Take a Stitch Tuesday

Stitch 9 – Couching

Only one stitch this week but two samples for TAST with Sharon b. at Pin Tangle. 

These are my samples from Week 9 which is the couching stitch.

2 samples of couching

Sample 1 - Girl with Spooky Eyes.

Couching -Sample 1

Started with a sketch, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be to translate in thread.

I was going to trash this one, but in the end, it is all about learning to couch different types of threads, ribbon, etc and that I did. There's a lot wrong with it, especially the eyes which I don't know how to fix.

Sample 2 – Celtic Circle

I think this one is OK, it was tricky to do as my tracing almost disappeared altogether.

Celtic Circle

I will link up to TAST at Pin Tangle

Check out all the beautiful work going on there.

Thanks to Annet for letting me know about damp stretching, I should have figured that out as I always block my quilts, short-cuts don't always work!

Happy Stitching,

Terry

Take a Stitch Tuesday

Stitches 5 to 8

Stitches 4 to 8

I've managed to do four more samples for my second week of TAST with Sharon b. http://pintangle.com/tast-faq/

Stitch 5 – Herringbone Stitch

This stitch gave me a hard time right from the beginning. For some reason I couldn't get the spacing right and it just didn't flow.

Other stitch: Fly stitch on starfish.

Herringbone Stitch

And this is what happens when you try to iron an upholstery swatch with a too hot iron (even using a parchment paper). At least it was my least favourite sample.

I should give this stitch another try.........maybe.

Yikes!

Stitch 6 – Chevron Stitch

Other stitch: French knot

Chevron Stitch

Stitch 7 – Detached Chain Stitch - This was my favourite this week.

Other stitch: French knot

Detached Chain Stitch

Stitch 8 – Chain Stitch - My circle looks like a odd-shaped egg!

Other stitch: French knot

Chain Stitch

I will link up to TAST at Pin Tangle.

Check out all the beautiful work going on there.

Also check The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday to see what Canadian fibre artists are up to.

Happy Stitching,

Terry

Postcard Fun #2

Sometimes I don't want to start a new project, or maybe I just completed one I need to recharge the batteries.

I use to do what I thought of as mindless piecing, something that required a lot of sewing without having to do a lot of thinking.

Now I think that making postcards is much more fun!!

Four cards from 1 kit!

Not long ago, I posted about making up little postcard kits (see here) 

with the idea of just using the bits and scraps in the kit.

Follow the progression and the results of another postcard fun day.

Kit

Card #1

Card #2

WIP

Card #3

WIP

Card #4

For me, working with limited supplies, really makes me think outside the box.

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday 

Happy Quilting,

Terry

Take a Stitch Tuesday

Weeks 1 to 4

TAST - Weeks 1 to 4

My grandmother, Memere Charleboix,  taught me to embroider when I was seven or eight. I still have that very first piece. It was my very first stitching project.

I've always loved embroidery and have used it often, but am not real familiar with many stitches, either by name or how to do them.

Taking a class with Sue Spargo this winter and learning a lot of her favourite stitches has really made me want to learn more.

In the past, I had often checked sharon b's blog, In A Minute Ago,  whenever I needed help with a specific stitch. Her blog is now called Pin Tangle 

In January, 2012, Sharon started TAST – Take a Stitch Tuesday  – where she posts a hand embroidery stitch to add to the list. She is now at Stitch 64 but you can join in at any time. You then link back to her site by leaving your web address in a comment of her latest TAST post.

I will attempt to do some embroidery every week and hopefully at some point get caught up.

I have a big stack of upholstery samples, so I'm going to use that for this project. I cut the samples into 8” x 8” and washed them to soften them up a bit.

I will use the stitch of the day to make a 4 “ frame and then use mostly that stitch in the frame. Learning how to use one stitch in different situations is the object of the game.

I can add other stitches if I need to.

I can the frame slightly bigger depending on the stitch.

They're my rules, I can break them if I want to.

So here we go!

Week 1 – Fly Stitch

Other stitches: French Knot

Fly Stitch

Week 2 – Buttonhole Stitch

Buttonhole Stitch

Week 3 – Feather Stitch

Other stitches:  French knots

Feather Stitch

Week 4 – Cretan Stitch

I borrowed Luiz Vaz's moon, his is much nicer than mine.  Have a look at his wonderful stitches here.

Other stitches: Fly Stitch (water) and Stem Stitch (under the trees)

Cretan Stitch

I will link up to TAST at Pin Tangle. Check out all the beautiful work going on there.
Also linking to The Needle and Thread WIP Wednesday, have a look at what other Canadians bloggers are up to.

Happy Stitching,

Terry

NOFA Meeting April 20, 2013

Northern Ontario Fibre Artists met last Saturday to work on our group project that will be displayed at our very own show “A Journey in Thread” which will be held in June.

The group project “Seven Create” has been ongoing for over a year and consists of seven curved pieces that must all fit together to hang on a single rod.

"Seven Create" WIP

The object of the workday was to trim all the pieces that are approximately 4 ½ feet long, so they could be completed and bound.

My piece is the first on the left and here it is finally done!   

You will to wait to see the other six.

My piece

It's all about texture and neutrals only!

A couple of close-ups.

How's this for getting into your work.

Mission accomplished, everyone went home to put the finishing touches on their pieces.

It was a great day.

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

Happy Quilting,

Terry

Upcycling #1

Quilt Documentation # 137

Upcycling #1

While doing some cleaning out recently, I came across half a dozen little landscape quilts that I made a long, long time ago. They came very close to being trashed and then I thought I might want to play a little to see what I could do.

The appliqueing was pretty bad (I was just learning) and the fabric.......well, just look for yourself.

This is what I started out with:

Add caption

I decided to leave the hand quilting and added a whole lot of free motion quilting.

Time to tackle the polka dot tree. I picked out 3 shades of green, light, medium and dark and started with the light then adding the medium and finally the dark.

light green

medium green

dark green

more dark green

For the grass, I used the same thread but reversed the order of the shades of green.

grasses - dark green

grasses - medium green

grasses - light thread

A little tweaking on one of the hills. I tone down the red flowers with a purple marker before stitching a grid in gold and brown thread.

tone down hill

I did not mind the colour so much under the tree, related to the mountains, so I added some paisley shapes to make it look like rocks.....maybe.

rocks

There was a lot of distortion going on by the time I finished all that thread painting.

distorted

I blocked it and squared it up.

blocked

And added a facing.

Upcycling #1

Not sure what I'll do with it now, but it was lots of fun.  It measured 12" x 16", now 9" x 13".

I called it #1 because I think I may do this again.

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.ca/2013/04/threadpainting-lily-off-wall-friday.html

Happy quilting,

Terry

Quilting Cruise Memories

Quilt Documentation # 136

Here's a piece I just finished.   I was very lucky to be able to take a workshop with Sue Spargo while a quilting cruise in New Zealand and Australia, this past January. The classes were held on the days at sea, so we were still able to partake in all the excursions while in port.

Quilting Cruise Memories

This was really out of the box for me. I had never worked with wool and although I had a little knowledge of some embroidery stitches it was a real eye opener to learn where and how to apply them to the applique design, as well as learn many new stitches.

These are close-ups of the blocks:

Block #1

Block #1 - before quilting

Block #1 - quilted

Block #1 - detail & lady bug

Sue showed us how to make lady bugs and bumble bees.  Then I copy my roommate's caterpiller on Block #3.

Block #2

Block #2 - before quilting

Block #2 - quilted

Block #2 - detail - bumble bee and red leather circles

Block #3

Block #3 - before quilting 

Block #3 - quilted

Block #3 -detail &  caterpiller 

The border is from a piece of wool that my husband brought back from Peru.  I believe it is Llama wool (which I felted for this).

I was not sure how to finish this quilt but I know Sue uses cotton in the blocks as well as backing and binding. I used a cotton print for the back and decided to face it with the same fabric instead of adding a binding. Little triangles in the corners are used to insert a slat for hanging and one could be placed at the bottom to weigh it down if it was needed.

Quilting Cruise Memories - back

label

I really need to thank my roommate, Susan who so generously let me “shop” in her wonderful stash of hand dyed wool and threads, as well as Sue Spargo who shared all her supplies with everyone. Thank you Sue and Sue.

I have already used a lot of the embroidery stitches in another project and really, really  liked working with wool and will definitely be using it in more quilts.

I can see a lot more hand work in my future.

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.

Happy Quilting,

Terry

DOCUMENTATION:

Quilt Name: Quilting Cruise Memories

Description: Folk Art Wool Applique and Embroidery

Pattern: Sue Spargo patterns

Size: 9” x 30¼”

Fabrics: Wool, cotton, leather, wool, cotton and silk threads, beads

Predominant colours: Turquoise, lemon, khaki, red

Construction Techniques: wool applique, embroidery

Back: 100% cotton

Batting: wool

Edge finish: facing

Quilting: Free motion quilted on Domestic Machine

Quilted by: Terry Whyte

Sleeve: yes (corners to insert rod)

Label: yes

Date completed:2013

Inspiration: from a workshop with Sue Spargo while on a quilting cruise in New Zealand and Australia.

Maker: Terry Whyte