My friend, Shirlee Fassell, stopped by today and brought me the following 6" square to add to my growing collection. Her work always amazes me and I'm so happy to have this to include in my fabric book of squares. Thank you so much Shirlee.
Be sure to check out Shirlee's blog to see all of the beautiful embroidery she has to share.
Another 6" square arrived for me today in exchange for one I sent to Candji Buckohr in Ohio. I hope the photo does it justice as every part of it is so delicate it reminds me of what a fairy's garden might look like. Thank you so much Candji for this little work of art.
This photo is of Candji's square for me.
My square for Candji.
Now the topper on this exchange is that Candji just happened to have this pretty blue rectangle (only partially shown) lying around and she included it with the square she sent...another sweet and nicely embroidered example of her work. Could this possibly be made into the cover for my collection of 6" squares? I'll be sure to try it and, if not, it definitely will be made into a finished project.
I've got to get going on the squares I have promised to others and I can't wait for the next ones to come home to me.
This past weekend was one of the highlights of many years for me and the best workshop I've ever attended. Candace Kling spent three full days teaching us about 1% of everything she knows about using ribbon and fabric to create beauty. I have only this one photo to share as I'm not much of a photographer and just grouped a small portion of what I made during class time after I got home.
I didn't finish my trims and left them partially done but mostly not done in order to be able to follow along and recreate them. I'll post some photos of finished ones later. If you'd like to see a more thorough picture journey of the weekend check in at Susan Elliott's blog. She took glorious pictures during the entire weekend.
Candace has been invited to come back next year for a 5 day workshop. We just couldn't get enough!!
Be sure to check out her website and click on the side links "Art" and "Links" to see her true love - sculpting with fabric plus more of her beautiful ribbon work. Unbelievable!!
As my first official personal swap, today I received a luscious 6" square from Pat Winter along with a thoughtful gift. Her work is always so delicate and has a personal feel to it. How fun to go to the mailbox and open what I feel is such a beautiful prize. Thank you Pat!!
This photo is Pat's square for me.
My square for Pat.
And these are the lovelies she enclosed. Pat has a wonderful blog and she always has something soft and inspirational to offer in her Etsy shop.
Kathy made all of her squares the same to see what each individual would come up with. I colored a lot of the areas including the cottage with colored pencils before I started adding flowers. I couldn't bring myself to stop until the flowers started to overflow the edge. Such fun!
This square is owned and pieced by Kathy Shaw.
While I'm on the "subject" of Kathy Shaw, I'd like to thank her again for the templates she sent to me several weeks ago. I've only used one so far as I haven't been doing much seam work, but I think I'm going to be using these a lot. If you want to find out more you'll have to check with her as I'm not sure if she is ready to start selling them. Her blog is http://www.shawkl.com/
Recently I decided that I'd like to have examples of the crazy quilt work I so admire by others. I've signed up for a couple of RR's that, in the end, will give me ten 6 inch squares each embellished by only one person. What do I do with all those squares? Large items are just not in my future because I hate just sticking things in drawers and displaying them can be overwhelming. I plan to make the little squares into a book of sorts and will write about that when I actually have my game plan together.
I've decided to take it a little further than just the RRs and am contacting CQ artists whom I admire and either purchasing or trading squares with them. The piecing and the embellishment is to be done by each person so that the square is a true reflection of her work. My first square arrived several days ago from Pam Kellogg. I love this square! The photo does not do it justice. It is so different than any I've ever done and I only wish I could do this type of CQ. I've discovered that I definitely have my own style and I find it impossible to go in another direction as the results always bomb badly and end up in the trash.
Please see more of Pam's lovely work on her blog and her Etsy shop where you'll find wonderful cottage style items by Pam and her Mom.
Taking time off for some other projects, I've been working some "Butterfly" time in here and there. Here's an update to show you how it's coming.
