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.

John Waddell Kimono Part 2

I have finished sections 14 through 26 of John Waddell's Kimono.  The colors continue to come together.  I have about ten threads left that I have not used yet; they are different shades of colors that already appear on the kimono.  I have included a photo of the kimono so far and a picture of the sections from the second lesson.

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.