Summer Stars Quilt Bee Quilt

 I finally got some pictures of my finished New Friends Quilt Bee quilt

and today, I'd like to share all the details of this project with you!

In January of 2021, I reached out to a bunch of people on 

Instagram and asked them if they wanted to join a quilt bee with me.

Some said yes and some said no.  In the end, I got 9 people

that wanted to join - for a total of 10 people including me.

I think there are usually 12 people in this kind of bee but I

thought 10 was okay so we wouldn't have to worry

about it during December and we had already missed January.

I assigned each person a month and set up a google doc with everyone's 

names, emails, Instagram handles, shipping addresses, ship dates, and a place for notes/instructions.

Everyone needed to email out their pattern instructions a week or two before their month started.

We started making blocks in February.

I chose my pattern, Summer Stars which you can find in my Etsy shop HERE.

I asked everyone to use peaches and greys to give it a 

nod to Halloween without screaming "Halloween".

I asked the ladies to make 1 Large Star block.

And if they so desired, a small star block center or two.

It was so fun when the blocks started rolling in!

I'm really happy with the way the whole thing came together.

For the back of the quilt, I used Blooming Soul in Nectarine from the line, 

Nectarine Fusion by Art Gallery.  I saw someone post about it on

Instagram and fell in love!  I liked that it had a few shades of peach

and that it looked like an old vintage sheet!

I bound it in this woven gray stripe fabric

(sorry, I'm not sure what it's called - there was no info on the selvage.)

My friend Jen Ostler in Highland, Utah quilted it for me

with straight lines.  She is seriously the best!  She always does a fantastic job and

then trims my quilt, ties it up with a coordinating ribbon, and attaches a chocolate to the

receipt.  What more could you want!?!

I really wanted a label on this quilt so I could capture all the information for

this project: the pattern name, the bee name, the year, and all

of the participants' names.  I ended up splurging and ordering

one from Ever Emblem ($16 + shipping).  They charge by the sheet so it's $16 

whether you get 1 large label or 20 small labels.  It seemed like a lot for just

one label but to be fair they did send a few extra labels with just my name and city 

(which was very nice of them!  I wasn't expecting that!)   My label measures

about 3" x 4".  If you ever order a large, single, custom label from them - 

ask if they can fit some other labels on the sheet to get the most bang for your buck!

This is the queen-size version of Summer Stars.

The pattern includes instructions for a lap and twin size version, as well.

Click HERE to visit my shop.

I'm so thankful to my new friends for participating

in this quilt bee with me!  It was a fun way to try new block patterns and

we even emailed out bio's about ourselves with our pattern instructions 

so it was a great way to get to know each other.  Thank you:

Natalie Jacob (@fijimamaquilts)

Mariana Diaz (@sewmariana)

Andy Knowlton (@abrightcorner)

Jessica Dayon (@jessicadayon)

Deidra McCollum (@quiltyobsession)

Emily Milke (@egmquilted)

Kelli Rummel (@thewillowmarket)

Brittany Davis (@bmariedavis)

Tavia Donaghe (@heytavia)

for joining me on that journey!

Check out the #newfriendsquiltbee hashtag to see

everyone else's bee quilts.