Monday, January 4, 2016

A finish,and a finish, and a finish!

Yes, three finishes! Remember that I joined a bee for a year?  I was to send a block a month every month for 2015. I was pretty good in keeping up with my monthly blocks until October.  Happily, I managed to get blocks to the monthly queens within a few days of the deadline. Some months I sent the blocks off early!  



A couple of bee members visited one month in the summer when we worked on a difficult block, played on the long-arm, and generally had fun.


French Roses block
Then October happened.  First there were issues with the pattern, and I waited out the math problems: I could only make matters worse.  My plan was to complete two blocks during the Thanksgiving break.  

However, in November I was deep into my own world of confusion trying to figure out how to get Building Blocks to cooperate with my plan. (That's the quilt that became two, and both were seeking independence.) 

Dealing with two additional blocks?  No way!  I sort of ignored everything in my life except EOC testing at work and Building Blocks at home.  And ah, the stress-filled exhaustion of teaching.

Christmas holidays finally arrived bringing with it three bee blocks, which were all giving me the evil eye.  I tried to look away from the guilt and shame of being so late, but eventually I had to face the horrible truth: I am a bad worker bee.  


Snowflake block
Fully rested (thanks to a wonderful Christmas break) and completely finished with Building Blocks woes, I began with the easiest block, French Roses, (see above) and finished quickly.

That meant I could face the snowflake block was applique, it made sense to go there. I created my pattern--which I thoroughly enjoyed--and when the block was finished, I was thinking what pretty pillows it would make.


Scary block (just teasing, I really don't know the name)
On to the final block--the one that required math--and when Rich came in an hour later begging to go out for supper, I was finished! A few photos dropped into Facebook and we were on our way. Breathing a happy smile.




Until we return home fat and sassy!  A FB note.  A gentle reminder: don't forget the last step.  Last step?!!!  I'd left off a step? Oh darn! I sure did. And it looks so good, too.
I can only say I must have been very hungry for Mexican salsa! Today I opened the envelope, and added the triangle pieces to increase the size to 17" so now all three envelopes can go out with the mail.  



And this worker bee can hold her head up (almost level) again.

Linking up to 
Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

3 comments:

Kaja said...

Well done on getting the backlog cleared. I tried a bee last year but having to be on time with everything just made my head hurt!

Mary Marcotte said...

Not only is the backlog cleared, we've finished the bee. It ran through December. I was only a week late getting the final block out. Of course, the other two blocks were a bit later. I do feel a bit guilty, but the girls were (and still are) waiting on other blocks so I'm not the only one. My month was way back in February. My quilt is complete and I've slept under it! It became a little difficult to keep motivated after that, which is one reason that I've decided to take a break. I did enjoy getting to know the other quilters, though.

Preeti said...

Such great blocks all around!! That snowflake block... wow!!!