The Twitter.B Quilting Bee will be a group of 12 awesome* quilters/tweeters. Each month will be dedicated to one Twitter.B; during that month, 11 other quilters will work on her block, make it fabulous, and send it back. At the end of a year, each Twitter.B will have 11 blocks and the motivation to finish piecing her quilt!
The purpose of this Quilting Bee is to have fun, be creative (maybe break some “rules”), and engage in friendly virtual conversation. Our grandmothers and great-aunties sat around and dished while stitching in their bees: we’ll tweet. Twitter.B perk: any FQ fabric that’s left after you build your friend’s block is yours to stash! :)
Life is crazy and busy; this Quilting Bee is not. Your commitment is one block a month and sending out a fat quarter to each member before it is “your” month. If you’d like to document via Twitter,
Flikr, or your blog, fabulous! We’d love to see the progress!
Once 12 Twitter.Bs have agreed to participate, I will organize names, addresses, months, etc. Hopefully we’ll have everything ready to go for a March start date!
:: what do I do when it’s “my month”? ::
• figure out what main fabric you’d like us to work with and buy 3 yards (cut in 12 FQs—11 for members, one for you). If you’d like to send us each a different FQ to work with, that’s fun, too!
• send a fat quarter of your choice to each Twitter.B member (and any instructions via the questionnaire). If your month is April, for example, make sure you send the FQ to reach everybody by April 1st. That way we’ll all have the full month to work on your fabulous block.
• you are responsible for sending one FQ only—each Twitter.B will stash bust to complete your block. (PS the informal questionnaire should accompany your FQ—so we know that you might abhor mustard yellow and would not be pleased if we pulled that color from the FQ you send.)
• tweet to let us know your FQs are on their way!
:: what do I do when it’s not “my month” ::
• tweet the Twitter.B so she knows you received her fabric. (And gush about her awesome FQ choice.)
• plumb the depths of your creativity—and your fabric stash—to complete the block and send it back by the end of the month. Life sometimes gets nuts, so please alert us early if you won’t be able to return your block at the end of the month—hopefully this won’t happen.
• if you want to document your progress and/or the completed block, go for it! If you want it to be a surprise, you might not want to Tweet/Blog these photos until after the Twitter.B has received the block you created for her.
:: misc. ::
• you should be able to re-use the envelope your FQ came in (we’re friends of the earth here at Twitter.B). But if you “misplace” the original envelope, of course use another sturdy one.
• it will help protect the FQ (and the completed block) if you put them in a plastic baggie prior to placing in the envelope. Rain, snow, sleet, hail, and other disasters, you know.
• quilting bee blocks has provided some other tips for mailing: http://www.flickr.com/groups/quiltingbeeblocks/discuss/72157621924214728/
That’s it! Let’s have some quilty fun!
*Don’t fret if you’re not a master quilter. Starting with one block (straight seams, y’all) is a great way to practice and improve your confidence. If you want to build a practice block out of s/crap fabric before cutting into the Twitter.B’s FQ is perfectly fine. Plus, you have a community of quilters at your disposal in our Quilting Bee and all around the internets. Take a peek at this inspiring
Oh, Fransson! post--look, some of the most lovely quilt blocks are just squares and 1/4" seams!
Leave a comment below to express your interest in joining this Quilting Bee. If more than 12 of you are interested, we'll hold a lottery to select the members.
xxoo
jenni
