Work In Progress Wednesday - A bit busy

It is Wednesday again and time to report on the progress I have made on various things since last week.

I have been a bit busy but have had time to fill one piece with Knotted Loop stitches in dull pink and bronze metallic on the Crazy Quilt block:

On the Bias Tape quilt I secured the picot on the lace to the background (I had previously basted with a thin thread) and thereby quilting a kind of zigzag pattern.

I will do something to the corners next. That report will be next Wednesday. To check Sharon's progress and see what the others have been up to, go here.

An update on the Indian ornament

I just wanted to add a bit of information on the Indian ornament I used for the crazy quilt block:

I now know the name of the place of the flea market where I bought them:

Mälstäde Jordbruk & Prylbod, which is run by Danne and Stina Lindkvist

Who would have thought it possible to find Indian beauty in a barn in the middle of the Swedish countryside!

TAST2012 - Week 43

This week Sharon of Pintangle has us working on the Buttonhole Wheel Cup, a rather complex but fabulous stitch. Annet over at FatQuarter blog said she couldn't stop stitching and I felt exactly the same. I have therefore nicknamed the stitch to the 'Non-Stop Stitch'.

Here is my simple take on the 'Non-Stop Stitch':

Work In Progress Wednesday - Action on two UFOs

Today I will report on my progress on two UFOs:

• the crazy quilt block 
• the bias tape quilt

The Crazy Quilt Block

On the CQ block I have added a lot of memorabilia, collected during the summer. This week is no exception.
Just before leaving Tokyo for Europe in summer I visited the new sightseeing spot, Tokyo Sky Tree, a broadcasting tower of no less than 634 m!!!  Now, I did not go all the way up to the viewing platforms, but stayed with my feet firmly on the ground and explored the shopping centre at the base. Among the stalls was Natural Kitchen a shop full of useful or just pretty things for the home, all priced 100 yen, which is cheap.
One of the things I picked up was a small enamel disc in the form of a lace doily. Perfect for my cq block I thought, and now it is on:

On the left of the doily is a seam embellished with a recent TAST stitch, the Knotted Loop stitch. 

Do you believe in 'sleeping on it', giving yourself some time to be able to make a sound decision? Here I found that 'sleeping on it' made me re-read the stitch instructions, work slowly, and hey presto, I somehow mastered this stitch. When I made the Fern panel I struggled so. I have learned so much since I joined the TAST project. Also about myself.

This close up photo has also taught me one thing: check your stitches! Can you spot the badly stitched bead on the left? There is a bit of loose thread there. Redo!!!

The Bias Tape Quilt

Work on this poor quilt is going slowly. It was packed away with mothballs all summer, being too bulky to work on in the heat and totally impractical to have as a wee travel project.

Here is an update of previous shown photos:

My WIPW report is that I have worked a ring of Buttonhole stitches around the buttons:

The lace, ribbon and Whipped Running stitch were worked early in January! I told you, this is going slowly!!!

I hope to have more to report next week. Before you leave, why not hop over to Sharon's WIPW and check what progress the others have made.

TAST 2012 - Week 42

Sharon of Pintangle introduced us to the Italian Border Stitch in one of her own projects, a lovely detail on her band sampler. The stitch was then set for TAST Week 42.

I have had a great time using this stitch and I bet a lot of the other participants have enjoyed creating things, too, as I have seen so many stunning results. Click here to see for yourself.

I made a Mandala, a round disk:

Mainly Italian Border stitch, with either one or two wraps in the knot. Some Fly, Running and Straight stitches were also used. The material: Pale blue sheeting for the background, Anchor, Cosmo, Clara Wæver, DMC and Olympic (correction, Olympus) stranded floss, metallic quilting thread and a pinch of seed beads.

Work In Progress Wednesday - Dressing up the fabric

After adding the Friendship Band to the CQ block I thought the seam did not need any more decoration. So what to do? Well, you can always work with the fabric in the pieces nearby. So I made some straight stitches on the Japanese chrysanthemum print and placed a pearl in the centre of each flower (not very authentic for a chrysanthemum, eh!).

Further more I added a decorative line of Beaded Hedebo Edge stitches along one other seam. Instead of just one bead I used two golden pearls.

To see what Sharon and the others who show what progress they have made in their various projects are getting on click here.

TAST2012 Week 41

For the last few days, 'life got in the way' as they say, i.e. I have been quite busy. That is why my contribution to TAST2012 Week 41, organised by Sharon of Pintangel, had to be rushed through.

Firstly I did not find a suitable fabric, but hurriedly dug up a long strip of fabric. I cut it in three, stitched it together and then raided my thread box for reels with just short lengths of thread left. Then I let the sewing machine run wild over the seams and a short piece of bias tape. I now had three panels to use for the Knotted Loop stitch, and some empty reels of thread (I can close the lid of my thread box again).

Something tall and narrow for the panels. How about fern or other long leafed plants? I started with the middle section and found that I did not like the Knotted Loop stitch. Maybe I was just too stressed about other things but I decided to change to Cretan stitch for the left panel and finally I used the Fly stitch for the right hand side. I added a few flowers to get some colour in.

I usually finish my embroideries by stretching them over cardboard but I have not yet had time to do this. That is why there are a lot of wrinkles. Sorry!

Work In Progress Wednesday - Memory of Holt

While Sharon of Pintangle has started a new cq block for her WIPW I am working much more slowly. The progress on my crazy quilt block this week is connected with the quaint little town of Holt in North Norfolk.

I went there together with two quilting friends on a nice summer's day. We had some morning coffee, looked around the many attractive shops and shopwindows, then had lunch at Byfords. My friends then took me to The Pied Piper, a little shop with quilting fabric. There is also a good selection of attractive gift items. Among them I found some Friendship Bracelets made with silk thread.

I immediately saw the potential for using it on my CQ block. It would not only look great, it would also remind me of my friends and the great day out we were having in Holt.

As you can see the band has several 'sections' and I found some seams where two of them would 'take a corner' and fit in perfectly. I have yet to do something with the tassel and the looped end.

The knotted part looks very attractive next to the Indian ornament from Gotland.

TAST2012 Week 40

For Week 40 of TAST2012 the stitch is Beaded Hedebo Edge.

Ever since I was a small girl I have loved embroidery. However, in spite of having tried various techniques and collected a number of books, I must admit that I am ignorant and still have SO much to learn about this subject.

This became apparent on Tuesday when Sharon announced the weekly stitch. 'Hedebo', I thought, 'How lovely to do a Swedish stitch!' Shame on me, and I do apologise to all Danish people, for thinking it is Swedish embroidery. I had confused it with some of the other types of embroidery distinct for a district, like: Järvsjösöm, Delsbosöm, Hallandssöm or Anundsjösöm. The latter is demonstrated by Karin Holmberg here.

So, Hedebo embroidery is Danish, and I would say, a mix of cutwork and needlelace. The edge with beads is particularly pretty and I had a great time making this flower:

I liked the cross stitches for the base so much I decided to keep them as they were for the 'leaves'.

It is sometimes difficult to add small beads as the needle is too thick. This is how I solved the problem: I first made the cross stitches with a thicker, sharp needle, creating larger holes (important in my tightly woven fabric). For the Hedebo loops and beads I changed to a thinner, blunt needle.  The thread would then pass through the beads, not snag the base stitches as well as pass through the fabric in the holes. 

Work In Progress Wednesday - Indian Ornaments

Do you remember the beautiful ornaments I had found at a flea market in Sweden?

 Many online friends took an interest and helped in my pursuit to find the origin of these items.

Latha and Viji confirmed that they are Indian, made in Shrinagar, sold at pilgrim centres and used as hair and neck ornaments. The price on the label is apparently about $2. It saddens me a bit to tell you I only paid $0.75 for them. That farmer at the flea market did not realise the true value...

To compensate for this I added them to my crazy quilt block and hope their beauty can be appreciated here.
Next to the former hair ornament I stitched a row of Buttonhole Half Wheels with Straight stitches and beads. I matched the colours of the thread to the ones in ornament.

Along the other seam and next to what used to be a neck ornament I made a row of Knotted Buttonhole stitches with Detached Chain stitches and some beads.

I am pleased with the result although I have not made much progress on my block. Sharon of 'Work In Progress Wednesday', however, has worked hard and completed yet another lovely block. Have a look here.

Another dragonfly

Last Saturday I went to the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo. There I saw a great collection of insects and was reminded of the dragonfly greeting card I made in June. I just had to make another one. So last night, while the typhoon tore at my house I daydreamed of summer and ...

If you have never made one of these beauties before I warmly recommend you to head over to Chris Richard's blog tutorial and give it a try. The result is bound to be stunning!