Not Your Mama's Quilt Bee // Favorite Things

Something new: a few months ago, a group of my sewing friends started a virtual quilting bee with a twist--involving our kids! When Faith and Lee told me about it, I thought it would be a lot of fun. I always have intentions of sewing with my kids, but it can require a lot of patience. I'm so lucky that with our new move, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law (who also live in Salt Lake City) have involved my kids in so many sewing projects! Doll clothes! Hand sewn doll backpacks! It is really quite impressive.The bee, cleverly named Not Your Mama's Bee by Jen, works similar to other bees. Each month, one of the kids gets to pick a block, and the other 11 (or a few more, in this case) make her or him a block! They rotate months, and both of my kids are participating, although we only finished one block. The kids in the bee range from about 5 to 9 years old, so some of them have a little more help with the cutting and ironing than others.

June is the first month, and Lee's daughter requested rainbow + kitty blocks.  I let my kids pick through my small stash (small only because the rest is still in storage... and it consists of pretty new Laura GunnPainters Canvas colors and Folk Song by Anna Maria Horner) and I think my 5 year old did a great job with the rainbow requirement.I have to say, it was a lot of fun to sew with the kids with an achievable goal in mind! And hey. It's about the only time the sewing machine has been used in the last 3 months, so that was exciting too.We move into our new house next week, and I couldn't be happier! Hurray for progress.