What's that buzzing sound?

 
     The Scrapbuster Swap blocks, both monochromatic and mixed, have finally been squared up.  They were finished last week but squaring up is my least favorite part about quilting, so they sat in a pretty pile in my living room.  I finally decided yesterday it was time for a trimming so I can post them.   

     Because four quilts-in-progress and a sweater-in-progress seem not enough to keep me occupied, I have joined two new quilting bees via Flickr.  I'm a little apprehensive, as they both involve blocks with which I have very little experience.  But I've always been a quick study, and I'm eager to stretch myself as a quilter.

     The first bee is Design Camp [think outside the block] Swap.  This is a modern block swap with improvisational blocks as the focus.  I consider myself a modern quilter in that I use modern fabrics in my blocks.  I love the bright colors and bold graphics.  But I have yet to piece an improvisational block.  Hopefully this experience will help me let go of that need for symmetry and order.  It's time to get a little crazy with the block piecing!
    
     There are some very good discussions about modern quilting and improvisational blocks out there.  I'm eager to try and hoping that the blocks look improvisational by design, not from laziness to follow a pattern or to match seams and points (matching seams and points perfectly is something I'm still trying to master).

     The second bee I joined is the Piece Bee with You Swap, a foundation piecing bee.  I've done exactly one foundation pieced block- the square-within-a-square.  Not exactly challenging.  I'd better practice before the bee starts up in October.  I bounced around the web looking for suggestions on how to create and piece your own design, but there wasn't much on this topic.  I'm sure experienced foundation piecers would think it quite easy to know where to begin piecing their own original design, but I am clueless.  Looks like it's time to hit the scrap pile and figure this thing out!  And if anyone who may be reading this has any references they can point me to, I'd greatly appreciate it!