Butterfly Kaleidoscope
24" x 25.5", May 2025
Cotton fabrics, 3-strand cotton embroidery floss, metallic thread. Fusible web appliqué. Hand-quilting along stem lines, pillowcase finish.
Technical challenges:  Worked on this piece for over a year because I'd never stopped to consider what to do with it once the butterflies were in place. Tried many arrangements of the little hexagons (this is version 4.0) and then restarted the embroidery several times because stitches and/or colors were not right. Pieces attached with fusible web did not appreciate being in an embroidery hoop and began to fall off so I had to keep switching hoop sizes. Green leaves were originally embroidered as well and this was just not a good idea; replaced them with fabric. Then the original border seams did not square up and had to redo them. To be honest, some of this was not fun. But I like the final result.