Wilma's Block - My Two Cents.....

My friend Wilma lives in the Netherlands and I was lucky enough to meet her in CT last spring. 

This was a block she did some years back for Sharon Boggon's online encrusted class and decided she wanted to make some changes...  She felt now that she has progressed that it isn't as encrusted as she would like. And since she asked for some opinions...of course I always have some.

Although everything she had done was exquisite, she was right in that it certainly had room for more encrusting...

You can go to her blog to read about her changes and she ended with what's on the right.  She replaced the lace motif with a butterfly, added ribbon flowers upper left and a bow lower  right.

She modified the spider web to make room for another butterfly and she added some more fabulous stitchery to embellish the image even further.

All her seams (every single one) are absolutely delightful.  But after all that she still wasn't completely satisfied and I offered to give her some suggestions..

There were just three circled areas that I would change if it were my block... It seems to me that the areas circled don't relate to the block as a whole or to other elements in the block.  She had a long narrow patch upper left and the flowers either need to be smaller, larger or moved.  The buttons on the green patch look a little lost.  And the ribbon is trying valiantly to fill  three patches.

She was absolutely right to remove the lace motif upper right but it only left her with ONE piece of lace on the block. and lace really is appropriate to this block... So the very first thing I would do is remove those buttons and add them to the button trail below and put a piece of lace over that patch with the butterfly extending over it.

Then  I would suggest moving those flowers from upper left and nesting them around the butterfly and on the lace..
Thus leaving the long narrow patch which either one or both seams could be extended to provide surface texture to that area.

Since the image is a period piece I would love to see either a topiary (with some foliage of bunny) or tussy mussy filling the lower right area....

That leaves the upper left to be filled in with something else of that period....  How about a lace fan with a ribbon....or maybe a tussy mussy there...?
Although the suggestions I made are minor they do complement all the other lovely work Wilma has done...

Even if she makes no changes it is a lovely block and my very favorite thing is the quiet lavender space she left next to the image. Please note!!!!. It is an extension of the frame and is just perfect... Well done Wilma!!!!

I would love to post any additional changes Wilma decides to make.... I just returned from the retreat and one of the things I enjoyed most was the discussions and exchanging of ideas about projects.

And that's