I picked up the book “The Modern Quilting Bee: Block Party” by Alissa Haight Carlton and Kristen Lejnieks at the library this week.
I love the idea of a virtual quilting bee: you get a group of 12 women (geographic proximity is not required for this bee!) and you each are in charge of a month. For that month you choose the fabric and send it to the 11 other women with as much or as little direction for their block as you want. They send their block back to you and you assemble a quilt out of the blocks! How fun is that.
Most of the designs in the book use a “wonky” take on modern blocks – meaning you use irregular shaped pieces and add them wherever you like! It definitely makes for some fun quilts.
Here are my favorites:
Wonky Roman Stripe Block
Confetti Block
Once Around the Block, a wonky log cabin design
The Modern Dresden Plate block (sorry for the low quality – I scanned this one in straight from the book)
And my favorite, the Hexagon Quilt, using English Paper Piecing (again – a scanned image)
If you like these quilts, you should definitely check the book out for more fun modern quilts!
I would love to be a part of a group like that. Does the book suggests ways to form one?
It doesn’t really say how to find members – – it says that you need one person to be the “Bee Host” and they are in charge of finding other members. I would start with friends, sisters, and they can reach out to their own friends and family and pretty soon I’m sure you could find 12 people willing to join!! It sounds like a really exciting way to quilt. You should check it out!