I talked about my quilting bee when I shared my alphabet quilt last month, which was created with their help! And while I share the blocks I made each month on Instagram, I haven’t been in the habit of sharing the blocks I make here on the blog.
The Quilts Unscripted Bee was started by Ellyn Zinsmeister and Sarah Goer. I knew both Ellyn and Sarah from a short-lived stint in a previous bee called The Solid Seven. When that bee folded, Ellyn and Sarah took the initiative to start a new one, and last month marked our 6th month!
The other members of the bee currently are E.A. Cox, Chris Davies, Emily Lang, Elizabeth Ray, Isabelle Selak, Carole Lyles Shaw, Chris Simon, and Loide Wasmund.
We are primarily an improv-focused bee (hence the “unscripted” in our name), and use primarily solid fabrics. Each month, one person chooses a theme or prompt, and provides guidance for the color palette and size/shape of blocks if they have a specific requirement.
I had the fun opportunity to kick off the bee in June, and did so with my alphabet prompt. I’ve enjoyed making 5 other groups of blocks in the months since.
In July, Chris D asked us to make blocks in blues and yellows that represented what summer means to us. It was certainly hot and humid in my area back then! I made the three blocks above representing a sun, a picnic blanket, and a canoe/boat floating on a lake. I couldn’t resist snapping this photo on the floor of my sewing room with the sun shining in.
For August, E.A. provided a heartfelt and thoughtful prompt on the idea of “holding space.” She asked us to create two matching quilt blocks representing what “holding space” meant to us, and made two matching quilts — one for her, and one for her best friend.
In September, Carole’s prompt was time and we made blocks in a prescribed color palette based on that concept — how we mark time, measure time, and more. I do tend to interpret prompts fairly literally (hello, engineer) and created three blocks representing a clock, a timeline, and a calendar.
In October, Chris S asked us to play with straight lines and how they intersect — or don’t intersect. She specified black as the background color, and our choice of bright colors for the rest. Chris has been sharing some sneak peeks with us via Instagram DM this week as she works on this quilt, and I can’t wait to see the result.
Most recently, Loide simply requested that we make blocks that celebrate Christmas, with whatever color palette we wanted — traditional or not! I really enjoyed make these Santa hats, wreath, and star.
I’ve been very happy with our bee thus far, and really enjoy the opportunity to push myself creatively each month to come up with something that fits the queen bee’s prompt, and of course I love the quilt that I made using the blocks I received during my month as queen bee. I’m looking forward to more Quilts Unscripted fun in 2022!
p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blogging challenge.
I’ve enjoyed seeing the prompts and blocks coming out of your bee – and of course your Alphabet quilt!