Wednesday, October 19, 2011

My 3X6 Mini Sampler Bee Quilt

I joined the 3X6 Mini Sampler Bee in January 2010. The idea behind this fun bee is that every three months I would choose a quilt block design and create 6 blocks, one for each of the other participants, using my block choice in their chosen color selections. At the same time, the other "bees" would each be making a block for me in my colors of aqua, green and white. By staying in the 3x6 Bee for the entire year, I ended up with a total of 24 different blocks, plus the ones I made as design samples each quarter and a couple more.
 One of the things I love about this particular Bee is seeing the various blocks come alive in every one's color choices. What started as a small Bee has now grown to include more than 20 "Hives" with 7 "Bees" in each Hive, all doing the same thing. You can see by the numbers, just how popular it is. New this past quarter was the addition of Hives that are doing "modern only" blocks. As the 2010 ticked by, I enjoyed going to my mailbox and finding lovely blocks. Only one time the entire year was I worried that a fellow participant would flake out and not send me a block. In the end, all 24 participants came through and I as able to put together this beautiful quilt that I've named 
"Swimming Pool Sampler" because the color combination makes me think of the tiles in a  pool. The quilting is an allover paisley pantograph design.
 I even tried to make the backing look like a refreshing pool floor...
 I took a couple of quarters off, but found that I missed creating the blocks so much that I decided to start collecting again with a new color combo of orange and aqua (I'm kinda stuck on turquoise lately, I think!). The blocks have once again been arriving in my box...I'll show you soon. Maybe you would enjoy this type of Bee.
Sign ups are going on for the next quarter, if you are interested.
 I'd love to have you join me!
I'm excited to see my newest 3X6 Sampler take shape.
Stay tuned!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun bee! Love your sampler.

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  2. Oooo! That's gorgeous. I love "sampler" quilts done in a limited range of fabrics - they seem to come togehter so well!

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  3. This is such a beautiful quilt. I haven't started putting mine together yet. I was going to sit out a quarter--are sign-ups already done? Maybe I'll reconsider...

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  4. This is so pretty, just love the colors!
    ; )

    Oh, and I look forward to some aqua and orange, another favorite of mine!

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  5. This quilt is gorgeous! Makes me want to be in a bee. ;o)

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