I’ve been busy making bees for my book, I’ve got three on the go at the moment!

My ‘handbag project’ for the last couple of weeks has been a bee that was in a treasure bundle I bought from SookieSoo on Instagram. It was pre-drawn onto linen then it was up to me how I stitched it. I did have a brief panic when I first found it at the bottom of a box, it was all crumpled so I decided to iron it, not thinking that it was drawn with a Frixion pen, so half the design disappeared in a flash with the heat of the iron! After pondering my options for a couple of minutes I decided to try and use the ‘side-effect’ of a Frixion pen – it reappears in very cold temperatures. I popped it in the freezer for half an hour and there was my design back again!

I started with the leaves, using fishbone stitch which is my go-to stitch for leaves. I was a bit nervous about starting the bee as it’s only little so detail had to be fine. I started with the yellow and black stripes but I wasn’t totally happy with it as it looked a bit too stripy!

I chose a slightly darker yellow and using one strand I did long and short stitch over the join, it’s subtle but I think it just softens the lines. The wings are stitched with a light variegated grey thread. With hindsight I’d have probably changed the shape of the upper wings as I feel they’re too upward pointing.

For the blossom I’ve used a variegated DMC thread with French knots and a stem stitch ring to bulk them out a bit, I like the way they’ve come out. I’m just using a single strand of DMC with fly stitch for the blossom stalks, so I’m using the same thread and stem stitch for the ring.

Once I’ve finished the ring I’ve just a few French knots to go round the wreath.

I’ll have quite a swarm of bees once I’ve finished them all!