Time to catch up with posting my small samples for the TAST challenge. I don't feel as if I've been very creative with the stitches but I've been busy with other stitching in the meantime and nibbling away at my Module 2 for City and Guilds.

The first stitch is this weeks stitch - Palestrina stitch. I started in straight rows then tried overlapping the rows with different lengthed stitches, then I did the S shape. The bottom two rows were done slightly differently to Sharons instructions - on the first row I added an extra knot to make it more knobbly, on the second row I started off the same but the second 'stitch' I passed under the first stitch then did a final knot - this gives a better right angle - more like a knotted buttonhole stitch.


This is my sample from Week 14 - Bonnet stitch - just a couple of rows - not very exciting.

This example is from Week 13 - Knotted Cretan stitch which was fun to do as it was easier to get some variety in the stitches.


This couching example is for Week 12 - I used some lovely textured thread that I bought in Germany before Christmas and it just cries out to be touched.


This is Week 10s sample - Barred chain - again a fun stitch to play around with.

A belated Happy Easter to you! This is the Easter banner that I have been working on recently for church and managed to finish last week in plenty of time. I became very frustrated with my sewing machine and had to abandon using it by Monday last week as it needed a new lever to raise the presser foot - fortunately it was fixed on Wednesday - now it's a pleasure to use again.


I have had a lovely weekend - the family have all been away and I have been able to experiment and sew as much as I wanted to - nothing to show here as yet as I have been preparing some ATCs for an exchange and will post them during May once they have been received. Just let me say that they linked to my Module 2 texture work - silk painting and texture rubbings and I am quite pleased with the results.

Today a friend and I went up to the Living Crafts Show at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire - the weather was great and we really enjoyed our visit. It was nice to see some different crafts on display, other than textiles and to enjoy a falconry display - we missed the ferret racing! There were lots of jewellry stalls which were very tempting - I did buy one pair of stud earrings and a pair of sandals in very soft, red nubuck leather.

I haven't posted anything for a few weeks now because I haven't had anything new to show - I have spent some time learning to hand quilt and practising those skills, and the rest of my time has been taken up with work and bannermaking. This weeks TAST stitch is couching so I thought I'd show this example that I did about 18 months ago which I started at the Knitting and Stitching Show in London.

I must start doing some more hand stitching and experimenting with threads.

This weeks stitch for TAST is feather stitch - as I have used this stitch quite a lot recently I decided to group the photos together here (and cheat as I haven't got time before we go away to do another sample). The first sample is from the Personal Library of Stitches course -

This second sample is from my City and Guilds course and is depicting spring - the calico background has been sponge painted with colours taken from a source picture, then the feather stitching worked on top in coordinating colours



The third sample is my final picture for Module 1 on my City and Guilds course - I used feather stitch a lot for the trees at the back of the picture and used a variety of thicknesses of threads on evenweave fabric, again sponge painted.

This is my sample of stitching for Week 6 - Algerian Eyelet Stitch for TAST. I decided to paint some fabric to make it more interesting and tried to alter the sizes of the various arms of the stitches.


Tomorrow we are off to the Lake District for a few days as this week is our half term holiday - it'll be nice to get away for the break.

Yesterday and today have been declared snow days by the school and college - so half term has started early. Matt and I went for a walk round the estate and to the woods on the edge of it - I thought that this first picture looked a bit surreal

Matt decided to try throwing snowballs at trees and kept missing!

DH came home from work early and they decided to build a snow man

The snow was excellent for rolling - just like a carpet or grass, so they very quickly ended up with a large ball of snow - then another... and another...

until they ended up with a tower or totem pole -

Well this week I managed to finish and send off Module 1 for my City and Guilds course, to my tutor for her to mark. I am now waiting for it to come back and to get Module 2.

Here is a small sampler that I have just finished for Take a Stitch Tuesday - this week the stitch was Chevron Stitch which I have use to couch down a thick chenille thread and used it to make patterns.

Just a quick post tonight to show a picture of a tree done in detached chain stitch for Take a Stitch Tuesday - I used three different colours of Caron Watercolours thread to stitch. I don't think I've ever done a picture where I've only used one stitch and stitched it so densely before - I quite like the effect.

This week I have been working on the final piece for Module 1 of my C+G course - a landscape picture based on a photograph that I took while I was in Cornwall last June with my mother - I think that I took it at the National Trust house, Lanhydrock.

I have used an evenweave fabric which I sponge painted, then used a number of the stitches used in the module including herringbone, feather stitch, fly stitch, thorn stitch, fern stitch and roumanian stitch.
I tried to plan it out before I started, based on the photo, but my drawing lets me down and I ended up stitching it freehand as I went along. I didn't want an exact replica of the garden - more the general feel of it, which I think that I have achieved.

Now I need to do a quick embroidery on winter, then finish all my comments and presentation before being able to send it off as planned next week.

This weekend I have been concentrating on working on my City and Guilds Module 1 - I am now aiming to get it finished by the end of the month so that I can send it off for assessment and start on Module 2. With that in mind I have completed the Design for Craft section and am just finishing a few stitch samples and mounting them. Then I have to do the stitch sample for 'winter' and a final landscape piece.

This first sample is using fern stitch and a very pretty rainbow variegated thread - I tried to vary the sizes of the stitches and on the last sample on the right added french knots at the end of each stitch.

The second sample is worked in Cretan stitch on a piece of evenweave fabric which I sponged painted with fabric paint to make it more interesting. I also wove in some knitting wool into one of the samples and for the last sample on the right used 2 different thicknesses of thread and random sized stitches.

Lots of people keep sketchbooks with ideas in them - I decided today that as there are so many variations of each stitch that I would keep a sketchbook devoted to the stitches. One stitch per page, starting with the traditional variations, then different ways of experimenting with it. Here is page 1 - Herringbone stitch (sorry the quality is not brilliant - it wouldn't scan any better)

Having done the Personal Library of Stitches and now taking part in the Take a Stitch Tuesday there are so many inspirational ideas of how to use the different stitches that I thought it would be good to jot them down in one place - some of the ideas are from Sharons notes and others are from samples done by members of the challenge. As I experiment further I can add additional notes and more photos of my samples over the page.

Happy New Year to all my visitors to this blog!

Stitching update - I have done a bit of stitching over the Christmas break - mainly small samplers of different stitches, one for the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge, the other 3 for my City and Guilds course.

The first weeks stitch for the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge was Herringbone - I had already done some experimentation with this stitch before Christmas - see here, so I decided to try stitching on hand painted silk with Caron Watercolours thread - it has puckered a bit but creates some interesting patterns.

For the City and Guilds module that I am doing I needed to do a selection of stitch samples, many of which I had done on calico, but since doing the Library of Personal Stitches course had decided to redo on linen. These are the latest ones that I have done - fly stitch. Here I have used a piece of hand dyed scrim over a piece of white linen to add a bit of colour to the base fabric.


These are example of thorn stitch using a variety of thicknesses of yarns and varying the sizes of the stitches.

On the left of this sample is a leaf done in Roumanian stitch and on the right using fishbone stitch.

Postcards sent and received
This first postcard purchased from Fibre Art for a Cause following the International Quilt Festival in Houston - it was created by Jan Johnson and is called Paint Strokes. I like the way she has combined satin stitching with paint splodges to make the design.


On the City and Guilds Yahoo group I belong to, we did an end of year postcard swap - this is the postcard that I received from Karin in Germany - I find it very calming yet interesting to look at.

This is the postcard that I created for Karin - hand dyed scrim on pink aida with stitching and beads added, edged with hand made cord. Many of the stitches were ones that we had done during the Library of Stitches course.

Well, we haven't put the Christmas tree up instead I've had some fun this evening doing this embroidery with thick, interesting threads on scrim which I then stitched onto felt. I did try doing some bullion knots which were a bit of a nightmare as they kept getting tangled up with the fibres from the wools and I also added large green beads, mainly round the edges. We actually like the cream scrim that is visible round the outside so I haven't covered it up - if I'd had time before I started then I would have dyed or painted it.

This is a sampler that I have done for week 6 - all based on chevron stitch and using some lovely variegated threads of different thicknesses. I have tried varying the sizes of the stitches, working them the wrong way round (look at the middle row), overlapping them and using both bullion knots and cast on stitch to vary the look. Some of the threads I used proved to be a bit of a nightmare - either very silky or with a slub that didn't want to go through the ground fabric.

I bought some Caron Watercolours thread yesterday and that was lovely to use - it feels so soft and the colours are yummy - I let myself play with one skein and am getting 7 more for Christmas - can't wait! Next I want to play with stitching on scrim to develop a picture with thick yarns and I need to find enough room in the lounge for the Christmas tree to go up this afternoon.

This week, since I finished the banner I have been busy creating a postcard to send off for a swap - it was going to be the one below - Christmas red and green with a bit of gold - but I didn't like the finished embroidery, so I started another one. I finished and posted it today and will post a picture of it here once it has reached it's destination.

I have also been stitching a small sampler for Week 5 of the Library of Stitches - this time using Arrow Stitch and lots of variations of it to give different effects - don't they look effective?

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas! Yesterday I finished the banner we have been making to hang in Church over the Christmas period and here it is -

Although you can't see it very well on this photograph the gold lines from the star extend outwards to the edges and we sewed blue sequins on to the sky which sparkle as the light catches them. The star is actually mounted on a cross (made from blue net) which is very subtle. It got a good, positive reaction in church this morning which is encouraging for all those who were involved in its production. Now we can start thinking about a hanging to celebrate the church's 350th anniversary next year - we are one of the oldest Baptist churches in the world.

I can also now start to get on with some other stitching and thinking about Christmas pressie shopping etc.

I've just finished my first postcard for Week 4 - I ended up using Antwerp edging for the border. I started with the bottom row in variegated perle thread then did the rest with 2 threads - the variegated and a dark purple. I have used a very fine variegated crochet cotton (which must be about 30 years old) for the main part of the stitching, all of which are variations on buttonhole stitch. The 'mess' at the bottom right hand corner is also buttonhole stitch worked densely in various threads.

On Tuesday evening I started a course at work (nothing to do with embroidery) and we had to introduce ourselves by creating something out of a piece of card. We had to put our name on it and 2 things that would help people to remember who we were - with stitching in mind I drew my name in chain stitch and outlined it with 2 colour herringbone, with a nice flower with feather stitch leaves and stalk! Just shows how stitching takes over!

I've had a really busy week what with the banner making, C+G display on Saturday, marking students assignments and starting a course myself (as a student) at work on Tuesday, so I haven't managed to squeeze in a lot of stitching. I have however done one postcard sampler based on Week 3 stitches which were concentrating on lines. I really like the cable chain stitch at the left hand side of the picture and a knotted cretan stitch in the middle.

Hopefully this week I'll have a little more time to experiment with Week 4's stitches and design ideas although I do have a lot of stitching to do on the banner to get it finished to hang probably next weekend.

I have now finished my second sample postcard for week 2 - I did the border in portuguese stem stitch having realised that I did it wrong last week. Here is a close up of this weeks version.

And here is the finished postcard. This weeks lesson was about pointilism and using stitches as motifs to create points. I've not only used stitches but also beads, sequins and stitches based on buttons and brass washers.

I've just started the border for week 3 - this week is all about line, should be fun.

I've had a busy weekend - but forgot to take any photos of the banner making on Friday. I t was a fun event - hard work, but rewarding to do. The banner isn't yet finished - my sewing machine will be hard at work over the next couple of weeks topstitching and quilting it to get it ready for the beginning of December.

Yesterday, the local patchwork and quilting group I go to, Patchwork People, celebrated their 25th anniversary - we had a special cake, lots of silver around, a special raffle and Barbara Chainey talking about her visits and interest in the tentmakers in Cairo. I organised a display of some of the work that 4 of us did for our City and Guilds embroidery course - unfortunately I forgot to take any photos of it.

This is my first postcard sized sample for Week2 of the Library of Stitches class - it's done on pale green aida with blue variegated perle cotton and dark blue stranded cotton. I seemed to spend most of my time unpicking stitches to get everything even. I've done moss stitch, crown stitch, variations of fly stitch and cross stitch - good fun.

I have also spent some time on another sample this weekend using single motifs some based on brass washers and sequins - that one isn't complete yet - will post a picture later in the week when it is.

Yesterday afternoon, I spent a couple of hours developing a design for a church banner, using different coloured papers. A group of 8 or 9 of us at church are going to be making up the design on Friday afternoon in a workshop session which I am organising. This is the first time I've done anything like this so it's a bit scary - I am used to teaching and organising classes but not for sewing activities.