Back in January, Angie from Gnome Angel contacted me asking about setting up a quilting bee to sew along with the tutorials from The Bee Hive. It was something I had been thinking about, but she happily took over and organised it all. We had been thinking that there may be 3 groups – an Aussie one, a US one and an international one… Well, fast forward a couple of days and we experienced an explosion of interest that meant we even had to close sign ups well over a week earlier than planned! And we ended up with 22 quilting bees, aka swarms, from around the world. What?!
Angie was the one who then organised everyone into swarms, organised swarm leaders, and so on. I knew that I needed to find a way to thank her properly for all the work she put in to help me and to bring everyone together. And thus, the idea for a quilt was born.
I contacted all the swarm leaders, asking them or their swarm to make two Tic Tac Toe blocks, using low volume prints for the background, teal for the naughts and purple for the crosses. I was inspired by a Melody Miller 108″ wide print I had picked up at Nippori, that I would use for the backing.
Raylee from Sunflower Quilting, and also living in Canberra like Angie, volunteered to quilt and bind and deliver. So we were set!
The blocks began to trickle in, and last month I pieced the top and backing and sent them off to Raylee. She did a beautiful job of quilting in a beautiful shade of teal and binding in a dark teal too! Due to Angie’s busy travel schedule this month, Raylee ended up taking the quilt to the Bill Kerr lecture in Sydney to deliver to her! And Bill did the honours of presenting it to Angie, who thankfully hadn’t pieced together any clues along the way. Raylee sent me these pics of the presentation.
Angie, you do so much for the online quilting community, not just for The Bee Hive. Thank you.
Quilt label using Pentel Gel Roller and StazOn ink
@gnomeangel: The front of my amazing #beehivequilts thank you quilt. Photo taken at “our” rest stop. @prettybobbins #prettygnomes_hittheroad
Kay Provins says
What a lovely gesture and an absolutely gorgeous quilt you three put together for Angie. Well done, kay
Teje says
Hi! This is so beautiful quilt! You picked lovely colours and Fabrics! x Teje
Kay says
How beautiful. x
Anita says
Hooray! I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of this a swarm leader. Thank you so much Alyce and Angie for “The Bee Hive”. 🙂
Allison says
This is a lovely story – what generous and thoughtful people there are in the quilting community!
Angie @ GnomeAngel.com says
Hello! I can’t believe I hadn’t posted a comment on this when it first went live and I read it. Seriously, I need some medical intervention my mind is going! Thank you so much for this amazing gift – I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say that enough. Thank you! (I finally got around to writing about it (I’m blaming the crappy weather for not being able to get decent photos of it before now) you can read it here: Bee Hive Swarm Quilt I count my blessings daily that you’re in my life. <3