October 12, 2011

Cotton Reels!

I'm finally getting around to posting the blocks I made for the 3x6 virtual quilting bee.

3x6 blocks

I chose a pattern called "cotton reels," because I really enjoy cornily symbolic block names. A pattern for an 8" block (I added a 1" and 2" border to make a 12" square) can be found here, naturally.

And... that's it for me for the 3x6 bee, at least for a while. With the holidays coming up, and the 4x5 bee starting again, I knew I needed to lighten my commitment load. I've been a part of 3x6 for 4 quarters - that's a whole year! - and by the end, will have 24 beautiful quilt blocks. Enough for a twin-sized quilt.

Here's the thing I always forget about these virtual bees: it's practically no thing at all to carve out time to make a block a month, or 5/6 blocks a quarter, or what have you. If you're going to be sewing anyway, you can pull this off. But at the end? When you are literally ankle deep in the handmade awesomeness you've received from your fellow swappers? It's like, "How will I ever find time to turn these blocks into a quilt???"

Hence my egress from what has been a really phenomenally fun and rewarding group. Starting projects is great, but finishing them is - well, I hardly remember what that feels like.

Is there a virtual bee for finishing projects? Now THAT would be amazing!