Art Quilt: There Bee Almonds

To join the hummingbird quilt, A Charm, a bee quilt: both ready to be entered in a fall SAQA call for "Pollinators." The birds and the bees. Hmm.

Over the decades I've traveled Interstate 5 from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles, I have noticed the stacks of bee boxes in the orchards that line the road. As one of the few places in the world where almond trees can grow, California needs honey bees to pollinate each flower, which in turn becomes an almond, providing us food.

There Bee Almonds

19.5" x 35.5" (49.5 cm x 90 cm)

Hand-dyed linen and cotton velvet; Japanese yarn-dyed cotton; hand-stenciled with fabric paint; seed beads; embroidery; hand quilting

Details:

I drew the bees and blossoms and created stencils for them. Each is outlined with tiny stitches. The bees are a bit tufted with fringe-y knots (that's not a real term). The flowers have gold seed beads for the pollen.

More leaves and a ripe almond at the bottom.

Patterned cloth and binding are Japanese yarn-dyed cotton. A little metallic silver thread stitching embellishes the  top and bottom red-brown pattern. Black seed bead for the bee's eye.

And the back:

Go bees!