Filmstrip Bee Block

This year I have joined my first Block Bee group with the Columbus Modern Quilters.  It is so much fun to make blocks that I may not have tried otherwise, and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for my block as well!  The block I am asking the Bee members to create is a Filmstrip block.  I have written the directions and published the pattern as a free download on Craftsy.  UPDATE: You can now purchase the instructions for the Filmstrip Bee Block here.

Two Sample Filmstrip Bee Blocks

This block could be used to create the main body of a quilt, but I am looking forward to incorporating it into a medallion quilt that will be a gift for one of my nieces who will be ten at that point.  This block would also be a fun border on a block based, whole cloth or panel quilt.

The black fabric for this block can be solid or a very low volume black/grey print, and the white squares are scrappy low volume.  My niece has a wide range of interests, so the featured novelty prints could be almost anything kid friendly.  I would like to avoid really specific cartoon characters so she won’t “outgrow” her quilt, although I think more generic fantasy/fairytale fabrics would work.  She likes art, dance, baking, Girl Scouts, animals, basketball, soccer, and piano.  She likes lots of colors, so I think the quilt will end up incorporating the entire rainbow, but I would like to keep browns mostly out of it- a little brown in a novelty print is ok, but it shouldn’t be the dominant color.

This block goes together in an hour or less, and if you are making lots of these blocks you could cut the time down by creating more black and white square strips at once by making a wider section of striped fabric in step one.

Thank you so much to everyone who is making a block for this bee!  I hope that anyone else who is in a bee will feel free to use this pattern for their block.  I would love to see what you make!