Modern InstaBee, Hive 6: Block 1

I love how Instagram brings people together.  It really is true micro-blogging, in the sense that you can use the platform to shoot a photo, write a few words, and update the world on your every action.  For those of us who craft and sew and DIY, there are whole projects that we share only through IG, and the comments system makes me feel really in-touch with all my online friends, some of whom I consider very close.  It’s amazing that right in the palms of our hands, whole friendships are made, and become so very meaningful.

The Modern InstaBee is one of those pop-up community events that Instagram seems so perfect for–like the #virtualsewcial or the #scrappytripalong.  In a flash, over a hundred people signed up, were sorted into “hives,” and joined a virtual bee.  Amazing!

I’m lucky enough to be part of Hive 6, and it is a really, really cool group of ladies–the kinds of folks you hope to meet but can’t really figure out where to find, and then IG just drops them in your lap and makes you all best friends who sew for one another for the next 12 months.  Completely awesome.  (You can keep up with the Hive 6 action using the button in the sidebar, all year long!)

We’re working through the book Modern Bee, each of us choosing the quilt design we like best, and then sewing blocks for one another.  The blocks get sent through the mail to the Queen Bee; we all take turns being Queen Bee once a month, and selecting both the design and the color scheme.  This month, we’re sewing up the Stacked Windmills block designed by Jeni Baker, and it’s just lovely.  Our Queen Bee for February (the bee just got going in late January, so we skipped that month) asked for lime green, yellow, aqua and orange on a white background, so obviously she and I are total kindred spirits–this is SO my color palette.

There are a lot of little pieces here–the finished HSTs are only 3″ square–but they go together so quickly, and the technique for piecing them is unusual and fun.  Mine is off in the mail now, and I’m already excited to see what next month’s Queen Bee will choose for all of us!

Isn’t the internet amazing?  Bringing us all together to share the things we love, not just sewing and quilting, but gardening and the German language and running and dogs and the beach–all things that the ladies in my Hive share in common.  I feel so grateful to be part of this community and everything that comes along with it, all the adventures and ideas and inspiration and friendships that might never have been possible were we all to stay in the comfort of our own homes and not become armchair travelers together.

What about you?  What’s the greatest thing you have discovered and shared that only the internet could have permitted?