Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012 - Week Forty-Three

This week's stitch is the buttonhole wheel cup. I tried it twice with two strands of GAST and the second step kept distorting the buttonhole wheel and the buttonhole stitch didn't "stand up" but rather formed a web inside the rim (see the picture on the left) so I switched to perle which managed to hold it's shape better:

The perle cotton "cup" is done with three rows of weaving and it looks sort of like an empty barnacle shell at an angle:

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012 - Week Forty-Two

Week forty-two's stitch was the Italian Knotted Loop border stitch. Here is my attempt, five ways!

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012 - Week Forty-One

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!

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Week 40

The stitch is/was 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...

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Thirty-NIne

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!

2012 - A Year of Challenges - Week Thirty-Eight

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...

I stitched a lot yesterday...

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 thinking 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...

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Autumn Break (Week Thirty-Six)

The challenge this week was to catchup (I was caught up) or take 3 to six stitched we have uesed so far adn create some eye candy!

My attempt, using French knots, fly stitch, feather stitch, running stitch, satin stitch and backstitch (the latter of which we have not used so far): a cat sleeping on a pillow atop a wall in a garden… as shown here:

WIPocalypse for August's "Blue Moon"!

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. The completed TAST "page" for August is:

• 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":

Basically caught up, but tomorrow there will e more Kimono sections, Tuesday will bring another TAST, and there are certainly Mittens & Mini-socks, Color through the Ages twinchies and stash busters waiting n the wings as well.

I'm already collecting charts and ideas for next year's fair theme (Kitchens and cookery) sand 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.