Cathy's Bees, Butterflies & Beetles RR Block - finished

This is the last of the BB&B blocks in this CQI round robin.  This is quite a large round block and most of the work on it is fairly small, so there is lots to see.   Arlene, Cathy, Meg and I worked on this block for Cathy. I wrapped a chain stitch scalloped seam with variegated silk ribbon.   I beaded the pink butterfly, did the row of SRE butterflies above it, and the chevron seam to the left.   In the centre of the block I did a needlelace/beaded butterfly.  It's wired so the wing does stay up.  On another patch I did a beetle showdown!  I put in the big beetle first and wondered what else to fill the block up with.  (No planning ahead here....)  In the end, three smaller beetles appeared and it became a bit of fun.   I also embroidered the lilac daisy and pearl seam which is above the butterfly and the below the beetles. 

Butterfly on Arlene's BB&B Block

This is a step by step, while I was doing it, account of how I made the butterfly on Arlene's BB&B RR block.

I began by tracing a picture of a butterfly onto tracing paper.  I cut away the wings from the body and tacked one wing onto two layers of a silvery organza ribbon.  I think that the ribbon was actually a bit metallic. 

Next I used a piece of the wire that I took out from the edges of the organza ribbon.  At the point of the wing where it would join the butterfly body, I couched down the wire following the edge of the paper.  I left a tail of about 1 1/2" at the beginning.  On the first wing I used white thread to couch with, on the second wing I used pink thread which didn't show afterwards because I used pink embroidery thread. 

 I used a single strand of a shiny rayon thread which I ironed flat first, and buttonhole stitched around the whole wing removing the paper pattern as I went along.  The tails of wire were a big nuisance, and I tried taping them down with Scotch tape to save my thread from forever getting caught.

I completed the buttonhole stitch and then did a little bead embellishment.

I added a bullion body and poked the wires through the fabric to the back, where I anchored them firmly.  I will sew a little piece of ribbon over the area with the wires.  I added the felers and a bead for the head