I think of over the next year. I have considered asking each person to make their favorite pattern, but that may be a little too random (and not the good kind!) to work.

One block that has been stuck in my head since I first saw it is this one from Amy at amylouwho. How stinkin' adorable is this?

Seriously, I had to scour every sewing/quilting/crafting blog I had in my reader this morning so I could find this again. I just simply couldn't remember where I'd seen it & knew I just had to find it again to be able to share it. I absolutely adore this block. I also really like her Drunk Love in a Log Cabin blocks, which are definitely high of my list of the sort of blocks I would like.

While you're checking those out, make sure you take a look around, Amy has so many other great projects. I'm hoping to be able to share something for her weekly Sew & Tell sometime soon.

I plan on sharing the entire 17 month process & all the blocks I get to sew, so stay tuned for all that! In some ways I wish it would go ahead & start right now, but I also know how far behind I already am on Christmas stuff (have I mentioned I've barely started my holiday sewing? Oops...). Even Nick commented the other day that we need to start thinking about Christmas stuff, and when I'm not leaps and bounds ahead of him on something like this, we're in trouble.

Until next time...