French knot & Lazy daisy ATC's

I’m doing a series of embroidered ATC swaps and Ingrid was my swap partner for the last two. Her ATC’s arrived 2 days ago from Canada. The left one is for the French knot swap and she called it ‘Abstract with knots’. It's very shiny, the picture is not so good! The name of the right one is ‘Bright flowers’. This one is for the lazy daisy ATC swap. My French knot ATC is still on it’s way to my partner in the USA and my lazy daisy ATC is not finished yet.

Raised herringbone band

Before I could try some new stitches, I had to prepare a new piece of fabric. This will be the third page of my fabric book. I use a big square with a seam, so it won’t fray. First I make four squares on it with running stitches (7½ x 7½ cm or 3 x 3 inch). Then I embroider the name of the stitch in backstitches, just outside the square. I use stranded DMC in black for that, 2 threads for the running stitches and 1 thread for the backstitches.The top raised herringbone band was the first one I made. The satin stitches are done in DMC broder special, the herringbone stitch in 3 threads of stranded DMC and the lacing with a metallic thread in blue and black. The second row is done in perle 5. When I made that row it looked good, but when I made this picture the laced thread was shifted! The satin stitches of the bottom row is done with 3 threads of stranded DMC. I used Sulky cotton 30 for the herringbone stitches and I laced it with gold thread. I need to watch my tension!

Crazy Monday 22

I didn’t work on my crazy Monday quilt for a few months, but now I attached a burgundy border. I made it large enough to fold it to the back when it’s quilted, so I don’t need a binding. Now I’m sewing down the seams on the back with a herringbone stitch while I’m thinking about the stitches I could add to the blocks. If you want to know the story of this quilt, you can read more in my crazy Monday posts.

Embroidered bookmark

Last month I was in a embroidered bookmark swap. I already showed the shabby roses bookmark I made here. Last Friday this cute bookmark arrived from the USA. My swap-partner wrote that she adapted a pattern from a Japanese embroidery book.

Fancy hem stitch again

I had a lot of fun with the fancy hem stitch. I show you a few details here. You can click on the pictures to see the details bigger. These 2 rows are done in perle 5 with silk wrappings. I only wrapped them twice, because the silk was very thick.The green row is done in perle 5 again and I used the same thread for the wrapping. This way it’s a very boring stitch. So I made a line with DMC broder special and I wrapped it with a shiny green thread. I don’t know what kind of thread it is, there was no info on the spool. It looks like a metallic yarn, but it feels like plastic! This thread was awful to stitch with, but I like the effect. I decorated this row with French knots.

This square is made of 9 shifted rows with no space between them. I made the blue hem stitches first and then I made the wraps in brown and beige.

If you want to see my complete sampler, just take a look at my Flickr-page.

African flowers

A few weeks ago I found this lovely hexagon flower on the African Flowers Flickr-group. The pattern is also translated, you can find them in the discussions of the group. Karin made the Dutch translation and she made a little variation, she made the flower petals in one color instead of two. I used orange and pink for the petals. My cotton yarn was a leftover from the pot-holders I made for my daughter. The green yarn was just enough, but there was not enough left to sew them together! Therefore I pulled out some stitches and crocheted them together in the corners. Now I have a lovely doily on my table.

Fancy hem stitch

This morning I made a few rows of the fancy hem stitch. For the top row I used 2 threads of stranded DMC. I don’t like the stitch in this thread and I made a mistake with the wraps, but I didn’t take the stitches out. The next 3 rows are done in brown and blue perle 5. I shifted the middle row. I like the effect of this, but it would be better to stitch the rows closer together. The last row is done with beads instead of the wraps. I made the hem stitches with red perle 5 and attached a pink bead after each stitch. On the return row I took the needle trough the beads again. I think this is a great variation for crazy blocks!

TAST 1-4

Last Thursday I introduced my first crazy TAST block and now I can show you the embroidery. I made a diamond stitch with yellow perle 5 and I decorated it with some detached chain stitches with 2 threads of stranded brown DMC.This knotted loop stitch is done with 3 threads of stranded DMC color variations.

My beaded Hedebo stitch is a variation of the one I saw here. I added an extra round of stitches and an oval bead in the middle of it.

I made the Portuguese border stitch on large foundation stitches and I made an extra stitch over 2 rungs. Now there are 3 thread next to each other instead of 2.

I decorated this block with a daffodil in organza ribbon. I used a pattern from the book ‘Beginner’s guide to silk ribbon embroidery’ by Ann Cox. The butterfly is made with stranded DMC: detached chain stitches and straight stitches for the wings and a bullion knot for his body.

This block will be the back of the sampler with the first 4 stitches, so now I can finish the first page of my fabric book. There’s a big picture of my complete block on my Flickr-page.

Rope stitch again

This stitch is very addictive, my sampler is already finished! This picture is a small part of it. I used the rope stitch from TAST and the rope stitch in Mary Corbet’s video. That one is also called raised rope stitch and it gives a nice thick line. I also added some French knots and beads. The bead in this picture was part of a swap with Nikki. If you want to see my complete sampler, just take a look at my Flickr-page.I want to make a fabric book of my TAST-samplers. The first 4 stitches are on one page and I want this crazy block to be the back of it. I’m going to embroider the same stitches on it.

Rope stitch

When I saw the name of this stitch, I thought I already knew it. I tried this rope stitch last year in my dragon, but it’s a different one and it’s also called raised rope stitch. First I tried a few rows of the new rope stitch. The top one in pink perle 5 and then two rows with 6 threads of stranded DMC color variations. I stitched one from right to left and the other one from left to right. The bottom one is done in red perle 5 and whipped with pink perle 5.My next experiment is freestyle embroidery with perle 5. I started with the rope stitch I already knew in electric blue. Then I used my leftover threads in my sewing box to make rope stitches around it and some French knots. I don’t think this part is finished yet.

This stitch is very addictive!

Work In Slow Progress 7

There was no finished WISP last month, but I did a lot of embroidery on my gorse fairies. I finished the cross stitches on the girl’s hair and I started with the backstitches on the hair that is hanging down and her face. The backstitches really brings it to life!

Buttonhole eyelet flower again

My sampler of the buttonhole eyelet flower is finished. You can click on the pictures to see the details bigger. The center of this pink flower is a sequin, sewed down with 2 threads of stranded DMC. For the bullion knots I used perle 5 again. Each knot has 15 wraps.This colorful experiment is made with a variegated cotton thread. First I made a buttonhole square and then I made 2 bullion knots with 15 wraps on each side.

My last flower is a big one. It is done in perle 5. I made a large buttonhole circle in 2 different yellows. I surrounded it with large bullion knots with 20 wraps! Then I made some knotted loop stitch leaves.

If you want to see my complete sampler, just take a look at my Flickr-page.

Buttonhole eyelet flower

These are my very first experiments with the buttonhole eyelet flower. I tried the flowers on the left side first with 5 petals and perle 5. The yellow/red one has 12 wraps and the yellow/ blue one 15 warps. I already had made a lot of bullion knots, but not with perle 5! I had trouble finding a needle that could be pulled through after wrapping. Luckily I found an old one, but I don’t think it’s an embroidery needle. I think it’s for mending socks! But it worked for now. As you can see, the petals of the flowers are all different. I had trouble dividing the circle in 5 parts. So I tried 6 petals on the yellow/purple one at the right side, but that didn’t help. The last one I tried is done with 2 threads of stranded DMC color variations. I used my quilting needle, as I always had done (I bought my first embroidery needles a few months ago!) and made 15 wraps for each petal. This time I had no trouble with the bullion knots, so I think I need another embroidery needle for perle 5.

Vincent

This gorgeous ATC arrived last Saturday. It is hand drawn by Jeannie with pastels on vellum. I’m very happy to have him in my collection, because Vincent van Gogh is my favourite painter. She also sent me some cute inchies. Thanks Jeannie!

Knotted buttonhole stitch

I finished my sampler of the knotted buttonhole stitch just in time before the next stitch is up! Unfortunately I started very late with it, so I’m quite sure I’m inspired by al the lovely examples I saw at the Flickr TAST-group. The row in my first picture is done with 4 threads of stranded DMC. I made the buttonhole stitches in different sizes.The next one is done in blue perle 5. I made 3 buttonhole stitches instead of 2 in two different sizes.

This row in DMC broder special is a combination of 2 of the same rows, but the second one is upside down. I stitched the buttonhole stitches in an angle.

I made the next row with light and dark blue perle 5. I switched colors in the first step of the stitch. I used 2 needles.

The last row is done in a variegated cotton thread. I alternated the direction of the stitch.

If you want to see my complete sampler, just take a look at my Flickr-page.

Shabby Roses bookmark

Last month I made a Shabby Roses bookmark for Mary, it is designed by Jennifer Reynolds. I did the embroidery with 2 threads of red stranded DMC 498 in backstitches and some French knots. I used the ‘boerenhemdensteek’ for the edge, but I don’t know the English name for it!And my thumb is much better, I can hold a needle again! Time to start the knotted buttonhole stitch tomorrow, I already saw a lot of great experiments.