Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Sea stars (not starfish)





Today's dose of color comes from SEA STARS, which are commonly called starfish. They are NOT FISH, but they are common here in the waters of the Puget Sound. I'm learning more than I ever could have imagined about them -- and about sand dollars, tube worms, anemones, crabs, shaggy mouse nudibranchs and other intertidal life -- for a column I'm writing. (My other gig is monthly columnist for the Gig Harbor Peninsula Gateway.) I took the top picture at the Seattle Aquarium and my daughter took the bottom one at a nearby state park. That big pink one on the beach is at least 15 inches across.

Below is part of my latest quilt, called "Starfish Rising," which I labeled before I realized that I should call it a sea star.



And here is another detail, showing the gorgeous hand-dyed perle cotton thread that I bought some years ago from Laura Wasilowski of www.artfabrik.com. It languished in a basket until I recently started following Laura's "Thread-u-cation Thursdays" blog spots, featuring a different embroidery stitch to use on quilts each Thursday. Thus inspired, I pulled out her thread and started stitching.

2 comments:

Laura Wasilowski said...

Hi Sherrie!
Your sea star is beautifully stitched. I love how the colors of the thread dance around the little star.

Sherrie Spangler said...

Laura -- Thank you! Thank you! Most of the credit goes to your beautiful thread, which I must buy more of very soon now that I'm bitten by the embroidery bug.