Butterflies

The hand embroidery group had a swap in May that I participated in. It was a design challenge swap. We were all given the same pattern to stitch and paired up with a swap partner. This first photo is the butterfly that I stitched. The stitches used include chain, detached chain, stem, satin, and French knots. The purple outline on the outer edge of the wings is a line of single detached chains stitched perpendicular to the wings. The feathery effect is just what I was going for.



The second photo is the butterfly I received from DeAnn. I love the texture and the colors she used.

More butterflies can be found on the group blog here.

The pattern can be found by searching for "butterfly & lazy daisies" in the pattern library at needlecrafter.com.

I also received a piece of turquoise suede from Lin Moon a few weeks ago. Thank you, Lin Moon. It is so soft and yummy to touch. I had several ideas for it, but I haven't settled on one yet. It may end up in the little one's book. I've started sketching and listing ideas for the book in a visual journal and collecting fun bits to use. The hubby actually invited me to tag along with him to Joann's recently. I have the best hubby you could imagine. I restrained myself rather well so as not to discourage him. However, I couldn't pass up a bargain on a bit of bright orange furry fabric that will go nicely in a color themed book. I have a couple book ideas so far, basic kid stuff that will be in variously textured fibers, colors, numbers, family photos, and an alphabet book with all things cow related. I'm doing pretty well with that last one, but haven't thought of anything cow related for the letters A, I, O, V, and X. If nothing else comes to mind, I could do a cow playing the Xylophone, but I'd like to keep it a little more realistic than that. If you have any ideas, please send an email or leave a comment. Thank you to everyone who has left comments lately. I've really enjoyed them.