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.
