Crazy block finished

I finished my first crazy block! I started this one to use some TAST stitches. But I ended with some Stitch Explorer challenges: spiral trellis stitch and needleweaving! The size of this block is 8 x 8 inch (about 20 x 20 cm). And I made a new block, it's smaller: 6 x 6 inch (about 15 x 15 cm). I'm planning to make more blocks in this size, so I can make a quilt.

Shades of orange and hot pink

. . . is the name of the beautiful ATC Nadia sent me for one of my Scrappy Hearts. She made 6 ATC's in these colours and I'm happy to have one of them.

Groninger blanket block 32

I finished another block for my blanket. This is the last pattern of the original blanket. Now I'm knitting the bonus pattern.

Mickey

I made this ATC for the Fantastic Fibers ATC swap for Samantha. She's a big fan of Mickey, so I embroidered one for her. The embroidery is made on unbleached cotton with a batting. I used backstitches for the outlines and filled them with straight stitches and satin stitches. The edge is a looped edging stitch, a variation of the buttonhole stitch. Tricia's Under the Sea ATC was the inspiration for my edge!

Sorrow

. . . is the name of the next block of the Civil War Diary Quilt. I altered it a little, the original has 3 bars in the centre of the star. I used freezer paper to make it.

Totally Useless SAL June

This is my TUSAL-jar after 3 weeks. On the bottom you can still see the threads of my needleweaving, that still isn't finished! The brown, yellow and purple threads are orts (thread ends) from this pincushion. Then threads from my crazy block, electric blue for my circus ATC's, pink for my pink ATC's and black for an ATC I'm still working on.
Update:
I used the black for this ATC!

A cat's life

. . . is the name of this gorgeous ATC. Elizabeth made it for me and it took 4 weeks to travel from the UK to my mailbox! The cat is a lovely wooden button.

ATC from Germany

Yesterday my first ATC from Germany arrived. I like it very much. If you want to know how it's made, read it on the blog Stoffrest. She also wrote about our swap. I sent her one of my Hartediefjes.

Bonnet & Palestrina stitch

There was not much time to do something creative this weekend, but I did 2 more seams on my first crazy block. The first one I started with very light green in the bonnet stitch and some French knots. Around the knots I made a detached chain stitch in brown with a straight stitch on the bottom of it. I finished it with French knots in brown. For the second seam I used the Palestrina stitch with 4 threads of DMC. On the right side you can see a tiny piece of my needlewoven seam.

Scrappy Hearts

These ATC's are made with the paper arts collage technique of Trish Bee. I used origami paper for the collage and cardstock for the backing. I made a large collage, so I could make 9 ATC's with it. I still have some scraps of it, maybe I make some inchies of them. Only 2 of the ATC's are swapped with Tricia and Karlyn. You can take a look here, to see which ones are still available for swapping.

Tracey (left) and Peace made these lovely ATC's for me with this technique. Tracey made an inchie from the same collage. Peace sent me an extra ATC with a collage background.

Crazy apples

A few weeks ago I made this crazy ATC for Kelly. I used up and down buttonhole stitches in red with off-white bullion knots, green Basque stitches, blue herringbone stitches, yellow chain stitches with red and blue French knots and off-white buttonhole wheels.

Clown

Today I sent my ATC's for a circus swap. I will show them when my swap partners got them. This swap also inspired me to make a clown. It's a design I made when I was a child. I don't know if it was a pattern or that I drew it myself. So if you recognize it, please leave a comment. It's done in cross stitches on aïda with DMC perle. The edge is an organza ribbon. I didn't swap it yet.

Icicle dolls

I made my very first icicle doll for Helen. I was inspired by her new reading glasses and I made her hat in crochet with fluffy yarn. I used this template for the doll. And yesterday this lovely icicle doll was in my mailbox. Lucy made her for me.

Pincushion

Two weeks ago I saw this lovely pincushion Ati made. She also had a link to her tutorial, so I could make one as a birthday present. I used batik and embroidered a flower. First I made a circle of backstitches and then the petals in double detached chain stitches. This way I could hide the beginnings and ends in the circle. Then I made a spiral trellis stitch. Because it's a large flower I stuffed it a little when I was halfway, so the flower will keep its shape. The ribbon around it is attached with fly stitches in the same colour.

Monkey

Julia made some lovely ATC's for me. She wrote on her blog how she made the monkey ATC and the inchies ATC. These ATC's are very funny with the tail of the monkey just outside the ATC and the 2 inchies in the pockets.

She also sent me a fabric postcard with the story of the ATC's. I think she's a very talented young lady!

I sent her one of my Hartediefjes and one of my Black and white ATC's.

Needleweaving 4

This is still my first crazy block! I did some needleweaving on a large seam. I was inspired by these freestyle woven bars. First I made straight stitches with brown and beaded some of them. Then I just started needleweaving in dark yellow to make woven bars in different sizes. You can also see a little bit of the Basque stitch in the upper right corner, which I made after that. There are 4 more seams to do and there is a large white space that just needs 'something'.

Sampler CP

I made Colleen this ATC for an embroidered ATC swap. I used her favourite colours and 12 of my favourite stitches. I started with the square spiral trellis stitch in lime green in the centre. In the bottom left corner I made some Persian openwork. It's a variation of this stitch I tried for the casalguidi challenge.

Needleweaving 3

I went on with this piece of embroidery. Because my fabric was not suitable for pulled thread, I had to try something else. I made long straight stitches (3 inch) from side to side. I secured every straight stitch with a backstitch to make a nice edge. I started weaving on the left side and just played with the threads. It reminded me of a shawl I made when I was a child on a piece of wood with nails. I remember how hard it was not to pull the thread too tight. But now it was my own design, so I played with the tension of the thread. The embroidery is now 1,25 x 3 inch. I think it will be a nice ATC when I make one more row of needleweaving below.

New SAL

I joined the Totally Useless SAL. It’s very simple: you put your orts (thread ends) in a jar and post a picture of it every New Moon. I started last Saturday with the orts of this embroidery, so this is the result of 2 days. I think it will be fun to see all the colours I use!