Bee Words, Spelling Bee Quilt, A finish!

Warning: This post has a bazillion pictures, because I'm putting up all the info and photos I had about this quilt.

It all started in 2016 when Elizabeth of Occasional Piece Quilt got a group of us doing a bee based on words: AKA A Spelling Bee.  It was improv words, each month the queen would post a list of desired words and we would make it happen.  I chose a bunch of words having to do with beekeeping because it was my first year of being involved in that new hobby.

And then, as things happen, the words sat around for a long time.  I added a couple of words that hadn't been chosen off my list, too.  Every time I would pull them out, I would put them back because I didn't know how to start.

One of the hardest parts was figuring out how to put the words together.  You see, I didn't specify a size, so they were all different. I finally figured out a layout I liked (above) and took the whole project up north with me.

Featherweight at the kitchen table.

 Pressing/cutting station on the wood stove.

 Layout on the dining room table and the bed (below)

 I built the quilt from the bottom up, cutting strips from solid browns and making the puzzle fit.

 More progress, but this is after we came back home.

 Finally a top!  I had a deadline, which was the quilt show in October, so that kept me motivated.

 Piecing the back, with skeps, bees and flowers.  The fabric at the top with the black background is special because my cousin who lives in the Philippines bought that fabric for me from one of the markets there.

 I happened to have an extra block, that conveniently said Queen Bee, so I used that as part of my label and signature block.

 Basting at church on the large tables.

 And commence quilting!  I didn't want to lose the graphic punch of the quilt, so I did "organic" straight line quilting - making occasional marks to keep from going completely crooked.

 Brief panic when I thought I was going to run out of thread.  Ordered 3 different colors off Amazon (invisifil) and got the right one!

 Stitch and roll, stitch and roll.

 Woot, ready for the hand work.

 When I trimmed it, it didn't end up completely square, so when I washed it and it was still damp, I tried to do some blocking.

Here its hanging on the line.   With clothes pins holding things together.

 And done!

 I didn't crop this picture on purpose.  Look at all that ridiculous snow.  We've had snow that has stuck 3 times already.  6" on Halloween.  Unbelievable!

The details: 83" x 67"
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient (because its what I had)

Thread: Invisifil on the top, Aurifil on the back. 

People who participated by making words for me:

Elizabeth opquilt.com

Lisa         nymblefyngers IG

Mary     needledmom.blogspot.com

Carla      carla-graceandfavour.blogspot.com

Susan    patchworknplay.blogspot.com

Kerry     blog.pennydog.com

Simone quiltalicious.blogspot.com

Mary     maryonlakepulaski.blogspot.com

Brenda brendaandblue IG

Cindy     www.liveacolorfullife.net/

Cutting all the Things in Fabric and Vinyl

 The Christmas before last I received a Silhouette Cameo machine as a gift from Mr. Riley.  It was pretty exciting.  And scary.  Up until recently I had only used it for a couple of projects.  The Matrix quilt and the Lighthouse Quilt.

I opened my mouth at a PTO meeting and said I could cut vinyl with it so I've upped my game and now I want to make all the things.

For school I did some letters and paws.

I'm still learning a bit about sizing the letters when doing multiple cuts. COUgars :)  This one is probably temporary, though, since there is some painting that will get done once school is out.

This one was actually a "mistake" because it wasn't big enough, but we found a place for it.

Then I started projects that I've wanted to try around the house.  We've had the menu board for a few months, but now its fancy.

And I made a vinyl bee of my logo (actually I should re-do it) and put it on the car.  I used to have a magnet bumper sticker of a bee - but it got lost or stolen off the car.

Next I moved on to fabric letters with Wonder Under on them.  I'm not sure why, but Alf the kitten was fascinated by the machine.

 So the last of my bee word blocks from the Spelling Bee Quilt Bee are finally done.  I'm in search of "The Perfect Yellow" to set them all together.

 I have more plans for the Silhouette!

More Improv Letters and Words - The Spelling Bee

 A post to catch up on the Spelling Bee Finishes - I don't have to make the quilts, just the blocks/words.

You can see my first set of words - January through July *Here*
I also wanted to add that the book I've been most referencing to make these letters is Quilt Talk by Sam Hunter.  She even has paper pieced patterns for the letters if you don't want to do them "freehand"

 My most recent finish (last night) is Good and Popcorn in warm colors.  Makes me want to make a whole cozy quilt in oranges and yellows.

 July's block was the word black in Crimson.  There is a mind blowing quilt in the works!

  The August block was Gerald.  The bee queen is doing a quilt of her siblings.  How fun!

September was my month, so the words that I have requested are coming in.  They are all bee keeping related.  I'll share them when they are all in.

Linking my block finishes with Crazy Mom Quilts.