New blocks

In the last few weeks I connected the blocks for Karen’s class Embroider, Embellish, Create. I made a total of 5 blocks and they were not enough to make a rectangle. Today I prepared 3 new blocks. The first one has a piece of my husband’s old shirt, the part with the buttonholes.

In the second one I used a piece of a little girl’s dress with lace. In the top right corner is a cuff from my daughter’s old blouse. I like those little loops!

The last block is long and small. At the left side I used the fabric I removed from block 5.

Work In Progress Wednesday - February 27

Let me start with the good news, I finished the 4^th element on my long and short stitch sampler. I stitched the swash in November 2009 and the ribbon in the last 2 weeks. I’m going to use a different hoop for the next element, there’s a tension problem here!

And there’s progress on my quilt, I quilted the last short rows at the left side and the first 3 short rows at the top border.

I only have to quilt another 690 cm (about 272 inch) to finish my quilt!

backside of my quilt

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old buttonholed herringbone stitches

TAST stitch 55 is buttonholed herringbone stitch. I used this stitch for the first time on block 6 of my Crazy Monday quilt. It’s stitched with 3 threads of stranded floss.

This is a seam on block13 of my Crazy Monday quilt. The thread is stranded floss. I decorated it with beads.

A seam on my Pink ornament. The thread is cotton a broder.

This is my TAST 2010 sampler. I used a large sequin (1,25 inch or 3 cm) and made a shisha stitch with perle 5. Then I drew a large circle around it and divided it in 16 parts (first quarters and then halfway twice) to make it easy to stitch. For the buttonholed herringbone I used a perle 5 again.

My last sample is a seam on my ornament Beezzz. First I made a base of half herringbone half Cretan stitch. The thread is stranded floss and a metallic thread.

Triangular feather stitch

TAST stitch  52 is triangular feather stitch. It was a new stitch for me and I enjoyed experimenting with it. I stitched my samples on 14 count Aida. Of course I started with a normal row, the thread is perle 8. The black thread is my backstitch border.

In the next row I flipped the stitches from side to side. Lots of space to add other stitches or beads, but I’m not going to do that on this sampler. The thread is Caron Wildflowers.

Here I stitched 2 mirrored rows with perle 5. Between the rows I made cross stitches with 2 threads of stranded floss.

A stacked row of triangular feather stitches with Caron Watercolours and silk.

Here I stitched 2 rows, the top one from right to left, the bottom one from left to right. I altered the size of the stitches every other stitch. The thread is perle 12.

My last experiment is a knotted triangular feather stitch. The thread is Caron Watercolours.

I made the knots like the normal knotted feather stitch. And I made the last stitch under the first loop instead of inside the loop.

Take a closer look at my sampler here.

Pineapple

This pineapple is crocheted with a size 1 hook in a Pinguin size 12 thread. The original pattern was a bookmark.

Shi Sha

This gorgeous ATC was in my mailbox. Brenda made it for me for a sender’s choice ATC swap. She experimented with shisha stitch in different threads on vintage silk velvet.

Work In Progress Wednesday - February 20

Just a little progress on my quilt. I’m almost done quilting the short lines at the left side.

backside of my quilt

And no progress on my long and short stitch sampler. All threads stayed inside my zipblock bag.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

From square herringbone to stem stitch

This week there are 2 TAST stitches, square herringbone and laced square herringbone. Last year I used a square herringbone variation on my black linen sampler. It was the start of the centre and it grew with every new stitch I added. 
I thought it would be nice to put them in one blog post and a slideshow. 
It started with a square herringbone with perle 12.

Then I added bullion knots with wool and cotton a broder.

I stitched half buttonhole wheels with cotton a broder above the bullion knots.

Then I added cast on stitches with perle 8 between the wheels.

Next I stitched pistil stitches and French knots with wool around it.

The last round is a beaded Hedebo edge with cotton a broder and 2 mm beads.

I wanted to separate the centre medallion from the other experiments on my black linen sampler. So I stitched a stem stitch around it with Rainbow gallery Fuzzy Stuf.

I’m still working on my February book page and hope to finish it in a few days. Then I can finally play with the last 3 TAST stitches and the first TAST challenge. I already doodled a page with triangular feather stitches and it would be fun to stitch them!

Made by B & A 5 of 12

Two years ago I made a series of ATC’s from Barbara’s fabric paper, I’ve got the one with the arrows at the bottom of this page.

On this ATC I attached a piece of ribbon with chicken scratch. I used one thread of stranded floss. At the edge I couched some knitting yarn.

Take a closer look at my ATC here.

Year of the Snake

This week’s zentangle challenge at I am the diva is to be inspired by the Year of the Snake, which started on Sunday, February 10^th. I cut a snake from a magazine. Holey was the perfect tangle for the snake to enter my tile. At the bottom I tangled Lacy. I tangled Hollibaugh behind the snake and filled the spaces with Quandary.

Cupcake ATC

The cupcake on this ATC is painted with acrylic paint on muslin. Then I embroidered the lines with a backstitch. The sprinkles are French knots. At the edge I couched knitting yarn.

Work In Progress Wednesday - February 13

Very little progress on my quilt this week. I only quilted 3 short lines at the bottom of the border at the left side.

Here’s a detail of the backside of my quilt.

Last week I introduced my old long and short stitch sampler. I’m working on the 4th element on this sampler. The swash was the last part I stitched in 2009 and this weekend I started with the ribbon. I’m very happy with the result!

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Zentangle challenge #105

Last week’s zentangle challenge at I am the diva is to use Dansk, a tangle created by Margaret Bremner. I drew a loopy string and tangled Dansk, Gewurz, Jester, Shattuck and FEDR. I added some colour with a yellow Sakura gelly roll pen.

Raised twisted lattice band

The TAST stitch for this week is raised herringbone band. I found this stitch in my embroidery books as raised lattice band, which has a padded satin stitch. In my embroidery book Stitch Sampler by Lucinda Ganderton the twisted lattice band was next to the raised lattice band. So I stitched a raised twisted lattice band and took some step by step photo’s.

I started with a padded satin stitch with a full thread of stranded floss. Just stitch long horizontal stitches with the same thread as a padding for the satin stitch.

Then I stitched a double herringbone with Stef Francis perle 5. Unfortunately I forgot to take a progress photo of this step. This is an old photo of a double herringbone stitch with French knots with 2 colours, so you can see how it’s done.

Start the lacing at the top right side. You work from right to left at the top half of the double herringbone stitch. Here the threads goes from top to bottom.

And then from bottom to top. Repeat this until the end of the row and take the thread to the back.

Continue lacing at the bottom left side. Now you work from left to right at the bottom half of the double herringbone stitch. Here the thread goes from bottom to top.

And then the thread goes from top to bottom. Guide the thread with your fingers, so the thread comes under the thread in the centre. Repeat this until you complete the row and take the thread to the back.

In this example I stitched the double herringbone stitch close together, but you can change the look of the raised twisted lattice band by leaving space between the stitches.

Raised herringbone band

The TAST stitch for this week is raised herringbone band. I found this stitch in my embroidery books as raised lattice band. The only difference was the satin stitch. The raised lattice band has a padded satin stitch and I thought this might help to keep the lacing thread in the right place. I took a photo of today’s embroidery on the page of my TAST 2010 fabric book with the raised herringbone band.

I stitched my new rows on 18 count evenweave. The padded satin stitch in the first row is done with a full thread of stranded floss. The herringbone stitch is done with Caron Watercolours, the lacing with perle 5. I was right about the satin stitch, the padding helps to keep the lacing thread in the right place.

The second row is a variation. In my embroidery book the twisted lattice band was next to the raised lattice band. So I stitched a raised twisted lattice band. I wrote a tutorial for it, you can find it here.

The padded satin stitch in the last row is done with a full thread of stranded DMC satin floss. The herringbone stitch is done with DMC perle 5 color variations and the lacing with Caron Wildflowers.

Take a closer look at my 3 new rows here.