I am so happy with the bee hive! The brown thread I had was perfect for outlining and after a wee bit of tension adjusting it was sweet and smooth. I'm slightly less thrilled with the green because it's exactly the same color as the fabric I used for my stems and leaves. The stems after stitching show almost none of the fabric -- and I actually widened the width of the stems to get them to show better!
The flowers will be outlined in yellow (I think) but I might have to get a lighter yellow than the bright lemon yellow that I have. The bees will be done in all black and I'll do stitched stripes instead of appliqued stripes. And as cute as their little antennae are, they are hella hard to stitch around, even when you decrease your stitch width. Thoughts?
I'm also SO happy with the purple! The pattern has this one with a blue background and I definitely wanted to mix it up! I'm going to quilt this one with all over swirls because a number of the background fabrics are swirly.
Hopefully I can get this one finished for real before August starts. I still have my May Flowers hanging up in my kitchen!
Sharing at the normal Tuesday places: Fabric Tuesday, Linky Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday!
Argh! I *JUST* got the blasted theme song for a cartoon called "The Hive" that my daughter likes out of my head. Now it is back, thank you very much. (There's a buzz buzz buzz in the meadow... there's a buzz buzz buzz in the trees... there's a buzz buzz buzz in the flowers..."
ReplyDeleteCute piece, Alison. I finally caved and started using a stabilizer under the background for satin stitch applique -- it has solved lots of my tension issues but I still hate to remove it afterwards?!?!
ReplyDeleteStabilizer is definitely important for satin stitching, it helps with blanket and decorative stitching as well. I just got a new stabilizer made specifically for quilters. In the past I always used the same tear away that I bought for my embroidery machine, but it was thick and could be a pain to tear away. The new stuff is called Quilter's Select and you can iron it on like freezer paper, and then tear it off easily. I have also heard of some people actually using freezer paper as a tear away stabilizer, but I haven't tried it myself. http://quiltersselect.com
DeleteSo adorable! I have a hive of bees here in my yard in Alaska. And thank you for the tip on stabilizer! XX!
ReplyDeleteSo adorable! I have a hive of bees here in my yard in Alaska. And thank you for the tip on stabilizer! XX!
ReplyDeleteThat is a gorgeous wall hanging. I have loads of bees visit my garden but unfortunately the hubby won't let me have a hive
ReplyDelete