Lagging behind WIPW

It has been an intensive couple of weeks.
First of all INTENSELY pleasurable to read all the kind comments on the TASTy bird. THANK YOU all!
The workload on the home front has been intensive, too, keeping me away from needle and tread.

So last week Wednesday I did not post any progress on my work - there was no progress to report! (Others have been hard at it so do check out WIPW over at Pintangle.)

Today I can only tell you that I have continued the quilting in the border of the bias tape quilt.

From the picture you can see that I am using 'ordinary' sewing thread and a long needle. We all quilt in different ways. When I am doing just three layers (e.g. a whole cloth quilt, or top, wadding and back, and no bulky seam allowances from pieced work) I hold the needle between my thumb and index finger and use no hoop nor a thimble. The needle then needs to be long. MY way!

In this particular quilt I have used so many various kinds of thread for the ornamental stitches I also quilt in 'whatever' I have. After all, it is a wall hanging and will not be washed (ever?), so I can break all the rules! 

Here I am using a reel of thread from my mother's stash. I know just what dress she used this thread for. It is nice to think of her while working.

.............

This has nothing to do with WIPW but I made a couple of birthday cards:

Spring flowers of felt with embroidery.

My brother- and sister-in-law are teachers of traditional Japanese dance and were ordering new summer kimonos for practise and lessons. I was given the fabric swatches left by the salesman:

Lots of beautiful fabric!

The TASTy Bird - A Summary Sampler

In September of last year I posted a picture of a summary sampler I had made of the first 33 TAST(2012) stitches. It featured a colourful bird, with the area around its body still being bare. I have now added the remaining 19 stitches in this area. To make the bird stand out I worked the surroundings only in light blue, to blend in with the fabric.

Many of the stitches are raised and give the surface an embossed look.

Here are Pistil, Drizzle stitches and Raised Herringbone Band with Inverted Feather stitches in the foreground, somewhat blurry.

Buttonhole Eyelet Flowers and Triangular Feather stitches.

For the bird's red crest feathers I used the Open and Closed Base Needlewoven Picots. Some of them are topped with beads.








If you don't know what TAST is, click here to read all about it.

TAST #52 Triangular Feather Stitch

We have now reached TAST stitch #52, and in my very personal TAST book that means that TAST2012 is complete.

The Triangular Feather Stitch seems to be new to many and also a sure favourite, anyway of mine. I love all the stitches in the Feather family we have used so far.

I found a small space left on my sampler so added three rows. The first two were mirror images and whipped with yellow in the middle. I got this idea from Anneliese of Stitching Lady.

I then did a picture on felt, added a few Stem stitches and French Knots:

I particularly liked the basket. But the Triangular Feather stitch is perfect for a frame as well, don't you think?

Fancy trying out this neat stitch? Fancy joining TAST?  It's great fun!

Click here for more info.

Happy St Valentine's Day to all.

Many years ago I made a Valentine quilt while trying out Elly Sienkiewicz's Appliqué 12 Easy Ways. Every year in February I display this little wall hanging in my home.

                             I made two hearts of each type and found out which appliqué methods I like and which I dislike. It was a good learning curve and that makes this quilt very dear to me.

In Japan Valentine = a gift of chocolate. 

Julie Fukuda over at My Quilt Diary has written an excellent blog post about how this tradition of giving chocolate came about in Japan. I warmly recommend you to read it.

Here are a few examples of this year's chocolate haul:

Wrapping is important.
The red box in the next picture came in its own tiny carrier bag.

How should one react when one's husband is given a pretty box of exquisite chocolates in a red box with a heart dangling from the ribbon?

Well, one should be most pleased and put that little heart on a crazy quilt!

Information is important.
In this box there was a note about the NPO (Non Profit Organisation) that sells these chocolates to raise funds for their activities.
Clic here to read more.

In the bottom corner the six circles explain what flavours there are:
Raspberry, Maple, Black Tea,
Green Tea (Macha), Passion Fruit and Mango.
All have white chocolate as a base.

Individual wrapping is important.
Now what's in this box? Those who read French will know it contains something fit for a king's palate.

Actually this is a box of rusks! Rusks!? Well, not the Swedish wholesome whole-wheat rusks you need all your teeth to bite into.

Instead there are eight chocolate covered rusks decorated with gold dust! They are made from roasted French baguette.

Each is wrapped in its own little golden plastic bag with a sturdy cardboard disc to prevent the rusk from damage.

Individual wrapping is the norm in Japan and there are several reasons why sweets, biscuits and crackers come in their own little bags. They keep fresh longer, they are protected from moisture in summer, they can be served to guests in pristine condition, they can be given to take home to guests who were too modest to eat at your table, they can be served to other guests at another time, they might have a Best Before date printed on the bag...

Now I will treat my Royal palate to a gold dusted chocolate covered rusk before settling down to some quilting.