Have you ever wondered why we have so many idoms and metaphors related to bees?
I’ve had a bee in my bonnet for some new designs inspired by the colorful pollinators. The hexagon, or beehive structure was a natural selection for creating strong cutouts in my product walls because they reduce the wall density and material usage while maximizing the structure left behind to carry loads. It works out perfectly for some of my newest 3D printed designs. It was a little harder to pull off the hexaons on my couched throw pillows and the fine laser cut details of the bee took forever to applique to the bench pillow, but the effort was worth it!
Bench Pillow and Mini Quilt:
The bench pillow was a row by row with a precut laser applique (Bee-Happy-Full-Row-Kit ) I picked up a couple of years ago at Quilts and Quilts in Branson, Missouri. I plan to try this with some of the other rows I picked up in my travels. If you are feeling really industrious, add a little extra yellow from your stash and be sure to use all of the cut off triangles to make some mini quilts. It makes a perfect background for a big stitch beeline, laser cut honeybee, and a just a little bit of Happy embroidery. Mini quilts are a great way to use spare blocks or leftover fabrics from projects.
Couched Throws:
The honeycomb throws are the latest in my couched seasonal series. My approach to couching these has been to use low volume backgrounds with the Bernat Blanket yarns. This particular Bernat Blanket Mist-ical yarn in watercolor yellow with the very structured hex pattern was a little less forgiving than some of the others I have tried. In hindsight, if I do that pattern again, I will ensure I leave enough space on my backing to “puddle” the yarn a little more to reduce tension and I will reduce my stitch length. I am normally about 11-12 stitches per inch, but I would probably increase that somewhere between 12-15.
While these makes will get used in my home, some of the other things I made will be used in my studio. I recently designed and released some new products to my shop. I will probably highlight these another time, but check out the new FlexReel Base and Top Plate, FlexReel Organizer, and the Hive Tap Winder for 120″ flexible measuring tapes. The FlexReel is my solution to being able to smoothly spool binding off of the binding ruler reels at the sewing machine. The organizer is just my fun way to store my quilting tools AND magnetically attach the FlexReel top plate when it isn’t being used.
If you are curious to learn more or want me to make one for you, make a beeline to my Facebook, Instagram, or shop to see what they are all about. You might just think they are the bee’s knees!
Happy Quilting!