beejeebers!

I've joined my first virtual quilting bee - beejeebers! Pretty exciting, huh? I've done block swaps before through AFA so I'm super excited to do a bee. I love making and sharing projects and completing tops from swap blocks. There is just something super fun about combining all the fun from your buddies into a beautiful quilt. My month is October, so I won't get my blocks until then. But for the next year, I'll be making a block for my bee buddy and sending it to them based on their desires. I just hope I have scraps in the correct colors!

Some of my worries about being in a bee:

1) A lot of players like modern quilting. I do more traditional but I dabble in modern quilting. I just hope my creative powers will be working when the modern blocks come knocking! I don't think this will be a big issue. I'm good at sewing stuff together so I'll manage here.

2) Stash power. I started buying "better quality" fabric in the last year or so so my stash is a good mix of all kinds of stuff. I have a problem with the term "better quality" because quality isn't a brand name as much as something you can tell from the fabric. If it is thick and has a good weave it is quality to me. I don't buy see though fabric or fabric that is thin. But I worry that my definition won't match others in the bee. I can't afford to buy designer lines all the time. I don't have a ton of modern prints. So I hope I have enough stash power.

3) Colors! Neutrals are at the heart of a lot of modern quilting. I started using Kona solids last year because they are much better than the cheaper stuff they sell at Joanns (which I have some of, but I do like Kona!). Problem is that Kona comes in a zillion colors. Kona White, Kona Snow, Kona Bone... just some of the whites! I can get my paws on some neutrals but I worry I won't be able to find stuff. I can't order online - just too much money to do each month. I need a coupon and a sale at Joanns! So I hope I can find what I need at Jojos (my term for Joanns!) or Hobby Lobby (uh, I don't care for that place but they carry a lot of Kona). I've never seen Kona Snow and I'm currently hunting for Kona Ash for the January block.

4) Flakes and droppers. I've always done centralized swaps, so the idea of a bee like this is new to me since it would be possible for someone to flake out after their month and **frowny face** the group. I hope this isn't going to be the case.

So those are my thoughts at this point. We'll see how this rolls as 2012 gets going.