WIPW - Progress In Spite Of Easter Holiday

Although work to make Easter a festive holiday within our ordinary work week (Easter is not a national holiday in Japan)  and preparations to tend to overseas visitors took up a lot of my time, I managed to make some things to report for Work In Progress Wednesday.

Hexablooms

By chance, I found two blocks that had been mislaid in a box. So I only needed to make eight blocks to reach the weekly quota of ten hexagon flowers.

The total is now 360, which means there are 17 left to make. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

1/3 of the sampler has now been strewn with blue sequins.

Bookmark

Filling in the cross stitching on the bookmark progresses at a snail's pace.

Sunday Stitch School - Easter Break

There is no new stitch today. Blame it on the fact that I have taken an Easter Break. My needle is happy to take a break, too.

See you for a new lesson next Sunday.

Homework - Not Reay To Hand In

I'm lagging behind and can not hand in my finished homework today. Hopefully it will be completed by next Friday.

I have drawn the outlines, sandwiched and basted the layers, but not yet started the actual quilting/embroidery.

The reverse side, with rough basting.

WIPW - 350

 It's Wednesday, so time for a Work In Progress Wednesday report.

Hexablooms

I made another ten, and now have 350 blocks.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

More blue sequins found their way between the different stitch sections.

Cross Stitch Bookmark

A few new stitches have been added. I am sure you still can not detect what motif I am stitching!

Birthday Card

I am making another birthday card but can not show any details yet.

Sunday Stitch School - Revision Stitches 316 - 320

Time flies, and here is a revision lesson for the last five stitches.

Click on the title to get a link to the instructions.

316 Detached Wheatear Stitch

It's such a good idea to make one unit of a linear stitch into a detached one, don't you think?

317 Straight Stitch

I wonder if any stitch is more important than the Straight Stitch! What would we do without it?

318 Rhodes Circle Stitch

Every Rhodes stitch is impressive and easy to make. The Circle version gives you a nice plumb round shape and is far easier than a circular Satin Stitch, in my opinion.

319 Split Back Stitch

It is just as neat and tidy as its sister, the Split Stitch. I must point out that this back-stitched version will gobble up much more of your thread and leave you with a tangled mess on the reverse.

On the other hand, it is easier to split the stitch from the front than to fumble in the dark of the reverse side  of your hoop.

320 Clown Collar Stitch

There are many stitches where you lace or interlace a foundation stitch, often a Running Stitch or a Back Stitch and create nice patterns. I think this is especially charming.

Homework:

How can Sunbonnet Sue help us to illustrate these five stitches? 

Friday Homework for Lesson 320: Clown Collar Stitch

See what lovely lines you can make with two stands of thread!

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

WIPW - Another Bookmark

This Work In Progress Wednesday report will show my progress in two ongoing projects and one new start.

Hexablooms

10 more, means 340 blocks in total.

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

I continue to add sequins to fill in the voids here and there.

New! Another Bookmark in Cross Stitch

I started the third out of the five bookmarks I am making. This will not be needed until autumn, so it might go back and forth to the shelf!

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 320: Clown Collar Stitch

Here is another stitch from Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials, the Clown Collar Stitch.

It is based on two parallel but staggered lines of Running Stitch.

Look at Sarah's instructions here.

Or check out my photo tutorial:

You can do the Running Stitch line either with 

the traditional Running Stitch one way,

then make the staggered line above (or below) in

the other direction.

or you can use an up-and-down sewing method. 

I find the latter way easier to get even spacing.

Then start the lacing. The red thread goes underneath 

the blue threads without piercing the fabric.

Homework:

Add to the samplers.

Friday Homework for Lesson 319: Split Back Stitch

It is obviously easier to split a thread from the top than to fumble under the fabric to try to come out right in the middle of a stitch. So I would say that the Split Back Stitch is easier than the Split Stitch, but the result, especially on the back, is much neater with the Split Stitch.

Aida Sampler

Sunday Stich School Reference Chart

Mottled Wool Scribble Cloth

From left: silk ribbon, Cotton a Broder, tapestry wool

WIPW - Do you remember the Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler?

 Here is this week's Work In Progress Wednesday progress report.

Hexablooms

Ten more were made. The total is 330.

Birthday Gift

I wonder why almost all my friends and family members have their birthdays in spring!

Here is a simple bookmark I made for a little girl who loves cats. I added a small piece of polka dot ric-rac at the bottom. Does it look like a little bit of a cat's paw is sticking out?

Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler

Do you remember the Sunday Stitch School Stitch Sampler? 

I put this project on the back burner last year. I decided to add no more new stitches as there are already the first 300 stitches. 

To fill in the void, I added some extra stitches near those already sewn, for example, two more circles, one surrounded with #55 Tailor's Buttonhole Stitch and the other #135 Net Stitch across the circle.

This was in December 2024. 

Then, I shelved the project and wondered what to do as there were still blank areas here and there. By chance, I tripped upon a tube of blue sequins. Aha, I will sprinkle these over the surface to fill in bare areas.

I hope to have this sampler completed soon. 

We are now working on Sunday Stich School's 319th stitch and I haven't added a single one of the last 19 stitches on a sampler yet. A new sampler must be started!

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 319: Split Back Stitch

We recently learned #314 Split Stitch. Today, we will also split the stitches, but using the Back Stitch.

I found clear instructions for the Split Back Stitch at Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials.

Here is my photo tutorial:

Take a Straight Stitch forward,

come up, a bit further ahead.

From here, you work the Back Stitch,

by going into the middle of the previous stitch.

Notice that you insert the needle from the top. This is

unlike the Split Stitch where you split the stitch 

from the back of the fabric. 

Continue in the same way.

To make the final stitch neat, make it shorter.

Here I have worked the ordinary Split Stitch in green.

See how the needle comes up from the back of the 

fabric to split the previous stitch.

There is little difference on the front, 

but if you look at the back, you can easily see

the difference. Please also notice how much more

thread is needed for the Split Back Stitch

Should you need to unpick the stitches, the ordinary Split Stitch (green) is so much easier to remove as you have a neat line of 'Running Stitch'. The thread in the Split Back Stitch (rust) is much more tangled up.

Homework:

Add to the three samplers