Hello Junkies  especially you Quilters. 

The Quilting Bee is once again springing back to life.  I received a box of quilting materials from Natascha (FIFQB queen bee).   Natascha brought the Q Bee to life and I intend to breathe life back into it and carry on as best I can.  She will be a hard one to fill shoes of, or in this case, expertise at getting those quilts made up and sent off to their recipients.  

At this point give me time to look at what she sent, and see what quilts I need to finish off, etc. before we get rolling again.   She did send a kitty of $57 to work with.   

I'll be back...........

Happy Dance!!!   Happy Dance!!

Thanks Natascha, for starting this great project, and Deni, for picking up the torch and carrying on.  This was one of the most fun and rewarding projects I have been involved with, and I'm so glad to hear those buzzing sounds coming from the hive (and the sewing machines!) once again!!

Deni, let me know what I can do to help!

Are all the "princess" bees buzzing????   This is a great project that Natascha started.  Deni I cant sew....but I'll crochet any addidional squares you might need.    Keep us posted.

Love peace and blessings..Anne Marie

Yeah! I will dust off that bag of fabric I have in the other room and see if that sewing machine is still functional!

Heidi

I'm so excited to hear that the quilting bee is back.  I've been thinking about Natascha and the quilting bee recently.  It has meant so much to me to be a part of this and I'm looking forward to the continuation.  I'm sure you'll be a wonderful "Queen Bee" Deni.  Thanks so much for taking this on.  Let me know if there is any way that I can help.

 Donna

This Kansas Bee is buzzing to get back to the quilting projects too.  Deni, thanks for the updates.  I can't wait to see what you are stitching up.  I got your email and I am really excited by the surprise you mentioned.  I will be keeping the surprise!  Thanks, Lynne B.

 This is what we have - 

There are 4 quilts to finish up.  Three of those recipients I know how to get ahold of.  The 4th, if anyone knows how to reach Patrick Baughman, who was a contact on AS last year,  please get me that information.  He was recommended by our friend - A little Irish Fairy, who I am searching for via email.  I might have to write her by snail mail.  

Anyone who is not on my email list and did not receive my group email earlier this week and want to be included please PM or email me.  Those of you who don't want to be on the group email, please notify me and I'll remove your name.  Anyone new who would like to join let me know. 

As I cautioned earlier, this will be a slower quilting bee than before.  I don't want to say yes to more than I can handle.   I do have a folder of extra squares from Natascha that I'll look through and get a feel for what more is needed.  If you all lived closer we could really get this beehive busy.   Hang in there. 

Can you explain how the bee works?

 Hi DiggerDeb -

   I'll try to keep it simple and cover all the bases.  If I forget anything, the other quilter bees can jump in and  explain. 

The way it works is -   an AnySoldier.com  contact is nominated by one of the bees to have a small lap quilt made for and sent to while deployed. 

Everyone makes a square or two (size to be determined) - be it patriotic or themed, and mails it to me with $3.00 or a donation per square to help with the purchase of the backing for the quilt and postage to mail to the contact. 

Even if you're not a quilter or sewer, we have bees working with needlework, fabric paints, etc, even one of our bees is crocheting a square, which is attached to another square of material to make it work.  

Also mailed with your square(s) is a post card from your state, and any other little flat item that you would like to include. 

So other bees, does this sound right to you?  What else can you add?  

 Also check out Natascha's website for past quilts made. 

http://freedomisntfreequiltingbee.blogspot.com/

 OK, Capt. Dan's quilt is finished!   I will send the picture to all of you who are on my email list , and ask Natascha to post it on the FIFQB's website.   Lynne -  if you see this, your email inbox appears to be full and not accepting new emails.  Let me know when you've cleared it out, and I'll resend you the ones that have been sent back to me. 

Deni......I believe you covered all the "rules" of being in the quilting bee.   It is alot of fun and hopefully we can get others interested in being part of it again too.    DiggerDeb.....think about it.......it is created from us.......with some love......to send a "warm hug" over to one of our men/women.    There were quite a few of us involved in it and hopefully it can get restarted with the same enthusiasm as before.    Again....Deni......thanks for carrying on with this

Love peace and blessings........Anne Marie

Deni, Sorry about that.  We made a "surprise" trip to Ft. Campbell, to greet Daniel when he arrived home from Afghanistan on Saturday.  We just got back to Kansas.  I've cleaned out my mailbox so hopefully the emails will now go through.  I got the one of the front.It looks awesome.  Thank you to all the "bees"!  He will be so surprised!  Lynne B.

That sounds like the works Deni, except for having fun! THe quilting bee was just as fun as the card swaps were, because of all the talented sewers out there! (myself not inculded.)  And the finished quilts were/are beautiful!!  But I have all the pics of the past quilts and will be showing them at our tent next weekend as an example of how to support our troops!

If you are looking for something fun to do, this is the thing for you!!!! And, the beauty is that you dont have to be a pro at the old sewing machine! I used puffy paint to decorate my squares when I started. I have done some sewing since then, and hope to get back on the old bandwagon, but my puffy paint is there if I need it..*lol*

Heidi

 YEAH!!!!

Thanks to this Bee, I have really gotten into quilting.  I thought it was a "safe" thing to get into, since all I had to do was make one square per quilt.  Well, I can never just put my pinky into a craft.  I have already made a couple of quilts for my kids, plus started making seasonal and military themed quilted tote bags. My daughter's girl scout troop has even started looking into doing a quilt for Quilts Of Valor.

Thank you, Deni, for taking this back up.  Martina and I have talked about it a couple of times and wondered what was happenng.  Please keep emailing me.  I don't get online as much as I used to.