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.

Portuguese border stitch

The TAST stitch for week 47 is Portuguese border stitch. I don’t like the beginnings of the stitch, but Queeniepatch found a great solution. Of course I had to try it too, it works great! First I stitched a few rows with different threads. From left to right: 
perle 8, perle 5 and Stef Francis spun silk with flames on a base of perle 8.

Then I flipped through my TAST 2010 fabric book to see what I had done at the time. I noticed the VanDyke stitch and thought it could be a base for the Portuguese border stitch. I stitched it with perle 5.

I used the arms of the VanDyke stitch for the Portuguese border stitch in perle 5.

There was room for one more experiment, so I had to think which stitch to use for the foundation. I thought about pistil or buttonhole stitches, but decided to try the Cretan stitch. I stitched it with 4 threads of stranded floss . . .

. . . and used the arms for the Portuguese border stitch in perle 8. The left one is stitched from top to bottom, the right one from bottom to top.

The complete 2 x 2 inch Aida sampler is on my Flickr-page.

Tibetan Lama

Nicolas Roerich is Margreet’s theme for the book page swap at Fibre Fever. 
He made lots of pretty paintings and I decided to take a part of his painting Tibetan Lama. I painted him with acrylic paint on the fabric. Then I stitched the details with 2 threads of stranded floss.

 The white part in the blue stone is a satin stitch with stranded silk.

Take a closer look at this fabric book page here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - November 21

Not much progress this week. The top right corner is nearly finished. Last Saturday I introduced my next project for Work In Progress Wednesday, my scrapquilt.

backside of my quilt

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old Portuguese border stitches

The TAST stitch for week 47 is Portuguese border stitch. The first 3 samples are part of my TAST 2010 sampler. At the time I wanted to see if this stitch could be worked in a circle. First I made an 1 inch whipped wheel until there was just enough space left for the Portuguese border stitch on the spokes. I used a darker green for that and I embroidered it counter clockwise. That way I could first embroider the side next to the whipped wheel. It worked very well, when I was finished I couldn’t tell where I started it.

Here I added beads to the Portuguese border stitch. I stitched the beginning a bit lose, so I could add a bead there too.

This yellow and blue variation was a strange experiment. I started to make foundation stitches and I made them wider each time. I stitched this from the outside to the inside.

This is a seam on my TAST 2010 CQ. I made an extra stitch, so there are 3 threads next to each other instead of 2.

My last sample is a progress photo of my Pink ornament.

All samples are done in perle 5, when stitched them I only had stranded floss and perle 5 in my stash. This week I hope to stitch the Portuguese border stitch in different threads.

Checkered or magic chain

The TAST stitch for week 46 is checkered or magic chain. I stitched a heart on my grey linen sampler. The outside line is done in perle 5. The inside line is done in Caron Watercolours and cotton a broder.

Take a closer look at my embroidery here.

Scrapquilt 1

The last few days I did a lot of stitching, but I cannot share it yet. In the meantime 
I want to share an old project I want to pick up next year, when my Vintage Valentine quilt is finished. Many years ago I made a Dresden plate block from scraps. All petals are made of different fabrics.

It was just a practise block, so I thought it could be a nice pillow if I added a border.

I liked it, but then I thought it could be a nice scrappy quilt. So I added a 4 log cabin triangles.

My quilt was still not finished. Next time I tell you what I added.

Work In Progress Wednesday - November 14

Yesterday I realized it was Tuesday and there was no progress on my quilt! I’m so glad I joined Work In Progress Wednesday, because now it pushed me to do some quilting. I finished the part between the centre flower and the one next to it at the right side. It only took me an hour, my fingers are getting used to quilting!

backside of my quilt

Old checkered or magic chain stitches

The TAST stitch for week 46 is checkered or magic chain. I learned this stitch in 2011 when I was catching up on  the last TAST 2010 stitches. I made one big sampler and tried all stitches at the edge first.

Then I mixed them with the other TAST stitches. Here I ended the magic chain with pistil stitches.

It seems this was the only time I used this stitch. I hope to find the time to experiment with it this week. Mary Corbet’s video could be a great help if you have trouble with this stitch.

Woven picot

De TAST stitch for week 45 is woven picot. There was not much time to stitch this week, so I made a lot of notes in my studio journal for later use. I only stitched a small flower on my 18 count Aida sampler and combined it with a blackwork design from my new book.

The centre of my flower is a whipped wheel with 6 threads of stranded silk. The petals are done with perle 5. The background in blackwork is stitched with 2 threads of stranded floss.

It would have been easier if I stitched the background before I added the petals!

Mermaid book page

Yesterday Margreet’s fabric book page for the swap at Fibre Fever arrived.

I’m very happy with this page, thank you Margreet!

Cherry petit four with whipped cream

This is the 5^th petit four designed by Grietjekarwietje. You can find the pattern here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - November 7

This week I started quilting the right side of the background. This was the easy part, now I have to quilt between the flowers.

backside of my quilt

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old woven picots

The TAST stitch for week 45 is woven picots. I learned this stitch when I made Tree In My Garden for the Stitch Explorer challenge Casalguidi. This is a progress photo of my woven picots.

A daffodil on my raised cup stitch sampler for TAST 2010. The thread is perle 5.

The strawberry on my trapunto ATC Strawberry cupcake. The leaves are woven picots with stranded floss.

This last detail is the floral spray on my crazy ornament Snail in the garden. The flowers are raised cup stitches in perle 5, the woven picots are done in perle 8.

Tumbling blocks

Margaret’s tumbling blocks reminded me of the second quilt I made. It’s completely done by hand and it was the first quilt I finished.

 The pattern came from a Dutch magazine.

I made a cross stitched label for it. I found the pattern here, I only changed the text.

Closed base woven picot

I’ve stitched a few closed base woven picots next to the drizzle stitches on my grey linen sampler. The threads are blue perle 8 and brown Caron watercolours.

Take a closer look at this detail here.

Banana chocolate cake with chocolate balls

This is the 4^th petit four designed by Grietjekarwietje. You can find the pattern here.

Lavender & old lace

Lavender & old lace is Mary’s theme for the book page swap at Fibre Fever. It was a great excuse to buy new fabric, because there was no lavender in my stash! The lace at the bottom right corner came from an old toddler dress I bought at a flea market, the neat corner was already there! The lavender is stitched with stranded floss in backstitches, detached chain stitches and French knots. I found the pattern here. I used Caron Watercolours for the beaded Hedebo edge. The flower lace is attached with straight stitches in DMC Jewell Effects.

Take a closer look at this book page here.