Cupcake for Wilma

This is the fabric card I made for Wilma, the second birthday girl at Fibre Fever. It’s foundation pieced by hand, I only finished the edge on my sewing machine.

Work In Progress Wednesday - March 27

Yes, the quilting is finished! Now it’s time to think about the binding and label.

This is the 6^th element on my long and short stitch sampler. Somehow I managed to get my stitches in the wrong direction, but I’m not going to frog it.

My unfinished sampler, there are some threads waiting to be used at the second half of my leaf.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Sailor stitch & sailor’s edge

TAST stitch 56 is sailor stitch, which is basically a chain stitch tied with a buttonhole stitch. This first row is stitched in Caron Watercolours.

It reminded me of the spiked knotted cable chain, which is basically an oyster stitch tied with a buttonhole stitch. So I stitched them under my sailor stitch with the same thread to see the difference.

Then I stitched another row of sailor stitches in perle 8. I varied the size of the buttonhole part of the stitch.

TAST stitch 57 is sailor’s edge. I found this stitch in my embroidery book Stitch Sampler by Lucinda Ganderton. There’s it called sailor edging and it’s worked at the edge of the fabric. I tried to translate that to Aida with perle 8. I’m planning to use both stitches on other projects in the coming weeks.

Take a closer look at my samples here.

Block 6 - Hearts & cutwork

Today I want to share the new details on block 6 for Karen’s class Embroider, Embellish, Create. The fabric with the buttonholes came from my husband’s old shirt, so I just had to embroider some hearts.

And I added buttonhole stitches and French knots to the cutwork circles.

I think my block is finished, so I can damp stretch it.

Zentangle challenge #110

This week’s zentangle challenge at I am the diva is to get rid of the box. It took me a few days to come up with something new, I already did so many different things. 
I tangled in an altered book, experimented with Waves and resist on watercolor paper, I tangled with needle and thread and I tangled the quote There is no spoon in my studio journal. The quote was a reminder of this great article. 

Yesterday I decided to tangle on my whiteboard. It wasn’t easy, when I touched the board with my hands the lines disappeared. So I had to work slowly, very relaxing.

Somehow this zentangle reminds me of yesterday’s yoga class.

Work In Progress Wednesday - March 20

Today I finished the last short rows on my quilt, a total of 120 cm or 47 inch. 

My daughter made a short video of me quilting. Take a look at it here.

The backside of my quilt. Now I only have to quilt the 3 long lines at the top, a total of 270 cm or 106 inch.

This is the 6th element on my long and short stitch sampler. I split stitched the outline and started long and short stitch at the left side. Not much, but it’s a start.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

TAST design challenge 1

I had lots of idea’s for this design challenge, but most of them are very time consuming. So I decided to combine this challenge with something on my to-do-list: 
a fabric book with CQ seams on Aida. This is the first CQ seam on the first page.

First I stitched herringbone squares with perle 5.

Then I added herringbone squares on point with cotton a broder.

Inside the herringbone squares I stitched 4 detached chain stitches . . .

. . . and 4 straight stitches. Both are done with 1 thread of stranded floss.

Then I finished it with a French knot in DMC 80.

Take a closer look at this seam here.

Africa

Africa is Helinä’s theme for the book page swap at Fibre Fever. This crazy ornament was the inspiration for my book page. I partly used the same fabrics, but different threads and stitches: triple chain in perle 5,

spiked knotted cable chain in Caron Watercolours,

diamond stitch in perle 5, 

thorn stitch in Caron Wildflowers,

French knots in 2 threads of stranded floss

and arrowhead stitch inside the Chevron stitch. The threads are perle 5 and cotton a broder.

The big bead came from Africa, I bought it at the Afrika museum last year.

Take a closer look at my book page here.

Block 6 - halfway

I’m halfway on block 6 for Karen’s class Embroider, Embellish, Create. 
First I attached the lace with French knots in cotton a broder.

Then I stitched diamond stitch with perle 5. I used masking tape to mark my stitches.

This is one of the 3 cutwork circles I made on this block. It’s stitched in cotton a broder. The background fabrics inside are temporary attached with tacking thread. It’s the same fabric I used here.

And this is how my block looks like right now.

Take a closer look at my block here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - March 13

I finished the 5th element on my long and short stitch sampler. Take a closer look at my simple leaf here.

I also made some progress on my quilt, only 390 cm or 154 inch left to quilt! Take a closer look at my needles here.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Buttonholed herringbone stitch

TAST stitch 55 is buttonholed herringbone stitch. I’ve used it to give this charming lady a nice collar. The base is half herringbone half Cretan stitch. The loop at the top is attached with detached chain stitches. The thread is cotton a broder. I turned this into an ATC.

This is an experiment on 14 count Aida. The thread is perle 8. First I made 2 foundation rows in herringbone stitches in 2 different sizes.

And this is the finished row. It would be nice to add beads or other stitches, but I’m not going to do that on this sampler.

Made by B & A 7 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 organza ribbon with beads. The half buttonhole wheels are done in perle 8. At the edge I couched a fluffy knitting yarn.

Take a closer look at this ATC here.

Whitework

I made this ATC for Heike, because the Halloween ATC I sent her in October last year never arrived. I’ve used this cutwork circle and added herringbone squares in cotton a broder and decorated it with beads. At the edge I couched some fluffy knitting yarn.

 Take a closer look at this ATC here.

Maureen’s dragon

Maureen’s gorgeous fabric book page was in my mailbox this morning.

I enjoyed looking at all details.

Bullion knots around the neck.

Bullion knots claws.

And more bullion knots around the curly tail.

Thank you, Maureen!

Herringbone square & laced herringbone square

Yesterday I experimented with herringbone square on 14 count Aida. First I stitched it in 8 different threads. From left to right: 2 threads of stranded floss, perle 12, perle 8, Caron Wildflowers, Caron Watercolours, silk, perle 5 and 
4 threads of stranded floss in 2 different colours.

This is a row of herringbone squares on point. I stitched it from left to right and it’s partly woven. The thread is Caron Wildflowers.

I started each new herringbone square inside the previous one. First I took the thread under the bar of the previous stitch.

And in the last step of the stitch I took it over the previous stitch and under the first step of the herringbone square I’m working on. I like this very much, it would make a great CQ seam.

Then I stitched laced herringbone square with the same threads as the first row. They are very different in height.