Butterfly embellishment for an assemblage curated by my aunt

 My aunt, Maria, is an artist and about a year and a half ago she challenged the female members of our extended family to produce a piece of fabric art from which she would create a large piece of art which she would label Family Connections.  She received several submissions early on and others continued to trickle in.  In all she received 11 submissions and she added one of her own creations as well.  

She requested that I add a butterfly to the top left.  She had started an outline and I was free to add, embellish or replace it.  I chose to remove the outline and added a fabric die cut in blue.  I used blue shimmery rayon thread to stitch the outer edge down with small stitches close to each other and then added a row of small stitches on the inside of the edge going along it.  Then, I added a layer of shimmery silver paint and added more stitching once it was dry.  I did the outline of the top and bottom of the wings in the same blue thread and then added some yellow accents in the same shimmery thread - little stars and two rows of back stitching on the outside edge and seed stitches on the inside of the top of the wings.  Using multi coloured variegated rayon thread I added lines of stitching to the bottom portions of the wings.  It was fun to work on this little embellishment and much more fun to see all the other pieces of fabric art that had been submitted.  Her sister added the border and the loops at the top for hanging.   We are having a family reunion this summer and it will be on display and part of the Silent Auction.  

Therese