Traveling Threads Bee

Megan (MegsinCali on IG) recently got together a new group to try a traveling bee.  I’ve passed on these before, not trusting the universe — and other quilt makers — to execute my vision for my quilts.  This time, however, I was finally ready to lark about and see what others will do with my initial idea.

And that was it: my only idea was to use Alison Glass’ line of prints, mixed with other prints.  I knew I wanted a big block (above, taken from a vintage quilt book) to lead everything off, but then I had no idea past that.  I needed other quilters to help this quilt along, so I jumped in, and am now so excited about the whole process.

Some talked about having a little book to go along with the quilt, so I put one together, complete with scraps of the cloth I was sending along, and the admonition of NO GRAY.  Well, no medium gray.  I hate what it does to quilts (washes it out, makes it blah), but I can handle light gray or charcoal.  But that’s another subject for another time.

And then I laughed when I realized that two of the fabrics in Glass’ line are a dark charcoal.  Oh well, let’s see what happens. I mixed in some more prints from other places, just for ideas or a resource.

And here it is–all packed up and ready to go (and sent!).  I have a Pinterest site where I’ve gathered some ideas from here and there, but Traveling Quilt Bees are pretty rare, I’ve discovered.  Round Robins, where a medallion quilt is created, are more popular, but I already have a medallion quilt or two, so I want that well-traveled look in this quilt top: an addition here, a block or four there, some flying geese strips — or not.

Our little group seems to gravitate towards Instagram with DM-ing each other, using the hashtag #travelingthreadsbee as the preferred way of communication. So look for us there!