Bee Block(ed), Again

I have been blocked again. I have some bee blocks to show you. I got them finished at the weekend, and posted and received safely. And in the interests of experimentation we went for a lunch yesterday which lasted until midnight and explored the other definition of the word blocked. The plus point of that was a little gentle hexie sewing on the sofa in front of the fire whilst the snow fell and the wind howled outside today. We are embracing this retirement and all the retirement celebrations.

The half square triangle blocks were for Stephanie, in Irish Modern Stash Bee. These were my November blocks. I had been rather smugly up to date pretty much all year then fell at the final furlong. Thankfully Stephanie was happy to wait until after Christmas, and I was delighted to make these two scrappy blocks for her. And thankfully, the joys of my Christmas present, a new sewing machine meant all the points matched, the seam allowances were perfect and they were a joy to sew. No more fighting, swearing  or crying. When I'm sewing anyway.

Cheerios blocks for Stephanie

The final blocks for Irish Modern Stash Bee were for Suzanne. Suzanne sent each of us some green and gold sparkle to do with what we would. She hopes to make a Christmas quilt from her blocks. The first thing that came to mind was a friendship block. I have enjoyed my two years in the bee and have made some lovely friends. My second block was modern Christmas tree. I was a little less happy with how this turned out. I worry that it looks more clumsy and less improvisational. Hopefully I am just being hyper sensitive. I also made Suzanne a Christmas tree decoration. JUST what she needs in January.

Christmas blocks for Suzanne

I also made a Bee Blessed block for the charity bee. This was repeat of October's Irish Modern Stash Bee block, so it tripped off the machine quite lightly. I think this is for a man's quilt.

Bee Blessed block

I had intended to stay with the Irish Bee this year too, but there is a little uncertainty for me this year. Although I have finished work, how much time I will have to actually sew may vary. I may be off travelling the world! So reluctantly, I decided not to re-join this year after two fun years. I hope to re-join next year. If they'll have me.

I have rejoined Stash Bee, this time Hive 6. January's block is the union jack block I made last year. Maybe I will learn from the mistakes I made last year, my left from right and top from bottom!

I also joined Bee Bubble 2, or Bubble Bee 2. A flickr based group. This is something new for me to try. Four diametrically opposed log cabin blocks magically transform into a circle. This small group is also international and should be great fun. A learning curve, these blocks are paper pieced and a new thing for me to learn. I have made one quarter of my first block and thankfully it wasn't as scary as I anticipated.

Bubble block, 1st quarter

And that's it.
Back to my dry January. Or rather dry Monday to Friday.