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This is my third page for the book page swap at Stitchin Fingers. I made it for Frances in Australia. The size is 8 x 8 inch and it’s made of 4 log cabin blocks.

 The little boy and girl were part of a Dutch fabric I bought in Amsterdam recently. This page is completely stitched and quilted on my sewing machine.

This morning I started another book page with the same theme for a my first swap at Fibre Fever. I’m going to use the same red fabric for the roof, but it will be very different.

Chinese knots

One of last week’s tasks in Karen’s class embroider, embellish, create was making Chinese knots. I’m not going to use them in my blocks, I just don’t like these bulky knots.

Old & new knotted Cretan stitches

The TAST stitch for week 22 is knotted Cretan stitch. So far I only used it on my TAST 2007 sampler. This leave is part of that sampler. It’s stitched with 2 threads of stranded floss on muslin.

This is another detail on the same sampler. I couched a piece of bias fabric to my muslin with 2 threads of stranded floss and decorated it with beads.

It was late when I turned my computer off last night, but before I did that I had a quick look to see the TAST stitch for this week. This morning I just had to stitch a few new rows to my brown even weave TAST sampler. The first row is done in Stef Francis perle 5,

. . . . the second row in DMC perle 5. The result is very different!

When I was adding a new thread to the green row, I thought it would be possible to use 2 different threads. So I stitched the last row with green cotton a broder and off-white perle 8.

It was very important to hold both threads tight when I made the knot. I made a wonky photo holding my camera with my right hand and the off-white thread with the thumb of my left hand.

I’ve added a photo of today’s experiments to my Flickr-page.

Block 3 - French knots

This is a detail on my third block for Karen’s class embroider, embellish, create. French knots with perle 5 inside the petals on the machine embroidered lace.

I wrote about the first details here. There’s one more seam to embellish.

Cutwork & hexagons

There’s some progress on my second block for Karen’s class embroider, embellish, create. First I appliquéd a few 2 cm hexagons. I have a few different idea’s how to embellish them so I’ll just wait a few days.

I also made 5 cutwork circles in the machine embroidered fabric. My embroidery was telling me for days it wanted cutwork circles there. I had to take a deep breath before I could cut the fabric!

I’m damp stretching it again before I add more stitches. There’s a photo of this part of my second block here.

Butterfly chain stitch

The TAST stitch for week 21 is butterfly chain stitch. There was not much time to play with this stitch, so I only made 2 half rows on my brown even weave sampler. This first row is done in perle 5 and cotton a broder. I'm going to add beads into the squares when this sampler is finished.

My second row is done in Stef Francis spun silk with flames and perle 8. I like the spun silk very much, it changes in colour and thickness.

I doodled more samples in my studio journal for later use.

Rope

My embroidery was inspired by Anneliese’s beautiful photo. The background is stitched in chicken scratch and cross stitch after trying some chicken scratch variation on this sampler. The ropes are stitched in a mix of chain stitch variations, Portuguese stem stitch, couching and French knots. I made the last stitches in November last year. It was very wrinkled and I couldn’t get it right. So it was hidden in my cupboard until last week. After all the good damp stretching results on my blocks for Karen’s class embroider, embellish, create I thought it would help this embroidery too. And it did, all wrinkles are gone!

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

Kitty

This cute ATC was in my mailbox a few days ago. Hannah made it for me, because the first ATC she made was lost in the mail. This kitty came back to her the first time she sent it. Three is a charm!

French knots & Portuguese stem stitch

These are the first embellished seams on my third block for Karen’s class embroider,embellish, create. French knots with perle 8 on the lace . . .

. . . and Portuguese stem stitch with cotton a broder at the scalloped edge.

Old butterfly chain stitches

The TAST stitch for week 21 is butterfly chain stitch. My only old stitches were on my TAST 2007 sampler. So today I share the old photo’s of how I stitched that. It’s all stitched with 2 threads of stranded floss on muslin. I also found a link in my notes to a video, maybe it can help some of you too. You can watch it here. This is the start of my first sample, different groups of straight stitches.

And this is the complete row. I had some tension problems, but solved them in the next row.

The foundation row for my second sample.

And the complete row. I added small bugle beads between the stitches.

The foundation stitches for my third row, I wanted this row to look like real butterflies.

And the complete row, again with some tension problems. Maybe that’s why I never used this stitch again.

I stitched a single butterfly chain stitch and then a foundation row on a curved line.

The complete row.

I still like these samples, but think they would look much better in a different thread. I hope to find the time to try again this week. My complete TAST 2007 sampler is here, I made a new photo today.

Block 1 finished

This is my first block for Karen’s class embroider, embellish, create.

There’s a bigger photo on my Flickr-page and a detail of the secret pocket here.

Bullion knots

The TAST stitch for week 20 is the bullion knot. I’ve used it in my padded surface this week, but I wanted to add it to one of my samplers too. I’ve stitched a few bullion knots around the square herringbone stitches in perle 12. The bullion knots are done in wool and cotton a broder. The bullions in the top left corner are wrapped clockwise, the others counter clockwise. Somehow it works better for me this way!

Appliqué and cutwork

Yesterdays lesson for Karen’s class embroider,embellish, create was about appliqué and cutwork. Appliqué isn’t new to me, but I never combined it with embroidery. I appliquéd a 2 cm (or ¾ inch) circle on my first block and added chain stitches and French knots. The fabric is a scrap from the first curtains of my daughters room. My husband wanted to use it as a cleaning rag!

Cutwork was almost new to me. I tried it last year on Gingham fabric, but made a mess of it. With the help of Karen’s video it was very easy. The fabric behind my cutwork circle (1½ cm or 5/8 inch) is very special to me. I was a bridesmaid when
I was 3½ years old and my dress was made of this machine embroidered fabric over a turquoise fabric. Don’t know what happened to my dress, but I still have the unused scraps of both fabrics.

Yesterday I promised to share a photo of my damp stretched second block. It’s on  my Flickr-page.

Block 2: seams embellished

All seams on my second block for Karen’s class embroider, embellish, create are done. This seam is a combo of buttonhole stitch and cross stitch with cotton a broder. At the left there are French knots inside the machine embroidered fabric.

I used my new thread for them, DMC rayon.

At the top there’s part of my ruching. It’s not finished yet, it will be my last task for this block, because I’m planning to add beads too. I stitched more French knots at the seam. The lower seam is just 2 rows of running stitches with French knots.

On this seam I stitched a half chevron stitch with perle 12. It was last week’s TAST stitch. I’m going to add something to this seam, but I wanted to wait for today’s lesson.

The last seam on this block. I secured the scalloped edge with French knots in cotton a broder.

My block is not finished, but I damp stretched it. Hope to share a photo tomorrow.

Aquilegia in my garden

I took some photo’s in  my garden. These Aquilegia are one of my favourite flowers, they are so pretty. I like the odd shapes.

Padded surface

Karen showed us how to make a padded surface in her class and I just had to try this on my first block. It was so much fun to manipulate the fabric. I combined it with this week’s TAST stitch the bullion knot. Let me show you some details of my padded surface. This is a buttonhole lace pocket with a few French knots inside.

Bullion knots with cotton a broder. My first bullion knot was a mess, I frogged it. Then I remembered Sharon’s tip and wrapped my thread counter clockwise. It was a big difference!

Large bullion knots with the same thread. Here I wrapped my needle about 15 times!

More French knots.

Whipped spokes.

A whipped wheel with French knots. Here you can see the difference in the threads I used. Both are ecru cotton a broder, but the 2 French knots at the left are a size 16, the others a size 25.

There’s a photo of this complete padded surface on my Flickr-page.

Old bullion knots

The TAST stitch for week 20 is the bullion knot. I learned the bullion knot in TAST 2007, so I share that sampler first. It’s only 2½ cm or 1 inch tall. The thread is
2 strands of stranded floss. I stitched this with my between quilt needle, I had no embroidery needles at the time!

This is a seam on block 5 of my Crazy Monday quilt. Fly stitches with bullion knots, stitched with 2 threads of stranded floss.

A seam on my ATC Crazy Apples. Up and down buttonhole stitch with large bullion knots. Again 2 threads of stranded floss.

This butterfly is part of the crazy block I made for TAST 2010. It’s stitched with 2 threads of stranded floss. Detached chain stitches, straight stitches, French knots and a bullion knot body.

A rosebud on my up and down feather stitch sampler. Two bullion knots with perle 8 inside a fly stitch with perle 5.

This last detail is part of my embroidery Touch. I stitched it last year for Sharon’s Sumptuous Embroidery class. It's also the header of my blog. I'm not sure about the thread, I think it's a cotton perle.