Sheaf stitch & thorn stitch

The second stitch for the &Stitches stitchalong is sheaf stitch. This stitch wasn’t new to me, it was TAST stitch 33 last year. I made a small 2 x 2 inch sampler at the time, you can see it here. It was a challenge to turn the sheaf stitch into a flower, but it worked. I used perle 12 and small bugle beads. The French knots are done in 3 threads of stranded floss. Then I added thorn stitches in perle 5.

Take a closer look at my sampler here.

Buttonholed double chain

TAST stitch 69 is buttonholed double chain. First I made 2 mirrored rows with 
perle 5. I left some space between the rows to fill with other stitches.

My TAST 2010 fabric book was on my worktable for the buttonholed double chain, so I flipped through the pages to find a nice stitch for the space between my rows. I choose the raised chain stitch, you can take a look at my TAST 2010 raised chain sampler here.

The raised chain stitch is worked on a base of straight stitches, which I stitched with 4 threads of stranded floss.

Then I made the raised chain stitch with Stef Francis spun silk with flames, a lovely thread that changes in colour and thickness. Take a closer look at my sampler here.

A few weeks ago Nicole of &Stitches asked me if I would like to do an interview about my experiences with TAST. You can read it here.

My next post will be an update of my version of the garden sampler from &Stitches.

Work In Progress Wednesday - June 26

There wasn’t much time to work on my quilt, so it’s not finished yet. But I managed to attach the hanging sleeve. Now I only have to finish the embroidery on my label and attach it to my quilt.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Made by B & A 10 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.

For this ATC I made a piece of rickrack hairpin lace in a matching colour. 
I attached it with beads. At the edge I couched a soft knitting yarn.

Take a closer look at this ATC here.

ATC's from Jodie

These lovely ATC's were in my mailbox a few days ago. They are made by Jodie. The bottom one is made of tiny fabric scraps!

Birthday card for Birgit

This card is made of selvages. I attached the lace flower with French knots.

Take a closer look at this card here.

Het stekenboek voor creatief naaldwerk

Yesterday I visited a new second-hand store. I found a great book, printed in 1967. It’s the Dutch translation of The Stitches of Creative Embroidery by Jacqueline Enthoven. That one was already on my bookshelf, but now I can finally read the Dutch names of most embroidery stitches.

This is the top knotted buttonhole stitch, it’s nice the read the description in Dutch.

And the pages with the slipped detached chain stitch. The old Dutch book only has the drawings of the stitch, the new English book has some nice photo’s too.

For my Dutch readers: the description of the slipped detached chain stitch aka losse kettingsteek met een doorgehaald steekje.

This book looks like it’s never been used, it’s only missing the separate cover. 

This treasure made my day!

ATC’s from Marloes

A few days ago these lovely felted ATC’s arrived. Marloes made a great titmouse and a peacock feather for me.

Thank you Marloes!

Work In Progress Wednesday - June 19

This week I started the embroidery on the label of my quilt. I found the drawing of the vase here.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old bullion buttonhole stitches

TAST stitch 71 is bullion buttonhole. This is one of the stitches I learned in TAST 2010 and never used it again. My first sample is my TAST 2010 bullion buttonhole sampler.

I had a lot of fun with this stitch and I want to share a few details too. It was the first time I used milliners needles, it was a pleasure to use them. This row with two corners is stitched in perle 5.

Here I alternated the direction of the stitches. The thread is a variegated cotton thread, almost the same size as perle 12.

A pinwheel with 4 bullion buttonhole stitches in perle 5.

A combo of bullion buttonhole and crossed buttonhole stitch in perle 5.

My last sample is part of my spiked knotted cable chain sampler. It’s a combo of bullion buttonhole and spiked knotted cable chain in perle 8.

Made by B & A 9 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 needle tatted flower with beads, the thread is perle 8. 
I found the tutorial at YouTube. At the edge I couched a boucle knitting yarn.

Take a closer look at this ATC here.

Flowers in my garden

Daisy

Oriental Poppie

Aquilegia

London Pride

Fancy hem stitch & slipped detached chain stitch

TAST stitch 67 is fancy hem stitch, TAST stitch 68 is slipped detached chain stitch. I combined both on a CQ seam sampler on  Aida. It was inspired by Susie W’s fancy hem stitch. I stitched the fancy hem stitch with red perle 5 and wrapped it with cotton a broder. The slipped detached chain stitch is done in Stef Francis perle 5. I added a long tailed chain stitch with cotton a broder. I like the Egyptian look of this seam.

Take a closer look at my CQ seam here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - June 12

This week I sewed the binding to the backside of my quilt.

Now it only needs a hanging sleeve and a label, so maybe it will be finished soon!

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old crested chain stitches

TAST stitch 70 is crested chain stitch. It’s a great stitch with many different looks. This is my TAST 2007 sampler, stitched with stranded floss on muslin.

A seam on block 6 of my Crazy Monday quilt. I stitched it with 3 threads of stranded floss and added some straight stitches.

This seam is part of my Tilda ornament. The thread is Stef Francis perle 5.

The next 3 samples are details of my embroidery Birth. The crested chain at the left is stitched with perle 8.

Two rows of crested chain stitches in light and dark green perle 5 at the right.

And a crested chain stitch with Stef Francis perle 5 at the top.

This flower is part of my floral sampler for PLOS. It’s stitched on the same linen as the sampler I started last weekend. The thread is Stef Francis perle 5.

ATC’s for Marloes

Last week I made 2 ATC’s for Marloes. She got a new grandson a few weeks ago, so I thought it would be nice to stitch this cute baby for her. I already used the same pattern in a postcard. You can find the pattern here.

I also made a zentangle ATC for her. The background came from a resist experiment, I wrote about it here. I tangled Betweed, Diva Dance Foxtrot, Huggings and Quandary.

Coral stitch & Granitos

Last Friday there was a new sampler at &Stitches with a stitch that was new to me: Granitos. My sampler is smaller and a bit different from the template, because I already know what to do with it. TAST stitch 66 is coral stitch and that’s what I used for the outlines. The thread is perle 5.

My first Granitos flower with 4 threads of stranded floss. I added French knots, fly stitches and detached chain stitches.

My second Granitos flower with perle 8, this looks much better. I made a total of 5 straight stitches in each petal.

My last Granitos flower is done in Stef Francis perle 5. Again I made a total of 5 straight stitches in each petal.

Before I started stitching Granitos I watched Mary Corbet’s video. she used her nails to help the threads, but I used a second needle. I just put it under the first stitch to help positioning the thread.

Just put the needle under all threads and make sure the new thread is below before you pull through.

And this is my sampler with all Granitos flowers.