Mystery Exchange

For this month's challenge, we were each given a small, brown paper bag with a few items from another member. Our challenge was to use some or all of the items in a piece.



Linda Gardner: My items were Lutradur, green Mulberry bark, and a small spritzer of frosted, glittery spray. I decided to make a journal book cover. I could not think of how to use the Mulberry bark so I eliminated that. The background of the piece is from a photo printed on fabric. To enhance the iron gate, I satin stitched it with black thread, varying the stitch width. Two of the butterflies are made of Lutradur, sprayed with the glitzy spray. The third one is made from embroidered silk.

Joan Johnson: I was given a piece of organza that had been painted with Shiva Paintsticks. I am not sure if the shape is a giant comma, an embryo, tadpole or what but it was interesting. I scanned the painted organza, then printed it on cotton and some glittery organza. Using the original piece and the 2 new ones, I cut out some of the shapes because I like the negative black space around them. Some of the shapes at the edges of the fabric were incomplete. I used stitching to complete those shapes.

Marcia Kilpatrick: I received a handpieced, orphaned grandma's flower garden block, a delicate hanky, and a strip of decorative trim. I admit, I was stumped for a while. I folded the hanky then added the trim over one corner. I placed the block above those items and added a lot of beading. On point, the piece looks like a flower basket.

Melanie Johnston: I received colored bead wire and a handmade paper bead. The week before, I took a class with Christine Fries-Ureel and learned to make dimentional leaves, butterflies, bugs etc. I decided to incorporate the wire into a piece using the techniques I used in Christine's class. The butterfly, leaves and dragonflies are made using super solvy and free motion stitching. The flower is raw edge applique. The stem is yarn, sewn with a close zig zag back and front 3 times with 3 different threads. It makes a cool cord that can be used for a variety of things. I used the bead as a little bud. There is wire sticking out of the bead, from the main flower and as the butterfly antennae.

Cathey LaBonte: I received a piece of Asian style fabric in colors that I do not normally use. I painted the fans on the fabric with Jaquard Lumiere paints in earth tone metallics. I then cut the fabric into strips and added some batiks. I fused all the fabric to batting and did a lot of overstitching in a grid pattern. I used this "new fabric" to make a book cover for my journal. On the front, I used Jones Tones puffy paint to make a tree trunk and branches. After it dried, I painted it with browns and use some pearl-ex pigment to give it a little glitz. I added leaves made of Lutradur. Finally, I used a very cool button and a piece of ribbon to make a closure.