The Secret Life of Bees---

Leftover block became the label

Our Thread Tales book club read, "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. What inspired me about this book was the wall that May built from stones. She called it a wailing wall which was a place to put notes of pain to release her from carrying the pain. 

Of course, bees figured heavily in the story. I had a piece of fabric that I purchased for another project that reminded me of honey. I used this fabric for the sashing. My grandfather was a beekeeper. My mom has a photo of him working his bees. I don't remember him and bees though!

Close up of one section of the label

In my grandmother's stash were some pinwheel blocks as well as some background and some blue fabric. My niece was getting married and I thought that since there were a lot of these pinwheel blocks, I could make it into a quilt. My grandmother spent a lot of time with my niece when my niece was toddling about!

My grandmother knitted, crocheted and sewed. She wasn't a quilter, although in her stash were a number of quilt blocks that she had started. I do remember her and my mother making some blocks using jeans in the late sixties/early seventies. She somehow finished her project; but, my mom didn't. I have those blocks; but that is a story for another post!!

View of the quilting

My grandmother taught me to sew. She had the patience of at least three saints. I remember one time when I sewed a seam so many times that I thought the fabric was ruined. The fabric wasn't because she carefully ripped the stitches and reset the pins until I was happy with my sewing results. 

I shared this anecdote because while she encouraged me to be on the "picky" side, she was not. Let me tell you, those blocks were a variety of sizes! I remember some of the fabrics in the blocks as scraps from her house dress fabrics. As a small child,  I thought it was funny that she called the outfit she wore in her home a house dress! 

Recipient with the quilt

For the border, I used a piece of the blue fabric and a stone fabric.  I quilted it with a pantograph fan design on my friend's Gammill long arm. It was the first quilt that I quilted on a long arm.

I finished this quilt in 2010. I'm posting about it so that I can document my Thread Tales book club projects.

With all the scraps used, I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework. Cynthia has had a recent vintage finish too.