WIPW - Busy, busy

I have been busy and can report on the following for Work In Progress Wednesday.

Greeting Cards
I have made two cards,
a Condolence card

Stitches used: Loopy Flower, Crown Stitch with  Lazy Daisy, God's Eye with French Knots and Corded Bar.

The other is a Thank You card and is the stumpwork portrait I showed a glimpse of before

Her hair is made of Chain Stitch, and the fringe of Straight Stitch.

I used Twisted Fly Stitch as a filling stitch for her blouse, and edged it with Twisted Shell Chain Stitch.

Experiments With Beads

The Queen of Beading, Angela, of Princess Bubbles Creates made some Funky Beaded French Knots, and I just had to try adding beads to some knot stitches.

First I placed the knot beside the bead

Then I placed the knot on top

I added a bead to the start of a Bullion Knot

It was fun to play with beads! Maybe I should add some beaded version to the Sunday Stitch School stitches...

Thank you Angela för the inspiration!

Crazy for Crazy

The Sweet Potato and Roast Chestnut block was put in a box and left to slumber while I think about what to do next.

No progress whatsoever.

Cathedral Window

I spent a lot of attention on this project. It was quick work, though, as I stitched by machine. 

 I cut 34 squares.

 I folded them in half.

 I stitched both short sides.

 I opened up, and paired up the sewn seams.

 I pinned, and stitched.

I left an opening, and turned each piece right side out.

 I turned in the raw edges of the opening.

I pressed.

 I folded each corner to the centre and pressed.

I fixed the four tips to the centre with a few stitches.

In total I prepared 34 blocks. It was so much quicker by machine, than when I made the first twenty blocks by hand.

Now I am ready to add 'glass' inserts to the sides of the bag, and I will do that by hand.

Then I will add glass to the back of the bag using another method, and take help of the sewing machine.

I hope to have more progress next week.

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 81: Reversed Fly Stitch

Good afternoon, class.

It is time for a stitch found in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, in the Isolated Stitches section.

Let's learn and play with Reversed Fly Stitch.
Updated: Mattia tells me there are two French names - Point de Blume Inversé or Point de Mouche Inversé.

It's easy to learn - just make a Fly Stitch, and on top of that a mirrored Fly Stitch.

You can play around with the length and width of the stitches, make a smaller stitch op top of a larger one, and so on.

Homework: Play! 

On the Teal Wool Tailoring Scribble Cloth, 

Aida Sampler and 

Sunday Stitch School Reference Chart

Friday Revision Homework - Stitches 76 - 80

Winter in Sweden is cold and sometimes very gloomy, but most of all it is dark with few hours of daylight and little sunshine. Therefore December 13th is an important day in Sweden, when St Lucia comes with light. Read about Lucia here.

A couple of years ago I enjoyed creating a stumpwork portrait of the Queen of Light.

It was equally fun to dress Sunbonnet Sue up as Saint Lucia by using the five Sunday Stitch School stitches for this homework.

WIPW - The Front Completed

Work In Progress Wednesday, or should I call one part of this blog post, Wednesday Wind Up, as today contains a finish. That is one out of three areas that need to be finished before the end of January.

I am of course talking about
Cathedral Windows
and the 31 inserts for the front of the bag I am making:

Next step will be the sides and here I will use the sewing machine to construct the basic 'origami'.

I wanted to make a bag that can be turned into a cushion, by stuffing a cushion filling inside. Just as I did the Mola bag. As you can see many of the batik scraps I used for the Mola bag have been used on the Cathedral Window, too. Don't they look friendly with Trinity Green, the green quilt made up of small triangles?

Crazy for Crazy
I made a set of Buttonhole Stitch, then added Bugle Beads and Straight Stitch.

I also couched down a strand of thick curly wool, in something that could be a single row of Cloud Filling.

It was not difficult to find thread for this week's homework - I had a whole bagful to chose from! You see,  I have this generous friend who shared some of her beautiful thread collection with me. In the bag there were also Shisha mirrors, tatting and small lace ornaments, as well as lace and braid, and the most beautiful silk fabric.

Aren't I lucky!?