Yogi Tea tag ATC swap

Yogi tea is one of my favourite teas, the Classic variety is delicious! Every teabag has a tag with a quote on it and I always thought I should use them creatively. For this swap I collected them for 2 weeks before I decided which quotes to use on my ATC’s. A few weeks ago I prepared a new altered book and painted some of the pages I removed during that process. I used 2 of them for the background of my ATC’s.

It was a surprise to see the white Yogi tea tags on the pretty ATC’s I received. They are made by Bonnie from the USA. Fun to see the tags are different in other parts of the world!

Bonnie’s ATC’s where in my mailbox before I sent mine to Heather in the USA. I thought she might like a few extra Yogi tea tags from the Netherlands, so I made an extra card with tags for her to accompany my ATC’s. She was very happy with them!

Of course I have many tea tags left, I’m sure I’m going to use some of them in my new altered book!

Inchies!

I tangled these inchies for another swap. We had to tangle 9 inchies for one partner. 

I decided to tangle a 3 x 3 inch tile and cut it into 9 inchies to make a nice puzzle.

These are the pretty inchies I received for this swap, there’s a lot to see! 

They are tangled by Joan.

Thank you, Joan!

It’s a Rainbow! - orange

. . . is a series of colour swaps I’m participating. For the orange swap I crocheted  circle motif #6 from the book Beyond the square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman. 

The thread is DMC Special dentelles #80, I used a 0,75 mm crochet hook!

For the background I used woven strips of plain and metallic origami paper.

This is the pretty ATC I received for this swap. It’s made for me by Georgia.

I enjoy these series, there will be more swaps in brown, black, gold and silver.

Work In Progress Wednesday - September 24

This week I decorated 2 seams on block 5 for my Crazy White quilt.

I secured the edge of the machine embroidered fabric with colonial knots in perle 12.

This is one of my favourite stitch combos: herringbone and Cretan stitch. The threads are cotton a broder and Rainbow Gallery Treasure Braid.

Work In Progress Wednesday is a support group to encourage people to complete languishing projects, Works In Slow Progress or UFO’s.

More info at Pin Tangle.

Double lock stitch and beaded double lock stitch

TAST stitch 130 is double lock stitch. TAST stitch 131 is beaded double lock stitch. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at Pin Tangle.

This morning I planned to stitch a double lock stitch sampler, but first I had a quick look at Sharon’s blog to see this week’s stitch. It was a surprise to see it was the beaded version, so I decided to add it to my sampler. I stitched on 14 count Aida. Again I stitched lock stitch from left to right, as I showed last week. My first row is just a normal double lock stitch as Sharon’s taught us at Pin Tangle. The threads are wool and perle 8.

This variation was already on my TAST 2010 sampler, but I repeated it with different threads: Kreinik very fine braid and cotton a broder. I shifted the second row of lock stitches.

On my lock stitch sampler for TAST 2010 I used different stitches for the base of the lock stitch. Of course I wanted to do the same for the double lock stitch. Here I used VanDyke stitch (TAST stitch 76) in Caron Wildflowers for the base of the double lock stitch in Perle 12.

In my next row I used Siennese stitch (TAST stitch 83) in perle 5 for the base of the beaded double lock stitch in YLI silk buttonhole twist.

I thought it would be fun to add bugle beads to the straight stitches before stitching the double lock stitch. The beads are too close, it’s a very crowded row! I didn’t frog it, because it inspired me for my last row.

In my last row I added the beads to the straight stitches again, but I put every second straight stitch through the previous bead. The threads are YLI silk buttonhole twist and cotton a broder.

Just take a closer look at my finished sampler here.

Work In Progress Wednesday - September 17

Last Saturday I patched a new 8 x 8 inch block for my Crazy White quilt, it’s my 5^th.

This morning I had time to decorated the first seam with TAST stitch 126: alternating up and down buttonhole stitch. I stitched it in a V-shape and added straight stitches. The threads are perle 5 and cotton a broder.

Work In Progress Wednesday is a support group to encourage people to complete languishing projects, Works In Slow Progress or UFO’s.

More info at Pin Tangle.

TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at Pin Tangle.

Beaded lock stitch

TAST stitch 129 is lock stitch. TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at PinTangle.

This stitch was part of TAST 2010 and I stitched a sampler in November 2010 with many experiments. I wrote about it on my blog and shared the complete sampler on my Flickr page. Now it was time to build on my previous experiments, the lock stitch with detached chain stitches instead of straight stitches was my favourite. I repeated it on my CQ fan and added beads between the locks. The threads are perle 5 and cotton a broder. This time I stitched from left to right, which is much easier if you’re right-handed. I found the instructions in one of my embroidery books (Encyclopedia of embroidery stitches including crewel). My camera was on my worktable when I was stitching, so I made a few progress photos and a short video when I pulled the thread for locking the stitch. I turned it into a short video tutorial, you can watch it here.

Zentangle ATC’s - Pattern names B

I participated in a zentangle ATC swap. In this swap you could only use tangle names with B. First I drew 2 similar strings on my ATC’s. Then I tangled Bales, Beelight, Black Box, Bunzo, Boxt and Black Eyed Peas. It was fun to see how different both ATC’s were at the end!

And these are the pretty ATC’s I received for the same swap.

Made by Lisa from the USA

made by Riitta from Finland

Thank you Lisa and Riitta!

Owl ornament

I stitched this cross stitch owl in March and turned it into an ornament. The pattern was part of a cross stitch kit with 6 patterns and enough fabric for 2 of them. A dear friend liked it very much, so I made it one of her birthday gifts!

Selvage ATC’s

I participated in a few ATC swaps and had the same partners for 2 of them. I made my ATC’s for Ruth, who’s work I have seen since the very first TAST! Of course I had to use TAST stitches on her ATC, woven trellis, French knots and woven detached chain stitch. It’s been 6 weeks since I sent it to her, but I still hope it will arrive.

And this is the second ATC I made for Ruth. This time I wove the selvages and partly covered it with fancy organza, which I attached with French knots. This one arrived after only 8 days!

These pretty ATC’s are made for me by Arlyna in China. I like the words on the first ATC. . .

. . . and the cute label and Ikea selvage on the second ATC.

Thank you Arlyna!

Work In Progress Wednesday - September 10

There were only 2 seams left on block 3 for my Crazy White quilt. I started with TAST stitch 128: interlaced up and down buttonhole stitch. The thread is cotton a broder.

The last seam didn’t want any stitches, it wanted a button and bead trail. I’m sure this was inspired by the beautiful examples from Sharon here and here!

After adding beads to the chained feather and buttons at the Portuguese stem stitch 

I attached this pretty flower ring with cotton a broder, just straight stitches and French knots. This was part of a necklace, I bought it to use the pretty parts for my CQ!

Then it was time to damp stretch my finished block, but I had used wooden buttons and beads. So I covered my bead and button trail with plastic, which I removed after spraying the water.

Block 3 is finished, it was the last of the 4 blocks I prepared in February 2012!

Just click the photo to take a closer look at my block.

Work In Progress Wednesday is a support group to encourage people to complete languishing projects, Works In Slow Progress or UFO’s.

More info at Pin Tangle.

Leo and sun ornament

I participated in a Zodiac, sun or moon ornament swap. My swap partner wanted a Leo ornament and I knew she liked vintage. I have a few vintage magazines, one of them is this Ariadne dated June 15, 1967 with all Zodiac patterns.

I used 2 and 4 threads of stranded floss to stitch the Leo on Gingham.  

The edge is couched with knitting yarn.

I received a sun ornament for the same swap. This cheerful sun is made for me by Mary.

Zentangle animal ATC’s

I didn’t blog much for the last 2 months, so I still have lots to share. This ATC was for a zentangle swap. I had to tangle an animal and I knew my swap partner has a husky called Juneau.

And this is the cute fish I received for the same swap. It’s made by Lissie.

Blue birthday card

We had a great time when our daughter visited us the last 2 weeks. She learned crochet and when her project for a newborn is finished I hope to share it here.

Today it’s my aunts birthday and this is the card I made for her. A great excuse to use a few TAST stitches!

Before patching the card I cross stitched 80 in stranded floss on a scrap of blue evenweave and outlined it in backstitch in a metallic thread.

Pistil stitch and French knots in cotton a broder.

Buttonholed cable chain in perle 5.

Feather stitch and French knots in perle 12.

Chevron stitch and French knots in perle 5, berry stitch in 2 colours cotton a broder.

Breton stitch in perle 12.

Beaded up and down buttonhole stitch (TAST stitch 127) in cotton a broder.

TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, an embroidery challenge at Pin Tangle.