I'm attempting to get caught up on my submissions for the Virtual Quilting Bee. I can't believe how behind I got on this project! Anyway, my plan is to be completely caught up before I have the baby. There is one more block for February, and I guess my turn was supposed to be this month, but due to a misunderstanding on my part, I never sent out any fabric to the others. Considering how behind I was on the project, and the fact that I don't have any idea what kind of quilt I want (I've thought about it lots, but come to no conclusion), I made the difficult and disappointing decision to opt out of my turn. I've enjoyed being part of the project, but it'll also be a relief to be able to bring it to a close, especially with a new baby on the way in such a short time.

Anyway, here's my submission for April, which goes to Amanda Jean. I actually made this way back on April 6, within a day or so of getting the fabric in the mail. But once I saw what some of the others had made for this block, I decided I didn't like mine. I had used pretty much all of the fabric she sent, so I wasn't sure whether or how to change it, so I just let it sit while we moved and I struggled with nausea and all that.

Now that I'm looking at it again, there are things about its construction that could be better (some of the corners don't match perfectly), but I do think it's pretty and I hope it fits with the character of the overall quilt.

This is my submission for March, and it goes to Courtney. (And I'm bumming about the photo quality of this, taken in my nice sunny living room. It shouldn't look so blah!) Courtney said she wanted colored blocks of all different sizes "floating" in the oyster shell-colored fabric. I envisioned what I wanted to do almost right away. Though in fact, this is much different than what I had in mind. I wanted to make a really petite blue block with just a bit of the red and the polka-dot coming out to the side from the center, and then I wanted it to be fairly far to the lower left. But the reality was that there was not enough of the oyster shell fabric for me to accomplish this, and as it is, I used all of it but these scraps:

...and the block is still a bit small. Courtney said she'd be sashing the quilt in the oyster shell fabric, so she will have to add a bit to one side of my block. But even considering all of that, I do really like the way this one looks.

I have three others that are complete, and another two that are begun. I'll share the rest in the next week, and then will be all caught up! Yay!

uncommon grace