It's been a very busy year with Bee Sewcial @beesewcial, the improv and solids-only bee I've been in since its inception in 2015 by Leanne Chahley @shecanquilt and Stephanie Ruyle
@spontaneousthreads. It continues to be a welcome challenge each month as I respond to the prompts set out by my beemates. In 2025, I created 37 blocks for our group quilts and two finished quilts!
January: Lace for Leanne @shecanquilt
For this prompt, I made three blocks to equal our normal contribution - the first inspired by the edging of a lacy shawl in Leanne's inspiration pin board, approximately 8" x 11", it was constructed ruler free. The second block was the most challenging, and would be about 11" x 14" if in more of a rectangular shape. And then the final improv Lace block was 8.5" x 10.5".
February: Bee Still My Heart for Stephanie @spontaneousthreads
Inspired by the work of Clyfford Still, my block for Stephanie, if trimmed into a rectangle, would measure 15.5" x 25", so there's plenty of room for Stephanie to trim. And that blue line? It represents the lifeline from my right palm, per Stephanie's request.
March: Kintsugi for M-R @quiltmatters
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing pottery with lacquer and gold or silver dust, and we each incorporated bits of retroreflective fabric into our blocks, courtesy of Stephanie @spontaneousthreads. My first block measured 9.5" x 15", and I found working with the retroreflective fabric a bit tricky. You can't iron it, so finger-pressing it is, and even then, it didn't seem to want to lay completely flat. Thus, with my second block, 11" X 17.5", I stuck with more straight lines which seemed to help.
May: Ode to Joy for me @aquilterstable
Basically, I asked for six to eight mostly black and white-ish 6.5" blocks representing things that brought my bee mates joy. I made eight blocks - a fork, a cup, a quilt, a tree, a block representing my circle of family, a table, clouds, and a roller bag to represent my joy found in travel.
Happily, I got all the Ode to Joy blocks made into a finished quilt, 57.5" x 80"!
July: You, Me, We for Jen @jen.broemel
Jen asked us to "make two 13” x 13” blocks in your signature style or how you most enjoy making." Fun, right? Then we were to cut our 13" x 13” blocks into quarters so that Jen would have eight square(ish) blocks that she could quilt and embroider upon (her signature style). 
September: Fantastical Flowers for Karen @capitolaquilter
My first flower block was both fun and challenging, and ended up at 16" x 17" with room to trim. Echinacea is a favorite, and I obviously took inspiration there. Karen gave us the option to make a pollinator instead of a flower for one of our blocks, so I tried my hand at a hummingbird, 12" x 12".
October: Inside/Outside for Felicity @felicityquilts
Such a unique prompt! Most seams sewn with black or charcoal thread + at least one seam sewn with neon thread + at least one seam sewn on the front of the block with raw edges showing + (this is a biggie!) added texture on the front through a small section of fabric manipulation. On my first block, 12" x 13", I created some diamond pin tucks. My second block, 13" square, contains a few twisted pin tucks in addition to the black/neon threads and exposed raw seams. 
November: pretty petals for Tia @tiacurtisquilts
Tia asked us to help her make a wild and wonky orange peel quilt. Here are my improv petals, each approximately 6.5" square.
AND, as I shared yesterday, I just finished another Bee Sewcial quilt - from my Minimal Shapes prompt in 2024. Spare, 76" x 76", was so named due to its minimalistic elements.
So wow! That added up to a lot of collaborative improv. Can't wait to see more of the quilts that result.
