BeeSewcial September and August Blocks Finished

BeeSewcial September: Home

Both Home September BeeSewcial Blocks

Block One: Titled “Staycation” 16”x19” (shown above on left) 

September's BeeSewcial prompt for Anne was HOME and she provided a gorgeous palette and asked that we personally symbolize our interpretation.  

Choosing one of the most iconic scenes: The sunrise over the Santa Cruz municipal wharf as viewed from the Dream Inn hotel balcony. The blocks ended up quite pastel but I wanted to capture the subtle color changes that happen right before your eyes. 

Other design elements that I focused on were the contrast of horizontal and vertical (land/water, pillars/piling etc) were key and I also tried to infuse bit of the California woodcut artists influence that I admire. 

This was my first time staying at the hotel and I must say, listening to the bark of the sea lions while drifting off to sleep was pretty spectacular. 

The scene was also a reminder of the time that Anne and I played tourist with our first SBAMQG charity quilt and had an epic photo shoot day along West Cliff way back in 2013 💕.  It was displayed at QuiltCon and gifted from our chapter to the Autsin Children's Shelter 

2013 QuiltCon Charity Quilt SBAMQG

Prompt and Inspiration

Fun facts about the wharf: built in 1914, it is the longest pier on the west coast and visited by 1.5 million annually. No wonder traffic is challenging! 

Initial Sunrise Portion 

Block Two: Titled “Not to Code” 9”x13” (shown in the first photo above, on right) 

An improv take on a house block as a nod to the fact that many homes were built as vacation cottages back when it was a sleepy little town people would escape to in the summer. 

One of my favorite quilting phrases immediately came to mind: Embrace the imperfections. Aim for structurally sound. The unplanned pencil portion is a nod to (not) drafting blueprints. 

Block two in process

Here are a few other photos that I have great shapes in them for future quilt design ideas and relate to my second block:

August BeeSewcial - Rapid Transit Map

Bart 18"x23" BeeSewcial Block

18”x23” BART block for Silvia @astrangerview 

I chose the Bay Area Rapid Transit map for July’s Subway prompt, focusing on 3 of the lines including the only one I’ve ridden on from Fremont to San Francisco.

Many people ride the subway early in life but I was a grown up the first time I did.  Despite that, I remember being just a little freaked out about traveling at a high speed not only underground but underwater. The Transbay Tube rail tunnel is a pretty unique thing to have available and I really should take advantage and plan a trip to the city.

Sketch 

Minimalism is something that I push myself to explore with the bee blocks and I decided to eliminate the bottom portion of my sketch.  The final design reminded me of a seat or even a body seated in a very modern art sort of way.  Considering the subject matter and that when I do go to San Francisco it is to visit museums, this felt very complete in concept.

In process underside

Although the thin lines could have been done with bias tape appliqué  I chose to machine piece. The technique of scissor and rotary ruler-free cut until the final square up suits me fine.

auditioning fabric

I'm excited to have these blocks mailed off to my bee mates and can't wait to see them all together in a quilt.

Linking up to Bolt to Beauty "Brag about your Beauty" with my finishes.