I recently returned to an old fiber arts project that I started probably 20 years ago.
It’s not uncommon for artists to have multiple projects going at any one time, or for us to start a project and either set it aside for a [long] while or abandon it altogether.
This particular project started with a challenge fabric. I was part of a quilting group at the time and that’s where the challenge came from. Using one yard of a beautiful fabric with butterflies in oranges, greens and gold on a black background, we had to make something using quilting techniques. This was a quilting group, after all, and all those years ago, they noted how expensive specialty quilting fabrics were getting. Could you make something interesting that didn’t cost much by only using one yard of fabric? By choosing one specialty fabric for everyone who joined the challenge, we would be able to see how each of us came up with something different.
Obviously, I didn’t finish the challenge (ha!), but I’ve kept my unfinished piece with my other fiber arts pieces, figuring I’d pick it up again eventually.
I finally caught up with eventually … or it caught up with me, with a little inspiration from our guest bedroom.
I hung a bunch of art around the house in late spring, including several pieces in the guest bedroom. Three of those pieces included butterflies.
We have a print of Monarch butterflies by Margot Johnson.
Margot Johnson was a 1960s-era pop artist whose designs were sometimes turned into needle art kits. My husband found her framed butterflies while out picking one day several years ago. He also happened to find a piece of framed needlework that appears to be one of Margot’s designs. This is also hanging in the guest bedroom.
In addition to these pieces, we have a framed print by Ralf Berg that is simply titled “Butterfly” hanging in the room.
After hanging these, I remembered my unfinished fiber arts project with the butterfly challenge fabric.
Here’s the state my wall hanging was in when I picked it back up recently. I figured if I finish this, it would be perfect hanging over the bed in the guest room.
I had decided to really play up the butterfly fabric by creating four butterflies on the hanging, two made from the specialty fabric, two of complimentary fabrics.
Note that only one of the butterflies has a body. If you look closely, you’ll see the black beading thread I was using to applique seed beads to create the body.
With only a few hours of work, I was able to add the rest of the beaded bodies to the butterflies.
But, there’s a problem.
I used light peach seed beads for one of the bodies of the butterflies made from the challenge fabric and it practically disappears into the background.
I used dark green seed beads for the body of the other challenge fabric butterfly and that works much better. I’ll be removing the peach seed beads and redoing that body before adding some finishing touches. Then, I’ll be able to add a backing and border and the piece will finally be done.
Honestly, what took me so long to get back to this?