A Surprise Square

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. 

NeedleandHook

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!!

http://shirleestuff.blogspot.com/

More Fabulous Stitching by Shirlee

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??! 

Vintage Embroidery Designs - A Great Example

Here is Shirlee Fassell's artisticly embroidered peacock from the Vintage Embroidery Designs I posted last week.  A wonderful example of making these designs your own.  This is on her "Vintage Vignettes" crazy quilt which was one of the winners announced in Issue Three 2007 of the $100,000 Quilting Challenge Magazine.

Shirlee's Asian Wall Hanging

Happy New Year!!

Last year I posted photos of the Asian wall hanging I designed and now I am posting photos of Shirlee's interpretation of the wall hanging in a smaller size. She did not do crazy quilting but went the route of lovely motifs using a combination of stump work and embroidery finished off with sequins and beads. I especially admire the lanterns. The photo may not do it justice as when you see it in person each of the motifs look so real and dimensional.

The photos of this wall hanging do not do the piece justice.

Shirlee's done it again!!

If you think I'm a fan of Shirlee Fassell, then you've got that right. Her work is so special and for the past two summers she has been going to Paris for a week to take classes at Ecole Lesage and learning to use a tambour hook. The following photos are of what she learned there this summer, the first being the project she worked on in class and the others are since she's been back home (only a matter of weeks.) She made another of her class project as a gift for her cousin in Germany in different colors. The last two photos are her rendition of two designs from the same group that I'm using for the baskets in my 2012 CQ.

The materials she's using for these are metallic threads, raffia, chenille, beads, sequins, etc. This is a Level 1 class result and I can't wait to see what she can do after Level 2 next summer.

A Doll's Crazy Quilt by Shirlee

Here is a great example of the detail Shirlee pays to every project she does. Even a doll doesn't get short changed. She dressed this doll's bed as her part of a barter with someone else. There are a lot of great ideas for you in this quilt.

Shirlee's Asian Lady

As promised, I will be featuring someone else's work here when they are willing to share. My friend, Shirlee Fassell, has done a few of these pictures and has offered to share this one with you. Maybe I can talk her into sharing the others as time goes on. Her workmanship is flawless and you have to look deep to actually see all of the effort she has put into her projects. Everything always seems to flow so easily that you just assume that the basics were there to start with. On this picture all she had was a cotton panel which is usually sold by quilt shops to be worked into sane quilts. She adds dimension everywhere and below are some photos showing the detail she so skillfully delivers as well as a photo of the panel she started with.



This is a closeup of the hair ornament Shirlee made and consists of glass beads, flowers from Judith and Kathryn and lovely hair picks. Shirlee made the hair picks by gluing toothpicks together and then shaping and decorating them.


Another original creation were the beaded flowers which were created by actually shaping the beaded fabric so that there is a fold in the petals.


The studs and the gold rings that surround each one were individually hand applied. There are a few hundred of these on the front of her kimona.


The swirls on her kimona were hand embroidered and the birds were cut from fabric and hand applied with an embroidery stitch in gold all around. They were then covered with an organza overlay.


The clouds were also hand embroidered.


Here is a closeup of her arm which is cardboard covered with a flesh colored fabric. Her face was done the same way, but was covered with white fabric. You can also see more hand embroidery around her cuff.


In the previous picture and in the following you can see where Shirlee wove 1/8" silk ribbon into a design which is inside her cuffs. It is covered with organza. Shirlee used silk and Oriental fabric to cover other areas and there are couched threads around all divisions in the kimona.


For closer study, here are some additional photos.






Thank you, Shirlee, for allowing me to share this. I am in awe of your workmanship.