Around the Block Round 2

I've been asked on a few occasions to explain how virtual quilting bees work, but I thought it was easier to show you.

Tonight, I finished my last block for Around the Block 2. In ATB, each girl sends out packets of their fabrics to the 10 other girls in the group along with a set of directions. We then have one year to make up the blocks and send them home. We're asked to make at least one block per month. This makes sure no one falls behind or saves 11 blocks for the last month.

Virtual quilting bees are a great way to try new blocks and work with fabrics outside of your usual style on a small scale. They are a lot of fun, but it would be remiss to omit how stressful they are. You are using someone else's fabrics. You are contributing to something they may see daily. Something they may have for a lifetime. It can be quite a bit of pressure. Self-inflicted pressure.

Here's the blocks that I got the chance to make for ATB2.


Becky kept her block style open. She requested anything with triangles using her pinks and greens. Open ended blocks are fun because they stretch you creatively. They can also be a challenge because you want to come up with something truly unique.

Rachel wanted butterflies and gave us an easy tutorial to follow. She sent out a large stack of fresh red, pink, green, orange and yellow prints. These are my blocks before I added the stem stitching and french knots to finish off the antenna. I'm not sure I would have ever attempted a butterfly block, if Rachel hadn't asked for them. Now I know I have the pattern in my back pocket, if a little girl ever calls for some.


Sheridan had another creative block idea. She requested Mondrian-inspired blocks using her Kona solids. The only specific request was using a common size black border and to remember that less is more. I love that mantra. I'm making her two blocks, but I'm waiting for a few scraps to arrive back to finish the second one. I drew up the designs using MS word and then pieced them accordingly.

I feel the need to apologize to Louise. She wanted whirling things or stars and left if up to use to pick our block style. I found a template on quilter's cache called Marcia's Whirling Star. I thought it would be perfect for her red and blue prints. When I got pretty far into the block, I realized it's construction method wasn't the best for prints and would have better suited batiks. They went wonky and I was unhappy. Above is Louise's first block in progress. I finished this and made her a second one, but I feel like I let myself and Louise down. The only redeeming factor is that I made her stellar blocks in round 1.

You can see by now that working on quilting bees gives you a lot of variety. Abbe sent greys and greens and requested centered strips. While it looks straight-forward and plain-jane in the photo, it should look great when combined with everyone else's blocks.

Gillian's quarter circles using the Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial were the easiest blocks this round!

And squares of all sorts in Helen's polka dot prints were quite fun. They were also a reminder that my own unfinished Jeweled Square quilt could use a little more love.

The blocks with lots of perfect piecing always make me nervous, but Kate C's Mosaic blocks came together quickly.

I think AJ's block had my most shaking in my boots. I'd never made a cathedral window before or spiraled a log cabin anti-clockwise. That's counter-clockwise for my friends in the Americas. AJ wrote tutorials for both the center and the spiralling logs.

My favourite blocks this round belonged to Kate. She asked us to make crosses of any sort. These aren't fabrics I would have picked myself, but I love how they all came together. Kate's quilt is the one that I'm most looking forward to seeing assembled.


Quite a collection is it? I feel quite lucky that each of these ladies allowed me to help with quilts for the sons and daughters, quilts for their mums and especially the quilts for themselves.

How about you? Are you in a quilt bee? Do you enjoy trying lots of new blocks? How do you manage the stress?