Honey Bee

The day after I finished the red/white Twisted Sisters, a quick group charity quilt I finished a major project that I have been working on (on and mostly off) for more than a decade - the Honey Bee quilt which I shall title "Bee Scene". Ruby taught the Honey Bee block in a Quay Quilters session then at the American Museum in Bath I saw a quilt featuring Honey Bee blocks with alternate plain squares. I opted for the background fabric after admiring a fellow class member's choice. By the end I didn't like it so much, retribution for envy! I lived in Kuala Lumpur for a year and and appliqued many "wings" while travelling around - Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and different parts of Malaysia. Once done I decided the bees needed some flowers to feed on and made applique blocks, not my usual technique. I found the preparation a bit tiresome but once done enjoyed the sewing. I drew on various sources but especially Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine patterns but I rearranged the elements so the quilt could be placed on the bed any way up. The original Bath quilt had scallops in the borders but by border time I was done so quilted a honeycomb design instead. The whole thing is handquilted and the wadding is Hobbs Tuscany wool which has a lovely soft and drapey feel to it. It was like butter to handquilt through. I used a fine crochet thread. It measures 85" square.

I won't be able to take a better photo until it hangs in a show which won't be till next year sometime.

HONEY BEE

A classmate at Quay Quilters was using this floral background fabric for her sampler quilt back in the mid nineties. I wanted some too and hot footed it to a local shop to buy some. She dropped out of the group shortly after but I used my fabric to embark on a honey bee qult inspired by one in the American Museum in Bath where the Honey Bee blocks were alternated with plain alternate blocks with swags in the border. I sewed my honey bees in course of some worldwide travels and then decided they needed some flowers so filled the alternate blocks with applique planned so the quilt could be used anyway up. Time dragged on but this week I have sewed the blocks together and used the remaining fabric to add a border. I was going to add yet more applique on the border but this project has gone on long enough and the background fabric now appears drab (serve me right for my initial envy) so I shall save my rare applique efforts for a brighter project.