WIPW - Still Ripping

I am still ripping off paper from the back of the

Trinity Green

quilt.

Last week's status:

This week's progress:

Rip, rip, rip, oops did I just rip a seam as well?! Slowly does it, as Carolyn says!

No need to comment!

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 23: Whipped Running Stitch

Welcome to Sunday Stitch School's lesson of the week. Today we are playing it safe with a stitch that many learned already in nursery school, Whipped Running Stitch.

It can be found in almost any basic Stitch guide. In several books it is also known as Cordonnet Stitch. Do you remember that name from Lesson 19: Satin Stitch Outline?!

In Swedish it goes under the names of Snodda Förstygn or Förstyng med Kastsöm.
In French it is called Point avant Surjeté.

Obviously you start with a line of Running Stitches, then whip them with a thread of contrasting colour or texture:


Easier than easy!

On my Aida sampler I used a dull purple and pistachio green perle 8.

Homework:
On this plain wool fabric, doodle lines of Running Stitches.
Whip them using a collection of fancy threads (from Oliver Twist's orange set) and chenille (from  Art Fiber Endo of Kyoto).

Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2018 - Partnership Quilt project - Tree of Life

It is time to make a quilt block for NHK's Partnership Quilt Project at Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2018, to be held in Tokyo Dome in January next year.

More information can be found on the official website.

Under the tag NHK, above, you can read about this project and see my previous entires.



The theme this time is TREE OF LIFE.

In the recent TV program and on the website, the suggestions are many and free. 
What is Tree of Life? 
It could be the tree itself, it could be the leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds.... 
It could be the birds and animals that live in the tree. 
It could be the carved grafitti on the trunk. 
It could, I guess, even be a family tree!

Made by Harue Yumoto

Made by Misako Sano

My entry 2017 (Gardening)

For anyone who wants to send in and donate a block to this charity quilt project, here are the rules:

• one block per person
• 15 cm x 15 cm for the motif, add a seam allowance of 1-2 cm on all sides
• flimsy block, i.e. no wadding, no quilting
• your name should be written with pen in the seam allowance of the lower right hand corner
• your block should have reached NHK by 31st July, 2017
• enclose a note with your name, address, tel no, email address
• (for entries within Japan) if you also enclose a pre stamped Japanese postcard (62 yen) with your name and address filled in, it will be returned to you with the number of which quilt your block has been added to
• send to:

Partnership Quilt
NHK Sutekini Handmade
2-2-1 Jinnan
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-8001
Japan

Friday Homework for Lesson 22 - Vault Stitch

The Vault Stitch is not difficult in itself, but for some reason it was hard work to fill this little square:

There are too many mistakes to show an enlarged picture! Instead of using the measurements in Mary Thomas's book, I should have adjusted the stitch to fit perfectly into this square. Then, the stitch would have looked different, though.

Anyway I have completed the homework and I am pleased with the look, and just hope no one ever holds up a magnifying glass to see in detail.... all the flaws!

WIPW - Rip, rip, rip

Work In Progress Wednesday is all about

Trinity Green

where I have continued to rip, rip and rip off the paper on the back.

Last week's picture:

This week's photo:

No need to comment!

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 22: Vault Stitch

Today's stitch is yet another one from the Cross Stitch family, and belongs to Canvas stitches.

Vault Stitch is also known as Fan Vaulting and Church Roof Stitch. No Swedish name has been found. Let me know if you have any other names for this stitch.
Mattia suggests, Point de Voûte.

I discovered it in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, where it is worked in the order of the purple stitch:

This way a LOT of thread is needed.

With yellow thread I changed the stitching to save thread.

Compare the back:

Once you have got the rhythm, you will get 'hooked' and work the stitches fast.

This is what it looks on my Aida sampler:

Homework:
Fill this square with orange and yellow Vault Stitch.

Friday Revision Homework - Stitches 16 - 20, as well as Lesson 21:Upright Cross Stitch

I have two pieces of homework.

First the Sunbonnet Sue sampler for stitches 16 - 20.
Sue went to Sweden and dressed up in a folk costume to go dancing.

Then there is stitch 21: Upright Cross Stitch, here used as a filling stitch.

This was easy-peasy.

WIPW - Slowly But Steadily

Slowly but steadily, the paper backing of

Trinity Green 

is being removed.

Last week's Work In Progress Wednesday photo

This week's photo

No need to comment!

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 21: Upright Cross Stitch

Here is an easy stitch, Upright Cross Stitch. It has another English name, St George's Cross Stitch, and it is called Rakt Korsstygn in Swedish.
Updated:
Mattia has just told me the French name is: Point de Croix Droit
Annet tells me, in Dutch, it is called Staande Kruissteek.



It can be worked in two ways:

Yellow: Work a line of Running Stitches and cross each stitch on the return journey with a straight upright stitch as shown in the photo.

Purple: Make an upright stitch, cross it with a straight stitch from left to right. Work the second stitch one step down as illustrated in the picture.

Homework:
Fill a square with Upright Cross stitches.

Don't forget to hand in the Sunbonnet Sue revision stitch homework as well!!!

No Friday Homework

Ops, it is past midnight and Friday is gone. I haven't got any homework to show anyway. Sunbonnet Sue is getting dressed bit by bit, but is still not 'decent' enough to show herself! I will take another week to finish the revision homework.

WIPW - Paper Trail

What have I got to report for Work In progress Wednesday?

Well, progress has been made on

Trinity Green
where I have carefully been removing paper from the back of the quilt. There is a paper trail wherever I go!

TAST -144 Alternating Double Chain Stitch

I am trying to catch up on some more TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) stitches.
To learn what TAST is, go to Pintangle.

Here is the Alternating Double Chain Stitch, which in my eyes looks like the Shell Chain (TAST#97) with the little Chain stitch on alternating sides.

To follow Sharon B's excellent tutorial and learn this stitch, click here.

As I am organizing my TAST stitch collection to suit ME, I have given it the number 144.

Don't they make you think of a chain of paper clips?


On the TAST Reference Chart it looks like this. I don't think it is a good stitch for curves...

Sunday Stitch School - Revision: Stitches 16 - 20

We have done another set of five stitches so it is time for a revision of them here at Sunday Stitch School.

Following is a summery. Click on the headline to learn the stitch and read more.

16: Puncetto Valsesiano Stitch
Although this Italian stitch is mainly used for needle lace to decorate textile for the home or on folk costumes, I wanted to use it in embroidery.
It is simple and easy to learn, but attention must be paid on tension.

17: Q Stitch
An accidental stitch - many years ago I anchored a Lazy Daisy Stitch carelessly, and saw the letter Q staring back at me. Why not use it as a new stitch? I just had to introduce it on Sunday Stitch School.
It is simply a Detached Chain Stitch with the anchoring stitch askew.


18: Renaissance Stitch
Or should we call it Queen Stitch or Rococo Stitch or ....
This is an easy and enjoyable stitch which looks equally good as an individual stitch or when used for filling a larger area.


19: Satin Stitch Outline
Belonging to French Whitework, this stitch is great for making a solid thin line that stands up from the fabric.
Keeping the tension is the key, and I think the placement of the split in the Split Running Stitch is of importance, too, to avoid making such lumpy lines as you can see in the picture below.


20: Tete-de-boeuf Stitch
There are some questions about this stitch; how should it be worked and what should it be called.
One thing I know is that there is nothing 'beefy' about it. Instead it has a floral quality or could be used to illustrate cheering people or combined with another upside down stitch would maybe look like an ant...

Homework:

Use SSS stitches 16 - 20 on a Sunbonnet Sue design. This time let Sue go to Sweden. 

Change the thread to something more suitable for the Puncetto Valsesiano and Satin Stitch Outline, it you feel more comfortable with another type.

Try to complete it by next Friday. If not, you can have an extra week as the two stitches above are time consuming.

Friday Homework for Lesson 20: Tete-de-boeuf Stitch

Although it is May 5th and Kodomo No Hi (Children's day) in Japan, which is a national holiday, it IS Friday, and I will hand in my homework for Sunday Stitch School.

Tete-de-boeuf Stitch has turned out to be a very controversial stitch.

First of all, the name.  Boeuf is French for beef, not bull, so the translation ought to be Beef Head Stitch rather than Bull's Head Stitch. I have got comments wondering if the blog post was about cooking.

Secondly, all my embroidery books call this stitch Tete-de-boeuf and have the instructions I showed in last Sunday's lesson.
Online, however, I have found several references to this stitch worked in a different way, a way similar to, but not exactly,  Wheatear Stitch.

Have a look at this:
On the left, my instructions,
in the middle, the online instructions,
on the right, the real Wheatear.

 
The online version does resemble a bull's head with the two horns.
None of them look like a beef head, though, ; ).

For my homework I filled in this square with Tete-de-boeuf Stitch placed in various ways.

Finally I want to show how one of the stitches once was used to celebrate children in Japan - the carps in this set of carp-streamers are worked in Wheatear Stitch. I made this card for TAST 2012, when the stitch of the week was Wheatear.

WIPW - The Paper Quilt

Work In Progress Wednesday asks if you would fancy a nap under a paper quilt?

Trinity Green

Here is the paper backed TG quilt, all stitched together.



and its front. It looks more turquoise than green in this light.

I will give the quilt a press,
and then start removing all the paper. Sigh!
Stephen Fry, come and read me Harry Potter's adventures while I take on this boring task.

With the tools of the trade (a pincette) it has gone smoothly, albeit slowly!



Here is an update on
Friday Homework: Satin Stitch Outline

 I tried various types of thread and they all behaved badly! Actually I think the Coton a Broder that I used first (the dark blue lines, and yellow hearts) are the best.

The other threads gave a lumpy look, too. I think the bumps are caused by the split in the running stitches.

This is a stitch I do not like. Lesson learned!

To make it into a greeting card I added other stitches, but the overall effect is still messy. This card will only greet the bottom of a box at the back of the cupboard.