WIPW - turning into UFOs

Work In Progress Wednesday is a challenge initiated by Sharon of Pintangle. The title says it all - you show your progress of (needle)work on a Wednesday. To learn more click here.


Kafferepet

Thank you for all your comments on the iced Raspberry cordial I showed last week. Tokyo is still too cold for such a drink so let me treat you to a cinnamon roll instead.

Serving dishes in pressed glass and with a foot like the one in this block are very popular in Sweden, and especially if the sweet buns are piled high.

To reflect the pattern of the 'pressed glass' I used TAST #69 Buttonholed Double Chain for the quilting.

Swedish Cushion
I have now moved into the second half of the cushion and started by making a large circle of a recent TAST stitch, #101 Triangular Buttonhole Stitch. Large triangles mean long stitches that would invite snagging. I therefore made them smaller and spaced them with #14 Stem Stitch in between, and will work a second line of triangles, as marked, with another stitch.

That progress will not be shown next week Wednesday, however. Instead I will turn my two WIPW projects into UFOs! I am going to take a break for a couple of weeks, and while away will not have online access (!!!) so I am not able to reply to any comments or visit other blogs. Sorry! Hope to catch up before the end of the month.

TAST #103 - Beaded Butterfly Chain Stitch

TAST stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, a challenge at Pintangle, where you can find out more about  this stitch.

We learned the basic Butterfly Chain Stitch a long time ago, it is #20 on the list of TAST stitches.
Here is the beaded version. Neat, don't you think?

I have used Perle 5 and Swarovski Crystal Bicone beads.

TAST #102 Beaded Triangular Buttonhole Stitch

TAST stitch #102, Beaded Triangular Buttonhole Stitch, is as nice as its un-beaded version, that we worked last week (TAST #101).
To learn how to master it, head over to Pintangle.

I worked one row in blue 'jeans thread' and bugle beads, and a mirrored row in Cotton a Broder and seed beads.

Bead Control
What do you do about bead control? Do you have any problems with stitching with beads, keeping the beads from rolling around everywhere,  storing beads...?

Sharon gave us the advice to use a tapestry 26 needle, and I think that is sound advice, but not all beads have a hole that is large enough even for such a needle.

My advice in such a case, is to use either a milliners needle, or a needle threader like in the picture below.

These needle threaders aren't the best to stitch with, but they can handle any thread and slide through small holes in beads.

Another tip is to remove the needle and slide the thread into the bead and then thread the needle again. It takes a lot of time and is a bother, but if you do this, I recommend using bond to stiffen the tip of the thread. I wrote about this technique here.

How do you store your beads and keep them under control?

I store mine in small containers.

I also have a small triangular dish to keep the beads in while stitching; the corners make it easy to tip the left over beads back into the container.

Then I have this neat blue 'tacky bead mat' from Beadalon. It is the ultimate 'bead grip'.

Do you have any tips or idea to share?

WIPW - Is it too cold for an iced drink?

Work In Progress Wednesday is a challenge over at Pintangle, where you are encouraged to work towards completing your work in progress projects.

For me the progress has been on:

Kafferepet
On this quilt, celebrating a traditional Swedish coffee party, I have reached the block of raspberry cordial. Is it too cold for an iced drink in your part of the world? It certainly is here in Japan! Summer still seems a long way away.
For quilting I chose TAST #36 Knotted Buttonhole Stitch. This is one of my favourite TAST stitches.

The Swedish Cushion
This last week I have spent a lot of time drafting the design of the second half of the cushion. In spite of that I have also had time to add another section of #51 Raised Herringbone Band with a swirl of Split Stitch at the end.
Furthermore, I have worked a couple of curvy lines in my favourite #36 Knotted Buttonhole Stitch. The thread used is a variegated Perle 8, that comes from my mother's stash. There is no label left, but it looks very old.

TAST #101 - Triangular Buttonhole Stitch

Here is another lovely member of the Buttonhole family, TAST #101 Triangular Buttonhole Stitch.

I have used a # 4042 variegated DMC Perle 5 for the top row and DMC Perle 5 in green #704 for the second row.

This would make a beautiful edge or border stitch. If you want to learn how to make it, head over to Pintangle and let Sharon teach you. Free and fun!