Bee Square

The Dallas MQG is starting a round robin bee tonight.  Each of us who wants to participate will bring in a center block, up to 24" square.  We will be put into groups of 4 or 5, then each person in a group will pass her square to another group member, who will add a border.  Next month, the process will be repeated, with each group handing off, round robin style.  We will be using bags to hold the quilts, so no peeking to see the progress on your own square.

It took me awhile to decide on a center block.  I was completely undecided (read:  had NO clue what I was going to do) until I saw this block on Pinterest (originally from Pitter Putter Stitch).

It took me awhile to track down the pattern, but I finally found it.  It's called Circle of Geese available as a free PDF from Piece By Number.  The paper-pieced pattern is repeated 4 times to make one 12" circle block.  I wanted a larger center for my bee block, so I tried to figure out how to enlarge it.  I tried using a photocopier, but one or two attempts failed and I gave up.  I looked for another pattern, and found one with a larger circle of geese, but I didn't like it nearly as well.  Then I had one of those head slapping, "doh" moments.  Make FOUR circles to make a 24" block!  So that's what I did.

I used Kona Snow for the background and snips from each of 48 different fabrics in turquoise, pink/red, green, and yellow/orange.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!  Now I just have to get all those little crumbs of paper out of the sweater I was wearing when I tore out the paper foundations.