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.
The past few days I've been embellishing a 6" square for the English Garden RR I joined on CQI. This RR requires each member to piece six 6" blocks and each person in the RR embellishes one completely and mails them on to the next. Since there are 6 of us in the RR, at the end there is one square left for the owner to embellish. I will post photos here as we go along.
This square is owned and pieced by Marya Blackwell.
With the butterfly still not attached, here is a photo of where I'm at now. I didn't want you to think I'm not working! All of the embroidery is complete and I only have beading to do. I'll be saving the body to show you when I take the "finished" photo.
From now on you can see Shirlee Fassell's fantastic stitching on her own blog which she started yesterday. Be sure to follow along. You won't believe some of the beautiful work she has coming!!
As you may know by now, I'm a fan of my friend Shirlee Fassell and the beautiful and intricate tambour beading she does. Here are her class projects from Ecole Lesage this year. She got stuck in Paris during the volcano mess that shut down all of the airports so just had to take two classes instead of the one she flew over for. Do I sound a little "green" with envy??!
I've finished the main part of the large flowers surrounding the butterfly. I just have to do the centers but I want to get the leaves done first - Boring!!!
These flowers were made using five sizes of the small "Perfect Circles" which are available on my website. I traced around the circles inside and out using white marker pencil directly on my wall hanging. Using 7mm silk ribbon for the two larger circles and 4mm for the three smaller circles and a combination of 8 colors, the work was pretty simple and went very quickly. I just don't know what I'd do without templates!
This photo is of my embellishment on a square for a round robin I am in on the Crazy Quilt International Yahoo group. If you are not already a member, you should check it out for the photos and inspiration you will see. They also have a monthly newsletter full of beautiful work, instructions, and ideas.
Found it!! I promised this vintage peacock design to someone (I don't remember who) once I ran across it. You can download it and reduce or enlarge it as desired. Straight stitches, beading or a combination of both will be easy to do with this design. The original is really large and was used as the center of a vintage dresser scarf. Click here to view or download the pattern.
Just to keep you up on how my butterfly is coming along, I have finished stitching the "seams" for the background and am building on that with vines going up each side from the bottom center. The vines are green, but look pale in the photo. Fantasy flowers and leaves will be added. Then I don't know where I'll go from there. That's what a work in progress means to me! Stay tuned.
It's been over a month since I've blogged. I don't blog about myself and my everyday life (who would care?) We did go to see Cirque du Soleil (OVO) last night and if you get the opportunity to go, don't miss out. It was fantastic!! That said, I hope you'll understand that I can't always be turning out finished projects. Please keep checking back. I've been working on a challenge block which I can't show you right now. I'm also involved in a RR as well as working on some ideas for An Adventure in Crazy Quilting coming up next April.
All four segments making up the wings for my butterfly are finished and I have started doing CQ "seams" on my black silk. I've found that this is my all time favorite way to do all of the fantastic seam coverings and, though it's not for everyone, I just love the way it looks and how quickly it comes together. I wish I had started whole cloth crazy stitching a long time ago and worked it along with pieced parts such as the butterfly. I'm even thinking of revamping my CQ 2012 to use black as a background.....we'll see.
I'm still working on the other wing but it's been a month since I posted. I wanted to pop in and say Hi. I thought you'd like to see the wing I've finished with the two parts together. I've put it on the black background fabric for the photo. It gives you a better idea of where I'm headed with this. I'm almost done with the other wing after a time consuming big mistake I made and had to take out. I also spent a bit of time on a RR square this month between all the May birthdays around here. I find I spend more time trying to come up with ideas than I actually spend stitching.
Speaking of RR's, I read somewhere that when you do work on a square you should leave 1/2 " bead free along the edges that are going to be stitched to other squares or borders. I've never done that and just use a zipper foot to stitch the fabrics together and think that a scant 1/8" is plenty of space to allow. I think a 1/2" bead free area especially in a seam that goes out to the edge looks unfinished. What do you do? I guess you could enclose enough beads for the recipient to finish it off.
Here is the beaded upper right wing. I won't be posting the left wing and you'll see the butterfly again later on down the road. So that I have something to post I'll work on the background some and finish the left wing on the side. I still haven't decided what to do about the body. Any ideas will be considered!
Here is the upper right wing for my Butterfly Wall Hanging. I will use the colors, beads, etc. that I used in the lower part so it should move along a little quicker.
Today I finished the lower right wing. I added another layer of silk ribbon to each of the petals of the flowers. They look so much better now. A few other simple embroideries and lots of beads have brought me to the point of "enough is enough!" Repeating this on the lower left shouldn't take as long as no thinking will be involved.
This half of the lower right wing is not quite finished but I'll show you my progress. Here are two designs I drew to fit into special areas on the wing. As you can see, I use simple lazy daisy designs to place flowers and then use silk ribbon, beads etc. just using the design to guide me. I may add to the silk ribbon flowers as they look a little weak to me. Still thinking!! I love lace so almost always include it in my projects - not to mention, it fills space without too much work!
After spending hours trying to decide how I want to embellish the wings on my butterfly, I've decided to show you the simple route I've chosen to take. Remember, stitches will be done in mirror image with only minor differences.
For the first step, I gathered a length of 1/8" (4mm) silk ribbon as I tacked it down to the edge of the scalloped area of the wing. I then used size 12 pearl cotton to divide the different segments with a single line of feather stitch. I'll revisit this area with beads later. Since my background will be black, I'll introduce black embellishments whenever possible so the butterfly will look like an integral part of the wall hanging and not just sitting on top. On to playing with flowers - it has to have flowers!!
This is my first post in quite a while. I made my first trip ever out of the USA and visited England with my daughter for 8 super days. Not a thought of stitching went through my mind while I was there as I enjoyed the history and the scenery more than I can say. The Cotswolds will always be calling me from here on out.
Well, I've been home for 10 days now and am finally in the mood to start a new project. I've put away my 2012 quilt and another smaller piece I've been working on for a few years. Who knows if I'll actually get anything finished by 2012. Life is short and I don't want to tie myself down to a date. If it's done, great! If not, the Earth won't stop turning.
As the title says, this is an experiment. I am going to try to piece a butterfly much in the same way I did my pansy wall hanging so long ago. The butterfly won't stand alone, however, the way the pansy does. I'm going to appliqué it, after embellishment, to a solid black background and use the techniques I used for my whole cloth crazy quilt on the black. I've found that black is my all time favorite base for CQ embellishment. I work it up faster as I so enjoy the way the colors pop when I look at the embroidery stitches.
This butterfly is 27" wide by 20 1/2" high and is being pieced in bright colors. I decided to make it more in fantasy colors rather than try to make it look like a specific type which would probably end up wrong anyway. The fabrics are silk shantung and dupioni. I am using a lot of freezer paper and either ironing edges over and appliquéing or lining some pieces and turning in order to cut down on the silk fraying.
Here is the first part of one wing. It took me several tries to figure out how I wanted to do it. This one isn't perfect and I cut down on segments to make it easier to piece. I'll divide it up again as I go with my embellishments. The whole thing may end up being redone again or, maybe I'll just cover the mistakes I see with stitching.
I am giving you the drawing I made as well if you'd like to try it yourself. I still get requests for my pansy pattern, but I threw it away when the pansy was finished and only have my original drawing in a 2" square. Too tiny to piece!! I plan to stitch the butterfly one wing at a time and do mirror embellishment. How I'm going to assemble the butterfly is still not decided. I just do it by steps and redo if I need to as I go along.
Over the two years my website was closed, I received several requests asking for me to sell the pattern for my Arm Chair Sewing Caddy. I had no idea where it was. Well, I finally found it and, rather than sell it, I have published it for anyone who wants to download a free copy. I hope you enjoy the project and if you have any questions please contact me.
Please go to my downloads page and you will see two files labeled “Sewing Caddy”. You should download the pattern file to your PC as it requires printing on legal size paper to get the right size. The instructions you can either download or print directly.
In the April and July 2006 issues of the CQ Magazine, I had photos of my Four Seasons Wallhanging. Since then, it's been packed away in the UFO drawer with little hope of being finished. I took it out this year and have started working on it again...hopefully I can show it to you finished. This wisteria was one of the first embroideries I did on it in 2006 and I hope that you can make use of the design. Chain stitch, lazy daisy, and French knots with some beads added, are the only embroidery stitches you'll need.
This picture is my rendition of the antique pin cushion shown below.
I often buy things that other people wouldn't touch because of their condition. This one is drab and dirty but I thought the design was well worth saving. I prefer a softer look so I left off the trim around the brim and flattened out the crown a little. I hope you enjoy making one for yourself.
Hat Brim
Hat Crown
of the cardboard circle. Glue this edge down to the cardboard and set aside to dry. Stuff firmly through the 1 1/2" hole. (Use wool roving when you start filling as it is better for the life of your pins and needles and fill in the bottom with Polyfil to save on expense.) Put a small hole in another 3 1/2" dia. cardboard circle and glue this to the bottom and allow to dry thoroughly. It should look like this photo when finished. Tufting: Thread a button through one hole and leave a long tail. Using a doll making needle, go up through the hole in the cardboard and through the center of the stuffed crown. Use a very strong thread for this (I used dental floss.) Rethread into a needle that will go through your button and rethread to the doll making needle again to go back down through the other hole in the button you started with. Do this one or two more times for strength. At the bottom, tie the tail you left earlier with the end of your thread, pull tightly and tie a firm knot.
Assembly: Center and 
Finally, decorate your hat pin cushion as desired. Add lace, ribbon, flowers to make it truly your own. Because the bottom is flat, you can add a pretty cording or a ring to the back for hanging. Hang it in a special place and you'll always know where your pin cushion is.
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