WIPW - Stripes

Here we go again, Wednesday is the day to hand in your progress report, WIPW.

Trinity Green
I handful of 13 paper strips loaded with 351 triangles means that I have a total of 4.401 triangles.

 My target is to make 10 paper strips a week, but thanks to the powerful typhoon that kept us indoors and without visitors, I managed three extra strips. It brings me a bit closer to my goal of 7000-8000 triangles.

Fabric in Focus
Today I will show you some stripes I have included in Trinity Green.

The angle the fabric has been cut gives variation - some stripes are horizontal, some vertical and others are on the bias.

Most of these pieces are from Sweden, from Åsa's stash, but there are also some typical (American) patchwork fabrics, and as you can see, one is a metallic print.

HC Quilt
I have quilted all the stones (how does one quilt a stone??!!) in the foundation of the castle and moved on to the windows.

Next week I will need green, blue and pink quilting thread! Guess where I will be working.

TASTy Tuesday - Second Helpings 92 - 98

For this week's portion of TAST stitches I have used some variegated thread, think ripple ice cream or sauce artistically painted on the plate.
There are also some beaded stitches, would they be a sprinkle of rock salt or ice cubes in a bowl of chilled soup?
Is this turning into a food blog?!

From the top:
92) Crossed Feather Stitch
93) Plaited Feather Stitch
94) Reversed Buttonhole Bar
95) Linked Chain Stitch
96) Beaded Linked Chain Stitch
97) Shell Chain Stitch
98) Beaded Shell Chain Stitch

I am sorry to say I did not remember the name of one single stitch. As for how to stitch them, a quick look at my TAST Reference Chart gave me some hints, but I did have to look up most of the instructions in Sharon's Stitch Dictionary at Pingtangle.. Sigh!

WIPW - Puffy? Stony?

Is there any progress of work on this Wednesday for the WIPW, Work In Progress Wednesday?
Yes, here it is:

Trinity Green
270 new triangles. Total count is 4.050.


Fabric in Focus
Previously I have highlighted some designers, namely Laura Ashley, William Morris, and my friend Åsa Wettre. You do remember Åsa, don't you, with her waffle heart and bird designs? When she kindly gave me pieces from her stash I found among them some bits of fabric by another designer, Kaffe Fassett. His prints are readily available at quilt show stalls, but are far too expensive for my budget.
Anyway, this week I cut up these prints:

HC Quilt
I have been quilting the stone blocks in the foundation of the castle. Don't they look 'puffy and stony' at the same time?
Instead of the traditional Quilting (Running) Stitch I have used Straight and Back Stitch.

TASTy Tuesday - Second Helpings 85 - 91

Lemon sherbet, butter scotch, lime juice and boiled sweets. This week the TASTy stitches are either tart or sweet.

From the top:
85) Raised Cup
86) Turkman Stitch
87) Buttonhole Picot Bullion Stitch
88) Buttonhole Picot Chain Stitch
89) Twisted Satin Stitch
90) Beaded Twisted Satin Stitch
91) Straight Sided Feather Stitch

WIPW - The Usual + A Birthday Card

What news is there for Work In Progress Wednesday this week? Well, there is the ususal stuff:

Trinity Green
The addition of 270 triangles makes 3780 the total number in my collection.

Fabric in Focus

Last week I told you about the popularity of Laura Ashley in Japan, and I added a 'show and tell' of how I have used her fabric.

Laura Ashley is classy, but William Morris is classier! Of all the beautiful designs my favourite is Golden Lily. Do you know that there are two versions? I have some curtains in the traditional green and gold print

  then bought the minor version (Golden Lily Minor) in a shop in London.

 I had a wee bit left and as the material is much thinner and more suited for patchwork than the original cretonne it was sacrificed for Trinity Green.

H C Quilt
I have completed almost all the quilting on the line drawings on the castle. I'll do the windows later.
Next step is the stone blocks.

Stumpwork Portrait
I had another birthday card to make, and once again it became a stumpwork portrait.

TASTy Tuesday Second Helpings 78 - 84

This week's creamy, buttery colours were 'delicious' to work with.

From top:
78) Cloud Filling
79) Chained Cross Stitch
80) Raised Chain, version 1 (left)
81) Raised Chain, version 2 (right)
82) Spanish Feather Stitch
83) Siennese Stitch
84) Spiked Knotted Chain Stitch

The steamy heat of Tokyo has had an adverse affect on the quality of my stitching - and photography, sorry about the blurred picture.

Don't know what TAST is? It stands for Take A Stitch Tuesday, which was an online course in embroidery stitches led by Sharon Boggon of Pintangle.
In this series of TASTy Tuesday Second Helpings I am repeating seven stitches each week of the 140 stitches once learned.
Have I wetted your appetite for embroidery? Do you want to learn some of these stitches? Then head over to Pintagle's stitch dictionary where you can learn from the clear and easy to follow instructions.
Happy stitching!

WIPW - Do You Know Which Laura Ashley?

Work In Progress Wednesday for this week:

Trinity Green
The rotary cutter and the sewing machine have been busy with triangles. There are 318 new additions, so the total now stands at 3510 triangles.

 My box is getting tightly packed with paper strips.

Fabric in Focus

The Japanese are very fond of well-known brands, one of them is Laura Ashley. There are several shops where you can buy LA's clothes, bags, soft furnishings and interior decorations. At one time, in the 1980's they sold small patchwork packs of cut up fabric. The first quilt I made after my arrival here in Japan was with such packs.

Every stitch is sewn by hand and I treasure this quilt for all the memories it holds. It also inspired me to buy more Laura Ashley fabric, I had this print in several colourways:

 A long time ago I made two cushion covers, one is for a huge 'sack armchair' and the other a neck cushion, which is really good for reading in bed.

I had a fair bit of light green left, cut it up and have been adding a sprinkling of Laura Ashley magic to my paper strips.

Now the question is, what is this pattern called? I have searched online but found no answer. Can you help?

HC quilt
I worked mainly on the branches of the cherry tree.

TASTy Tuesday - Second Helpings 71 - 77

The colours I had chosen for last week were not tempting, and my schedule was full of other things than embroidery. I just had to skip the Second Helpings last week.

Now back in full swing:

From the top:
71) Bullion Buttonhole Stitch
72) Wrapped Coral Stitch
73) Portuguese Stem Stitch
74) Zig-Zag Chain Stitch
75) Woven Zig-Zag Chain Stitch
76) Vandyke Stitch (spaced in two ways)
77) Woven Cross Stitch
I feel very proud that I had remembered the instructions, although some names had slipped my mind.

Who Harvested the Carrots?

Do you remember World Embroidery Day, July 30th?

I wrote a blog post about harvesting carrots and showed this detail of the stumpwork portrait I made on WED:

As it is a birthday card I did not want to show the full view then. Today is the 'gardener's' birthday so I can now show you.

 

I don't often make male portraits so it was a challenge, but most enjoyable.

WIPW - MFE

My Feeble Excuses for not having much to report on Work In Progress Wednesday are:

I've had visitors.
The visitors brought gifts of fresh but muddy vegetables.
The muddy vegs needed cleaning.
The mud clogged up the kitchen sink.
The sink needed de-clogging.
The de-clogging produced a heap of dirty towels.
The dirty towels needed washing.
The washing needed drying.
The drying was impossible in the rainy thunderstorm.
The thunderstorm kept me indoors cooking vegetables.
The vegetables needed packing, freezing, pickling and deep frying.
The deepfrying needed the chip pan.
The chip pan's oil needed filtering and the pan needed cleaning...

Feeble excuses, but there you have them. I am just wondering why housework causes a chain reaction and you end up with even more housework.

If I need further excuses, I went to visit my friend Julie, I cut a lot of new triangles and I made a stumpwork portrait for World Embroidery Day.

Trinity Green
Only 60 new triangles, total count is 3.192.

Åsa and Julie, if you are reading this post, you can see that some of your green pieces have found a new home.

Fabric in Focus

I was given a set of fabric, all of the same pattern, but in different colours, green, turquoise, red, grey... I used two for this quilt and they are sometimes among the dark pieces and sometimes among the light ones. Chamaeleon fabric!

'I'm LIGHT green!'

'So am I!'

 

'I'm DARK green!'

'So am I!'

'Hm, that is a matter of who your friends are!'

HC Quilt

Can you make out what it is?

TASTy Tuesday - Second Helpings? NO, thank you!

When the colours for your second helpings of TASTy stitches are sludge, steal, lead and graphite, you feel no appetite, and say NO, thank you. The consequence? No stitches to report on, this week. Sorry!