Last year I had this wild idea. I was involved in 2 “normal” stash quilting bees, making a block each month for the queen bee according to their colour and pattern desires. Some months it was a lot of fun or they challenged me to grow as a quilter – like sewing my first curves. Other months, it was a drag to get the motivation up to sew the blocks in time. I realised that my main issue was the lack of creative control, which was why I loved my Wombat Stew paper piecing bee – the Queen Wombat gives a theme and we come up with the blocks to fit. Sometimes we were given a specific pattern to work with, or a colour palette to use, but the focus was always on us having fun and due dates were relaxed if life happened.
My wild idea? A bee that gave the worker bees creative control, while still “pleasing” the queen bee. The result? The Pin-Prov Bee.
The Pin-Prov Bee is a group of six avid quilters who enjoy working creatively with colour and designs, exploring who they are as artists through the medium of fabric. Sound fancy? We’re really not, we just love working with fabric and colour in original ways! The others gals are Gemma, Jess, Janice, Elisabeth, and Adrianne, all of whom I admire for their original designs and use of colour!
Each of us have claimed two months of 2014 to be queen, during which the other ladies draw inspiration from a Pinterest board we have each curated carefully to create a quilt row, or an equivalent-sized “patch”. The standard row size we agreed on is 12″x60″ (finished). The queen bee can mandate one solid/fabric for everyone to use as a background to unify the rows, but other than that, the worker bees have total creative control over what they make. Hence the name: Pinterest-inspired + improvised designs = Pin-Prov!
Gemma is first up for this year. She created this Pinterest board full of triangles and squares and other geometric shapes, with lots of improvvy-but-ordered quilts. Nothing chaotic, lots of saturated colours, interesting angles. She also asked for Kona Steel as her background solid.
I chose this selection of prints and colours to work with. These saturated pinks, yellows and blues have long been the “Gemma” colours in my head as they make frequent appearances in her work!
Rather unlike me, I have no set plan. No sketches, just vague ideas in my brain. This is as close to improv quilting I get – a set plan, but no set design! So far I have made a bunch of flying geese, and the leftover HST bunting just makes my heart smile! They may make an appearance in the row, or maybe just get tucked into my HST scrap jar for one day. I have also cut up the purple Suzuko Koseki print ready to… who knows! Solid sashing? Print sashing? Mix and match?
DeborahGun says
sounds like so much fun. I have always been put of bees because it doesn’t allow enough creativity and sewing what you want to sew – this on the other hand is brilliant! Have lots of fun 🙂
Ms Midge says
Should be interesting!
Esther says
What a wonderful new concept for a bee!
Love it!!!
Esther
Susan in OK says
You ladies are going to have a ball! Even if you are Bs! lol I think it’s terrific that you have found gals of like interest and want to share your passion with each other. Last night at GriefShare, a gentleman asked me if I would like some of his deceased wife’s old quilting magazines. Ladies from our guild had gone to the house and cleaned out most of her things after she died and he thought I might enjoy her magazines. We were talking and he said he guessed that you could call quilting a hobby and then he said the magic word – PASSION! Our quilt show is June this year. I think I’m going to gift him with two tickets (as soon as they are available). He has a lady friend. If she isn’t interested in going, then he can take one of his adult sons or he knows some of the ladies in the guild. Most of us will be working and any of us who know him would be glad to spin him around the show. I didn’t really know his wife and had no idea who he was until an email came out from GriefShare with his last name. I knew he kept in contact with a lady at guild who was good friends with her and I emailed to ask her if that was who I thought it was. He’s now in my class at church. We were already members of the same church (8,000 members). He has been very, very kind and understanding to me. His wife had to have been a gem. Again, I’m so glad you ladies are doing this. I hope you’ll post the inspiration so maybe we can get some ideas, too!
Tiffany says
What a great idea! It is a little scary trying to fit my interpretation of a certain color scheme/block design with what I think my Queen Bee is looking for. I love this idea of giving the worker bees more control! I think your quilts are all going to turn out awesome because of it!
Jeifner says
Super exciting. Bee+guidelines not absolutes+round robin-ish=awesome.