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Thursday, March 13, 2014

the birds and the (honey) bees {sweet as honey no. 9/25}


By now I'm sure you've seen bits and pieces of Bonnie Christine's latest line for AGF—Sweet as Honeypopping up around the inter webs as part of the SAH blog tour.  


Yesterday, my irl friend Amanda of Material Girl Quilts showed off her subdued but show-stopping mini (hands down some of the best straight line quilting I've had the pleasure of seeing in person!)  And today—after much overgramming on instagram, no less—it's my turn to share a little something sewn from the warmer tones in Bonnie's line (think nectar, coral, marmalade, and peach):

Because I sew by color, I asked Bonnie to send fat eighths in what I now* correctly refer to as an "analogous color scheme."
*thanks in large part to my friend Anne of Play Crafts and her informative Color Chat series :)

It's safe to say that this design was inspired by the carefree, barefoot-in-the-garden-type sentiment out of which "Sweet as Honey" came to be(e).

The quilt finishes at ~60" square.

Half of the fletchers feature Bonnie's prints; the others coordinating oakshott shot cottons.


The rest of the free people-inspired arrows are pieced exclusively from oakshott, with ruby red hearts pointing the way.

Big thanks to Sarah of Sew What Sherlock? for pattern testing!  (Check out her squared off, "elongated" version here.)

And last, but not least, the sweet sultan cornerstones are a perfect landing pad for fussy-cut (and famished) honey bees.

The sweet sultan block (BB #800.8) is part of my (somewhat neglected) INDEX* initiative.
*an endeavor for those among us who fancy long lost traditional treasures

Speaking of, I knew I wanted to hand quilt this piece from the beginning.  But I also knew I probably couldn't hand quilt it well enough for it to withstand as many washes as naptime quilts in our household have to endure.  So I gave myself a little bit of "security stitching" in between the arrows with my go-to Aurifil 2021...

Psssst! Aurifil lovers everywhere take note:  Bonnie is working on a collection case!

And have since started to add some handsewn elements along the border using this summery mix of AMH embroidery floss from my friend Heather of Crimson Tate.

I used Kona snow for the background, because, well, it seemed quite fitting in light of the winter we've had!

I have to say, in an unexpected twist I'm actually looking forward to filling in the negative space.  Preferably over the span of several (several) relaxing spring evenings.  ...Assuming spring is indeed still coming this year, that is!


Sidenote:  for those of you who are interested, both the sweet sultan and arrow patterns are available as free downloads in my craftsy shop.

Up tomorrow on the tour is Miss Caroline.  I'm not sure what she's got up her garment-sewing sleeve, but after watching her fabric design debut unfold over the past few weeks I have no doubt it's going to be amazing.

P.S.  If you haven't seen that video, change that!  Art Gallery Fabrics recently announced its Limited Edition project, which cleverly features a trio of talented artists who make mini-collections of their own.  SewCaroline is among the trailblazers (her line is "Gleeful"), and the whole idea has me daydreaming about what my own fabric collection would look like.  (A dreamer can dream, right?!) In the meantime (read:  for the foreseeable future), I'll continue to use others' storied designs as I add to my modest (but growing!) portfolio.

Thank you so much for stopping by ;o)

xo Sarah

21 comments:

  1. It's gorgeous!!! I love the arrows so much and will be attempting one (or a few) myself soon :) Thanks so much for the patterns!

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  2. Love this! It's going to be even more gorgeous with all the fantastic hand stitching on it!
    Thanks for the pattern too! You know i'll make good use of that one!

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  3. Wow, this is fantastic! I've been following the IG updates and the finished product does not disappoint! Canter it to see it all quilted up :)

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  4. No surprise here, you are so/sew talented! Keep it up,

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  5. Oh man, what a fun, beautiful, creative quilt!

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  6. sarah, you've outdone yourself. i want to make this quilt so badly!! and i can't WAIT to see all your hand stitching. it's going to be sensational!! xox

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  7. Everything about this quilt is magic!

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  8. this quilt is just so incredible amazing

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  9. This quilt is so beautiful. Really love the circle of arrows in the center. Gorgeous!!

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  10. It is beautiful! Something totally out of my range when I see all those tiny bits you used. whoa!

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  11. Love the red heart tips of the arrows :0)

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  12. *sigh* Just so good! I love the full reveal. :D If I ever get free sewing time again, I'm totally checking out your arrow pattern, they're beautiful!

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  13. omg.....i MUST MAKE THIS NOW!!!!

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  14. i love this quilt!! Thanks so much for sharing the patterns!!

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  15. What's not to love about that quilt? Super!

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  16. This is brilliant! Love the arrows. Thank you so much for doing the pattern.

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  17. I love this soooo much!!! You have such talent and I so wish I could do this too! Genius

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  18. I LOOOOOVE this! Thanks for sharing the patterns! With the floss, are you using one strand or two for hand quilting?

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  19. WOW. That is awesome. I love it. The fabrics are also wonderful.

    suebennett1975@gmail.com

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  20. I have just recently discovered your blog, and I just have to tell you that I ADORE this pattern, and find it pretty awesome that you are so generous to share it for free! THANK YOU!

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