Lapjeswerk

A special date needs a special post. That’s why I repeat my post of February 29, 2008 about the first quilt I made. I took this photo last Sunday in the garden, because I found out I never posted a photo of my finished quilt!

I made the top in 2001 and then forgot all about it until February 2007. The quilting was finished in January 2008 and I attached the label on February 29, 2008. Lapjeswerk is the Dutch word for patchwork. My quilt is completely done by hand and the size is 112 x 142 cm or 44 x 56 inch. I wrote a series of posts about this sampler, it was my main motive to start blogging.

Old couching samples

The TAST stitch for week 9 is couching. Today I want to share a few other older samples before I start stitching new ones. On this first sample I couched a buckle with the Vandyke stitch and Stef Francis perle 5 on my TAST 2010 sampler. Then I made another row on both sides to fill the shape. I decorated it with French knots with DMC broder special.

Here I couched an acrylic knitting yarn with Italian knotted border stitch in perle 8 and mirrored every second stitch.

This is a detail on my floral sampler. I couched knitting yarn with herringbone stitches.

A CQ seam on my ornament Beezzz. I couched fancy knitting yarn in zigzags. 

It was inspired by this detail on Sharon’s bandsampler.

I remember having fun stitching my TAST 2007 sampler, it was one of my first embroideries. I couched cotton and acrylic yarn with 2 threads of stranded DMC and added different kind of beads.

My last sample is an ATC I made in 2009 for a yellow swap. I couched a fancy knitting yarn and added French knots and butterfly beads. The edge is a buttonhole stitch with beads.

Itsy Bitsy Basket

I finished another crochet for my Crazy White CQ. This time I made a tiny basket, it’s only 1½ inch or 4 cm tall. I used this pattern and a size 12 thread.

Chain stitch

The TAST stitch for week 8 is the chain stitch. I made 3 samples on Aida. The first sample was inspired by Deepa’s chain stitch filling. It’s 3 rows of stacked chain stitches. First I made the 2 purple rows and then I stitched a yellow row through the purple rows and the fabric. Then I attached a bead inside the yellow stitches. I took some photo’s of this process as a reminder for myself, but I could write a tutorial. Just leave a comment below if you would like that. The second sample is a simple chain stitch filling. I stitched the yellow rows from left to right and the purple row from right to left. The last sample is stitched in perle 12, the first 2 were done in perle 8. I put a sequin on my needle before I put it through the loop of the chain stitch.

Added March 3: I wrote a tutorial for the stacked chain stitch. You can find it here.

La tour Eiffel

I made this ATC a few weeks ago for a senders choice swap. My partner likes the Eiffel tower, so I stitched it for her. I used the dots in this image as a guide for my French knots.

There’s a bigger photo of this ATC at my Flickr-page.

Small doily

Just finished a small doily to use on my new Crazy White CQ. I found the pattern in an old crochet book. The original pattern was 12 cm (4 inch), but I used a size 12 thread so mine is only 8 cm (3 inch).

February ATC

When I came home from the dentist I found this lovely ATC in my mailbox.
Perfect timing!

It’s made by Vicky for the February swap at Stitchin Fingers.

White CQ block 3

I finished another 8 x 8 inch block for my white on white CQ. The fabric in the centre is a scrap from a blouse I made for my oldest daughter when she was a toddler. A few years ago I bought a few old doilies on a flea market. I used one of them in the upper left corner.

Old chain stitches

The TAST stitch for week 8 is the chain stitch. It’s the first stitch that was not part of a previous TAST challenge. But I found a few samples to share. The first one is an ATC I made in 2008.

In 2009 there was a series of colour ATC swaps. This is one of my yellow ATC’s. 
In addition to the chain stitches I used couching, woven wheels and quarter buttonhole wheels.

A detail of an embroidered mushroom stuffie. I filled the dots with chain stitches. The thread is stranded DMC color variations.

This is a progress photo of my first encrusted CQ block. I made chain stitches with 1 strand of green DMC satin and whipped it with a light green perle 12. I still remember I enjoyed watching it change while stitching the light green.

First pebble

Today I finished my first pebble for the pebble adventure. The size is about
6 x 9 cm or 2½ x 3½ inch.

On this first detail there’s a whipped wheel surrounded by lots of French knots. At the left side there are a few buttonhole bars.

A detail from the other side. Whipped spokes, another whipped wheel, French knots and detached chain stitches.

There’s a bigger photo of this pebble on my Flickr-page.

Raised buttonhole bar

Today I added the last stitches to my pebble for the pebble adventure. One of the stitches was a raised buttonhole band. I’m sure I’m not the first one to stitch it this way, it’s very easy.

I used a paperclip to raise the straight stitches for the base threads.

Then I made buttonhole stitches on these base threads.

I secured the thread at the backside after removing the paperclip.

Then I stitched more French knots below the buttonhole bar. I used  a pin to hold the bar and make it easy to stitch.

And this is the result.

I stitched this raised buttonhole bar with a cotton perle 8.

Detached chain stitch

The TAST stitch for week 7 is the detached chain stitch. I’ve stitched on 3 different samplers this week. The first one  is my rust dyed fabric with buttonhole stitches. Now I added detached chain stitches with the same threads: blue stranded floss, brown broder special and light blue Caron Wildflowers.

My next experiment was on black linen. I tried to stitch a pattern of detached chain stitches with perle 8, it looked much better on paper.

A combo of feather and detached chain stitches on grey linen. Left perle 8 and Caron Watercolours, right perle 5 and DMC broder special.

Today I added some detached chain stitches to my pebble. I mixed them with lots of French knots.

This pebble is to blame that  I didn’t experiment much with the detached chain stitch. It’s very addictive! You can read more about this pebble adventure here.

New challenge: Pebble adventure

Marjolein started this challenge on her blog and she started a discussion at Stitchin Fingers. After reading the tutorial, I just had to give it a try. These are the items I used.

And here they are trapped between 2 pieces of muslin.

Then it was time to start stitching. First I made a whipped wheel with perle 5. Now I’m working on the French knots and drizzle stitches with DMC broder special.

Patricia's ATC

This colourful ATC was in my mailbox a few days ago. It’s made by Patricia for a senders choice swap.

Yellow collage

Another collage, but this time in my altered book. The background is painted with acrylic paint. I had the same approach as the other ones: cutting yellow parts from photo’s, no thinking, just selecting a part and glue it at the first spot it fits. It’s fun.

This collage is part of a series. So far I made one in red, purple, blue and green.

Old detached chain stitches

The TAST stitch for week 7 is the detached chain stitch. It’s one of the stitches I use frequently and it wasn’t easy to decide which samples I wanted to share here. 
This sunflower is part of my crazy ornament Snail in the garden. I used 2 threads of stranded DMC mixed with a metallic thread for the petals. The French knots are stitched in perle 5.

This seam on Crazy Monday 13 is stitched with 2 threads of stranded DMC. First I made a Cretan stitch and decorated it with detached chain stitches. They have a French knot ending instead of a straight stitch. Then I laced the detached chain stitches with the same thread under the Cretan stitches.

Here I used the detached chain stitch for the wings of a butterfly. It’s part of the only CQ block I made for TAST 2010.

This is another example from the TAST 2010 challenge. I used the detached chain stitch to make the leaves on my woven trellis stitch sampler.

Here I used the detached chain stitch for the leaves on my Tree of Hope ATC.

My last sample is another ATC called Bouquet. It was part of a series of ATC swaps with different stitches. 

I already started some new samples and hope to share those in a few days.

Chevron & fly stitch

. . . is the combo on the first seam on my white CQ. It’s a small variation of the last border in yesterdays post.

 I’m going to add beads inside the fly stitches when I've finished all embroidery on this block.

Chevron stitch

There was no time to stitch the Chevron stitch for TAST this week, but I doodled a lot of samples. This weekend I just made time to stitch some of them. I continued working on the same sampler as last week’s experiments and I repeated a few of them with Chevron stitches. My first border is a combination of Chevron and Cretan stitch with perle 8 and Caron Wildflowers.

After adding the beads I had more idea’s to expand this border, but no space on  my sampler to do that. I just made a doodle so I remember how I want to stitch it on my new CQ block.

My second experiment is 2 rows of Chevron stitches with perle 5. I just slanted the stitches in the centre to make a wonky border.

Then I added the pink beads.

I repeated the last herringbone stitch border with Chevron stitches. The threads are Caron Watercolors, Stef Francis spun silk with flames and perle 8.

The same row after adding the beads.

Then I repeated my second green herringbone border with Chevron stitches. Caron Wildflowers for the Chevron stitch and DMC broder special for the buttonhole stitches. It’s not as nice as the herringbone variation.

A combo of half Chevron half herringbone stitch with 2 threads of stranded DMC.

Here I added a second mirrored woven row with Caron Wildflowers.

My last border started with Chevron stitches in perle 5.

Then I stitched fly stitches with Caron Watercolors at both sides.

 I wanted to stitch detached chain stitches inside the fly stitches, but there was no space left! There’s a photo of this TAST 2012 border sampler on my Flickr-page.