WIPW - Chopping Up an Olive and Watermelon Salad

Work In Progress Wednesday has been slow as the temperature and humidity levels are high. Anyway, for

Crazy for Crazy

I have begun to make an olive and watermelon salad. No feta cheese yet, if ever I put any in.

The lace was dyed, the fabric cut and pieced and the first embroidery begun.

Birthday Card

I made a simple birthday card with the leftover silk (seen underneath the pink lace, in the picture above).

Stem, Fishbone, Detached Chain and Straight stitches in all simplicity.

Friday Revision Homework - Stitches 21 - 25

It's lucky that Sunday Stitch School runs evening classes and I can hand in my homework late at night. Although I finished the Sunbonnet Sue sampler in time, it has been one of these days and it it not until now, past 10 pm Tokyo time, that I can show my summery of stitches.

The homework was for a seasonal Sue. The rainy season is on in Japan and that is why Sue is hiding her face underneath an umbrella - Sunbonnet Sue ought to be called Umbrella Sue.

Whipped Running Stitch was used for the outlines.

Upright Cross Stitch works well as a filling stitch, both on the teaser (the Wellington boots) and on the hand, where I staggered the stitches.

The Y Stitch with its loop made good raindrops, I think.

 The Vault Stitch was a challenge to do on the plain weave.

Sunday Stitch School - Revision: Stitches 21 - 25

It is time for a revision of stitches 21 - 25 at Sunday Stitch School. Here is a summery of them.

Click on the headline to learn each stitch and read more about it.

21 Upright Cross Stitch

Easy and fun to stitch. Great for filling a larger area.

22 Vault Stitch

I tried two ways of working this striking stitch. With purple thread I worked so there are long stitches on the back, too. This eats up a lot of thread but makes a very sturdy stitch.
In the example in yellow, most of the thread is on the front. You save thread this way, but the result is not as compact, and it is easy to pull the thread too tight.
To avoid puckering and get a good solid filling stitch, I'd go for the purple method.

and, a note to self, DO use real canvas for Canvas work!

23 Whipped Running Stitch

So easy, it is child's play. A great stitch to use with fancy thread that only needs to be whipped over the running stitches and not penetrate the fabric.


24 X-Ray Stitch

Vary the length of the stitches and you get a variety of designs. It would be good for Christmassy things!


25 Y Stitch

This is a fun stitch to use for writing, or floating ghosts, or a bustle of people, or a packed disco dance floor, or if worked horizontally in orange, gold fish....


Revision homework.
Make a seasonal Sunbonnet Sue and use only the five stitches above.

What stitch would be good on this grid, I wonder?

Friday Homework for Lesson 23 - Whipped Running Stitch

This is my homework for Sunday Stitch Nursery School.

I made curved lines with cups and plates, stitched Running Stitches in lime green on those lines and then Whipped them with a variety of fancy threads, mainly in orange.

 The fabric puckered beautifully.
Child's play or contemporary art?

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).