Work In Progress Wednesday - July 31

Last week I shared the last finished element on my long and short stitch sampler. This week I stitched the borders in stem stitch with 2 threads of the dark red stranded DMC that was already in the sampler. Then I damp stretched it. This sampler will be part of another fabric book.

A last photo of the DMC floss in this sampler. These threads were in a zip lock bag since I started this sampler in August 2009. Some colours have a yellow marking thread, because they were part of another project. If I only could remember which one!

Take a closer look at all elements and the finished sampler in this Flickr album.

You can find the pattern for this sampler here.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Portuguese stem stitch

TAST stitch 73 is Portuguese stem stitch. I’ve known for weeks what I wanted to do, because Queenie shared an interesting variation on her blog. Flipping through my new second hand embroidery book I found another variation. And because Queenie told us yesterday, today is World Embroidery Day I just had to stitch it today! I stitched both variations and a normal Portuguese stem stitch on 14 count Aida with 2 different threads, variegated perle 5 and Catania, a crochet cotton.

Let me share the details of the stitches in Catania. It’s a crochet cotton I normally use with a size 2½ crochet hook. This is the normal Portuguese stem stitch.

This is the variation Queenie shared here. It was tricky to get the stitches right, 

but when I used my thumb to hold the first wrap while making the second wrap it worked. It gives a nice open stitch with a wrap on the crossover.

This is the variation I found in my book Het stekenboek voor creatief naaldwerk. It’s like a cross stitch at the crossover of the stem stitch. I made step by step photo’s when I was stitching with perle 5.

This is the first wrap, at the right of the thread coming out of the fabric. Just wrapping the new stitch only.

The second wrap, just like the normal second wrap of the Portuguese stem stitch.

One last old sample, I forgot to share it in my post with old Portuguese stem stitches. I stitched it with DMC 80 on cardstock, after tangling. I wrote about it here.

Take a closer look at my Portuguese stems stitch sampler here.

Page 78

Remember my ATC Altered Text - pink? It made me search for other peoples work with books and words, to find inspiration for my altered book Een stem van papier. I was happy to find the work of Loes, which inspired me to another page in my book. Page 78 was already painted with yellow acrylic paint. I found 3 nonsense sentences and decorated the page with some doodles.

Take a closer look at page 78 here if you want to read the Dutch words.

Masha’s mermaid

Masha’s gorgeous mermaid arrived yesterday. Thank you Masha!

This is my last fantasy page, so now I can start to think how to turn them into a nice fabric book.

Wrapped coral stitch

TAST stitch 72 is wrapped coral stitch. This stitch was new to me, so I first stitched a few rows on 18 count linen. My first row is done in perle 5.

The second row is done in Caron Wildflowers. 

This last row is stitched in Caron Watercolours. First I made a row from left to right, then a second row from right to left joined to the first row. I decorated it with straight stitches.

A progress photo joining both rows.

This is a combo of coral stitch and wrapped coral stitch on 14 count Aida. 
Both threads are perle 5. It would be a nice CQ seam.

Here you can see how I stitched it. This is how it should look at the backside, the red lines are wrapped coral stitches, the blue lines coral stitches.

I thought this stitch could be a pretty flower too. I stitched them on the garden sampler, which I started for the &Stitches stitchalong. I stitched the wrapped coral stitch with Stef Francis perle 5 and added colonial knots with perle 8. The detached chain stitch leaves are done with silk buttonhole twist.

And this is how my garden sampler looks today.

Work In Progress Wednesday - July 24

I finished the last element on my long and short stitch sampler. Now I only have to stitch the borders.

Take a closer look at my leaf with a turned tip here.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old zigzag chain stitches

TAST stitch 74 is zigzag chain stitch. It’s been a long time since I used this stitch. All samples are stitched in stranded floss. My first sample is part of my 5th ATC, which I made in December 2007.

This is a seam on another CQ ATC.  I decorated it with beads in the zigzag.

My last sample is part of my ATC Crazy Apples. Here I decorated it with French knots to secure the chain stitches!

I’m still playing catch-up with the TAST stitches, but after stitching the wrapped coral stitch and the Portuguese stem stitch I’m going to experiment with the zigzag chain in other threads.

Birthday card for Ati

A few years ago Ati wrote a tutorial for making fabric paper. Of course I had to use that for her birthday card. I found the pattern for the butterfly in the book De mooiste kaarten zelf borduren by Nel Korf. The thread is Madeira rayon.

This is the sheet of fabric paper I made. There’s lots of it left to make more cards and ATC’s.

Take a closer look at my birthday card for Ati here.

Bullion buttonhole

TAST stitch 71 is bullion buttonhole. I stitched a circle of bullion buttonhole stitches with perle 8 on my second pebble. I deliberately made too much wraps, so they would bent a little.

Then I used this as the base for my trellis stitches. I used cotton a broder and stitched 5 rounds of stitches, doubling the stitches in the last row. The colonial knots are done with perle 8.

I also stitched colonial knots around the trapped star button with perle 8 and wool.

Take a closer look at my bullion buttonhole here.

Altered Text - pink

I made an ATC from one of the removed pages from my altered book. Take a closer look at it here.

Knots

Last month Mary Corbet wrote about Turk’s head knot stitch. It reminded me of the Chinese knots I made last year, so I just had to give it a try. It was very tricky to get the knot on the right place near the fabric. When I pulled the thread through I noticed there was about an inch of thread between the fabric and the knot! So I just pulled the extra and secured it at the back. So I made one Turk’s head knot stitch for now, it’s the one at the left side. To see if it was worth trying again I stitched a colonial knot at the right side and a French knot in the background. There’s a difference between the knots, but I think I play a little more with the colonial knot first. These knots are stitched with perle 5 on my doodle cloth. Take a closer look at these knots here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - July 17

Well, last week I shared my finished quilt Pot vol blomme, so now it’s time to continue my long and short stitch sampler. I split stitched the outline and started the long and short stitches at the right side of the last element. I’m going to finish this sampler before picking up another project.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Wheatear stitch on my garden sampler

The third stitch for the &Stitches stitchalong is wheatear stitch. This stitch wasn’t new to me, but I never used it to stitch a flower. So I stitched a seam of wheatear stitches on my white cloth to see if the movement of the stitch inspired me. Later I was in the garden and saw my Hypericum, it looks just like single wheatear stitches! After blooming the Hypericum gets nice red berries. I stitched my wheatear stitches with perle 8 and added a colonial knot in the centre. I added fly stitches and feather stitches with perle 5.

Take a closer look at my garden sampler here and here.

Embroider, Embellish, Create update 1

I added the last block to my cloth and sewed extra strips around it. Now it’s easy to put it in my hoop. My husband was holding it for me so I could take a photo. 
The size is 52 x 70 cm or 20 x 28 inch.

Then I started to embroider the seams at the edge of block 2. This is a freestyle buttonhole double chain with perle 5.

Cross stitches and straight stitches with perle 12.

Colonial knots with perle 5.

Buttonhole stitches with perle 8. 

 Buttonhole lace at the corner, I used the same perle 8.

The last one is wheatear stitch with perle 8.

Take a closer look at my cloth here.

Crested chain stitch

TAST stitch 70 is crested chain stitch. I used it on my second pebble, the thread is cotton a broder.

I also added French knots, drizzle stitches and pistil stitches to the stitches I made last time. The thread is perle 5.

Take a closer look at my crested chain stitch here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - July 10

After the scissor incident from last week I needed some time to think how I could safe my label. The idea’s in the comments helped me very much, thank you ladies! I removed the border and added a wonky appliquéd border. Now my quilt is hanging on the wall. If you visit my Flickr-page you can take a closer look at my quilt, the backside and the label.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old Portuguese stem stitches

TAST stitch 73 is Portuguese stem stitch. It’s one of my favourite stitches, so 

I have a lot of examples. Today I want to share a few of them. I start with this Valentine ATC. I embroidered the hearts with 2 threads of stranded floss.

This detail is part of my PLOS border sampler. From top to bottom it’s stitched in perle 5, 8 and 12.

I stitched the hands of my clock Beer Time in Portuguese stem stitch. It was stitched for the Stitch Explorer challenge contemporary embroidery. It's done 

in 4 threads of stranded floss.

My ATC Blueprint is stitched in Portuguese stem stitch and knotted loop stitch. The threads are perle 5, 8 and 12.

Here I used the Portuguese stem stitch for the outline of a snowflake in pulled thread. Read more about this book page here.

Portuguese stem stitch is great for curvy lines, but sometimes you want a neat corner. I wrote a tutorial for that here.

I also made a sampler for TAST 2007, take a look at it here.