Meet the Party Animals...

This is Helene. She was stitched during the summer hurricane of the same name. And she was stitched in response to a fun little challenge issued by our Fiber Art Bee. She's pretty dolled up and ready for a party. Do you love her bow and fancy twirl skirt?

Helene from the back- every bit as fetching!

Bee member Sheila Hiss crafted Spotsalotte for her challenge project. I believe she began as an empty bottle that got slip-covered. Cork legs, snout and a magnificent hair bow make her quite irresistible.

A damselfly was the creation of member Merri McKenzie. Merri favors soft sculpture projects of the flying kind. I'll share the cute damselfly she gave me at Christmas in a later post. But this one needed to meet certain parameters which you'll see below. 

It all began at a guild meeting at a table of yarn for sale. I knew I didn't need any yarn, but that never stops me from looking. Lo and behold I saw a skein of the spotted chiffon ribbon shown in the photo. I purchased it, thinking that I'd bring it to Fiber Art Bee to see what they might do with it. After showing it to a couple of other members, Merri commented that we could do an animal challenge. It struck Sheila that she had just passed up a length of giraffe print fabric on our "free table". She ran back to get it and our challenge took shape. Members who wanted to participate each got a 10" square of giraffe print and a one-foot length of leopard ribbon. One of our favorite things to do in FAB is to make up rules and then ignore them. So while we titled this the "Animal Challenge", members were encouraged to create anything they wanted as long as it included some of each print provided. They rose to the challenge and there were more than 15 entries. Unfortunately, I had to miss the meeting where they were revealed, so don't have pics of all of them. Suffice it to say, the creativity was over the top and included quilts, quilted bags/totes, wall hangings, a whimsy house, an owl, and even a sleep mask! Such quilty fun with friends.