Using Bees for Inspiration

You may have read in earlier Blog entries that I joined my first two Virtual Quilting Bees this year.  Not because I don't have enough to do (you know with all that free time I have, right?) but more to challenge myself to quilt outside of my little Leah-Box.

My goal, was to not only create every block assigned to me, but to commit to:

1. Using the newly learned block in some form to create a mini-quilt
2. Only using fabric from my stash & scraps, and...
3. Quilting the mini-quilt MYSELF and not sending it off to a long arm quilter

So here goes...

My first block was for my Sew.Bee.Create buddy Mennikelly.  She sent us lovely Amy Butler fabric and requested that we create blocks inspired by the Kaffe Fassett's Jewel Box pattern.

To complete my mini quilt, I grabbed some Sophie fabric from my stash and just started sewing.  The end result is three small jewel boxes nestled atop a larger jewel box and partially surrounded by complimentary Sophie squares.  The quilt, "Oh My Darlin'" came together super fast and will make a great snuggle-bankie for a little girl!  (pardon the windy day!)

No time to quilt it just yet though, because it was time to move on to my Wonky Bee buddy Georgia's Block!

Georgie loved the Wonky Triangles quilt from the awesome book "Block Party".  Now for some reason, this block was incredibly difficult for me.  Partially because this was probably the quilt I liked least from this book- auto mental block!  But we join bees to get us out of our box, so out of the box I crawled.

All I can say is Georgie must be one of my NEW FAVORITE people, because she inspired me to design this quilt.  And I LOVE this quilt design more than I can describe!!  I am calling this design "the Moon of Origin".
Thank you Georgia for my inspiration!!!  And I sew can't wait to get started!!

Tomorrow I will show you another block for Wonky Bee member, Jodi.  Jodi opted to have us bee'ers create a simple wonky strip block.  This block was oooooober simple and took about 10 minutes to create!  (but the sun has gone down today- so I will show it tomorrow!)

The quilt Jodi's block inspired was "Wonky Pinwheel Cubed" using either Impressions or Domestic Bliss, both with Bella Solids. I am leaning toward Impressions because I just love the color orange!

So Quilting Bees are super exciting to me, and I am so glad I joined!  Have you been inspired by your bee to create something new and awesome?  I'd love to see the Bee blocks and the inspiration that followed!