This week, the stitch was the Knotted Loop Stitch and while it wasn't that difficult to do, I couldn't get to it until last night (lots of late nights - Girls Night Out on Tuesday, Quilt Guild on Friday - and early mornings - volunteering on the NPR phone bank Thursday and Friday - means I didn't get all that much sleep and so wasn't competent to decipher the instructions!) Here is my attempt, the first failed (the fish on hte left really turned into mirrored blanket stitch) and the actual stitch on the right: It's a shame the fish didn't work out as I really saw fish bones in this stitch if the arms were varied in length. Oh well... maybe I'll take it out someday and redo it!
2 Comments
The stitch is the Beaded Hebedo Edge and while it started out logically, I ended up melting down last night when trying to actually do the Hebedo part of the stitch. Not a hardanger person here and I simply couldn't picture what I was doing. MANY thanks to Sharon B who answered my very loud call for help and guided me, with three generous emails and a link, to what I THINK may be a completion. Couldn't get a picture close enough to show the detail but... Once a single line was completed, I bailed. The thread I was using (two strands of GAST "Aged Pewter") simply didn't like this stitch either (possibly part of my problem --- it kept curling, knotting, separating, blocking my view, etc. especially after picking it out, over and over and over --- believe me, you do NOT want to have to pick this stitch out if it goes wrong on you!) and after my struggles, I considered myself lucky to get this far! Didn't even try to come up with a design possibility for it. I think I can do it now, but odds are, I will only use it for straight line seam treatments, if at all. The other thing I did yesterday was select my fabrics for the color palette challenge: Only one fabric new to the blocks --- the purple/pink one on the far right. All others have been used at least once in my blocks for the other color palette challenges...
ever notice, in crazy quilting, everyone else uses patterns and fabrics with texture and the like, and I seem to end up with solids --- maybe the odd batik? My stash is really limited and I don't seem to do pattern in fabric much! SO I have to resort of laces, ribbons, threads, beads and the like to spruce up my blocks. Still, my blocks look awfully simple compared wit those displayed over at the Crazy Quilt Journal challenge! The ladies who post there are really an inspiration to me to try harder in this form of needlework... First of all, I finished week thirty-nine of Take a Stitch Tuesday - the Knotted Buttonhole Stitch: Here is the page with the September stitches: And I also stitched the September installments of "Kimono- Revisited": In all, a pretty productive week, I think!
I continued on with "Birds of a Feather" and actually got started on the metallic threads! Maybe you can see some of the bling in the right-hand and top borders? I suppose I could have continued but my conscience was bothering me --- so many pieces sitting there, unstitched! So on Friday... First, I tackled Take a Stitch Tuesday week 38, Drizzle Stitch. Keep in mind I HATE threading needles and I'm not a fan of "knots" so this one was hard for me to do but here are five "Drizzles" in a flower with a stem stitch stem and French knot center: Next up was Color Through the Ages, Lesson 7 - CIvil War Colors! I got ambitious (OK, I couldn't decide on a colorway! LOL) and did all three with GAST, WDW and DMC from my stash. Here is my Union Uniform version, using all GAST: Midnight, Brethren Blue, Pacific Green (yes, green --- doesn't look it, does it?), and Blueberry (0230) for the blues and Oatmeal for the background. Here is my Confederate Uniform version - I used GAST Brandy and Tarnished Gold and WDW Tin Roof (1174) and Pelican Gray (1302) for the uniform colors and DMC3033 for the background. And last, my Patriotic Colors version - I used GAST Blueberry (0230), Midnight, Mulberry (02350), Walnut and Flax for the background (consider it "distressed!): There is still my Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal piece waiting in the wings, to say nothing of the September installments of "Kimono-Revisited" (and October is almost here!), so I'm not caught up yet. But there's only so much stitching one can do in one day!
Oh, and I signed up for another online-SAL! I'm out of my mind, I know... And have a few completions to show for it! First, the Take a Stitch Tuesday for week 37, which was the "pistil" or long tack knot stitch. I'm sure there are uses for it besides being the pistils of flowers but I wasn't think very imaginatively yesterday so here are my pistil stitch in a stem-stitched flower with couched stem and leaves: Having spent the morning kitting up the Janet Perry Stash Buster and Mittens & Mini-Socks for September, I decided to work on one of them as well... I chose Mittens & Mini-socks - "San Francisco Fog" and got both sock and mitten done: I used DMC921 for the bridge (as close as I could come, in my stash, to the memory of the rustoleum color they actually paint the bridge); DMC 3072 alternated with four strands of 3072 blended with 2 strands of GAST "Pebble" for the fog (the blend wasn't very successful as the GAST was way too close in color to the DMC, I think), and GAST Barn Grey for the cuff. Finally, I stitched together the basic block for the color palette/crazy quilt journal/bead journal project challenge: Now to do seam treatments and beading...
We've been given a break to catch-up --- and if we are caught up, we are to take 3 – 6 of the stitches we have have done so far and create an interesting visual piece that will encourage new hands or busy hands to learn and to “catch up”. In other words create some eye candy for those who are falling behind, either because of busy lives or because they are new hands.
So here is my attempt at eye candy --- using French knots, fly stitch, feather stitch, running stitch, satin stitch and backstitch (the latter of which we have not used so far) to draw a cat sleeping on a pillow atop a wall in a garden. What did I do this past "moon"? Well, there were • the Take a Stitch Tuesday stitches: Cast On stitch, Pekinese Stitch, Linked Double Chain, and sheaf stitch, shown here: along with the completed "page" for August: • The August Stash Buster from Janet Perry • The August Mittens & Mini-Socks form Janet Perry --- both a mitten and a sock • The August Color Through the Ages from Janet Perry • the August parts for "Kimono - Revisited": • The August Color Palette Challenge/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project block • and quite a bit on "Birds of a Feather", shown here: Basically caught up, but tomorrow there will be more Kimono sections, Tuesday will bring another TAST, and there are certainly Mittens & Mini-socks, Color through the Ages twinchies and stash busters waiting in the wings as well.
I'm already collecting charts and ideas for next year's fair theme (Kitchens and cookery) and hope to start kitting up a few of those soon (and other entry candidates) soon. Meanwhile, my craft space is crying out for a little heavy-duty clean-up and organize time. 2102 - A Year of Challenges, Week Thirty Four: Take a Stitch Tuesday and Color Through the Ages8/25/2012 Catching up on "smalls"! Take a Stitch Tuesday, Week 34, was the "Linked Double Chain". I did it as both a straight line and a meander, using perle cotton: Color Through The Ages, Lesson 6, was "Colors of the Amish" and took the form of a log cabin quilt block: Yeah, I know --- it doesn't look a lot like a log cabin to me either --- I tried to stick to the colors the Amish around here wear --- purples and blue, and sadly, in my stash, they aren't different enough to really show the log cabin effect. Anyway, I used DMC floss throughout: 301 for the border; 666 for the corners and the centers of each log cabin block; 824, 825 and 826 for the blues; and 794, 793 and 792 for the purples.
Perhaps it if weren't on a twinchie and each "log" were more than one row think, it might show up better, but I think I need to check my color choices on swatches before setting stitches in the final piece (it's too darned hard to rip out a mistake on this canvas with floss). But I'm too lazy to do what John Waddell calls "doodle cloths"! 2012: A Year of Challenges - week 32Aug 11, '12 8:46 AM for everyone I hate having to do this but I haven't found a new blog yet so until I do, I guess I'll just take my chances. I've been trying to save this blog as well as testing out three possible replacements (Tripod, Weebly and Ipernity are all failures so far... I can't do anything on Tripod due to disk limitation, Weebly will take my photo galleries and I can copy my blog text but I can't copy my blog photos, and Ipernity will only let me insert one photo per blog...) I didn't get much done this week. between a plumber fixing two leaks, another plumber checking out our HVAC for the regular annual check-up, a notary with papers to sign (we finally sold our "vacation" house - closing is the 14th!), picking up my fair entries on Wednesday (it was supposed to be Tuesday night but I slept through it), and quilt guild on Thursday, stitchery took a back seat this week. But I did accomplish a few things... I assembled the basic block for my Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Challenge for August: I have only half a border of the fourth color to do on "Birds of a Feather": And I finished (late, of course, but finished) a small sample of the Take A Stitch Tuesday week 32 (Cast On Stitch): delete replyrifestitch wrote on Aug 20 Nice work, all, and I'm with you on the "where to go?" front....
The Algerian Eye! A stitch I've used relatively often in samplers and even in needlepoint, so it wasn't so much a learning curve for this one. What is more, it was almost fun playing with the shapes of the stitch! rifestitch wrote on Aug 2 Rhodes are my favorite, but eyelets are a close 2nd! The furthest right is cool - I like that thread :)
|
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
April 2024
Categories
All
Follow Me to...
* 2012 Color Palette Challenge
* 2012 WIPocaplypse * 2012 Bead Journal Project * Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012 * Crazy Quilt Journal Project Challenge 2013 * Crazy Quilt Journal Project Challenge * Cross Stitch Crazy * Cross Stitch Crazy forum * On Beads and Needles * Black Swamp Quilter's Guild * Craft Kingdom Quilting * The Crime Readers Association * Blog #3 BJP 2010 * Blog #1 BJP 2011 |