TAST week 13 update

There’s no new TAST stitch this week, it’s catch-up week. But Sharon has a 2 mini challenges for stitchers who can’t stop. The first challenge is to use 3-6 stitches from the first 12 weeks in your embroidery. I wrote about the start of my sampler on Tuesday. This is how my embroidery looks today, there’s a lot more stitching to do! So far I only used chain stitches with ecru perle 8. In this piece I combine embroidery with zentangle. The tangle I’m stitching is called Mooka. I’ve used it in the zentangle I shared yesterday.

The second challenge is to share a tip on how you manage your stitching time. Well, I try to get some stitching done every day. I share a few thing about how I organize my TAST stitching. In the first week of this challenge I cut a lot of samplers from different fabrics I wanted to use. I prepared them by zigzagging the edges and adding extra strips of fabric, so it fits my embroidery hoop. Some of them don’t have any stitches yet.

Some are finished or partly filled.

This is how I store them in my cupboard.

The sampler I’m working on is pinned on the quilt I use as my design board, so I can look at it from time to time.

The embroidery threads for each sampler are in a plastic bag with a note about the sampler.

And I bought a squared notebook to draw my idea’s for the stitches. Idea’s mostly pop up when I don’t have time to stitch and I don’t want to forget them. If I don’t have time to draw in my notebook I make a quick note and add it in my notebook later that day. I have another notebook to write what I have stitched, that's how 

I can write about it on my blog!

Read more about TAST week 13 at Pin Tangle.

Zentangle challenge # 64

This week’s zentangle challenge at I am the diva is to use a string which divides the tile in 8 triangles. At first I didn’t like the idea, but my new embroidery inspired me to give it a try. I drew the string in my sketchbook. It was not so easy, because every space was the same, but I like the result.

Autumn leaves

This is my first fabric book page. I made it for Vicki in Australia. Her theme is leaves, which made me think of a page in my studio journal. I still had the leftovers from this page and that was a good start for my book page. I added an organza leave and couched the background with these threads.

A little detail of the left side.

At the edge I couched 8 threads of acrylic yarn.

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

TAST week 13

There’s no new TAST stitch this week, it’s a catch-up week. But Sharon has a mini challenge for stitchers who can’t stop. The challenge is to use 3-6 stitches from the first 12 weeks in your embroidery. It wasn’t difficult to decide what to stitch, this was in my studio journal for almost a year. The chain stitches are done in ecru perle 8 on a linen fabric. I’m not going to tell you what it’s going to be. Does the pattern look familiar to you?

Buttonhole bars & whipped spokes

These are the first stitches on my second pebble. I attached one of the beads 
I bought in Amsterdam last week with 3 buttonhole bars.  Then I made some whipped spokes. Of course I made some French knots too, this pebble needs lots of those!

Barred chain & alternating barred chain

The TAST stitch for week 12 is barred chain and alternating barred chain. I used 2 different samplers for my stitches. I stitched 3 borders on the Aida, but I started with white on a black linen. From top to bottom the threads are perle 5, perle 8, perle 12, 2 threads of stranded floss and DMC 80.

Two rows of purple barred chain combined with a yellow running stitch.

An alternating barred chain with Stef Francis spun silk with flames.

The same alternating barred chain, but now I added French knots. It was inspired by Christina’s sampler.

Two rows of purple barred chain almost touching.

There’s a bigger photo of the unfinished Aida sampler on my Flickr-page.

Buttons, beads and a charm

Yesterday I wrote about my visit to Amsterdam. Today I’m going to show you some of the goodies I bought. I couldn’t resist this cute charm.

I think I will find a place for this pearl button on one of my crazy white blocks.

I couldn’t resist this cute wooden umbrella button too.

These are some of the beads I bought. I needed the brown ones for my second pebble.

Now it’s time to start some stitching again, I haven’t touched a needle since Monday!

Amsterdam 2

Last Tuesday I spent a day in Amsterdam with my husband. We visited a museum first and then there was some shopping to do, I needed new buttons and beads for my projects! I found what I needed . . .

. . . and more!

Thorntree

I received this gorgeous bookpage from Helen in South Africa. Her French knots are so pretty!

A painting made by Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef was her inspiration.

Old barred chain and alternating barred chain

The TAST stitch for week 12 is barred chain and alternating barred chain. Just like every Tuesday I wanted to show you some old samples of this stitch. To my astonishment I only found my sampler for TAST 2007. I never used this stitch again! So today I show you the details of my TAST 2007 sampler. It’s stitched on muslin with 2 threads of stranded DMC. I started with a barred chain doodle.

Then I made a barred chain circle and decorated it with beads.

Here I experimented with alternating barred chain.

My last experiment was a barred chain doodle with a piece of pink tulle on the muslin.

You can see the complete 2007 sampler in my original post here. It will be fun to experiment with this stitch again!

Second pebble

Yesterday I prepared the base for my second pebble. I rust dyed the muslin in
a tin box a few weeks ago. I wrapped the fabric around a rusty screw with an eye.

After rinsing, washing, drying and ironing it looked like this.

I secured most things I wanted to trap between 2 layers of muslin with a few stitches. At this point only the bottom fabric was stretched in a hoop. 

After trapping them between the 2 layers of muslin I stretched both pieces of muslin together in my 6 inch embroidery hoop.

A detail in a different angle. I’m looking forward to start stitching on this pebble.

This pebble is part of the pebble adventure at Stitchin Fingers. 
We use this tutorial to stitch our pebbles.

TAST week 2 & 7 & 11

This is my unfinished 6 x 6 inch (15 x 15 cm) TAST sampler with buttonhole stitch, detached chain stitch and a woven and whipped wheel. The fabric for this sampler is rust dyed in a tin box by me. I used blue stranded DMC, light blue Caron Wildflowers and brown DMC broder special. I wrote a tutorial for the woven and whipped wheel, you can find it here.

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

Woven and whipped wheel tutorial

The TAST stitch for week 11 is whipped wheel. I repeated a woven and whipped wheel I stitched on a crazy ornament a few years ago. It was a present for a quilting friend, so I only had a photo to see how I did it. I couldn’t find my notes 

(I had no journal at the time), but when I started stitching I remembered how 

I stitched it. First I drew 3 circles with a water soluble pen on my rust dyed fabric. The sizes are 3, 2 and 1 cm.

This template made it very easy.

I used a DMC broder special for my wheel. First I made 8 spokes from the outmost circle to the centre. Then 8 spokes between them from the outmost circle to the 1 cm circle. And finally 16 spokes between those from the outmost circle to the 2 cm circle.

I started with a whipped wheel. When the first circle was filled with whipped stitches I switched to woven stitches. If you’re not familiar with the woven wheel, you can find a tutorial in Sharon’s stitch dictionary. Start weaving under the new spokes to keep the stitches in place.

I know they always say you need an odd number of spokes with a woven wheel, but with a simple trick you can use an even number. After completing every round, just go under 2 spokes instead of 1 and continue weaving the normal way. This shifts one spoke every round and is not visible when the wheel is finished.

After a few rounds I switched to whipped spokes again until I finished the second circle.

Then I made a few rounds of woven stitches and finished it with whipped stitches.

I hope to share a photo of my sampler tomorrow, it’s still wet after removing the water soluble pen.

Zentangle challenge #62

This week’s zentangle challenge at I am the diva is to use a spiral string and tangle it with Paradox.

I used a big permanent marker for the spiral string and tangled it with a 0.2 Sakura pen.

Old whipped wheels

It’s Tuesday, time to share a few old samples of whipped wheels, the TAST stitch for week 11. The first one is my favourite. It’s a combo of whipped and woven wheel on a crazy ornament, a gift for a quilting friend. The thread is broder special. Maybe I’m going to repeat this wheel on my TAST sampler and take step by step photo’s to show you how I stitched it.

My second sample is a whipped wheel on my first pebble. I think this week’s stitch gives me the excuse to start a second one! I dyed a piece of muslin for my second pebble in this box.

This is a whipped wheel on a woven ATC. It’s stitched with 2 threads of stranded DMC on felt.

A whipped wheel on a bead, a detail on my ornament Reply to Good Morning. I’m not sure about the thread, I think it’s a perle 8.

 A whipped wheel on my sampler There Is No Spoon. The thread is an overdyed Stef Francis perle 5.

A detail on my sampler Touch with French knots, beads and an oyster stitch.

And this is my wonky TAST 2007 sampler. The threads are mostly stranded DMC, only the lilac woven wheels are stitched with a tulle knitting yarn.

Be sure to read the comments on Sharon’s post and follow the links for more eye candy!