I’ve been reading quilting blogs for several years now. During that time I’ve noticed that several blogs sponsor quilting bees where you make a designated block and mail it to that person. Then when it’s your month, they all mail your chosen block to you that they’ve sewn. So this year I decided to join not one but three. I never do anything in a small way.

 

The block above was for the Bee Inspired Group made up of quilters from all over the world. This new group was just formed this year and most of us were part of the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Group. The block was paper pieced and rather fun to make. I might have to make some more of these for myself. You can find links here at the end of the article to download the paper piecing instructions and templates, just in case you want to make some for yourself.

 

The house block above was a fun one I made for the Stash Bee Hive. This group has several subgroups called hives. I belong to a hive of those living in the United States. The hardest part of sewing this block was picking out the colors. Tanyia wanted it to be very scrappy and I love playing with fabric and had lots of options that I would have liked to sew. I think more houses are in my future too. Click here to find the pattern in case you want to construct some too.

 

 

I made the above block called Chainlink as part of the Blossom Heart Hive. Jenna wanted it in bright white, blue, and yellow and told us which colors to use where. She changed the coloring around a bit from the pattern. I found it to be a bit difficult. You can find the pattern here if you want to make it and prove me wrong. Making these blocks gives me an opportunity to find out which ones I really want to make more of. This was not one of them.

The real surprise was when I went to the post office to mail them. I had folded them neatly and carefully put them inside a plastic snap lock bag and squeezed out all the air. It was then folded in half and put into a legal size envelope. I was told the top two blocks could only be sent parcel post and were a whopping $2.67 each. The next day I returned to the same post office with the last block and it went flat rate for $1.19. All were packaged the same and all are similar size blocks. I was helped by different people.

What I Learned Today:

1. Next time wait in line at the post office until I get the assistant who let me mail it at the cheaper rate.
2. Start sewing my bee blocks earlier in the month.
3. Don’t wait until the last couple of days of the month to get my blocks sewn and in the mail.
4. Since my 22 year old son had already lectured me on internet safety last summer, I had my husband go with me to the post office.

Question: Have you sewn for others?

Linking to Finished or Not Friday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?