I Have Joined a Quilting Bee

I have often read about quilting bees and am quite enamoured with the whole idea of women working together, chatting over a beverage of choice and creating something beautiful with fabric and thread.  I have read the entire set of quilting novels by Jennifer Chiaverini and have dreamed of using Lottery winnings or the inheritance from a long-lost relative to start up my own Jennifer-style sewing retreat mansion in the Highlands.... aah, if only life could be like the Elm Creek Quilters retreat.

But it isn't of course.  My life is full of work, deadlines, and all sorts of other commitments, but thankfully it is also full of technology!  Our quilting bee is going to be run completely using the internet.  Twelve women who have never met (well, actually I happen to have met three of them at The Edinburgh Stitch Gathering last year) are going to collaborate together to create a quilt for each other!

click here to visit the flickr group

If you are one of the 12 ladies who have signed up for this quilting bee, then "Hello there, and thanks so much for following my blog!" I've added the flickr group into my side bar, as well as to the picture above.  And here is the full title for those in the group who may want to copy and paste it onto their own blog:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/littleblogquiltbee/

Each of us get to decide what kind of quilt we'd like and share our ideas with the other ladies during our designated month.  My month is October, so I have a while yet til I need to decide on my own quilt.  This month belongs to Lou, and she'd like a quilt made up of wonky stars, so we are all going to make her one and post it to her!  How lovely does that sound?

Feel free to click on the link button in my side panel every now and then to see how we're getting on over the year.  And please, any tips from anyone who's been involved in a Quilting Bee, do share!