Thorn stitch

After the chain braid stitch this thorn stitch was a piece of cake! I had a lot of fun with it and my square was filled with embroidery very quickly. I used 2 threads of stranded DMC for most of it. Only the red one on the left side is done in perle 5 for the long straight stitch and stranded DMC for the thorn stitch, but both have the same colour (498). The blue thread is a fantasy knitting yarn and I couched it with 2 pink threads of stranded DMC. I used some of the larger thorn stitches again as the base of a new thorn stitch. You can see it in the small red example and the small green and pink example. It’s a great freestyle stitch.

Heather

This is the autumn dotee I made for the same swap I wrote about yesterday. I made it for Jean in Australia. I used fabric with autumn leaves and leave beads. Her face is printed on transfer paper and then ironed on fabric (and on the cover of my ironing-board!!). I did some needle turning appliqué to attach her face to her body. For her hair I used the same fluffy yarn as for Miramar, one of my first dotees. But this time I crocheted a wig and sewed it on her head.

Sunflower dotee

Yesterday my first swap of 2010 arrived from Latvia. Kati made a beautiful dotee for me. She used seed beads for her face, I like it very much. When I tried to make a picture, Cindy was very curious!I have put my new dotee on my daughter’s blanket for this picture, just because it’s very black. The blanket is not finished yet, only 11 squares to make! This morning I have set a timer when I started a new square; it took me 12 minutes.

Chain braid stitch

. . . is the next TAST-stitch I tried. The top one is done in purple perle 5. Then I tried it in a variegated cotton thread with a firm twist that has the same thickness as DMC broder special. It’s a tricky stitch, but I like it.

Flip flop

I made this crazy flip flop ornament for a friends birthday. It is stretched over 2 old CD’s with some batting on the front and without the batting on the back. Then I sewed them together with a hanging loop and decorated this seam with some ribbon.This is a close-up of the drizzle stitches. There’s a bigger picture of the ornament on my Flickr-page with info about the stitches.

Pekinese stitch

I first tried this stitch on an evenweave fabric with perle 5. I made a Pekinese stitch in yellow and red (bottom) and a double Pekinese stitch in red (top). They both have green backstitches.My second experiment was a Pekinese stitch on a circle. I used a piece of unbleached cotton and 3 threads of stranded DMC in 2 shades of green.

This was a very easy stitch, the next one looks very tricky!

Work In Slow Progress 3

First the bad news! While I was sewing the binding to this little quilt, I saw some damage on 2 places! To draw the quilting lines I used a marker that you can remove with an iron. The marker disappeared, but it left a bleached line! This happened because I used fabric that was not washed, so the chemicals in the fabric reacted on the chemicals in the marker. On the white fabric I used a water soluble marker. The water I had to use to remove it made the red fabric bleed to the white fabric beside! Luckily I didn’t use much water, so it’s not so obvious.And now the good news! Hidden in the back of my cupboard I found the embroidery for the label I made a long time ago. I used a pattern from the same book as the other patterns.

Now I only have to embroider the text on it (I don’t like to write it). And I have to finish sewing the binding at the back of the quilt. This is the matching fabric I used for it.

New fabric

On Monday I saw some great fabric; I needed that kind of fabric for my Civil War Diary quilt! On Tuesday Nadia sent me the link and I found the perfect fabric. This morning it arrived and they are lovely. I added them to the fabric I already have and they work together very well. I think I have enough fabric now to complete all the blocks of this quilt.

Zig zag Spanish knotted stitch

. . . is my next TAST stitch. First I tried it with stranded DMC, but that didn’t work at all! Then I switched to perle 5 and that was much better. The pink line was the first I made. Then I tried a twisted one with 2 colours. I started with green and made the twist with yellow. After that I stitched a few lines in different colours very close together. I think it’s a nice stitch with a lot of possibilities.

Work In Slow Progress 2

As I wrote last Friday, I made some great progress on my Dear Jane quilt. I only need to quilt another corner triangle, a triangle on the right side and 7 triangles between the patched ones! This time I want to show you a small scrapquilt I started in 2005. The blocks are 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inch), the sashing is 2 cm (about 0,75 inch) and the border is going to be 3 cm (about 1,25 inch). For the boy on the right I used a webextra pattern of Quiltmaker Magazine. The other patterns are from my book ‘501 Quilt blocks’ by Joan Lewis and Lynette Chiles. I used scraps I got from my quilting friends and added my own fabric for the border. The sashing is pieced on a foundation (rasterquick). The quilting is done and the border is tied with tiny buttons. Now it only needs a binding, a hanging sleeve and a label!

Drizzle stitch

The drizzle stitch was not completely new to me. I did a few of them on my Assisi dragon (above his head in medium pink). But now I was inspired by Elizabeth’s beaded drizzles. It took me some time to figure out how to do that. I added the beads before I made the cast on loops. Then I slid a bead down after every 3 loops and I ended with a bead on the end of the drizzle stitch. I made drizzles with only a bead at the end and drizzles without beads too. I tried different threads: DMC broder special (orange), 4 threads of stranded DMC (red) and perle 5 (yellow). It’s a great stitch, but difficult to photograph!

An old and a new friend

Yesterday I spent my morning quilting the top right corner of my Dear Jane quilt. I neglected her for many months, but I promised her to spent more time together. This corner was a great start, because it needed a lot of stitches. On the picture you can see it with a triangle I quilted last year, but I forgot to take a picture.After that it was a small step to introduce Jane to my new jar. I bought it a few months ago to use as a button jar, but I thought it’s a great TUSAL-jar.

I started on 3 January 2010 with the twisted satin stitch. I also made a scissorfob for my daughter and I tried 2 TAST stitches: the drizzle stitch and the zigzag Spanish knotted stitch. I will write about them later.

Empty room

This is how my daughter’s room looked like after she moved into her new home yesterday. Therefore a treated myself today; I spent a lovely morning with an old and a new friend. I will show you some pictures tomorrow.

Southern Notes

. . . is block 16 for my Civil War Diary quilt. I used a foundation (Vlieseline L11) to make it.

Twisted satin stitch

For this stitch I first used orange DMC broder special in the right bottom corner. Then I tried a full thread of green stranded DMC above it. That was not a success, the stitch is hardly visible. Then I switched to perle 5 in red next to it and that worked very well.
I also found this stitch in my embroidery book ‘Embroidery Stitches’ by Mary Webb and she suggested to use 2 colours or a coarse thread to highlight the twist. I made 2 rows of satin stitches in perle 5 to try that, one in black and one in green. For the green row I used yellow perle 5 for the twist and I altered the direction in some stitches. For the black row I used green perle 5 for the first 8 stitches and pink knitting yarn (Himalaya Evan from this cardigan) for the remaining stitches. The row in orange DMC broder special and yellow perle 5 is a variation. Instead of going through the same holes to make the twist I went through the fabric a little left at the bottom and right at the top. Then I tried some beaded stitches with orange DMC broder special. First a few like Sharon described and then I added another bead after the twist before you make the last stitch. It’s a nice stitch for my crazy quilting.

Pot-holders and a blanket

This week I finished 2 sets of pot-holders for my daughter, so she can start cooking. We bought the yarn for it last summer! They are on top of the blanket I’m making for her. I wrote about it here. The blanket is very black and still not easy to photograph. It’s nearly done, only one row to finish and then the last row.

Lace border stitch

This was the last TAST stitch I worked on in December. I used perle 5 in purple, pink and green, 4 threads of stranded DMC in yellow and a red cotton crochet yarn (Coats aida). I experimented with the size of the stitches, curves, corners, beads and weaving golden yarn through the stitches. The beads are on the thread, not the fabric. It’s a great stitch, I’m sure I will use it in my crazy quilting.

Notions

Yesterday I finished this set for my daughter. She’s moving out next week and needed her own sewing-box. She asked me to make a biscornu, a needlebook and a scissor-fob. She did not want a biscornu with embroidery, so I used different fabrics for it. The needlebook is made in log cabin on my mother's old sewing machine, it only has a straight stitch! I used aida for the cross stitch scissorfob. I put them in her sewingbox with some needles, pins, threads in different colours and a tape-measure so she’s ready to sew on a button!

Linked double chain stitch

This was my next TAST stitch. First I tried it with different threats (from top to bottom): DMC broder special, 3 threads of stranded DMC, perle 5 and organza ribbon. On the left I made a variation with perle 5.A few days later I made an ATC with this stitch on red felt and purple perle 5. First I embroidered a felt orange circle down with buttonhole stitches. I used those as a starting point for my linked double chain stitches. As a finishing touch I added some yellow beads.

Draft Threat

. . . is the last Civil War Diary quilt block I finished in 2009. I used a foundation (Vlieseline L11) to make this one. As always it’s completely done by hand.

Reversed buttonhole bar

During the holidays I took some time to work on the old TAST, because Sharon is starting a new one in March! If you want to now more about it, just read it on Pintangle.The next stitch was the reversed buttonhole band and I made two examples. The bottom one is in yellow perle 5 with 4 threads of stranded purple DMC. The top one is curved and I only used perle 5 in pink and green.

Work In Slow Progress 1

This year I wanted to give myself a boost to finish a few of my projects I started through the years. There are a few of them on my blog already. In January 2008 I wrote my last post (only in Dutch) about my Fancy cats quilt, but I never showed the result. The top is not finished yet, it still needs a border. In June 2008 I finished a wrought-iron gate with a cottage on the background fabric. I didn’t know what to do with it and I still don’t know. In August 2008 I wrote about a trapunto pillow. After that I finished the quilting part and forgot all about it! And in April 2009 I wrote my last post about my Dear Jane quilt. After that I quilted a few triangles, but it still isn’t finished!But there’s more! From time to time I want to show you some of my work in slow progress (WISP). I don’t want to call them UFO’s (UnFinished Objects), because I’m still working on them! Today I want to show you a special embroidery project I started in 1981!!! It’s an embroidery of the Gorse Fairies (35 x 45 cm or 14 x 18 inch) and it was a birthday present from my DH, at that time my boyfriend. I haven’t seen it for many years and I looked at it a few weeks ago. I carefully ironed it on the back and made a picture. The bigger part of it is done, so I really want to finish it this year.