One nearly done, another starting

Here's my latest bee block, Abacus. I like the colour scheme the queen bee picked with grey, purple and black. But a black background sure is unforgiving, especially with all those points. I think I did pretty well, though. Although I've been working over the holidays, I was able to make a fabric basket and the signature block last night so I can get my package out on time.

The first year of the Bee Hive is almost over with just one month left. But that's the same time a new one starts! This bee has been lots of fun. And it spurred me to try new blocks and techniques, including paper piecing. And boy that has opened up a lot of options for me! My last couple swap minis were paper pieced (Mariner's compass and New York Beauty) and that's what I've got planned for the second round of the rainbow mini swap with one block from Arcadia Avenue.

Still I definitely do prefer patchwork and I'm always happy to get back to that after a paper-piecing project. This coming year I've decided to sign up for fewer swaps. After a couple less than stellar swapping experiences and just feeling overwhelmed at times by the deadlines, I think it's best to focus more on making things for people I know. Maybe even for me! I am doing the rainbow swap and two private swaps, but that's all I've got in the works for now.

I am planning on a second round of the Polaroid Greeting Swap sometime in the new year because people really seemed to like that and it was low pressure (with blessedly few flakers), although not so much the hosting! That was a steep learning curve hosting a swap, and continues to be even after the mailing deadline. I also said earlier I want to host a mini quilt swap just for people who got burned, although now that my swap outrage has simmered down a bit it seems like a lot to take on. Hopefully I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. I guess I'm a bit sad that swaps have been tainted for me by a few people who obviously didn't care to send good packages to their partner. I was so excited about swaps when I first joined IG and met some amazing people through them, so I really would like to regain that good feeling. Anyone else feeling a bit burned out by swaps, and sad about that?

Here's the bee package before I got it into the mail, just under the wire this month because it was a busy one crafting wise. It's a little blurry because yet again the best I could get was early morning dim light. I don't mind the cold of winter, but it sure is tough getting good photos of things I make with such short days.