Old chained cross stitches

TAST stitch 79 is chained cross stitch. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, 
a challenge at Pin Tangle.

Of course I start with my TAST 2010 sampler. There are a lot of experiments on it, I wrote about most of them here. Take a closer look at it here.

This detail is part of my Eastern stitch sampler. I stitched the Eastern stitch in 
red and dark blue and added the chained cross stitch in blue at the 4 sides. 
The threads are perle 5.

A detail on my last TAST 2010 sampler. The dark brown chained cross stitches are done in perle 5.

This last detail is a seam on my quiltie Harvest. I used green perle 5 and made 
a woven chained cross stitch by taking the thread under the first half of the stitch before making the chain. I wrote about the making of my pumpkin here.

There are more old samples of chained cross stitch from other participants in the Flickr TAST group.

Cloud filling on Aida

TAST stitch 78 is cloud filling. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, 
a challenge at Pin Tangle.

First I made a grid of long tailed detached chain stitches on 14 count Aida. 
The thread is Caron Watercolours.

Then I laced it with cotton a broder. It reminds me of a pineapple.

Then I lace the tail of the detached chain stitch with Stef Francis spun silk with flames.

Take a closer look at my cloud filling here.

Grape winery gate

This gorgeous ATC is made by Kim in the USA. It’s made of wool that she hand hooked.

The painted leather door has a metal sign that says OPEN.

Behind the door are beaded grapes.

A grape above the door.

At the bottom of the ATC is a cork with beads.

Luckily Kim added a metal hanging loop, now it’s hanging in our corridor.

Work In Progress Wednesday - August 21

Last week I shared my bare tree for the cover of my fabric book Trees. This week 

I stitched detached chain stitch leaves with DMC color variations perle 5. It was so much fun to see this tree grow with every new stitch. I’m very happy with the result!

Take a closer look at my tree here.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old cloud filling

TAST stitch 78 is cloud filling. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, 

a challenge at Pin Tangle.

I made 2 samples in 2010 and never used this lovely stitch again! This owl is my TAST 2010 sampler. I used the filling for Spinjenny’s owl. The outlines are whipped backstitches with 2 threads of stranded floss. I also used it for the grid of the fillings, but I made a different grid for each part of the pattern. For the lacing of the owl and the branch I used perle 5, the other lacing is done with 2 threads of stranded floss. I made 3 detached chain stitches in black perle 5 for each claw. For the beak I used padded satin stitch with 2 threads of stranded floss. Take a closer look at this owl here.

This detail is part of my pink ornament. I stitched a grid on polka dot fabric with 2 threads of mocha floss called Six Strand Sweet Hand-dyed by Jessica Burr. For the lacing I used cotton a broder.

There are more old samples of cloud filling from other participants in the Flickr TAST group.

Woven cross stitch on my garden sampler

TAST stitch 77 is woven cross stitch. Sharon wrote that this stitch looks fantastic with a bead in the middle, so that’s what I planned. But after stitching the woven cross stitches with Stef Francis perle 5 I couldn’t find matching beads. I didn’t want to add French knots, because I’m trying to use as many different stitches on my garden sampler as possible. I threaded my needle with yellow perle 8 and stitched drizzle stitches. Then I added berry stitch leaves with perle 12.

Take a closer look at the woven cross stitches on my garden sampler here.

Zee-meer-man

A new page in my altered book. It’s inspired these by these mermaids.

Work In Progress Wednesday - August 14

Last week I shared the beginning of the front side of the cover for my fabric book Trees. This week I appliquéd the background. Then I could appliqué the tree to the background. The trunk is ruched, the branches are twisted. I used batik for my tree, because it doesn’t fray much. Now I have to think how to add leaves.

Take a closer look at my tree here.

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Vandyke stitch

TAST stitch 76 is Vandyke stitch. I used some threads I didn’t use in my first Vandyke stitch sampler. This thread is Stef Francis spun silk with flames, a thread that changes in colour and thickness.

Vandyke stitch in wool.

Here I made stretched Vandyke stitches with perle 5.

This row is stitched with 2 different threads in 2 needles: purple cotton a broder and yellow perle 12.

A combo of Vandyke stitch in Stef Francis perle 5 and arrowhead stitch in cotton a broder.

Take a closer look at my Vandyke stitch sampler here.

Embroider, Embellish, Create update 2

It’s been almost a month since I stitched on my cloth! This weekend I stitched the seams at the edge of block 4. I started with alternating barred chain stitch in cotton a broder.

Then I added French knots with perle 5.

On the last part of the edge I stitched crested chain stitch with perle 12. It wasn’t easy to connect 6 layers of fabric this way!

Take a closer look at block 4 with embroidered edges here.

Pistil stitches on my garden sampler

A few days ago I added pistil stitch flowers to my garden sampler. I used Stef Francis perle 5 for the flower and perle 12 for the buds. Normally the pistil stitch is wrapped like a French knot, but I wrapped them like a colonial knot. It was easier to control the tension of the stitch. I added green long tailed woven detached chain stitches and fly stitches with perle 8 and 5.

Take a closer look at the pistil stitches on my garden sampler here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - August 7

Last month I finished the 2 projects I was working on, my long and short stitch sampler and my quilt Pot vol blomme. So it was time to pick a new project. Months ago I planned to finish my scrapquilt, but it has to wait. I have 3 fabric books to create, so that’s what I’m going to do first. I wanted to start with the oldest one with pages of trees from a book page swap at Stitchin Fingers. Of course I had to enjoy looking at the pages first. They are made by Helen, Francis, Teresa, Trillian and Vicki. (click on their names to read what I wrote about their pages)

I remembered I had an idea how to make a tree so I flipped through my first studio journal to find it. I’m not going to share the page, it would spoil the surprise next week.

Now it was time to measure, . . .

. . . make a lot of notes . . .

. . . and decide  which fabric I should use.

Then I could start with the front of my cover. This is all I can show you now. 
I cannot wait to see if it works the way I wrote in my studio journal!

More info about Work In Progress Wednesday at Pin Tangle.

Old Vandyke stitches

TAST stitch 76 is Vandyke stitch. I’ve used this stitch a lot, but only share my experiments today. This is my TAST 2010 Vandyke stitch sampler. I wrote about a few of the details here.

A detail on my last TAST 2010 sampler where I repeated most of the stitches. 

I combined the Vandyke stitch with a stretched houndstooth variation. The threads are perle 5 and 8.

This detail is part of my ATC Contrast. The Vandyke stitch is done in Stef Francis perle 5.

I like the Vandyke stitch because the arms of the stitch makes can be used as a foundation for another stitch. That’s what I did with the  last 2 samples. This detail is part of my raised chain sampler. The threads are Stef Francis perle 5.

This last detail was one of last year's experiments with Portuguese border stitch. Again I used the arms of the Vandyke stitch as the foundation. The threads are perle 5.

There are more old samples of the Vandyke stitch from other participants in the Flickr TAST group.

Door de ogen van een kind

A few hours ago I finished this collage. The background is gesso and acrylic paint. I cut many words and didn’t use them all. So I just have to make more of these!

If you want to read the Dutch words you can take a closer look at my collage here.

Zigzag & woven zigzag chain stitch

TAST stitch 74 is zigzag chain stitch and TAST stitch 75 is woven zigzag chain stitch. I used both on my 14 count Aida sampler.

I planned to stitch zigzag chain stitch rows in different threads to make a filling, but it became a nice border. The red stitches are wool, the yellow perle 8. I decorated it with four-legged knots in purple perle 5.

This double row of zigzag chain stitch is done in Caron Wildflowers. It just looks like a row of woven cross stitches, but it was fun to stitch.

Woven zigzag chain stitches in perle 5. I had no idea how to experiment with those, so there’s only one row of woven zigzag chain stitches.

A last row of zigzag chain stitches in a different angle, the thread is Caron Watercolors. I used a tip in my embroidery book Stitch Sampler and pierced the base of each stitch. That way the stitches behave nicely.

Take a closer look at my zigzag chain stitch sampler here.

Door with a view

I made this door ATC for Helinä. It’s a drawn thread window in a blackwork door. The blackwork pattern came from my book The Stitch Bible, it’s pattern 17. At the edge I couched very thick knitting yarn to represent a door-frame. I also cut a window in the cardstock backside to make it a door with a view.

Take a closer look at this ATC here.