TAST Week 18: Crossed Buttonhole

I was out of town this week and not terribly inspired by this stitch so my two samples are a random effort layering the stitch in different orientations and different threads and a simple border.

TAST Week 17: Wheat Ear Stitch

The Take a Stitch Tuesday stitch this week is Wheat Ear Stitch.  I stitched two Wheat ear stitch samples this week.  The first one is a collection of wheat ears like an emblem on a crest or a flag.

The second is more experimental, it is made up of wheat ear stitches in different threads layered on each other.  I used the threads left over from my Cobblefield Road needlepoint project giving it an undersea coral garden feel.

TAST Week 16: French Knots

French knots are a familiar stitch.  I have used hundreds of them to make a sheep, added them to other TAST pieces as embellishments and played with different numbers of threads and tightness of knots.  I used them to create some cattails and a dragon fly, common sights in the Forest Preserves in the area.

I also used French knots to illustrate some elements of the natural world -- the constellation Orion that I have been observing in the night sky for many years, a caffeine molecule, and one of George Gamow's illustrations of the cosmic big bang.  I have been thinking about cosmology, physics, and bio-chemistry recently as I read Ordinary Geniuses by Gino Segre.

TAST Week 15: Stem Stitch

This week I was inspired by the 18th and early 19th century needlework that I saw in the Fabric of a New Nation exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute and the birds that have been checking out my yard, the bird feeder and the various flowering plants.  I even got a picture of one of my visitors before the dogs chased it away.

The branch is stem stitch and so is the bird, the flowers are made up of detached chain.  All of it is stitched in rayon Edmar threads on green cotton.

TAST Week 13 Minichallenge

I have been working on small abstract or representative pieces each week during the TAST Challenge.  They are stitched on small pieces of hand dyed cotton fabric in a variety of threads and colors.  Later in the challenge, I plan to combine these pieces into a quilted wall hanging.  The photograph shows the pieces I have completed to date together, in random order.  The images and the pieces of fabric vary in size so I need to complete more of them before I decide how to place them in a larger piece.  All of the designs are original and all were stitched free hand.

 

I have also been working on two other, more traditional stitch samplers.  Both are on evenweave fabric.  The first one contains 9 sections each of which focuses on variations on a specific stitch.  The first two, arrowhead and back stitch, were completed before this challenge starts.  The rest have been stitched as part of the challenge.  They use a variety of threads, colors and some beads.  Some of the stitch variations have been taken from books or from on-line stitch dictionaries.  Others are my own creations.

The final sampler is one that I started two decades ago.  It is on a large piece of linen in twisted Walsh silks. The design lends itself to smaller experiments with individual stitches, patterns and shapes or to stitches that don't fit the linear model of the previous evenweave piece.

I am enjoying this challenge.  The evenweave samplers allow me to test my stitching skills and to try out combinations of stitches and colors.  The free embroidery pieces are a creative as well as a technical challenge each week.  In some cases, inspiration comes quickly and the pieces are easy to stitch, in other cases they take a long time.  It took me a week to decide that my random attempts at a pebble covered with whipped wheel variations was actually the shell of a turtle, but only a few hours to decide that barred chain was the perfect stitch for a desert scene.  I work full time and have a long commute.  I treasure the opportunity to spend an hour or so three or more evenings a week working on a stitching project.  I also like the social aspect of this challenge as we share our work and our comments with each other.

TAST Week 12: Barbed Chain

Barbed chain got me thinking about desert plants so I started with an ocotilo and added a barrel cactus, a sun and a desert hare.  The stitches are a combination of alternating and single barbed chain, chain stitch, french knots and detached chain.

TAST Week 11: Whipped Wheel

I could not get excited about this week's challenge stitch and tried several different versions of it before settling on filling in a random shape.  As I continued to work on it, I decided it would make a good turtle shell so here you have my cartoon of a turtle worked in  whipped wheel, chain, stem and straight stitch.

TAST Week 10: Running Stitch

Before I share this week's samples, I have one more example of couching to share.  It is a small snail that is made out of silk and metal threads from Thistle Threads.  I have had it for a while and finally sat down and worked on it this weekend.

I completed two pieces using running stitch.  One is a section of my even weave sampler that contains a variety of darning samples taken from  Darned Easy: A Collection of Darning Patterns by Sally Simon.  They are stitched in Soy Silks on 28 count linen.

The second is made of layers of running stitch in random directions using Soy Silk and metallic threads.  The base stitches are vertical, horizontal and diagonal.  Toward the top there is a spiral layer.

TAST Week 9: Couching

The TAST stitch for this week is couching.  I couched a small snail using Edmar boucle and soy silk.  I added pearl cotton flower stems, detached chain flowers and seed stitches in ribbon.

TAST Week 8: Chain Stitch

The stitch for the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge this week is chain stitch.  I used it to create a flower motif based on an old rhinestone brooch.  My motif was stitched free hand so it is not exactly like the brooch but it is similar.

Instead of stitching a new sampler section, I am sharing part of a sampler that I started many years ago.  There are a couple types of chain stitch in this square which is Walsh silk on linen.

For more chain stitch, take a close look at the bark on the tree.  It is all chain stitch in Needle Necessities and Medici wool.  It is a Sundance canvas with stitch guide and it depicts Telaquepaque in Sedona, AZ.  I remember going there with my parents for lunch when we visited friends in the area or stopped on the way to the Grand Canyon.

The shirt is a high school souvenir.  I had friends sign it and then embroidered over their signatures and drawings.  It includes local high school friends and people I met at French Language camp.  A lot of the outlines were done in very small chain stitch.  This photograph shows most of the back.  About 75% of the writing on the shirt has been embroidered.  There is one sleeve and a couple of other places left to embroider.  

 

 

TAST Week 7: Detached Chain

This week the TAST stitch was detached chain.  I skipped the evenweave sampler this week and just created a free embroidery piece.  These abstract flowers are based on the design of my coffee thermos which is orange and white polka dots covered with brightly colored chrysanthemums on it.

There are examples of detached chain in the motif rows of several of the evenweave sampler sections, to add additional texture to the weekly stitches.  Go back and take a look.

TAST Week 6: Chevron Stitch

I continued my TAST sampler and free embroidery experiments this week with the Chevron Stitch.

TAST Week 5: Herringbone Stitch

This is week 5 of the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge.  I have two new pieces and one old one to share.  I think that I stitched the first piece for a previous challenge.  It is closed herringbone with french knot accents. It contains a variety of different sizes and orientations of the stitches. 

 I also created a new free embroidery sample using herringbone, straight stitches, and a wrapped spider web for the eye.  A group of photographers went to take pictures of eagles last weekend.  I went to a high school basketball game instead.  The photos that they shared inspired this bird -- based on the colors of the threads it is really a Phoenix, not an eagle.

I continued with my stitch variation sampler this week using some new threads, adding beads, and using new combinations of stitches to show different herringbone variations.

TAST Week 4: Cretan Stitch

After a weekend of snow, freezing rain, and cold I was ready to think warm thoughts.  I looked at samples of Cretan stitch in several books and on the web and found a lot of crewel embroidery leaves and flowers.  So here is my tropical interpretation of leaves and flowers -- an island palm tree complete with coconuts.  I also added some Cretan stitch samples to my stitch sampler.  Some of them are kind of pretty but they were not very interesting to stitch.  

Take a Stitch Tuesday Week 3: Feather Stitch

 I layered feather stitch in different threads, thread weights and colors for my free embroidery piece this week.  The rock at the bottom is an overdyed linen thread.  The stems are soy silk and perle cotton, the flowers in french knots and detached chain stitch are in soy silk.

The even weave variations on Feather Stitch show differences in stitch length, stitch width and stitch orientation.  Feather stitch is combined with french knots, detached chain, and buttonhole stitch.  Colors are combined to create different effects.

The final picture is a picture of the stitch sampler so far.  There are five rectangular blocks:  arrowhead stitch, backstitch, fly stitch, buttonhole stitch and feather stitch.  The first two were stitched before this round of TAST started.

Take A Stitch Tuesday Week 2: Buttonhole Stitch

This week I continued with my even weave sample.  I varied the size of the Buttonhole stitches, changed their direction, and layered them on this sample:

My free embroidery piece this week is a fish which is all in buttonhole stitch.

Take A Stitch Tuesday Week 1: Fly Stitch

Here are samples of Fly Stitch on an evenweave background.  French knots, detached chain stitches, and cross stitches were also used.

Here is a free embroidery sample using Fly Stitch embelished with French knots, detached chain stitches, cross stitches and straight stitches.

Heirloom tomatoes and more socks

Today's CSA share included heirloom tomatoes -- they look interesting and taste very good. All of the tomatoes from the grocery store taste the same but each one of these has its own unique look, texture and taste. The Tomato Jubilee is in a couple of weeks -- then I can go and pick all the tomatoes I want.

I have been experimenting some more with combinations of the Take a Stitch Tuesday stitches. My cast on stitches are improving but I do not think it will ever become a favorite stitch. I used crested chain, scroll stitch, french knots, straight stitch, wagon wheel and detached chain or lazy daisy stitch on this piece.

I have been doing more knitting than stitching and have been busy for the past week. Friday, I went to Stitches Midwest and took a class in lace knitting. I learned about Orenburg Lace and how it is made. I also did some shopping and bought a ball of Opal sock yarn and have been knitting the rainbow ripple sock in the picture. I also went to the family night for the football program. Saturday I spent at a Church Leadership Retreat and at the Chicago Sky Game. Sunday, I went to the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild Meeting and saw Margriet Hogue's slides of antique samplers in European museum collections. This weekend is not going to be as busy.

Owl

I embroidered this owl tonight using some of the recent Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge stitches. I sketched it ahead of time but the stitching is free hand using pieces of thread from my stash. I need to finish my monochrome piece for the Sumptuous Surfaces class but I needed a break. I will post a photo update sometime over the weekend.

I am accumulating enough of these small embroidered pieces that I am thinking about what to do with them -- maybe I will start putting together some crazy quilt blocks that can be used in larger pieces or as pillows.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

I have been trying to catch up on the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge. Here is a stitching sample that contains buttonhole wheel, cast on stitch, and crested chain. I need more practice with the cast on stitch but I think that the rest came out reasonably well. I sketched an owl this morning that I also plan to stitch using these same stitches -- I will post my progess later.

I am continuing to read books by Chicago or Illinois authors. I finished Driving Blind by Ray Bradbury. I read many of his books and stories when I was younger. I still remember one story that I believe he wrote -- in it men are living on the moon. They have found life there in the form of some kind of animal and have the ability to turn into the animals and go out on the moon surface. One man makes the transformation and discovers how marvelous it feels to be free on the surface in the animal's body. He never returns to the space station. My next Chicago book is Because of the Rain by Daniel Buckman.