Monday, March 27, 2023

Calico Garden - Week Nine!!




"BEE SKEP BLOCK"


Welcome to Week Nine of the 
"CALICO GARDEN"
Sew Along!
Join me here each week 
when I will be doing tutorials
 on the blocks for the quilt.

Of course because we are all sewing 
from all around the world  
we all have different time zones...
But I will be posting each Monday 
right here on my blog 
and you can follow my tutorials 
any time each week that 
 is convenient for you.


We are making the 
Calico Garden Quilt
90" x 90"


The quilt is made with my latest fabric
 collection called Calico...

I hope that you all have all 
received your templates and 
fabric kits by now...
 and that we are all ready to begin!!


If you still need them ...
just do a quick google search for 
"Calico Garden Quilt Kit"
to find shops who still have some left.


We are also using the
Calico Garden
Sew Simple Shapes

I have posted the
 post which details all of the supplies
 for the sew along and how it works.
I have also given the link there 
for the free PDF Download 
of the Sew Along Guide

to download the sew along guide.


As per the sew along guide 
cutting instructions
 you should have everything for your
  Bee Skep Block  
 all cut and ready to go!

As per usual for week one in my 
Sew Simple Shape Sew Alongs
 the FIRST week tutorial is a video.

Because I now have my own 
 I have posted the 
 Blue Coneflower Block
Tutorial there.
to visit my channel and watch the 
tutorial and I hope that you love it!
Pretty please leave me a comment
over there and let me know:)

If you like what you see 
and my other videos there...
click on subscribe and click on the bell
 to be notified whenever
 I post another tutorial:)



Here's my Blue Coneflower Block 
that I showed you 
how to make in my video:)


for the tutorial on my
PURPLE CONEFLOWER BLOCK



to go to my tutorial for the
CALICO STAR FLOWER BLOCK

to go to my tutorial for the
Morning Glory Blocks


to go to my tutorial for the 
PRIMROSE BLOCKS


to go to my tutorial for the 
RED ROSES and MUMS BLOCK


to go to my tutorial for the 
Forget Me Not Block

to go to my tutorial for the
PICKET FENCE and GRASS BLOCKS


to go to my prepping tutorial for
HENS and ROOT VEGGIES

to go to my tutorial on the 
HOLLYHOCKS and 
RAKE and SHOVEL BLOCK


to go to my tutorial for the 
GARDEN GIRL


Okay...let's get ready to 
make the Bee Skep!



Here is my Bee Skep Block Kit.
 Everything is all cut...
all traced and ready to go!

Here is a list of the
  Calico Garden 
Sew Simple Shapes 
needed for this block:
1 - O-4
1 - O-23
1 - O-87
5 - O-88


You will need to cut you background
10" x 17" 
as per the sew along guide cutting:)

You will also need the A thru F
fabrics ready to piece together
for the bee skep table:)
As usual...
all of those cutting measurements
 are in the sew along guide. 

***NOTE***
I had you cut the interfacing
for shape O-23 (the beehive)
  7" x 13 1/2"
which is correct but you may be 
thinking "what the heck"
when you see that O-23 is 
only 10" tall.
The explanation is that I don't 
necessarily like to make the shapes
 larger than 10" because I
don't want them to bend...
and this one is super easy to just 
add 3" onto the bottom.
Here's how to do it...


Simply start 1/4" from the bottom and 
trace around the template up to 3"
(lines on template are 1" apart)


Then place the bottom of the shape
at the top of the 3" tall lines
on each side and trace the whole thing.


Basically you just added 3" 
at the bottom which is 
what you need to do:)

Now your traced skep is 13" tall:)


I'll show you how to sew the 
strips together in a bit...


First let's piece the little 
bee skep stand together.
You can see that pieces A-E-B
are pieced together in a row 
and then sewn to the D strip
at the top...
but first we need to add
easy corner triangles onto the 
top corners of the A rectangle.



First set sewn...trimmed 
and pressed towards the triangles.


Okay...the last set of 
easy corner triangles are on.
Trim and press towards triangles again.

Now you can sew that bottom row together
 and the sew to the D rectangle.
Make sure to use an accurate
 1/4" seam allowance:)


Press towards the D rectangle...


Like this:)
At this point it should measure
3 1/2" tall x 8 1/2 wide.

Now set it aside until AFTER
your bee skep is appliquéd and 
trimmed down and it's time to 
sew the quilt sections together:)

Okay...now back to the bee skep strips!


Sewing and using clappers:) 
Sew them together with an accurate 
1/4" seam allowance and 
begin by pairing them up.
You will have one leftover to add 
at the top because there are 
not an even number of strips.
You will see the order in which
 to sew them when you see 
my next photo:)

Here you go!
Your strips should look like this now.


Make sure to press your 
seams open on this because you 
want it as flat as possible for applique.

Pin to the traced interfacing to keep everything straight...
and sew it and the other 
shapes for your skep as per usual!


Here's mine all sewn and pressed.
Not any of these shapes for this block need clipping before turning.
Now let's go over to the work table
for pinning and glueing:)


Start by gluing the smaller elongated
 oval onto the larger one
 and then cut it in half.
This is the top loop for the bee skep!

You can discard the other half
 or keep it just in case you decide to make 
another bee skep for another project:)
I also cut the other elongated ovals 
in half to use for the flower petals.


Glue this to the top of the hive...
it should measure 1 1/2" tall.


Now pin and glue baste it 
centered onto your background.



Next pin the beehive door onto the hive.
Don't glue yet...
this is just for placement so that
 you can arrange your petals around it
 first and then remove it...
 and glue it on top of petals at the end.


I went ahead and cut a little length 
off of my petals to reduce bulk.
I trimmed each petal 2" long.


Each petal will stick out 
1 1/2" from the center.


Hopefully this pic will help you
 when arranging your petals.
Use the stripes on the skep 
to help keep things symetrical.
Remember that it's just a flower
so don't make yourself crazy trying
to get it perfect lol 



I removed the center and as usual...
used my pins to keep things
 into place when glueing...
moving them as needed...
 basically using them as my tools
 so that nothing would move 
before I could glue them into place.


Yay!
Everything is pinned and Sue Glued:)


***NOTE***
I made sure that I could lift up 
about 3/4" inch on the bottom
and DID NOT applique that part
 of my skep to allow a little overlapping
 onto the stand after the skep is 
appliqued and the background is trimmed to
 8 1/2" x 15 1/2"


When I trim it down I'll leave a bit
 under 1/4" of background at the bottom.
That way when the stand is sewn on
 with a 1/4" seam allowance
the bottom of the skep will
overlap onto the stand just 
a little bit and sit on top of it nicely.

Because you didn't applique 3/4" 
of the bottom sides and bottom edge
 you should be able to carefully 
keep that out of the way as you are
 machine sewing the stand and hive together.
Then you can easily 
applique the bottom down.

Oh my!!
That's a long explanation 
and I hope it makes sense!


Speaking of sewing...
after your hive and stand are 
complete and sewn together...
you can add the Veggie Tops background 
to the bottom of the skep stand
 with a 1/4" seam allowance.

The hive plus the stand plus the 
veggie top background should all measure 
8 1/2" wide x 22 1/2" tall 
and fit perfectly onto the 
right side of the Tomatoes Block:)


I tucked the stand underneath 
for a few photos...
just to show you how
 they will look together...


But of course I haven't even 
appliqued yet so it's not time 
to sew them together.


I'll probably start appliqueing 
pretty soon since we are 
almost halfway into the sew along:)


I love this tall patchwork bee skep!!!
As you know...
there wouldn't be any gardens 
without honey bees!!!

Have fun adding bees 
to your garden this week:)
 
Thanks so much for joining me for the 
Calico Garden Sew Along
I'll meet you right back here
on my blog next week for the 
Tomatoes Block!   

Until then...
Happy Calico Garden sewing!!
xx
Lori