Let's Get Acquainted Link-Up

Beth from Plum and June hosted a wonderful "get to know you" Blog Hop last year with lots of fab tutorials and this year it is continuing with a Monday Link-up.

This week I am hosting the Monday Link-up party, and thought I'd share a few of the bee blocks that I have been working on lately as this is the first year that I have been involved in quilting bees. I have joined some local Bee groups here in Australia - the AusModBee and the Simply Solids Bee (Fallow group) and it has been so lovely to get to know these groups of ladies a bit better over the months we have been sewing together. 

Bees are a great way to learn different techniques for making blocks that you may not have tried before or even just making something in a style that you would not usually do. And the most exciting part is when you start to receive the blocks back from everyone! I chose the X and + blocks using this tutorial for my month as Queen Bee in the Simply Solids group and have received most of the blocks back now  - everyone has made the most amazing blocks and I just love them in the solids! So I am planning to do something like this with gray sashing and coloured corner stones inbetween the blocks... 

And I spent quite a bit of time last week cutting up a big bundle of Chicopee fabric to send out to my fellow AusMod bee members for them to make some AMH feathers which are something that I have loved ever since I saw Annas pattern but wasn't sure that I could make them all myself. We made the feathers for Lorena earlier this year and she even organised templates which were fabulous to use.

I have picked up a few tips from other bee members already about sending out the parcels of fabric - apart from ensuring that you send out enough fabric which can actually be quite tricky to calculate, it is helpful to include printed address labels for the return of the blocks, and always write a return address on the back of the envelope in case the parcel goes astray. And after having a problem with the orientation of part of one of the blocks I made last week, it is a good idea to post a pic of the blocks on flickr or instagram before you mail the blocks off as sometimes these little mistakes aren't so obvious and then you have time to fix them:) 
I also don't know what we would do without those handy zip-lock bags as they are perfect for keeping everything together safe and dry should the package get wet!

So now it is your turn! What have you been up to and what have you got planned!

Here are the rules for the link-up party:

1. Link up any recent crafty post. 
2. In your post or on your blog, please include either a text link or a button letting people know about this link up. 
3. Visit at least the two bloggers who link up before you and everyone who visits you from this post. 
4. When the link asks for your name, tell me the name of your pet or the name of your favourite animal character from a movie or book. My cats name is "Simba" whom we named after the character in The Lion King -  when I was growing up we had a ginger tabby named "Tiger" and a black cat named "Panther" after Shere-Khan in The Jungle Book. I also love elephants so Dumbo is another favorurite character of mine.

Kirsten.