King of the bees

Well, I was going to return to the subject of the economics of embroidering bees but am too distracted by  the wisteria getting into high gear; one day I was out admiring it when in buzzed the biggest most dignified bumblebee I've ever seen.  He considered the buds from all angles, and then buzzed off, apparently thinking they weren't quite ready for his pollen collection.  Alas, my camera was elsewhere, so I decided to immortalize him by embroidery.  He was lots shinier and more commanding than this, but perhaps you can add those qualities with imagination.

Here also is the bigger square I made out of the smaller squares in the last post.

I want to add some fabric weaving around the outside of this inspired by Judes's work at Spirit Cloth, perhaps using the gauzy cloth on the very left.

Lastly, one more bee item!  My favorite socks.

Back to work, Granny

Sigh.  The dear ones have gone back to their home nest.  It will be my turn to travel next.  I miss them.

 This morning I unwrapped my arashi pole (Glennis' shibori class).

Here it is on the counter with a little bobbin made with a twig from the apple tree.  The thread I used to wrap the silk on the pole is buttonhole twist; you can see it on the bobbin.  This bobbin idea came from Deb G.

Here is my arashi after I ironed it.  My goal is to create a pattern like water and then to make a lap cloth:

with several to many of these (above) sewn together.  I'm practicing Jude's piecing method.  The silk is tricky to manage because it is slippery.  On this piece I used starch, then I tried a fabric interfacing and that worked well, but the silk no longer felt like silk...more like cotton.  I have a couple of other ideas to explore.