Friday Revision Homework - Stitches 146 - 150

Sunday Stitch School's collection of stitches has now reached 150. For every five stitches learned I have made a revision lesson, and the homework has been to make a Sunbonnet Sue sampler featuring the five stitches. 

With 150 stitches, it means there are 30 Sunbonnet Sues. Here are some of them:

The typical traditional Sue

Stitches 81-85

In this sampler Sue is an adult and has slimmed off her puppy fat.

26-30

Sometimes she has no bonnet, but her face is hidden,

behind flowers,

41-45

or leaves,

111-115

or protective medical gear.

121-125

Sometimes Sue is seen from behind.

31-35

This week's homework:

The Sunbonnet Sue for stitches 146 - 150, is another traditional quilt design for Sunbonnet Sue.

I  used Stem Stitch for the outlines and reserved the five stitches for the clothing.

I think the Knotted Stitch was perfect for the straw bonnet, and the Woven Circle in variegated thread made a yummy lollipop.

WIPW - STRETCHED, PIECED & WOUND

STRETCHED, PIECED, & WOUND - it sounds like torture, but it has been a painless week. Now time to hand in my Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Freeform Embroidery

All the embroidery is done, void areas have been filled with small stitches.

The finished piece has been STRETCHED.

The work that remains: backing and a border. That is planned to be finished by next week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Tvistsöm Cushion

Trudging along, four more rows were added.

Crazy for Crazy

The new teal and gold block was PIECED, (well basted together rather!), a bit of gold lace added and eight pieces of fabric stitched around the block to support it in the embroidery hoop.

 There will be several kinds of beads/pearls and ornaments. One of them will be a shirtwaist button.

 In the past I made Dorset Buttons, 

many for several of the other octagon blocks. 

Now it was time to try another type of WOUND and threaded button - shirtwaist button. I learned how from my recently acquired book by Elizabeth Healey:

When you make a Dorset button, you first stitch Buttonhole Stitch around the ring, then wind the spokes around the ring, which is fairly easy as the Buttonhole Stitch foundation gives the spokes a firm grip. After that it is easy to thread or weave the pattern. 

 The Shirtwaist button, however, is a challenge, it is far trickier. You start by winding a star pattern (teal in the picture below) around the slippery ring, then tie the pattern (gold). Boy did it take time to make the thread 'sit', but once I had figured out how tight a grip I needed,  it was great fun. I have only made this one Shirtwaist button so far, this is a trial one, and I will make a, hopefully, neater one to be used for the crazy quilt octagon block.

Log Cabin Challenge

Believe it or not, I have not made even a single block this week, so the count still stands at 280 blocks.

I have spent a lot of time on darning and mending summer clothes, before packing them away for the winter. Next week I am sure I will have a little pile of blocks for my collection.

Sunday Stitch School - Revision: Stitches 146 - 150

 May I start with a notice:

It is hard to get to grips with the New Blogger. If the spacing between the paragraphs is as gigantic as in the Preview it is totally unintentionally. How to shrink the space, I do NOT know!

Reading blogs is a great joy, there is so much to learn and admire. I really want to leave comments, but for some reason unknown to me, New Blogger often won't let me. Where it is possible I will comment directly on your blogs, but on those I cannot I will comment by sending an email (to those whose address I know).

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Back to Sunday Stitch School! It is revision time! Here are the five most recent stitches. Click on the title to see instructions for each stitch.

146 Knotted Stitch

A tidy stitch, this one.

147 Woven Circle Stitch

An easy stitch, this one.

148 Zig-zag Petal Stitch

A beautiful stitch, this one.

149 German Knotted Braid Stitch

A spicy stitch, this one.

150 Celestial Eyelet Stitch

A starry stitch, this one.

Homework:

Make a Sunbonnet Sue including the above stitches.

Friday Homework for Lesson 150: Celestial Eyelet Stitch

I just love the look of this star, and it is so easy to make, especially on Aida and other fabric with a good grid.

In the Comment Box I got a suggestion from Elizabeth Healey. She is a graphic designer and Queen of recycling fabric for a new fresh look in quilting. She teaches workshops, writes articles, and is also the author of two excellent books 'Stitch, Fabric & Thread' and 'LACE Reimagined'. Both these publications show lots of new approaches to traditional work. So I was not surprised when she suggested that Celestial Eyelet Stitch could be stitched in two colours - one for the outer cross and another for the inner. I gave it a try and it worked very well, don't you think?

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth

WIPW - Nearing the End

 It is time for another Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Freeform Embroidery

This project is nearing its end, I started it in July last year, so it has been brewing for 15 months. 

Most of the areas are now filled in. What's left will be a few stitches here and there, then there is the stretching and finishing with a border.

During the last week I added these stitches: Knotted Sheaf, God's Eye, German Knotted Braid, Tvistsöm and Woven Circle.

Log Cabin Challenge

I made another ten blocks. Totally I now have 280 blocks.

However, I am running out of the metallic fabric I am using for the centre piece. From my stash of fancy dressmaking fabric I pulled out another type of metallic, in the colours of the rainbow. The gold can be used for the this Log Cabin Challenge, there is yellow gold and cool silvery gold.

Here you can compare them: Copper (the one I am running out of) on the left, gold (what I started out with) in the middle, and gold (the new one). This one is more structured - its a roaring fire in the hearth!

Crazy for Crazy

Other pieces I pulled out from the stash were these in teal that I will be using for the next Crazy Quilt Octagon block. 

I have not selected ornaments or lace/ribbon yet, but I will try my hand at making a shirtwaist button, and I have plenty of gold pearls and beads.

Tvistsöm Cushion

I made another few rows...

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 150: Celestial Eyelet Stitch

To celebrate that we have reached a milestone - stitch #150, here is a very beautiful starry stitch - the heavenly Celestial Eyelet Stitch.

I found it at Arts and Design.

It is easy and charming.

Work it like this:

Use Straight Stitch to make a cross

with four arms.

Next, come out from the tip of one arm

and enter the tip of the next Straight Stitch.

Take the needle out between the two 

stitches, near the centre.

Go under the loop.

Give the thread a bit slack 

and enter right in the centre,

catching the loop.

Work you way around the star 

in the same way.

What do you end up with? This

beautiful star with a little cross

in the centre.

Isn't it heavenly?

Friday Homework for Lesson 149: German Knotted Braid Stitch

 Wonderful, addictive and SO attractive!

Aida Sampler

Neat and tidy.

Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth

Wild free form.

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Vary the length of the base bar for fun.

In brown it looks like a team of cloves have escaped the spice rack and gone conga dancing.

WIPW - Cushion and CQ Block Completed

 Welcome to my Work In Progress Wednesday progress report.

Freeform Embroidery

I added the following stitches: Anundsjö, Norwich, Holbein, Chinese Cross and Puffy Couching.

Tvistsöm Cushion

I am working on the 67th row.

Crazy for Crazy

To spiff up the black, gray and silver of this block I added a little bit of red. 

Although this block is not as overloaded with decorations, stitches and 'bling' as some of the others, I consider it finished.

Maybe that is good or it might be bad. Well, I can always add more if need be once all the blocks have been made and I can see them together.

Next week I will have started on the next block, teal and gold.

Log Cabin Challenge

Ten more blocks were made for the quilt, total count is 270 blocks.

I assembled the flimsy to make a cushion. After having searched high and low in my stash I found a nice pice of fabric in the right shade. I did not however have a zipper at home, so instead of adding this kind of opening/closing I decided on the overlapping slit method.

Furthermore I made an inner cushion but had no wadding to stuff it with, so temporarily I folded some fat towels. These will serve as filling until I have bought the wadding.

Anyway here is the embroidered log cabin cushion taking a nap on the bed.

I am very pleased with it and the fact that I was able to use so many different stitches. A true sampler!