Seeing BUGS

I have been stitching bugs and unlike most quilters I don't seem to have a large collection of thread, I think this is going to have to change. Some of them have been stitched using regular embroidery floss and I am finding that since this piece is being handled a lot, the thread is looking a bit "hairy", not liking this at all. You can see what I mean with this spider and flying insect.Then I began using a single strand of some machine embroidery threads I have, they look like rayon but are actually polyester. I have stitched them in a style similar to Kantha stitching inspired by a piece Bev White showed us. Here they have been done in positive/negative for a rather interesting effect.

I have now added a very thin layer of batting and plan to do some hand quilting on this piece. Great for relaxing outside on the deck.

Stitching Insects

I am still just playing with that little crazy quilt piece. I added a bit more fabric to the outer border to give me more stitching space. I am currently making up insects (all in greyscale) using black, greys and white threads
So far I have completed some ants and a couple of moths.
It is really like doodling with needle and thread in place of a pencil.

Workshop progress

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to spend the day in a Crazy Quilt workshop with Bev White. Bev is truly a gifted artist with a generous spirit, wonderful sense of humour and is a tremendous source of inspiration. Still, she managed to keep us on task and by the end of the day I had 4 triangles stitched and ready for embellishment.
I decided to pair them up with that discharged Moth I did earlier. So I added a bit of fabric to make everything meet up and intend to display this one on point.I chose to do this in a black/white/grey pallet but quickly began to realize that my stitches don't really stand out. It seems that it all appears to be part of the fabric prints. Here are some close ups of some of the hand stitching.


This webThis SpiderThis winged creature was created by taking a piece of lace, cutting it up and re-arranging.

Do you see what I see? I see a great similarity between crazy quilts and the newest craze of Zentangles, do you?
Still lots to be done to this piece.

Going Crazy

Next week I will be taking a "Crazy Quilt" workshop.........I have never had a desire to make a crazy quilt but this workshop looks to be lots of fun so I am in. I, of course, will want to do something just a wee bit different so I have decided it will have a "bug" theme. I plan to use a black and white pallet and incorporate some of my doodles.
I have been gathering a few insect fabrics but I wanted some little trims as well, so today, with the help of my printer and a piece of TAP, I printed images, which I then transferred onto twill tape and even a piece of white selvage.
Next I took an image that I printed twice, (the ruler is just for scale)
with some fusible pressed to the wrong side of each and carefully cut out, I was able to create this little double sided moth that can flutter somewhere on the piece.
It will be a nice addition to some of the little metal bits I have collected as well.