Quilts Unscripted Bee Blocks: Jan-Nov 2025

The Quilts Unscripted Bee wrapped up our fourth year last spring and are nearly done with our fifth! (Our “bee year” currently starts in March. There’s no real reason for this other than that’s how it worked out.) Since I made my November block already and we take December off, today I’m sharing the blocks I made for each prompt in 2025. (Here are my previous recaps: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021.)

Quick recap — Quilts Unscripted was started by Ellyn Zinsmeister and Sarah Goer in mid-2021. Current bee members are Ellyn, Sarah, E.A. Cox, Chris Davies, Emily Lang, Elizabeth Ray, Isabelle Selak, Charles Cameron, Jenn George Burt, Patty Dudek, and me.

We are primarily an improv-focused bee (hence the “unscripted” in our name), and use mainly 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.

One more thing — you may notice I didn’t have a prompt this year. That’s because I’ll be wrapping things up for this round in February!

In January, Emily asked us to make stripes blocks in either pink with a bit of blue or blue with a bit of pink. I chose the pink option and enjoyed making this block!

In February, I made two blocks for Sarah, who requested any kind of improv piecing using the word “fizzy” as loose inspiration. She also provided specific color palettes. The block on the left is black, white, carnation, and a hint of tangerine, and the the one on the right is citrus, tangerine, and black.

For March, E.A. asked for illusion block — such a great prompt! This admittedly was not improv piecing, but some precision is often necessary to making illusions look their best. I chose to make a Penrose or “impossible” triangle — a shape that cannot be made in three-dimensional space.

Charles gave us the most challenging (in my opinion) prompt of the year in April when he asked for “tchotchkes” and even went so far as to send us assorted tchotchkes in the mail. This prompt really intimidated me, but I was pretty happy with my final block, especially the cat charm!

For May, Ellyn used her 2024 word of the year — “shine” — as inspiration. I made two blocks using the Kona Lagoon that she sent us (as a unifying color) along with a mess of bright pinks, oranges, and yellows.

In June, Patty requested that we think about how we are balancing — or not balancing — all of the things in our lives. This was the month that NASA announced its deferred resignation program, and many of my coworkers started departing the agency. That, among other things, made it very difficult to find any sense of “balance” in my life over the summer (and let’s be honest, most of the year). The stack of “rocks” in my block is definitely teetering as a result…but I did love this prompt!

For July, Jenn asked for improv black-and-white checkerboard blocks. This was a prompt that was very simple yet effective, and I’m really curious to see how the finished quilt turns out. (Kinda wish I’d thought of this one myself!)

In August, Emily sent us an image of a painting of Central Park, and asked for two-tone blocks inspired by the color palette. She wanted one color grouping in the middle, surrounded by a different color grouping. The inspiration colors were all so bright and cheery; I chose to use pinks in the middle, bordered by greens. To me it evokes a bed of flowers in the middle of a grassy field.

For September, Chris asked us to use Kona Pickle (or very close) plus a range of saturated pinks, oranges, yellows, and blue/purples to make blocks featuring either rectangles or circular curves. I embraced the rectangles and made a fun modular-looking block.

In October, Sarah asked for simple wedges in pinks and greens. I asked the obvious question — is this a Wicked quilt?? — and she said “not intentionally.” Ha! She gave us permission to incorporate a bit of piecing in 1-2 wedges if desired, so I threw in a handful of skinny strips. (I’m also just now realizing that I made two green/pink blocks this year, which is fun.)

To wrap up the calendar year, this month Isabelle requested “flow”-inspired curved piecing using roughly equal amounts of gray and burnt orange, with a tiny bit of teal. These are all improv curves — note to self that I should write a post about my improv curve method, particularly for tight curves! — and this block was quite fun to sew together. It also left me wondering how I can use this flowy technique elsewhere, because I loved the result.

Looking forward to 2026!