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.

A Special Surprise...

It's definitely time to sit down and take a few minutes to post some of the happenings in my small world of stitching and creating. I'll begin by sharing a very special day with you. Last week I received an unexpected surprise in the mail from Leonie - a dear online friend. I opened the package with a great deal of excitement - I could not imagine what she would be sending me.

Inside was a fabulous book on roses...every species and color that you can imagine and many that I had never seen. Leonie said she had seen the book while shopping and thought about me and my love of roses. What a wonderful act of kindness and how special it made me feel! I will always cherish this wonderful book.

Of course, I had to sit down immediately and go through each page. Not only was I inspired by the beauty of each rose but also the glorious colors. I plan to set aside a day and attempt to recreate some with my dyes.

One rose stood out among the many contained in the book and over the weekend I attempted to recreate it in silk. Although it does not do justice to the absolute beauty of the rose, I was pleased with my first attempt. It's called a da Vince rose and has a four bud center. I've created the center with 34 individually cut petals using Hanah silk ribbon.

I've shown my book to everyone I've seen including my sister, Dorothy. She shared what her pastor had spoken about in one of her recent sermons. When unexpected acts of kindness occur in your life it's God's way of saying He loves you. Thank you, Leonie, for your thoughtfulness and for thinking about me in such a special way. You will never know the joy it has brought me.

Pictured here is the rose I created this weekend - I will always think of it as Leonie's rose. I look forward to working with the design and perfecting this beautiful rose in silk.