Man Quilt Delivered

Yesterday was the Christmas gathering of Bee Blessed!

I forgot to take photos of the hive of activity, as we sewed along to Neil Diamond's Christmas songs and ate mince pies!

But I can show you the finished man quilt.

I delivered this today to the family for whom it was made, and it was an emotional exchange!  I said 'it's a small gift', in light of the situation the family are currently in, but the lady said this was no small thing - it was a huge blessing to them all, especially to her ill husband.  

And that's just what Bee Blessed is about - small gifts with huge impact!

Some of you have been eager to know the next block we'll be doing in Bee Blessed.  For the next few months, we've decided to make sampler quilts, which means all you lovely donators and supporters get to make a block of your choosing, in the colours/fabrics of your choosing!  How cool is that!  The only requirement is that the block should be 12.5" unfinished.  

So do you fancy having a go?

There's a fab list of tutes available on Modify Tradition (see down right hand side of screen) but if you know of other great block tutes, I'm starting a thread in our flickr group where you can post the links of any great block tutes you've come across.  This is a great way to share ideas, and I for one am really looking forward to trying out some new block patterns.

And just to keep you up-to-date, we now have approx. 60 log cabin blocks, so when we next get together in January we will be making up 3 quilt tops!  Can't wait to show you!

One source of inspiration for block patterns is this:

My Christmas present to myself arrived last week and I have to say I wasn't disappointed!  It's a really well laid out book, and most of the block designs are ones I would like to try.  My personal view is that a chunk of the blocks would be a challenge for a beginner, but all in all I think it's a fabulous book.

And last but not least, I've taken the bull by the horns and bought my ticket for the Fat Quarterly Community Retreat in June.

This will be a special weekend for me, because I get to meet up with most of my amazing Brit Bee buddies!  I even got to speak to the lovely Sarah on the phone!  Surreal!!  We are all so excited that we are getting on like giddy teenagers (what on earth will we be like when we finally meet in June!).

Well that's about it from me for this weekend.  

Not as much sewing done as I'd like, but the boiler packing up this morning meant lots of snuggles under quilts, in front of a log fire, drinking homemade mulled wine and watching Nativity with the kids.  So not all bad!