My Fiber Art Fusion group met last night for our annual Holiday meal. Imagine 13 artists crammed together in a dark corner of a popular restaurant giggling and laughing and eating. It’s so wonderful to be part of a group of people with such innovative interests. I got to catch up with Sharon Ahmed who I haven’t seen in ages — she has become a master Japanese embroiderer and has been asked to teach at the Japanese Embroidery Center here in Atlanta — only the fourth American to be given the privilege.

One of the benefits of going is an exchange. We are required to make a 5″x7″ piece and wrap it in a plain wrapper. We went around the table and everyone got to choose. We did it by the letters of our first name so I was last but everyone went home with a cool piece.

This is the fourth year I’ve been so I have a nice collection I thought I would share.

This year, I received this piece from Pamela Rishfeld. It is photo transfer with machine embroidery.

Last year I received this one from Vickie Lord. All that hand stitching really makes it shine.

My second year I received this batik wax piece from Diane Shulteiss.

And my very first year, I received this piece from Suzanne Freed. It makes me really miss the beach and the ocean.

And what did I do this year? In the past, I’ve done miniature portraits, but this year I decided to do something different and I made a snowflake.

I used a dark blue and white because I was thinking of indigo dyeing at the time. It is reverse machine applique and the smaller snowflakes are silver star sequins with pearl beads (it looked too blank without some extra embellishing — and small pieces are great opportunities to add beads).

I very carefully cut it out so I could have the reverse image of the blue snowflake to fuse on a white background.

And this is the back.

I’m thinking that I’ll add an O ring to the top & use it as a large ornament.

I wanted to use the dark blue on the back of the piece and quilt it with white thread so it would give an interesting back — but I didn’t realize until I finished it that it was now too dark for me to write on it — and I didn’t want to ruin the effect with a label — so I just embroidered 2011 on the front in white thread.