40 blocks

The progress on my Groninger blanket is very slow. But the evenings are getting colder, so it's nice to snuggle under my blanket while crocheting the border. I'm working on the second row of single crochet.

I need almost an hour to make one round!

All thread ends are woven in, so I 'only' need to finish my border and weave in the last thread.

New stitches

In the last few days I added a lot of stitches to my second design for Sharon's Sumptuous Surface class. Most of them were new to me. The first one is a pulled thread stitch, single cross eyelet. Another pulled thread stitch, the hexagonal eyelet.

The last pulled thread stitch is the triangle stitch. It gives a nice pleated look.

The cushion stitch is a needlepoint stitch. This one was very easy.

Milanese stitch is also a needlepoint stitch.

I found the pulled thread stitches in the book 'Pulled thread embroidery' by Moyra McNeill.

Assisi train

I made this train 2 years ago for the Stitch Explorer challenge Assisi. This weekend we finally framed it to turn it into a gift for a dear friend. My husband made the frame and helped me framing it. I already wrote about this embroidery here, with a link to the pattern I used.

Inchie Sunday 7

This inchie is now part of this collection.

Hungarian braided chain stitch

Today I wanted to use a stitch that creates a thick line. I flipped through my embroidery books and found the Hungarian braided chain stitch. This stitch is very time consuming, but it looks beautiful. I used it for the border of my second design for Sharon's class Sumptuous Surface Embroidery. The thread is 1 strand of Caron Watercolours Sheherezade. Click on the photo to see it bigger.

Double threaded backstitch

These are the first stitches on my next design for Sharon's class Sumptuous Surface Embroidery. It's one of the 17 stitches in the new module 6 of her stitch worksheets. This stitch gives a nice edge, just what I needed here.

More rust dyeing

After my first experiment with rust dyeing, my collection of rusty bits grew. Last week my husband gave me a rusty tin box. I just had to try rusting fabric with that. I took a piece of white cotton and soaked it in a mix of water and vinegar. Then I just crumpled it in the tin box and wrapped the box in a plastic bag. The inside of my box looked like this after 2 days.

I rinsed my fabric in water, soaked it in water with soda for a few hours and hand washed it first. Then I washed it in the washing machine.

A detail of the upper right corner.

I like this little detail.

I'm sure I will use the same box again, the result is very pretty!

Sumptuous Surface Embroidery 3

This week's lesson for Sharon's class was all about colour. I've done a lot of colour exercises in my journal and share a few of them here. The first one is a complementary page in purple and yellow . . . . . . with a matching stitch sample in Bargello. Just had to try some needlepoint!

The second one is an analogous collage . . .

. . . with a matching stitch sampler in Cretan stitch, cross stitch and straight stitch.

The third one is another analogous collage . . .

. . . with a matching stitch sampler in Ermine stitch.

The last one is a split-complementary collage . . .

. . . with a matching stitch sampler in buttonhole stitches. The border is made of backstitches and running stitches.

These exercises and Sharon's feedback helped me a lot picking my colours for my next design. I hope to start stitching tomorrow.

Inchie Sunday 6

I made this inchie for the Stitch Explorer challenge needleweaving, but never blogged about it. I used too much glue to attach the aida to the cardboard! But I still like this inchie, it's part of my embroidery journey. This inchie started with an interwoven diagonal cross stitch with 2 threads of yellow stranded floss. Then I added blue needlewoven lines to fill the square.

Touch

My embroidery for the first part of Sharon's class is ready. The size is 4 x 6 inch. This is what I wanted to learn since I stitched my dragon! A detail of the left side. The bead is 1/2 inch or 1,25 cm.

The right side in a different angle.

It took me some time to figure how to stitch the tiny parts between the fingers.

There's a bigger photo of my embroidery at my Flickr page.

Coil stitch

One of the pulled thread stitches I used in my sumptuous surface embroidery is the coil stitch. I made some step by step photo's while I was stitching the part below the left hand. The coil stitch is a very easy stitch to try if you never stitched pulled thread before. Pulled thread stitches are worked with the fabric taut in an embroidery hoop or frame. The coil stitch is worked in rows from top to bottom.The stitches are worked over 4 threads and there are 4 threats between the stitches. You alway come up with your thread at the bottom of the row.

Make a straight stitch and pull tight.

Make a second straight stitch and pull tight.

Make a third straight stitch, but this time you come up at the bottom of the next stitch. Pull tight.

Continue stitching until you reached the last stitch of the row. Make a straight stitch and pull tight.

Make a second straight stitch and pull tight.

Make a third straight stitch, but this time you come up at the bottom of the next stitch in the next row. This stitch is between the stitches of the row you just finished. Pull tight.

Make a straight stitch and pull tight.

Make a second straight stitch and pull tight.

Make a third straight stitch and come up at the bottom of your next stitch.

Continue stitching in this rhythm.

If you take a look at my sumptuous surface embroidery, you see that I turned my work a quarter for a different look of the stitch.

Inchie Sunday 5

I stitched purple French knots on this inchie with 2 strands of floss. At the edge I sewed some organza ribbon with the same floss.

Knitted leaves

Last week I found a baggie in my stash with small items I had made to use as decoration for CQ. The only thing I had to do was weave in the thread ends! This was a pattern from the book '100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet'. The leaves are 4 cm or 1.5 inch.

Sumptuous Surface Embroidery 2

I've been stitching for hours these last few days on my embroidery for Sharon's class. It's fun to watch this grow!

The size is 4 x 6 inch (10 x 15 cm).

Inchie Sunday 4

Long time ago I made a collage from origami paper for an ATC swap. I made 9 Scrappy Heart ATC's and turned the scraps into these inchies.

Portuguese stem stitch corner

When I stitched the border of Nefertiti in Portuguese stem stitch, I just made a continuous line. I ended up with round corners, which was not a bad thing for this embroidery. But for my new embroidery I wanted some neat corners. This is what I did.

When I finished the last stitch, I took my needle into the corner and pulled the thread to the back.

It looked like this.

Then I took my thread through the second stitch from the corner to secure the thread.

I took the thread to the front in the corner.

I whipped the 2 threads from bottom to top for the first time . . .

. . . and the second time.

Then I took my thread to the back, close to the whipped stitches pointing to the centre of the stitch.

I ended up with a neat corner.

This corner is stitched with perle 8.