Today's blog hop is really exciting...the creative team at StencilGirl is creating with brand new stencil designs by Michelle Ward. These stencils are just being made available to you for the first time today and we've been asked to keep them a secret until today's reveal!
Ta da! Here they are...you can click on the images for links if you want to start shopping right now...(I'm thinking all 4 of them would work so well together in some surface design for art quilting!), but...
maybe you'd like to see how I used 'RIPPLES' first (that's the second one in the top row, with the wonderful concentric circles).
I started with a piece of rust dyed fabric that I made several months ago and I traced the entire stencil onto the fabric using pencil. I often 'take stencils apart' and only use bits here and there in my design, but for what I'm planning Michelle's composition is perfect just as it is!
I outlined the pencil lines using three strands of blue DMC floss and a simple running stitch. A finer variegated taupe/blue thread was used to outline the background areas in the same manner. 
I filled the background areas using French knots and seed stitches. I switched back to the DMC, this time using a single strand and began filling the circles in with straight stitches. A single strand of a rust coloured floss was used to add additional stitches in the areas between the 'rings'. 
Here are a couple of close ups of the stitching:
I'll back on Wednesday to show you how I used this little six inch piece of stitching. Until then, enjoy the rest of the hop!
Great news...StencilGirl has a giveaway!
All comments left on the hop are eligible for the giveaway so
the more blogs you comment on, the more chances you will have to win.
Have fun and GOOD LUCK!
The giveaway will close on Friday, January 31th at 11:59PM Central Time.
Please note: I have discovered that blogger will only allow/show 200 comments, including my relpies so as much as I love to leave personal thank yous to each of you, I have stopped replying to make sure your comment shows up and therefore gets entered in the draw. Please know I appreciate all of your thoughtful words!
Blog Hop Order
Linda Kittmer-You are here!
Julie Snidle - Hop to see Julie next please...
