Expectations for All Participants
The following are expectations and rules for all Hive Mates:
Read the Tutorial
- Read the tutorial thoroughly: Review the entire tutorial early in the month is so that you have time to troubleshoot if necessary.
- Pay attention to cutting measurements, pressing instructions, and color and fabric specifications.
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
- Be Open to New Skills & Techniques: Stash Bee has the potential to expose you to new techniques and push your skills as a quilter. Sometimes a block requested by the Queen Bee might be more modern or traditional for your tastes, but it is always good to go out of your comfort zone and test the waters.
- Encountering a new technique does not permit you to send a poorly constructed block to a Queen Bee. Take the time to make a test block (or at least test the technique) if you have any hesitations. There are tutorials on YouTube and quilting blogs for every technique imaginable!
Good Quality Block Construction
- Good Sewing Technique: Remember your good sewing techniques -- making bee blocks for others is not a place for haphazard sewing, cutting, measuring, etc. Be mindful of thread color choice and thread tension.
- When we are making things for ourselves we might judge things to be “close enough” but please remember to be sending your best work to your Queen Bees.
- Be diligent about seam allowance: Many blocks will require an accurate (or scant) 1/4" seam and/or seam matching to obtain a properly sized and properly constructed block. All blocks must be sewn by machine and use a ¼ inch seam. Blocks should be made with precision and accuracy.
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Check the Finished Size: Check to see if your finished block
meets the size specified in the tutorial. If your block is not the required
size, contact the Queen Bee directly to discuss issues with the tutorial and
how to proceed.
Fabric Quality
Please remember that a requirement of this bee is to use
quality quilting fabric.
- Quilting Weight Cotton: Blocks made for the Stash Bee must be 100% cotton quilting fabric.
- Quilt Shop Quality: All fabrics used must be quilt shop quality.
- Quilt shop quality fabrics are typically exclusively available at quilt shops or online fabric shops. Most of us know the "big brands" -- Moda, Free Spirit, Robert Kaufman, etc. -- that always provide high quality products. It is a good idea to check who the manufacturer is when you're shopping online.
- Be wary of the fabric that comes from a craft store (JoAnn,
Michaels, Hancock, etc.). These fabrics are often thinner, have a low thread
count, and are rougher than quilt shop quality fabrics. Before buying it and/or
using it in a Stash Bee block inspect the fabric by comparing the feel to good
quality fabric
Fabric Style & Color
- Match requested colors: Match the requested colors as closely as possible.
- However, as this is the Stash Bee, participants are not required to go out and purchase fabric to complete their blocks. If you feel the fabric in your stash doesn't closely match your Queen Bee's requests, then you should contact her and see how flexible she would be given your current stash. More than likely you can come up with a solution.
- Please Note: there may come a time when buying fabric may be the best option for making a block, because your stash doesn't have the colors/styles that the Queen Bee is looking for.
- For example, if the Queen Bee and requests that her hive make blocks that have purple in them and you have absolutely no purple in your stash, it would be wrong to make her a blue block because it is "close enough." In this situation you could purchase purple fabric, ask the Queen Bee to send you some purple fabric, swap with a friend or guild mate for purple fabric, or request an angel block for that month (by the deadline, of course!).
Stash Bee Tool Requirements
It is expected that every member owns or has access to the
following basic sewing/quilting supplies: rotary cutter, scissors, cutting mat,
quilting ruler(s), sewing machine and needles, iron, ironing surface, thread,
etc.
Complete Your Blocks on Time
- Complete Blocks by End of the Month:By the last day of the month, all blocks should be finished, posted, AND mailed.
- Please Note: You cannot take your turn as Queen Bee unless you are up-to-date with all your blocks, and have completed the previous month's block before the 25th.
- Also Note: if you have been delinquent more than 2 times in a given year within the bee, it will affect your status to participate the following year,
- Post Completed Block on Relevant Platform: When your block is complete, you should post a photo of your completed block on the respective platform for your Hive.
- Depending on the preference you selected during sign-ups, you may have been assigned to a Hive that uses Facebook or Instagram for much of its communication, or to a Hive that uses the blog for all its posts. Each month the members in these hives will be required to post their completed blocks on the relevant platform for their Hive.
Use of Angel Blocks
If a hive member is unable to create a block for a certain month, she can request an Angel to create a block in her place.Angels can be any member of the hive who would be willing to make their block AND the block for the hive member who cannot fulfill her duties for the month.
- Extenuating Circumstances Only: Angel blocks should only be requested when a person has extenuating circumstances -- not when a person just needs a break from making bee blocks or if they don't feel like making the block for a given month because they don't like it or they think it is too hard.
- Request an Angel Early: Any Hive Member needing to request an Angel block should submit the request to their Hive Mama before the 7th of the month, so that the Angel has time to make both blocks.
Crashing Another Hive
- Please Note: If you crash another hive, you are still expected to make the block for your own hive.
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