Friday 31 July 2020

Friday Homework for Lesson 141: Feathered Zig-zag Chain Stitch

This stitch is both easy and fun to make. Give it a try! Click here for the instructions.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart
Here I worked the two lines going in opposite directions. 
I think they look like a chain of paper clips that have been bent open! A scene from a dull day in the office?!

Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth


Wednesday 29 July 2020

WIPW - Purple Finish

There is a finish to report today for Work In Progress Wednesday, a Purple Finish.

Yes, I am talking abut the
Crazy for Crazy
purple block.
I added sequins and beads.


Next job will be to decide what colour the next block should be, and pick out fabric and thread.


Freeform Embroidery
Here we have the following stitches: Sycamore, Tied Windmill, Crested Chain, Detached Buttonhole and Rice.

Log Cabin Challenge
Plenty of new stitches here, too:
  1. Rambling Rose
  2. Bayeux
  3. Satin Stitch Outline
  4. X-Ray 
  5. Half Bullioned Chain
  6. Twisted Shell Chain
  7. Rosette Stich Rose
  8. Whipped Long Tail Chain
  9. Whipped Spoke
  10. Four  Sided


These new seams are indicated in yellow.

10 new blocks were added to the pile. Total number is now 164 blocks.


Tvistsöm Cushion
The rainy season is a bit too hot and humid for wool embroidery, but this morning was coolish and I completed two more columns, so the total is 44.

Sunday 26 July 2020

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 141: Feathered Zig-zag Stitch

In my constant search for stitches to add to the Sunday Stitch School collection, I turn to many sources. I go over my books and stitch dictionaries, I check out Youtube videos, and of course I take a great interest in fellow bloggers' work.

Rachel of VirtouSewAdventures is a blogger whose work is always inspirational.
She is skilful at many different techniques and one of her trademarks is the great number of stitches she incorporates into a single freeform embroidery project.
For example, Rachel has  made shawls, coats and tablecloths where a wealth of stitches feature - a treasure trove for me!

Today we will look at a unique stitch found on Rachel's blog. It is surprisingly easy, but has that complex look that will enhance any  work. Rachel calls the stitch Feathered Zig-zag Stitch and you can read here how it was born.

Stitch it like this:

Make a single slanted Chain Stitch.
Then to the side of the Chain,
insert the needle to make
a Feather Stitch arm.
Make sure to come out outside the
loop of the Chain Stitch.

Insert the needle in the Chain Stitch
loop,

and make a new Chain Stitch,
slanting in the opposite direction,
to get the zig-zag look.

Make a single Feather Stitch
arm on the outer side.

Continue in the same way.
Chain, Feather, Chain, Feather...



This beautiful stitch makes me think of cereal - wheat, barley, rye... Anyone for breakfast?

Thank you Rachel, for letting me add your stitch to my collection of Sunday Stitch School stitches.

Homework:
Take a handful of seeds and sow some cereal on these samplers.

Friday 24 July 2020

Friday Revision Homework - Stitches 136 - 140

Here is Sunbonnet Sue practicing social distancing. She is chilling out in the Waved Chain Stitch waters of an isolated lake in the middle of nowhere. On the shore Sycamore Stitch plants are growing. Waved Chain Stitch butterflies are fluttering around her and the Tied Windmill Stitch sun is giving her skin a bit of a tan.
Sue has dressed up in her Indian Herringbone Stitch sundress and her Brick Stitch sunbonnet.




Stem Stitch was also used for outlines.

Wednesday 22 July 2020

WIPW - Threading Water

It's been a rainy and humid week in Tokyo, and I feel as if I have been threading water, also on the stitching front. It's Wednesday again, so time for a progress report = Work In Progress Wednesday. There  has been progress, but nothing interesting. No need to comment.

Freeform Embroidery
Knotted Chain Stitch, Net Stitch and three Needle Weaving Bars.

Crazy for Crazy
A bit of stitching and a line of braid inserted in the lace.

Tvistsöm Cushion
There are now 42 columns.

Log Cabin Challenge
The yellow lines indicate the eleven new seams, and they include the following stitches

  1. French Knot
  2. Bonnet
  3. Sheaf
  4. Open Base Needle Weaving Picot
  5. Inverted Feather
  6. Diamond
  7. Slipped Detached Chain
  8. Zig-zag Chain
  9. Twisted Satin
  10. Eastern
  11. Buttonholed Cable Chain

10 more Log Cabin blocks were stitched. Total count is now 154.








Sunday 19 July 2020

Sunday Stitch School - Revision: Stitches 136 - 140

It is time for a revision lesson to look at the last five stitches.
Click on the title to see instructions and previous posts for each stitch.

136 Tied Windmill Stitch
This is a beautiful stitch and can be made into different shapes.
Change the spacing, the length of the arms, the placement of the cross, the thread colour, weight and type, and the sky's the limit, as they say.



 137 Brick Stitch
For an even look use a weave with a good grid.


138 Waved Chain Stitch
So easy, so impressive. This is a stitch well worth learning!


139 Sycamore Stitch
A Lego stitch, use it to build various motifs.


140 Indian Herringbone Stitch
This makes such an attractive woven look, perfect for the image of checked tweed etc.



Homework:
It is time for another Sunbonnet Sue sampler.
This time I made use of my molding pads, and fabric crayons to make part of the scene.

Saturday 18 July 2020

Partnership Quilt Project for Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2021

Well, I am sorry to say there will be no quilt show next year January in Tokyo Dome.
Tokyo International Great Quilts Festival 2021 has been cancelled.

However, the organisers, NHK, are still accepting charity blocks for the Partnership Quilts project.

I have just made mine. I found the theme, Love the Earth, a difficult one. Of course I love the Earth, but I am wondering if the Earth loves me, and the rest of mankind. We need to do more to save this beautiful planet, to cool it down, to keep it in good condition for the future.

My block is of a heated planet, made of orange/green marbled batik, appliquéd to a black background.

Embroidery is my 'thing', so I stitched people, holding hands in solidarity and unity, or are they being held up by a wrathful planet?
There are also some animals, a sailboat, Mt Fuji and another mountain, a house and some trees.
The Swedish flag is something I always add to my blocks. This time is it very small, but it is held by Greta Thunberg who calls on us all to
LOVE THE EARTH.


Friday 17 July 2020

Friday Homework for Lesson 140: Indian Herringbone Stitch

Fun and beautiful, but you need to keep the weaving in mind, so concentrate.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart


Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth





Wednesday 15 July 2020

WIPW - An Old Friend and 16 Seams

Among the Work In Progress Wednesday projects you will find that an old friend - the Tvistsöm Cushion - is now back in action.

Tvistsöm Cushion
Do you remember the Swedish long armed cross stitch, Tvistsöm, and the cushion I am making in wool? 
At the beginning of the pandemic I ran out of yarn and had to shelve the project, because I wanted to avoid using public transport to go to the shop. Finally I have now managed to get to the tapestry wool supplier and have restocked my stash of wool hanks.

I am working on column no 41.

Log Cabin Project
No fewer than 16 seams got the 'Embroidery Treatment'.
I added the following stitches:

  1. Chain,
  2. Portuguese Border,
  3. Buttonholed Double Chain,
  4. Woven Cross,
  5. Raised Cup,
  6. Shell Chain,
  7. Alternating Up and Down Buttonhole,
  8. Knotted Buttonhole Band,
  9. Whipped Running,
  10. Granitos,
  11. French Knotted Chain,
  12. Buttonholed Fly,
  13. E Laced Edging,
  14. Magic Split,
  15. Amadeus,
  16. Brick


The yellow lines indicate where these 16 seams are, the red lines are the previously stitches ones.

10 new log cabin blocks were stitched for the quilt. Total block count: 144


Freeform Embroidery
Linked Chain, Zig-zag Coral and Spanish Feather  were added.


Crazy for Crazy
I worked some beads and sequins on the purple block.

All in all, it's been a productive week.

Sunday 12 July 2020

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 140: Indian Herringbone Stitch

Hello. Let me introduce you to one of the many members of the Herringbone family - Indian Herringbone Stitch.

It is made by weaving together two sets of Herringbone Stitch and looks especially good when two different threads/colours are used.

I found the stitch at Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials.

Stitch it like this:
Make an ordinary Herringbone Stitch,
starting at the bottom left.

but take the needle under
the left leg,

and over the right leg (this is usual).

Continue until you have as many
stitches as you need.

Change to a different thread, I used pink,
and make the mirrored stitches,
starting at the top left.

As you can see, the pink thread goes over
the green on the left, but under on the right.



Continue weaving in the same way.



Homework:
Work on the samplers.