I've been keeping secrets from you ... but they can now be revealed!

When I first received my member's invitation to attend The Quilling Guild event this past weekend, I had to decide whether or not to enter any of the competition categories in the annual display of work. It didn't take me long to decide that I would! Having made that decision, however, I had to set about creating the quilled pieces for my entries - and, of course, I had to keep them closely under wraps!

Now that the competitions are over, I can reveal the pieces that I entered into some of the other categories, and will post pictures here on Quilliance over the next few days.

First up is my 'Quilling In A Frame', for which I decided to create a quilled version of my favourite butterfly - the Small Tortoiseshell. Now, instead of just drawing the outline of the wing markings and filling them in with quilled marquises, I took my inspiration from an ornamental flower-bed and decided to create my butterfly's wings from flowers. So I used fringed flowers and folded roses to create the patches of colour on the wings, just as garden designers in English parks create pictures using flowering plants!

Here it is, mounted up on top of the glass within an unusual frame:

And here you can see it with some of the other 'Quilling In A Frame' entries on the competition table:

As soon as I saw the superb quality of the other wonderful entries, I doubted that my butterfly would stand much chance in the voting process, and so it proved ... but I'm still very proud of it!!

Here's a close-up section of the quilled flower shapes that I used for the wings. Maybe this is an idea that others would like to try?