My Christmas card for Helinä

This is the fabric card I made for the Christmas card swap at Fibre Fever. It’s my very first fabric card. I’ve used tied herringbone, crested chain stitch, French knots and feather stitch.

I want to wish you all

Knotted cable chain

The last TAST stitch for this year is knotted cable chain. I used it to fill the last 
2 x 2 inch square on my Aida sampler. The thread is perle 5 in two different colours. First I experimented with the size of the stitch.

Here I made a twisted knotted cable chain . . .

. . . and a wider twisted knotted cable chain.

Two rows with an open knotted cable chain. I think this variation is my favourite.

My complete knotted cable chain sampler is here.

Diva Dance

It’s Laura’s 100th zentangle challenge this week! To celebrate that, Rick and Maria introduced the tangle Diva Dance. There are 3 variations: Foxtrot, Waltz and Rock ‘n Roll. I used all three in my tile after watching Laura’s video. It was a great help to see the flow of this new tangle. 

I used string 001 from TanglePatterns.

Old knotted cable chains

The last TAST stitch for this year is knotted cable chain. Again I only found two samples of this stitch. The first one is my knotted cable chain sampler for TAST 2007. Three rows in different threads. From top to bottom: variegated machine embroidery thread, 2 threads of stranded floss and cotton a broder.

This is a progress photo of my embroidery Birth. The knotted cable chain at the left side is done in Stef Francis perle 5.

I’m currently thinking about my blog plans for next year. Please leave a comment if you like it if I continue my old stitches posts for TAST 2013.

Rudolph

I made this ATC from a scrap of the fabric paper I made for my Christmas cards. 
I used this tutorial.

Berry stitch

The TAST stitch for this week is berry stitch. I filled another 2 x 2 inch square on my Aida sampler. While I was stitching, I discovered it was easier to use my needle when I pulled the thread in the second step. I put my needle under the first chain stitch with the thread of the second chain stitch under the needle.

Here I experimented with different threads and colors. I used perle 12, 8 and 5. The green berry stitches in the centre are done with all three. I started with the perle 12.

A classic use of the berry stitch inside a feather stitch. The threads are perle 8 and stranded floss.

Two rows of herringbone stitches in stranded silk with berry stitches in perle 12.

Here I stitched the berry stitches with red perle 5 and green perle 8. The French knots are done with 4 threads of stranded silk.

My complete sampler is here.

Snowflakes

There’s not much time to be creative, but these little snowflakes take little time. The big one is 9 cm (3½ inch), it’s crocheted with a size 2½ hook. The little ones are 3½ cm (1½ inch), they are crocheted with a size 1 hook. The small ones are perfect for my CQ, maybe they end up on another Crazy White block next year.

I found the snowflake pattern here. The pattern is in Dutch, but maybe this list will help you translate it.

Loopy border string

This week’s zentangle challenge at I am the diva is to use a loopy border as your string. I’ve added some colour with a Sakura gelly rol pen.

Scrapquilt 2

Yes, I know it’s Wednesday and I planned to write a post for Work In Progress Wednesday. But, there is no progress! Not a single stitch is added to my quilt and I think there's no time to pick it up this month. Today I want to continue with the introduction of my next Work In Progress project. I want to pick it up next year, when my Vintage Valentine quilt is finished. Last time I shared the centre block of my quilt. The next step was to add a border with 16 different 15 x 15 cm (6 x 6 inch) blocks with the same scrappy look. This first block is called Calico puzzle.

The next one is called Contrary Wife.

This one is called Friendship Star.

Hole in the Barn door is the name of this block.

The next one is called Linoleum. There’s some Halloween fabric in the upper right corner.

This one is called Ohio Star.

This nine-patch block is called Thrifty.

Weathervane was the very first block I made, so there had to one in this quilt too.

Next time I show you the remaining blocks.

Old berry stitches

The TAST stitch for week 50 is berry stitch. This time I only found 2 examples. The first one is my berry stitch sampler for TAST 2007. The size is ½ inch or 1,25 cm. The flower petals are berry stitches, the green leaves are detached chain stitches. It’s stitched with 2 threads of stranded floss on muslin.

The second one is a detail on my CQ ornament Beezzz. I used 2 different threads for the 2 parts of the berry stitch, 1 thread of DMC Jewell effects inside and perle 5 outside. The blue flowers are raised cup stitches. You can take a closer look at it here.

Alternating stem stitch

Last Saturday I wrote about the last detail on my grey linen sampler. Today I want to share how I made the border. I found a stem stitch variation in one of my embroidery books, it’s called alternating stem stitch. I used perle 5 for my border. With a normal stem stitch you keep the thread below the needle, with the alternating stem stitch you alternate the direction of the thread. In the first step you keep the thread below the needle.

In the second step you keep the thread above the needle. Keep repeating these 2 steps.

My complete grey linen sampler is here.

Mandarin petit four

This petit four is designed by Grietjekarwietje. You can find the pattern here.

Buttonhole eyelet flower

The TAST stitch for this week is buttonhole eyelet flower. I stitched one on my grey linen sampler. The buttonhole wheel is done with Stef Francis perle 5, the bullion knots with Caron Watercolours. It was the last detail on this sampler. I added a border and I’m damp stretching it now. I’ll share a photo later.

Maureen’s Christmas card

Maureen made this beautiful card for me for the Christmas card swap at 
Fibre Fever. Thank you, Maureen!

Sinterklaas

Yesterday evening we celebrated Sinterklaas. My youngest daughter made a replica of me practicing yoga. There was a small door at her back where I found my presents, yummy embroidery threads.

And my youngest daughter got a very big foot, made by my husband because she hurt her foot badly a few months ago.

This is the surprise I made for my friend, a big ATC because she started making ATC’s.

My replica was the only surprise that survived, I think yoga-Annet may stay a little longer until we’re going to decorate for Christmas.

Work In Progress Wednesday - December 5

Steady progress on my quilt. Last Sunday I quilted between the flowers. The top half above the vase is almost finished!

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old buttonhole eyelet flowers

The TAST stitch for week 49 is buttonhole eyelet flower. The only sample I have for you is my TAST 2010 sampler. I wrote about the details here and here.

Block 5

Today I had some time to stitch on my last block for Karen’s class embroider, embellish create. But when I added French knots I saw the lace fabric had the wrong side at the front! So I frogged my stitches and removed the fabric. When 
I turned it the right way it didn’t fit anymore, so I needed something to replace it. First I wanted to use a new piece of the same fabric, but then I found this lovely doily. It was just right for this block. After preparing the block again I embroidered a tied herringbone and French knots, but it was too dark to take a nice photo.

Arrowhead stitch

The TAST stitch for week 48 is arrowhead stitch. I stitched another 2 x 2 inch sampler on my Aida. First I made stacked rows of arrowhead stitches with different threads. From top to bottom: 2 threads of stranded floss, perle 8, Stef Francis spun silk with flames, 4 threads of stranded silk, perle 12 and perle 5.

Here I made arrowhead stitches with perle 5 and detached chain stitches with 
2 threads of stranded floss.

Four rows of arrowhead stitches with Stef Francis spun silk with flames. I decorated it with small bugle beads and stitched straight stitches inside both outside rows with stranded silk.

I found this threaded arrowhead stitch in module 5 of Sharon’s stitch files. It’s done in perle 5.

Take a closer look at my complete sampler here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - November 28

Again not much progress, but I managed to finish the top right corner of the background.

backside of my quilt

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old arrowhead stitches

The TAST stitch for week 48 is arrowhead stitch. I enjoyed flipping through my photo’s to see what I already did with this stitch. This first sample is part of my TAST 2007 sampler. It’s stitched with stranded floss on muslin.

Another sample on the same sampler. Here I laced a double row of arrowhead stitches.

This is a seam on my ATC Crazy about orange with black. Two rows of woven arrowhead stitches with stranded floss.

This seam is on block 7 of my Crazy Monday quilt. A yellow arrowhead stitch and blue fly stitches, decorated with French knots and beads.

My last sample is part of my PLOS border sampler. I stitched arrowhead stitches at both sides of the date with perle 8 at the left side and perle 5 at the right side.