Crazy Monday 9

I finished block 8 for my crazy Monday quilt. The rickrack is attached with French knots and the flower ribbon with backstitches. There is a bigger photo here with more info about the stitches. This morning I made a new block with a bee.

Turtle

Last week I made a birthday card. I used this Quaker style pattern with 2 strands of red DMC 321.

Groninger blanket additional block 8

I didn’t do much knitting the last few weeks, but I finished a new block yesterday. I got the idea for this pattern while I was making dinner, because I used it for my hot pads too! I need to make 6 more blocks.

Pattern darning 1

Pattern darning is the August challenge for Stitch Explorer. It’s not completely new for me, I did some kogin in March. For this sample I used the same fabric (dark blue even-weave) and the same thread (ecru DMC broder special). I like the patterns Sharon mentioned in her challenge, so I used one of the narrow bands. The size is 2¼ x 3¼ inch, so I can make an ATC of it. I want to make my own pattern for my next experiment, so I have some designing to do!

Crazy Monday 8

This week I finished the embroidery on block 7 of my crazy Monday quilt. The little cupcake is embroidered: the cake is made of large whipped buttonhole stitches, I used spiral trellis stitches for the topping and a cast on stitch to make a cherry. I wrote about the other stitches on my Flickr-page.In my new block I used a lovely cat. I hope to do the embroidery on it this week.

Long and short stitch 1

Last year I skipped the long and short TAST stitch, because I thought it was too difficult. Now there are great long and short stitch shading lessons at Needle ‘n Thread, so I just had to give it a try. The stitches at my first 2 rows were a bit short, so I made them bigger each new row. I think it looks good for a first try. This is the first box of lesson 1, I have one more box to stitch.

TUSAL August

There are a lot of different colours in my TUSAL-jar this month. I did the embroidery on 4 new crazy Monday blocks. Just take a look at block 4, 5 and 6. Next Monday I’m going to write about block 7. There are also threads of 2 TAST stitches (rice stitch and knotted buttonhole band), a second contemporary embroidery experiment and a card for a new baby girl.

Update 2009-08-25: Block 7

Cleopatra

This lovely ATC was in my mailbox yesterday. It is made by Linda and I sent her one of my scrappy hearts.

Crazy Monday 7

Block 6 for my crazy Monday quilt. The size is 6 x 6 inch (about 15 x 15 cm). I received the button in a swap with Helen. You can see it bigger here with info about the stitches I used. This is my new block, I finished it this afternoon.

Bubble and squeak

I made these ATC's for a blue and yellow swap. I was inspired by these ATC’s. She made a great tutorial a few days later. I used yarn, fabric and sequins between bubble plastic. It was fun to see how it changed after ironing it between baking paper. I only swapped 2 of them, so the others are still available for a swap if you are interested. Take a look at the photo here to see which ones are available. I received these ATC’s from Colleen (left) and Alicia for the same swap.

It's a girl!

This morning we visited my brother and his wife to see their new baby. She was born on August 11. I used this lovely pattern to make a card. The embroidery is done with 2 strands of DMC.In the last few months I worked on a little quilt for my new niece. I used 4 patterns from the book ‘Teddy Bear Redwork’ by Jan Rapacz. My eldest daughter came up with the name of the quilt: ‘k Zag vier beren. This is Dutch for I saw 4 bears, an alteration of the Dutch song for children.

Buttonholed herringbone stitch

. . . is the name of the stitch I used for the last seam of my crazy Monday block. It is one of the stitches in my embroidery book: Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb. I was very happy with the result, it looks like scalloped lace. The foundation of this stitch is a large herringbone stitch. Then I made a buttonhole stitch over this foundation. Next Monday I will show you the block with the embroidery, but I wanted to share this lovely stitch.

Circus ATC's

Today there was a lovely clown ATC in my mailbox. Jared made it for me. The other ATC arrived last month from China and was made by MidiAna. She altered a Chinese playing card.

Crazy Monday 6

Block 5 for my crazy Monday quilt is finished. I wrote about the stitches and the crochet on my Flickr-page.My friend B surprised me this morning with a lovely scrap of fabric with teacups, teapots and a milk-jug. I used one of the China teacups in my next block.

I already did some embroidery on the block, so here’s a sneak peek for B!

Knotted buttonhole band

. . . is the TAST stitch I tried this week. First I used the aïda from my needleweaving experiment. The bottom row is the first I made. I made straight stitches with 2 strands of purple DMC and 3 strands of yellow for the knotted buttonholes. The top row is the same, I only used yellow.This morning I made a variation on my crazy Monday block. I used 4 strands of DMC for it. The straight stitches are ¼ inch wide and I made a double knotted buttonhole band. The rows on the top and bottom are stitched from left to right. The inside rows are stitched from right to left and decorated with beads. I will show the complete block next Monday.

Tumbling blocks

. . . is the next additional block for my Groninger blanket. I wanted something quilt related in my blanket and this was the perfect pattern. My second quilt was a tumbling block quilt! This knitting pattern is block 9 of Carla’s blanket. I only had to change the number of stitches and rows for the correct size.

Crazy Monday 5

I finished the embroidery on my next crazy Monday block. You can see a bigger picture of it here, with more info about the stitches I used. This morning I made a new block in a different technique. I started in the upper left corner with a teapot fabric. The other blocks are all started in the centre. I like both methods.

Contemporary embroidery 2

Yesterday I found some beer bottle caps I wanted to use for a crochet project. They where perfect for the idea that popped up in my head. My husband drilled holes in the edges, so I could attach them. I used an old jeans from my daughter for the background. I embroidered the outline in chain stitches, the hands in the Portuguese stem stitch with needlewoven points and a whipped wheel in the centre. The letters are done in backstitches. I used 4 threads of DMC for everything. Then I attached the bottle caps. I made large running stitches about an inch from the chain stitches to stretch it over a cardboard circle. I only have to stitch a piece of fabric to the back and make a loop. The size is 6,5 inch (about 16,5 cm).