New Bees in the New Year (a month late)

One of the best things about quilting, in my opinion, is the chance to participate in a variety of bees. Sites such as twitter and flickr are excellent places to find other like-minded quilting people with whom to start a bee. It's great fun because quite often you meet new friends in the process.

So I thought I'd share with you a few bees that are happening this year.

3x6 Bee.

I love this bee. In fact, I with a handful of awesome ladies help run this bee and make it a success. It's quite fun and rather low key. Basically, you get paired up with a group of 6 other people and you make 1 block for each person in whatever colors they specify. You have 3 months to do this. So theoretically, if you participate for 3 or 4 quarters you will have enough blocks to make yourself a nice sized quilt. One of the reasons why I like it so much is because you get to meet a lot of talented people in a short amount of time. Sign ups are going on right now for Quarter 1 (Feb 1 - April 15) so check it out here.

Here are a few of the awesome blocks I've been given so far:

4x5 Modern Quilt Bee.

It is basically the same concept as the 3x6 bee, only you make 5 blocks instead of 6 in the three month period. I'm not sure if their sign ups have closed or not yet but I participated in it for the first time over Christmas and it was great fun. All the ladies in my group were extremely talented! Check out their webpage here for more info.

Here are the blocks I got the first round -- enough to allow me to finish up a sampler quilt I've been working on from the 3x6 Bee.

Quilts for Cancer.

This is a new bee starting up where each person makes a quilt that they give to someone they know that has cancer. I like this idea because not only are you helping to give people some comfort during a trying time, but it also uses your stash fabric so there is no mailing necessary except for the blocks. There are still a few spaces left so you can check it out here.

Do.good.Stitches.

This bee is the brain child of Rachel from Stitched in Color (seriously if you have not read her blog go do it) I love this bee and have been part of it for about a year now. I love that we quilt for charity, that we use our own fabric, and that we rotate who designs each quilt. I also lucked out and have the best group of people ever in my circle. Seriously, they are all super talented and super creative. For more info check out the Do.good.Stitches flickr page.

Here's a small sampling of some of the quilts that the Inspire Circle has finished:

Citrus Sails Quilt

Bijou Lovely's Herringbone Quilt. 

Also new bees are starting up all the time. Be sure to check out the Quilting Bee Blocks group on flickr that often has a list of bees looking for participants.


Are you going to participate in any bees this year? If so, which ones?