palestrina knots

here is my latest TAST stitch for this week, when I saw it was palestrina knot which I know as double knot stitch I wanted to do a tree, rather small I am afraid but a tree never the less.

crazy

I have been having another go at crazy quilting but rushed in like a bull in a china shop and realise I have gone about it in the wrong way. This morning I have been looking at a lot of blocks and see that you cover the blocks with loads of stitching, how unobservant I am, the first block I made I have added some stitches to the seams and the same with the second block. My SIL came on thursday and asked me to make her a little bag/pouch for her handbag, she likes to have a spare pair of briefs with her being of a certain age!.Well I quickly made one and it was in the post yesterday, only wanted it very small but now wish it had more stitching in, I suppose it is more practical without much as it will be manhandled in a bag all the time. Will post the 2nd attempt and the pouch now.

                                                                        1st attempt slitched

                                                                    2nd attempt, stitched

                                                                 little briefs bag
The first piece used odd bits of fabric I had painted or dyed over the years.
I have just used scraps of fabric I had in a scrap tin for the 2nd and the bag.

crazy

Yesterday afternoon I finally took the plunge and had a go at crazy patchwork.
I have admired what I have seen on SF and bought two books to help but still I ventured in with great intrepidition, following instructions I find a struggle, I am much better watching someone, however I did not let this put me off and gathered some old bits of fabric that I had coloured in one way or another over the years. I do not think I put the pieces on correctly as I kept having to cut bits off and am now left with lots of scrappy bits too small to do much with. Being a good girl I pressed each piece after attaching. I then scanned it into the computer and saved it. For the life of me I cannot understand why I did not take a photo but never mind will post the scan on here.

This morning I got out my DMC rayon threads which I never use and added some stitching, feather,blanket,breton,chain and fly stitch. I also used some ribbon, attached the orange with herringbone and the lilac I gathered up and attached with stab stitch. I can see I will have to buy some lace etc and some charms but have looked in shops and on the internet and so far have not found  a supplier, there are some very flimsy ones about suitable for card making but have not seen anything for patchwork. I do have some, once again from years ago so will just keep my eyes and ears open. The next step is to do some stitching I suppose on the actual pieces of fabric but the brain has clocked off for now so that will have to wait.
Advice and constructive criticism will be greatly received.

sorry the photo has not come out too well. I replaced one piece of fabric, bottom left hand corner as on the first piece I had put in on wrong side out!

knotted chain stitch

Another tast stitch completed,
Has anyone else thought that the wrap around the needle is the same as a colonial knot or have I been doing it wrong?
I went on the wander again and suddenly I could see hills and contours from a map in the wander so now it has some meaning!!
I find creativity difficult, okay on my hardanger etc but everything else I struggle with, hopefully usually successfully.





May I thank you all once again for the comments you leave on my blog, it is great to know others share my work with me.

sampler

I think I am about finnished on the sampler, one or two things I am not too happy with but I am always highly critical or my own work.
Whilst visiting Catherine on wednesday I showed her how far I had gone and she put it on a maroon cushion which looked really good so have introduced some maroon and will stretch it over maroon fabric I think. On the top small hardanger blocks I used some maderia 40 machine thread with the flower thread to add a bit of sparkle.This was suggested by one or two friends. Planned to use it in the main heart but afraid  had such trouble with it shredding, unpicked it and left it out.
Re the border, I do not think I can make it any bigger due to fabric restrictions hope it works okay as it is.
Not sure if the heart at the bottom should be in the maroon but do not think so but might change my mind prior to framing. The little cat charm is rather sweet and managed to find the "made with love" heart in a shop in York.The cat I allready had from ages ago, there do not seem to be many charms about now, will have to find an outlet fro when I start playing with the crazy patchwork

London trip

Last thursday I went down to London to see a friend`s BA hons degree exhibition.
Cheryl is a very talented lady who makes wedding dresses and also is an embroiderer and patchworker.Her degree was in costume interpretation.
The journey started at 7.40am and the coach was to leave Leeds coach station at 9 am. Coach arrived on time but we were warned that there was an accident on the M1 motorway but it should be open again by 10.30 so would not be a problem.
Life is not always easy and thursday was one of those days, motorway remained closed and we finally arrived in London at 10.15pm instead of 1.30pm. Horrendous, the coach should never have been on the road in the first place as the toilet was not working, you can no doubt imagine what it was like! We finally got to stop at around 7 pm for a toilet break and cup of tea.
Never mind I arrived having missed the show which was a private showing with drinks and nibbles, and boy was I hungry.
Got to Cheryl1s house at 11.40pm.
The coach company agreed to let me return on a later coach the following day so did see the exhibition and just caught the coach home which arrived only 30 mins late.
What a display of theatre costumes, the work was amazing, there were about 24 students, will check to see if I can post a couple of photos on the blog but can not do it without clearing it with Cheryl first (she will still be fast asleep so will add them later)
Visiting London is not on any plans in the near future!! The coach is so much cheaper than the train, think I now know why!!
The good British public did not get irate, could have been very unpleasant if we had had some aggressive people on board, I thought we were all very good about it.
So that is how I spent the day last thursday.

bithday sampler

I can see the end to this sampler now, have unpicked the cretan stitch and substituted some more blocks to do hardanger in.Also added a heart at the bottom, my initials and bless you.
Beads are scattered about, green and some pearl which I thought worked with being 40.I am going to unpick the 40 for the second time, first time done too big and now not big enough.
As suggested by a few friends I have added a border but only four sided stitch and still in green as Catherine does not want any other colour in it, hope she will accept the pearl colour beads.Not sure about the border but restricted with fabric at the top.Also wonder if I need to do any more around the large heart as the fabric looks a little bare. I am sure one of you will come up with some good advice.
I am leaving the cut work until the end.

birthday sampler

I have been working on the sampler for my daughter Catherine`s 40th birthday.
Have changed my mind a few times, it is all well and good doing the design on graph paper first but when you come to stitch it it does not necessarily work as I found this time.

I have cut down on the colours used, Catherine wanted  green but I was going to put some varigated thread in but it did not look right. have used DMC perle 8 for the kloisters in 905 and the rest is done with DMC flower thread 2905 & 2906 which are the 905 & 906 shades. Such a shame they stopped making these threads. Fortunately I bought quite a lot when they were being sold off. I find I stitch better using a single strand of thread so pick my threads by thickness.
Will be unpicking the cretan stitch but not sure what to replace it with and of course will be cutting the threads in the heart.
Feel I am now winning.   The God could not be everywhere so her made Mothers, Daughters,Sisters and Cats was chosen by Catherine which meant I could not do as much fancy stitching as I would have liked but also made it quicker to stitch.
Apologise for the quality of the photo but my camera does not like counted thread fabric.

Any advice on how to inprove this will be gratefully received.

knotted cretan stitch

these are my two attempts at knotted cretan stitch, I seem to have forgotten to post them on my blog.
The tree is rather windswept, it must be in sympathy with our so called summer here, windy and wet!
The oval I drew the shape on and then found I could not erase the pencil marks. Think I must invest in a disappearing pencil as I would hate it to have been on something I was doing as a project rather than a sample.