I could see using this as a crazy quilt seam treatment if I can ever get it even...
Crested Chain Stitch: I had trouble keeping the stitch straight and of the same width down the chain but at least I figured out how to do it (after frogging it three times!).
I could see using this as a crazy quilt seam treatment if I can ever get it even...
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This week's stitch took me a while to decipher but once I experimented with the double chain, I worked out what to do and here is my attempt at a Buttonholed Double Chain: What I discovered is that a) you have to watch to be certain you don't twist the chain part and b) you really have to be careful you don't stitch it to your bedsheet!* LOL
*Yes, I do stitch in bed! Fancy Hem Stitch --- one colorway, two ways! I think this would be fun to play with with different threads, beads, etc... but I used perle cotton because that was what was at hand.
My last week on drops for the left eye and an eye exam has resulted in new glasses (should be in in a week or so) which should solve any additional problems I have (except for the peripheral vision shimmer which still sometimes strikes without warning). I really lost my stitchery mojo last week --- so a few more photos of my husband's garden which has become a serial bloomer (everything from last week is past it's prime already) because of the heat. We got summer right after winter --- Spring was maybe a one-day season, so things are bolting! Anyway this week it's azaleas (I always loved azaleas in the south but Indicas won't grow here so we have the little Japanese ones): and one poor bush that doesn't look so happy... Tree peonies are blooming the back garden... A hydrangea (Ooops --- Husband says it's a Viburnum! Hey, who said I knew my plants anyway?) is in full bloom in the front yard... As is an Asian lilac And if you look carefully in the various beds, there are patches of blue... spiderwort ... and some sort of "Bachelor Button" which husband considers to be invasive weeds... I settled down on Sunday to get some stitches in on International Hermit and Stitch Weekend... Finally finished the April BJP butterfly: May's butterfly will be in orange and white on a yellow background. Just have to get it set up and maybe I will be able to catch up. I got kind-of behind what with eye surgery and all but finally caught up last night with Take a Stitch Tuesday Stitch #65: the buttonhole bar: I can see this doing a really really neat layering effect on top of other stitches! And it was fun to do! If I'd had more time, I would have tried it with different threads but getting one row done in perle cotton was good enough to learn the stitch. I also did the Coral Stitch (#66) in a different color perle cotton: It doesn't show up as clearly as I would like but I do like the effect...
My to-do project bag is still full but there's hope that maybe I can catch up before June is too far underway! Given that my eye isn't at top focus yet (it was still dilated after 48 hours *and* it's flashing/shimmering when light hits my peripheral vision since the lens hasn't settled in yet), I didn't do much in the way of stitching (or posting). I did complete the TAST Tuesday night since I could do that without extra light and magnification. Here's my Top-Knotted Buttonhole: and here is the completed "page" for stitches 57 through 64: Re cataract surgery --- it's taking a few days for my eye to recover.. While I can see, I'm getting the occasional twinge that tells me I'm not healed yet. On interesting side effect of cataract surgery is that the "fixed" eye doesn't see color the same way the cataract eye does! It would seem that, as the lenses hardened, they also yellowed and I've been looking at the world through yellow lenses for years now and didn't know it. Don't know if this will affect my choices of color in future but it is an interesting side effect I didn't expect!
I won't get 20/20 vision from this --- I never had it, but my optometrist, after the post-op check-up, says I'm now near-sighted in that eye and probably won't need glasses to read or stitch. Of course, I can't see for diddly at distance (never could) and my case of adult lazy-eye means I will always need glasses to correct for that. Also, my corneas are a disaster area (something called corneal dystrophy which, in my case is related to the basement membrane which holds the cells of the cornea flat to the eye --- it's not holding, the cells are piling up instead of lying flat,and the surface of my eye looks like the surface of the moon!) and we may have to take drastic action on that front once the cataracts are taken care of. Not a pleasant prospect for someone whose eyes are crucial to enjoyment of life! But what needs to be done will be done... Here is my take on the Scroll Stitch, using #5 perle (purple), six strands of DMC cotton floss (dark red) and boucle baby yarn (pale pink): I did have tension issues on this one, especially when I neared the end of a strand of thread, so the "scroll" nature of the stitch isn't nearly as visible as I would like. In fact, it looks a lot like what a two-year-old would call handwriting to me!
Tuesday's stitch was the Raised Cross Stitch Flower (AKA Whipped Cross Stitch) and here is my sampler, using three different threads (from left to right, DMC six-stranded floss, DMC #5 Perle, and a boucle baby-weight knitting yarn): The "Flip" mitten, the last in the "Mittens & Mini-Socks" class series, stitched using DMC Perle #5 variegated(4250) and DMC variegated cotton floss ($220) for the bargello, DMC Perle #5 (211) for the dividing line and Stranded By the Sea 134 (Sea Sponge) for the cuff (a completely different look from the sock).
Even though I had a nasty cold, I could concentrate on free-stitchery so I managed to get two pieces done so far this week. First was my approach to the TAST stitch 61 - the Up-and-Down Feathered Buttonhole Stitch: I even attempted a beaded version on my April Crazy Quilt Journal Project block: And speaking of the April Crazy Quilt Journal block, here it is... Not exactly "encrusted" like in that class I took on Encrusted Crazy Quilting but it is more in the style of the previous three blocks in this series so I will let it be...
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AuthorBorn in New Jersey, I grew up in Southeastern Ohio. Attended university at Bowling Green State University (B.Sci in biological science, 1964), University of Southern California (M. Sci in biological science, 1967) and University of Florida (Ph. D in zoology, 1971). Archives
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