BeeSewcial Blocks: of all Stripes and Unity

For September the prompt was of all Stripes for Anne (described here on Instagram)

All About Stripes September BeeSewcial

As soon as I found out about the theme I immediately thought of the workshop that I took from Maria Shell and knew I would incorporate a little of the technique in my blocks.  The color palette of predominantly blues and greens with an accent of yellow gold was not a stretch for me.  

WIP from Maria Shell Workshop

The element of woven needed to be included at least a little because that also reminds me of Anne, here's why.

My neighbors are use to my quilty weirdness taking photos of my quilts on the porch and hanging bags from the branches of my tree to take pictures. For some reason the indoor lighting on the day I was sewing was playing mind tricks and messing up my decision making so I kept going outside every few minutes to double check. 

In the end, I toned down the range and eliminated several from the original pull.   I also chose to make two blocks instead of one large block so that one could be busy and one more simplistic. 

initial fabric stash pull

For October, Hillary requested a UNITY blocks. Read more on her blog post here.

You would think that using only two fabrics would be easier to choose but narrowing it down to ONLY two was a challenge in itself.  Refreshingly so. 

sketching ideas

Using extreme discipline (for me) I committed to my fabric choice and did not pack any backup when packing for my retreat.  With four whole days, I knew that I'd be able to focus and get it done. 

The very unique size of the block 5-7"x40-50" has to do with the concept behind the quilt Hillary is making. She described it as "showing each of us standing tall uniquely together proverbially holding hands showing UNITY"   

For the pieced adornment the shape that I used to represent "me" is from my Improv Abstraction quilts.  Although it is a sliver version and comes off the edge I think it still reads the same idea.

  

There are 10 shapes, symbolic of the ten members of our bee.   I took advantage of the large tables to square up my block which was very tricky and took multiple rulers to pull off. 

6.75" x 50"

Taking a photograph of a block of such an odd dimension could be challenging but the redwoods made for a fun photoshoot. 

It's a good thing that I have long arms!

As always with my bee blocks, when they are done it feels like I am just getting started and I love them both.  Be sure to check out #beesewcial to see what my mates have been up to and use #inspiredbybeesewcial if you are playing along with the prompts. 

Happy Stitching. Karen