Small things!

This morning Sharon on Pintangle  highlighted a video on making little gift boxes.

 About 7 years ago I made a dozen or so using surface treated fabric from an exchange.  I have gifted all but this one so took a quick photograph to show my effort.

 

 

Now I just might have to try some embroidery on the fabric before I make another.

It would be a change from my current biscornu obsession

Satin Stitch

Satin stitch was Week 14 for TAST.  I am giving my TAST catchup rather out of order - why? -basically because I am a fairly disorganised person and these photos were the easiest to find.

This design is stitched on either end of a table runner  - the fabric is Lugano, the thread #8 DMC perle cotton - one of my favourite threads.   Lugano is not - I much prefer 100 % linen, however I had this fabric in my stash.  The design is part of a design from a recent Rakam - the marvellous Italian magazine.  It includes a hardanger square above the motif which I decided not to use.  I did find following the chart quite difficult - however that did not surprise me.

The doubled inch hem is in antique hem stitch - another  of my favourite things.  I was reasonably happy with the end result and can't wait to work my own design for the next one.  However that is on the back burner as much of my time is currently taken up with a Creative Embroidcry course from the NSW guild - however that is a story for another time.

Totally knotted!

Although I did add a few knots after the TAST stitch for the week was announced, this knot picture has been quite some time in hte making.  It was begun on a day when there was a need for colour in my life.  I love monochromatic colour schemes - especially white and cream but eventually I find the need to branch out into some wild colour work - I think I was working on , what seemed at the time, to be an interminable foursided hem on a cream table square.  The problem was what to stitch.  I thought I might be able to translate a picture using little knots.  I have intended to follow up knot pictures ever since I finished the knot garden I stitched from instructions in a book a few years ago.

I used a single strand of DMC floss and some 2/20 weaving yarn which is fortunately of much the same weight.

While I have not contributed any work with stem or satin stitch - I do have photos to add soon.  we spent some time at the beach recently hence the tardiness.

In the Beginning.....

Way back mid2007, there was a weaver who couldn't. To satisfy her yearnings she roamed the web looking at any reference to textiles.  The ancronym, "TAST" kept appearing on blogs with very little extra information.  Nonetheless, Google turned up Sharon Boggon's blog In a Minute Ago  ( a treat in itself) and, I think , her first Take A Stitch Tuesday series.   That seahorse on the same page  looked gorgeous -and ever the optimist, that weaver thought maybe, despite her lack of skill and experience, she could learn how to do something like that.   Sharon was to give a class, Sumptuous Surfaces.   ( The weaver is now a weaver who doesn't!  (but one day might!))

Of course I enrolled - but in the meantime there was  TAST.  I can not remember what the stitch that week was but it was definitely way out of my scope.  So back to the list to find something possible - Running Stitch.

The effort this piece took!  Oh dear, how was I ever going to manage to cope with Sumptuous Surfaces? Not many running stitches in that seahorse - but I was committed. The rest is history -   Sharon was very patient and a whole new world opened to me. This is where it all started   - my contribution to this week's TAST

  PS That seahorse is still on the to-do list!

Sprig muslim....?

 When TAST 2012 began I thought this might be an opportunity  to combine each month's allocated stitches in a carefully designed piece.  Easier said than done!  In fact I am still trying to decide what I want to stitch with the first 5 stitches for the year..

However February's stitches seemed easier to use- a biscornu seemed a logical shape for the chevron and chain stitches.  I already had stitched buttonhole and back stitch edging on both sides. The dark blue-green=yellow variegated Anchor #8 was darker than I wanted but the edge was already done and I decided that maybe it added to the design challenge

 .  After much deliberation I thought I could get something delicate looking with a pale pink contrast.  However it was like looking for Jane Austen and finding Emily Bronte on the bookshelf - the former, delicate like sprig muslim and the other, a tad dark, heavier and gloomy!

Nonetheless I persevered and used chevron and lazy daisy on one side.

  Then more chevron with zigzag petal stitch on the reverse.  This side used crossed chain with the whipping stitch couching a thicker apple green thread for a border..

 As well as couching this thread along two chain rows I used three detached chain to couch the thicker thread in each corner ( not as obvious in the photo as I would wish).  This is my only couching for the week's TAST stitching.

I am satisfied to a limited extent - I did manage to produce a finished piece using the month's stitches and, while I am not completely happy with my colour choices, I feel they are reasonably acceptable.

Now to get back to the design board and the 5 January stitches!

Early Again!

Well, on Tuesday I stitched my TAST for the week. I really love chain stitch - not sure why  i feel differntly about detached chain. Anyway chain stitch is the stitch of the week and here are some examples of my hain exploration.

This is something I did for my PLOS stitch exploration. I was very happy with it in 2007 and still am.

This time around I have decided to find some variations from Edith John's Creative Stitches

Yellow Finca #8; Variegated Anchor #8

From the top (enlarge fo a better view)
Tied Chain - three rows of chain - the top two tied with yellow, the bottom, with variegated.

Threaded Chain - a row of variegated #8 , threaded with #5 DMC yellow and tied with #12 DMC Black

Crossed Chain - two rows of chain (variegated) the first section is crossed in only one direction while the second is also crossed back

The next three rows are interesting - I was trying , fairly unsuccessfully, to follow the instructions in the book for Linked Chain  - I left the erroneous ones deliberately.  The bottom row in yellow is I think correct.  Interestingly Linked Chain is really linked detached chain.

This is followed by a row of variegated Barred Chain.

Alternating Barred Chain , in yellow.

The last row is what Edith calls Triple Chain - again  I tried something different towards the left - not very obvious in te photo but the little detached chains are at a slight angle to the vertical. Next time I would probably slant them further.


There are not many of these stitches I would use in my embroidery. A pity I am not a crazy quilter! The only purpose I can think of is in, possibly, a biscornu on Aida. I like ordinary, everyday plain chain as an outline stitch and, sometimes, as a filler. However I had lots of fun trying these variations (also it is an excuse to use the psychedelic thread).

Detached Chain

Although I am posting two days earlier than usual, sadly I can't get very excited about week 7 in TAST  - it is detached chain, daisy, lazy daisy or whatever.  There are not too many new ways I can use it without adding other stitches.  Finally I decided to add it to my Fly Stitch spiral - an excuse to use a different Anchor variegated cotton.  This pale one is much easier to manipulate than last week's strident colours.

After chasing through my stitch books up came Edith Johns' Zigzag Petal stitch - a two way stem stitch with the addition of a detached chain in the middle of each stitch. 

Not a particularly well executed example - I definitely need to practise to get the stitches more even. However this gives the general idea of the stitch.  I usually work stem stitch without a hoop or frame and feel my control is good - however some tautness of the fabric might be a good idea for the chain stitch - something for me to remember in the future.