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Saturday 7 September 2019

The People Chose Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees


Regular followers will be aware that for over 3 years now I have run a themed SAL on the first Saturday of each month.  First we spent 26 months doing The Alphabet Club and then 12 months of the Zodiac.  Now I have decided to listen to the People and post about your choice of theme.  Each month I ask for suggestions on the blog and then make a poll in the IHSW Facebook Group from those suggestions.

September - Bees
October - Cats
November - Autumnal Colours

Bees are very popular in stitching designs, they are probably our favourite insect (ladybirds being a close second) and they work well with floral and garden designs as well as bee-ing very pun-friendly.   They are quite Bee-utiful too.

The largest design I have stitched with bees was a present for a friend who gave me the kit when she swapped stitching for a career in crochet.  (Seriously, find out more here - Rosina Plane).  Anyway, she gave me a box of stash with the fee being I would stitch Gathering Honey for her.  It took me a little longer than anticipated but I got it to her for her 25th Wedding Anniversary.



Gathering Honey by Jannlynn Designs


Close-up of the bees:



Just Nan is fond of a bee and here are two of her designs - Beehive Violets at the top and Big Bee, Little Bee at the bottom (although both my bees are the same size).



This is a sweet little one I stitched back in 1999 from a needlework magazine.  There was a series of smalls designed to teach you how to do speciality stitches.


That's it for designs I have stitched myself but here is some inspiration.  

Nora Corbett has recently released this pair of Bees; Miss Honey Bee and Miss Queen Bee:


The Primitive Hare has a number of bee patterns as well as beehive printed fabric to stitch them on! 



Beth Twist from Heartstring Samplery also loves bees.  She even has a couple of hives and some of her YouTube videos have film of her showing them and explaining how to look after them.


I love her little fob series, these would look cute in Vicki's cubby I thought.


Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Bees, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog. Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

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Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Any thing, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Blue, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.  Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.


Looking forward to reading them all!





17 comments:

Pamela said...

Wow! Gathering Honey is fabulous!

Rachel said...

Thanks for hosting!
It was really sweet of you to stitch Gathering Honey for your friend, especially as it's not the smallest of designs. The honeycomb border is really effective; I'm sure if I stare at it long enough I will see the bees moving! And, of course, your Just Nan pieces are gorgeous. Any plans to stitch any of the other designs you've shown? :)

jocondine said...

I knew your Gathering Honey would be the masterpiece but I'm so glad to see those Miss and Queen Bee, so funny. xxx

Vickie said...

Oh how I remember that large pattern you stitched for your friend! I like those small ones, but not for my cubby. I am actually not a bee person. I know they are so popular right now, but I am just not into them. Sorry. I do think the two Nora Corbett ones are striking though!

Barb said...

Gathering Honey turned out just beautiful!! All the bee designs are fun and very pretty! I am happy to say, I have a garden full of bees!

gracie said...

Bees are a wonderful project. I made the Primative Hare Bee Happy and finished it on a tote bag. It was fun yo stitch.

butterfly said...

Love your bee stitching .
Hope everyone has fun .

Mary said...

Gathering Honey is gorgeous and I can't imagine the size of the stash you received to reciprocate stitching this piece! She must be a very good friend!!

Carol said...

These are all so special, Jo! Really love the gift that you stitched for your friend--I can't imagine how long that must have taken. How nice to get some cross stitch stash in return :) I am truly worried about the bees as we have seen very few in our garden this year and the flowers have suffered because of that. Hope you have a great week ahead!

Linda said...

Love all you bee pieces Jo. The Gathering Honey is stunning.

Linda

Katie said...

I remember you stitching Gathering Honey. What a beautiful piece. I'm all linked up. Thanks for hosting!

Christine said...

I love the bees on the honeycomb background in Gathering honey

Kay said...

Bees are one of my favourite motifs so I am thrilled to be looking through all of these. x

beadgirl said...

Hey, I did that same series, from Needlework Magazine! I should dig those up and actually finish them. Maybe sew them together into one long panel ...

Leonore Winterer said...

Oh, I love Gathering Honey! For some reason, I really like honeycomb patterns. And the little bee charms on the Just Nans are so cute!

Ariadne said...

The Janlynn pattern is my all time favourite. You have done lots with bees. Congrats. AriadnefromGreece!

Astrids dragon said...

You know how much I love Gathering Honey, I've put it aside for now and I miss it! This is so beautiful, I love it.
I love both Miss Bees and The Primitive Hare are sweet too!
Was cats already decided for next month or may autumn or colourful pieces?