Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

I appliqued the butterflies to the background. The rows get further apart going down. I put on the bodies and about three quarters of the antennae. The antennae are two strands of embroidery floss using "whipped reverse chain stitch." Basically, just do a chain stitch (or reverse chain, depending on which direction you like to chain), and then whip through each chain in the link. In this case, I used the same thread for both, but I'm sure you could whip it with a different color for an interesting effect. In the end, it looks like a stem stitch, only thicker. The area at the side where the stacked fabric shows will likely be covered after the embellishing embroidery goes on. In the class example version , the brown bodies were smaller than the base, and the colored base showed all around the brown body piece. However, using the templates in the pattern, the edges were even. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay Previous Butterfly / Sue Spargo post, here .

Mitchell and I are on a snow day, and I finished appliqueing the background pieces for the Butterfly Sampler. The basic instructions are to use a monochrome background. I thought the "off-white" might be a bit boring, but it helps if you call it, "Champagne." Hah! I made it a little bit bigger than instructed... and my butterflies will be a bit further apart. The example in " Creative Texturing " had two perpendicular rows of blocks, edged with ribbons, and a single circle. I went with three, obviously. Here are a couple in closeup. These will be fund to embellish with embroidery... The book also had three little hexagon flower elements, which I decided to do, as well. I found the " English Paper Piecing " (EPP) unexpectedly fun to do. Now, I suppose I'll end up collecting little hexagons in a box , somewhere... I'm ready to sew on butterflies! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay Previous Butterfly / Sue Spargo post, here .

Before diving into the butterfly sampler , I made a needlebook. This gives me a way to organize all the various needles for the embellishment, but it also gave me a chance to try Sue Spargo's Creative Stitching and Creative Texturing techniques on a slightly smaller project. The circle design on the cover was modeled after one of Sue's circle samplers . I used a wool felt for the red book base, and then layered quilting cottons, ribbon and rick rack. The closure uses a pony-tail elastic band. Taffeta circle edged with beaded coral stitch using silk ribbon. Batik quilting cotton edged with rosette chain stitch using oriental linen thread. Silk Shantung with chain stitch using Valdani Pearl Cotton #12. Wool fabric edged with bullion knots using DMC Pearl Cotton #5. The pages are craft felt. I printed the labels on printable fabric. There is a closing pocket in the front (with another ponytail elastic) and a non-closing pocket in the back cover. I went ...

Some time ago, I ran across the Sue Spargo " Embroidering Texture and Dimension by Hand " class on Craftsy. I've watched the whole thing and started collecting wools, threads and embellishments to make the butterfly sampler that is part of the class. (This class is half off right now, for Black Friday weekend.) I am completely buried in Christmas quilting, and so I haven't actually started making the butterflies. I became very aware of and interested in Sue Spargo's work right at the time that her web site announced sign ups for next year's "block of the month" club for 2016, " Cuppa ." I signed up for it and will anxiously await the first kit in the second week of each month, starting in January. There are ~1000 people signed up, and kit mailings are spread out over the weeks of the month. I got week two. Unfortunately, the club is "private," and no social media info about it is allowed, so I won't be able to post prog...