The Butterfly Project

I received this link from a friend and after reading it I knew I had to participate. The Butterfly Project is sponsored by the Holocaust Museum in Houston, Texas. In an effort to remember the 1,500,000 innocent children who died due to the Holocaust, the museum is collecting handmade butterflies.

When the museum opens in the Spring of 2012 it would like to have a handmade butterfly to represent every child who lost their life in this horrific event.

I plan to make a butterfly similar to the one I created for the 2007 ArtBra Ladies wall hanging. All the specifics regarding size and materials are listed on the website. I would invite you to join me in helping the museum reach its goal.

Another Handbag Creation

I always enjoy creating a new handbag and wanted to share one that I just completed. This pattern appealed to me because it was unique. It is from one of Komiko Sudo's books entitled: Folded Flowers: Fabric Origami With a Twist of Silk Ribbon. In her book it is not crazy quilted but a friend decided to crazy quilt one she made. It was gorgeous and I had to have one as well.


I've taken the pattern and enlarged it somewhat. Instead of carrying it as a wrist purse I wanted a shoulder bag. I've added extra length to the strap to achieve that purpose.



I searched the internet today for someone else who might have made this beautiful purse and found the following site. She has a picture of the original purse pattern and the purse she has completed. She has done a fantastic job.



I've used dupioni silk for the lining and added a pocket on each side. Only the bottom section is machine stitched. The upper portion including the straps are stitched by hand.



My son gave me a copy of Kumiko Sudo's book: Omiyage as a gift several years ago. She is a renowned fiber artist and has written numerous books. Her books offer many wonderful projects perfect for gift-giving. In fact, omiyage is the Japanese word for "gift."

Life on the Gulf Coast of Texas

Although I've lived in this area of Texas all my life I never look forward to hurricane season. Hurricane Carla hit 47 years ago doing major damage in our area. Since that time we've had the occasional tropical storm but nothing catastrophic.

It seems only yesterday that we were preparing for Hurricane Ike. It's been over three weeks and we are still dealing with some of the issues resulting from the storm and unpacking boxes we evacuated along with us.

Compared with many people in this area we were truly blessed. Our boat road out the storm amazingly well with absolutely no damage. We thank God for His blessings and pray for those less fortunate.

Here is a picture of one of the boats in the marina about 500 feet from ours. Tornadoes are responsible for much of the damage at the marina.


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On a better note.. the staff of CQMagOnline is preparing articles for the October issue. I have a final article on the Ideas and Inspiration Challenge including many photos. This article is based on the fabulous work done by my local crazy quilt bee.

With the Christmas season fast approaching I've written an article on how to make a mother of pearl brooch. Start collecting your small buttons now.

The BOI (Block of the Issue) will be a block that I designed for the 2007 ArtBra Ladies wall hanging.

And last, but certainly not least, an article on Ginny Eckley and her silk screening process. Ginny is an extremely gifted artist and I thoroughly enjoyed her two-day class.

Some of the best and most talented are contributing articles for this upcoming issue. Mark your calendars for the end of October and be ready to be inspired.

Sharing my Work and Wonderful Awards

I have several ongoing projects with deadlines fast approaching so I feel as though I succeeded in getting some necessary stitching accomplished this week. I took a few pictures that I'll share in this post.

Julie and I had an idea last year and began in earnest several months ago. One aspect included silk screening and we felt ready to tackle that part when we completed Ginny Eckley's wonderful class.

Another part included crazy quilting and embellishing a panel approximately 2 1/2 yards in length. Not a small task for sure but I'm all but finished with this crazy quilted part. The project, when completed, will be a wearable art and for that reason I haven't incorporated much silk ribbon embroidery.

I especially love silk ribbon embroidery in my crazy quilted projects so the panel looks a little bare in spots. I will probably add motifs done on buckram which can easily be removed for dry cleaning. I'll save that for the final step, however.

When all is finished and the final touches are added Julie and I will post our creations. Hopefully all will work according to our plans.



Awards......

I would like to include in this post several wonderful awards given to me by some really talented fellow crazy quilters. I am always humbled by the compliments I receive and equally touched when I'm given this wonderful recognition in the form of these awards.

I'm going to mention two I've received along with links to the talented women who passed them on to me. I am touched by your thoughtfulness and thrilled by the fact that you considered my blog as worthy. Many thanks!

Cathy with Crazy by Design has honored me with this Kreative Blogger Award. I know you are familiar with Cathy's beautiful work and therefore understand how much this means to me. Thanks Cathy for your support and for taking the time to read my blog.


Another wonderful stitcher is Jerry with Sewing Southpaw It's such a thrill to have her recognition as well along with the Brillante Weblog Premio - 2008. Thanks Jerry!

WOW! I feel really blessed to be the recipient of these two special awards.

I will follow through with the terms associated with these awards and pass them on in a later post. Thanks again to Cathy and Jerry!

Looking Back

It's been said that time stands still for no one and that's definitely the case with me. My 10-year love affair with crazy quilting has taken me into many interesting and exciting venues. In 2004 I received an email from my dear friend Vic asking if I would consider creating a bra using any form of fiber art.

Vic had created a foundation known as WTWW or Way to Women's Wellness...a means to bring awareness to the issues of breast cancer. Her wonderful mom and sister were both struggling with the ravages of this disease and Vic was determined to bring the issue to the forefront.









A 2005 calendar was in the works but Vic needed more bras to create a display in various quilt venues. The first crazy quilted one was so much fun I decided to do a second one using a Texas theme.

Did I mention we had to create a story to go with these bras? WELL...I am definitely not a storyteller but I managed to follow through with this requirement.
Pictured here is the Texas themed bra done in denim and yellow roses. I used Angelina fibers for the state flag and Texas shape.

The straps just HAD to be made with rope in the form of a hangman's noose.

With these two bras completed my mind started to conjure up ideas for the following year. And so "Grape Expectations" was created. This was my favorite. I hand-dyed all the silk with the exception of the dupioni covering the bra. Each grape was individually created and strung with beads to hang in clusters. It was definitely a labor of love. Special thanks to my dear friend Stephanie for coming to my rescue by writing my story.

And finally "Opposites Attract" was born. The story just created itself as the bra came to life. The love story of Oscar the ostracized ostrich and Francesca the flamboyant flamingo. One of my dear friends and beader extraordinaire did the beading. From only a drawing I did she created these beautiful birds. I covered the bra in a free-form crochet. The rolled roses are made with Hanah silk ribbon as well as the blades of grass.

I would like to say "thank you" to Vic for including me in this wonderful creative vision she had. Her talent and creativity have touched many lives and the funds raised through calendar sales have been donated to various breast cancer research centers. How rewarding it has been to have played a small part in this gigantic endeavor.

The 2007 calendar was the last one created but WTWW lives on through our yearly wall hangings. I would invite you to visit our Flickr site and see the fabulous blocks that have been created over the past several years. Vic donates the wall hangings to various cancer centers throughout the United States.

Note: If you are interested in having the three calendars I believe they are still available through Ribbonsmyth as a gift set.

Silk Screening Class with Ginny Eckley

I had such a great time in my weekend class with Ginny Eckley. She is an excellent instructor and makes the two-day class a wonderful learning experience. Ginny is truly a gifted artist!

We all had the opportunity to make our own screens and I did my rose, of course. On the second day we transferred our design onto a beautiful silk scarf. My finished project is pictured on the right.

The only difficult part of silk screening is getting the correct registration when you're working with a second screen. I haven't mastered that but I intend to do lots of practicing until I do get it right.

Weekend Class with Ginny Eckley

Julie, Melanie and I are leaving later today to spend the weekend in Kingwood. Ginny Eckley, renown fiber artist, author, instructor, and silk screening expert, is holding a class at her studio and we are really excited with this opportunity to learn a new technique.

Julie and I became interested in silk screening when we attended the Tomball retreat and met Connie. I've posted her beautiful work earlier but have attached one of the photos I took. Connie graciously invited us to her home to experiment. Needless to say, we were so impressed and knew signing up for Ginny's class was a must.

Three of our Tomball friends, including Connie, are taking the class and we look forward to a fun weekend.

Julie and I are currently working on a special project which will include the silk screening along with our crazy quilting. We will keep you posted on our progress.

SPECIAL THANKS to all of you who have commented on my work. Your kind words mean so very much to me. I've always been fascinated with roses. In the 70's I had to take cake decorating to learn how to make them in frosting. I painted with oils and acrylics during that period as well. Now that I've found silk ribbon embroidery and Hanah silks I think I am finally satisfied.