A few days ago I sewed my last bee block for 2016. I participated in both The Bee Hive and Stash Bee in order to increase my piecing skills and to connect with other quilters who share my passion. Below I have photos of all the blocks I’ve sewn and the tutorials for each block underneath the photo. They are in reverse order from the last block I sewed in December to the first blocks I sewed in January. In the interest of full-disclosure, I did not actually sew the April ’16 Hidden Gems block. The queen bee, Linda Seltser, helped me out as I was experiencing debilitating shoulder pain at that time that resulted in severe sleep deprivation, and I just didn’t have it in me to sew that complicated paper-pieced block. A few months of PT and a couple cortisone injections, and I feel so much better. I have been able to sew two easier paper-pieced blocks, Wanta Fanta, and the Busy block.

I know for me (and hopefully for others) it will be useful to have this post available to reference because there are a few of these blocks I would like to sew enough of to make a quilt. I particularly like that all the Bee Hive blocks were designed to create a secondary pattern when sewn together, and they won’t require any sashing. I was the queen bee for both of my online bees in August, and am especially excited  to sew the 21 Quatrefoil blocks in teal, navy, lime, and low volume fabrics that  I received from my Bee Hive and Stash Bee hivemates (plus 2 example blocks I sewed and 2 surprise blocks from Sarah Goer) to make a 5 x 5 block quilt sometime in 2017.

December

Alpine Block Tutorial

November

Busy Block Tutorial

Charming Plus Block Tutorial

October

Homebase Block Tutorial

Which Way Block Tutorial

September

Jagged Little Pill Block Tutorial

Modern Half Square Triangle Block Tutorial

August

Quatrefoil Block Tutorial

July

Jagged Little Pill Block Tutorial

X and + (Cross) Block Tutorial

June

Tic Tac Toe Block

Umbrella Block Tutorial

May

Wanta Fanta Block

Greek Cross Block

April

Hidden Gems Block (Material cut using templates by Mary Ringer, block paper-pieced by Linda Seltser), Apr ’16 for The Bee Hive

Hidden Gems Block

Modern Pinwheel Block Tutorial

March

Wanta Fanta Block

Scrappy Block Cross

February

Spinwheel Block Tutorial

Carpenter Star Block

January

Quatrefoil Block

Scrappy Diamond Block

I will be taking 2017 off from participating in online quilting bees. I have several projects planned that I want to dedicate my time to, but I will continue to follow Stash Bee posts and certainly will be checking out Instagram posts from the immensely talented quilters I’ve gotten to know online this year whose work continually inspires me.

Linking up to Quilter in the Closet: Building Blocks Tuesday and Cooking Up Quilts: Main Crush Monday.