and I went shopping.....and stitched!

Remember those shoes that I threw in the bin in Melbourne, the ones that gave up the ghost after 25 years.....well I went shopping and bought a pair to last me for the next 25 years.

I'm going a bit tarty in my old age with all this bling. Well when we get old we have to replace what we lose with something eh.  Here's hoping that I don't topple off those heels.

I have been thinking of practising some "Gangnam" style dancing for the wedding, but not sure whether those heels would be suitable.   Just might have to kick them off.....old ex ex  husband won't be at this one so I can have a good time!

My outfit is one I wore to the Dunk Island wedding and it has some bling too.  Photos will be seen after the wedding.  

AND  I HAVE been stitching in between doing other stuff like getting rid of all the grot I had allowed to accumulate since returning home.   It gave me a good feeling to have my unit all neat and tidy and clean again.  I felt very rightious but the truth is my friend Di was coming for a sewing day so my guilt got the better of me.

I even sat for hours winding off all the scattered mess of threads sitting on my table so I could have a little skite, and create an impression of being a bit of a neat freak.

Firstly I managed to finish the Bonnet stitch for Tast.   Added just a couple of cast on buttonholes, and a couple of pistil stitches, and one cup stitch which now leaves me almost up to date.

I think if you click on the photo you will be able to see it larger, and if not, when you click on it and get the new one up hold down the ctrl key and scroll with the mouse wheel to make the photo larger.

The lovely piece of tatting on the bottom was a gift in a bag of tatting pieces from my friend Sue of Suztats.   I have been holding on to these, and this embroidery  was the perfect place to use it.

The next piece of embroidery is for a bag I am making.    First I painted the design using my inktense blocks. Because it turned out a bit dark I rinsed out some of the colour then ironed it dry to set the colour.  I have embroidered over the design, and added some beads.   I have cut out some nice blue waterwave taffeta to line it with, and when it is sewn up I will add some buttonhole keepers for the drawstring........will post a photo of the finished project when it is done

It was really satisfying to finish these two projects as they have been sitting round for ages.   All I have to do now is to get on the sewing machine and complete the bag and I can move on to more things that need to be done.

So there it is not one post, but two.....gradually catching up.

Tast catch up

To prove that I have not been totally idle, here is a photo of my latest Tast effort.  I decided to do several stitches on the one piece.   Now all I have to do is to keep going so I dont get so far behind again.

I have called this mother fish and family, and it comprises palestrina, pekenese, up and down buttonhole, liinked double chain, oyster, algerian eye stitch, bullions, sheaf, and a couple of drizzle stitches.

I still have cast on buttonhole, pistil stitch, and knotted buttonhole and I will have caught up, but then there is another on Tuesday....yikes.....no time before I go to do these, although I have a design prepared......promise I will try to do better.

Finally!!!!! Something to blog about

Sorry I have been missing from blogland  for so long, not because I wanted to just have been having a break and lurking.   Nothing exciting has happened lately since I returned from holidays, except catching up on things round the house.

Also have been in a slump and not felt like stitching.....just lurking round the internet and watching tv.

Finally I have pulled myself up by the bootstraps and finished of this which was a work in progress.   My creative mojo seems to have gone on holiday too, so all these stitches I am behind with are on the one piece of embroidery.  Not very inspiring, but they are completed and that is my aim at the moment.

This is the piece I had as a WIP, and now after adding some buttonhole wheels and beads I have completed as much as I am going to with this.   The background fabric is one that I dyed from a workshop I attended some weeks ago.

It has been so cold here still, that I wanted to know what the temperatures were...sort of a masochistic thing.....so purchased this little gadged which sticks itself to the outside of the window so I can see how hot/cold it is before I decide to venture outside.

Oh, and I should mention that I have been shopping too.  Have a wedding to go to in October in Melbourne, and decided I would wear an outfit from another wedding, but add a different top under the jacket.   After walking the length of the main street the other day, I was about to give up finding something suitable, when I spied a lovely blingy top on a rack outside a shop.   It was just what I had in mind, and it fitted perfectly on my new slim body.   The best part was it was reduced from $200 to $50 because a few of the beads had come loose.

Easily fixed with the  little bag of spare beads and sequins  that came with the top, and feel very pleased with my bargain.

The skirt is in getting the hem taken up at the moment, but is gored with a little flip out at the bottom.    The grey sequins have taken on the colour of the pale blue jacket.   It looks grey in the picture but is actually blue.  it is good to give this an airing after sitting in the wardrobe for 14 years and still looks fashionable.....well for an old lady it is.   Also just happen to have a pair of gunmetal grey shoes that will go perfectly......too bad I just recently threw out the matching handbag that was very scratched...might have been able to renew it.

Half Chevron Stitch

For this weeks Tast stitch ....half chevron...I decided to work on one of the new pieces of wool felt from my shopping spree last Sunday.  I am glad I did because it was nice to work with, and I think shows off the stitching really well.

"Fantasy"

The threads I used were from my Stef Francis stash, and also some of the "Cottage Garden" stranded (again from my spending spree) under the flower.  With the addition of the beads it looked like it grew in fantasy land.  (yes had to use the new ones too)

If you link to Pintangle  you will find more lovely examples of the stitch.

Have an appointment this morning so this is short.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Tast week 18 Crossed Buttonhole Stitch

I have been very slack with my blogging of late.  When I say a lot has been happening, dont think I have this wonderful social life...because I dont.  My main social life seems to involve medical appointments.   I have been busy though and this week has been not exception.

Sharon's Tast latest challenge is Crossed Buttonhole stitch which immediately bought a reaction of yuk! what can I do with that!

Anyway I drew some curves (yes I always do things the hard way, and they began to look like bridge arches, and reminded me of the Sydney Harbour Bridge so then, because Sydney is renowned for its beaches this work in progress became 'Bridge to Beach".....

WIP Bridge to beach

As I was painting the background ...yes...after I did the embroidery but you know how it is one thing leads to another..... I noticed that the right hand arch reminded me of a feather.....which led me on another tangent.....

 Feathers!   well they are not perfect feathers, I call them impressionistic feathers from exotic birds.

I had purchased the Caron watercolour thread I used on the bottom feather the previous day because it reminded me of the colours of the kookaburra so this worked in nicely. The red and blue thread is a stef francis overdyed  stranded cotton. Dont you just love variegated threads.

The background fabric is the remnant of a fatquarter I purchased at the textile fair last year, but alas cant remember the name of the stall.

If you go to here you will find lots more wonderful and interesting ways to use this stitch.

Wheatear Stitch Week 17

Well yesterday I had all these alternative names for my sample of wheatear stitch. Settled on Marsh Land and the more I look at it the more I think I should have stuck with Mish Mash.  Wheatear stitch does not lend itself to much creativity, although in days to some I will probably see something on SF and wonder why I did not think of that.   I tried to keep to the free style of making the stitch and not the absolutely true method.   Anyway I did get a bit lot of couching practice with tying down the other threads.

Firstly I laid down some coloured pieces of fabric onto the background, and then I used thread that could only be couched to form what I wanted to look like twisted vines and tree trunks.  The blue is supposed to depict some water....8in an abstract way of course.    I also got out the inktense pastels and coloured in an area to give the whole thing a sense of looking into the distance .  

the best part is that I got rid of used up some "stuff" Those long beads have been around for about 15 years and this is the first time I have had a use for them.

Now what do I do....this is the quickest I have been for yonks with getting my stitching out I usually agonise over the design for days......well there are a lot of threads that need to be wound off on to cards....there is vacuuming and mopping....in other words housework....it must be time I found a maid but unfortunately am too old to have any more children :)

Tast 2012 French Knots

I love French knots as anyone who has looked at my wattle tree will agree. So I was pleased to see this was the stitch for last week.  Unfortunately life got in the way a bit, and I am late posting.

I recently found found an old book on embroidered Panels by Coats Sewing Group. I know it was old because the original price was 60c.  The design on the cover was gorgeous, and the shapes inspired my design for the French knots that I have called Amoeba.

Below  is my design for the Sample of French knots.

amoeba

I have completed this weeks wheatear stitch, but want to look at it for a few days before i put it up on my blog.  I originally was going to call it Rainforest, then that turned into Swamp, and now I am thinking it should be Mishmash.  Anyway, watch this space.

To see lots of lovely examples of the Tast Stitches have a look on Pintangle

Thank you Mr. Blogger Geek for giving me the option to return to the old way with Blogger.

Back to Stitching - Tast 2012 Barred Chain, Satin Stitch, and Stem Stitch

Wow 3 postings in 3 days that is what I call "catching up".   When I went away I had just started on my barred chain stitch, so put that into the box that I had ready together with the threads.  In the box I had all manner of things that I thought I might need....fabric, threads, needles.....you all know the drill.

Well as usual when I go to Serenity I have to take other comforts as well...like dishes to make different meals, and stuff like that.  I also had to take a quilt that could not be washed in my small machine so on the pile it went with my pillow and a smaller quilt.....and of course there were the clothes....at the turn of a season what else does one do but take clothes to cover all emergencies and shoes too.

Well I had gotten everything organised that I was taking in the back room, and the day we were to leave was very funny....As I was bringing out the various things I could see "himself.s" eyes getting more and more terrified at the amount. ...we did have his bag and the esky to fit as well didn't we and only had the sedan ...so when it came to the sewing box I thought I would be good and just take the bare minimum and I was able to walk out with two small boxes. One with pens/pencils for the sketchbook, and the other with a small mix of threads and ribbons I was using for the project , scissors and pin cushion.

At the last minute I did pick up the box of green coloured threads.  So this improved the look on "himself's" face a lot when I said  "that's it" .  

So now we come to the stitching part.   At first I was not keen on the barred chain, and had never seen it before, but as I got used to the stitches I could see all sorts of possibilities.

Then I decided to use the small piece of silk to do the catch up week and included the satin stitch when it came up.

Satin stitch together with long and short stitch have always been my nemesis when it comes to stitches and one day I hope to master them to perfection.  As I said I had only taken a small selection of threads so that was it in the pinks and purples.

Some time ago I had done a geometric sketch, playing around in my sketch book, and when the stem stitch came up I thought it would be a good design to use.  I called it "where's the party" so used bright colours on a bright background.

It needed a couple of tweaks, and here is the final design

"Where's the Party?"

I tried taking the photo in sunlight, but the yellow colour disappeared so had to take it inside.  To view more wonderful samples of the Tast stitching click on the Pintangle link

Woven Wheels Tast Week 11

This week our stitching challenge was woven wheels.  At first it seemed that this would be a bit boring, but gee have a look at Stitchin Fingers and check out all the wonderful ways this stitch has been interpreted.   

Luiz who I have now nicknamed the Wizard of Design and Embroidery has once again astounded us all with his design ability.   Make sure that you check out the photos on the Leaderboard because there are some fantastic examples there.   Dont forget to have a look at the little critters Barbara aka Hopscotch has created, and Brigitte's butterfly is just gorgeous..

This Tast is bringing out so much creativity in all the members it is a pleasure to sit and browse through all the photographs.

I had a late start with mine, but have finally finished it.  This has given me the opportunity to use some of my beautiful Stef Francis threads.

I have used some drawn thread work, as well as some satin stitch,  couching and running stitches to enhance the woven work.

You may need to click on the image, then hold the Ctrl key and scroll with the mouse to enlarge the image so you can see the detail, because I scanned this instead of photographing it.

 

Tast Week 10 Running Stitch

When I first saw that running stitch was the stitch for the week I immediately thought "Cakky Poo" !!!!

 I did not like the idea at all.   I had had this piece which had been a ufo for about a year sitting patiently waiting for a finish, and had recently dug it out and had it sitting on my table.  After working other running stitches it suddenly struck me that this could be the perfect stitch to finish off the work. So this is what I did with it.  I was quite please with the result of a naive style and called it Across the Paddock.

As you can see the design got altered as it went along.

I have always loved Huck embroidery, so this had to be an example of how running stitch can weave itself into patterns.This is called "Trees", and it is obvious why I chose that name. 

I have already put the previous two up on Stitchin Fingers, and have yet to post a running stitch sample which I did for a course previously.  I have named this "Zap!" because it reminds me of an electrical storm.

My next trial with the running stitch was just a doodle cloth really.  I  stitched where the needle wanted to go. I used a mix of wool threads and heavy crochet cottons, with a little bit of fine stranded. The squares and rectangles of cloth are pieces of blue silk.

Could not even think of a name of this....Zig and Zag ??? perhaps.

I did have another sketch ready, but have decided to wait for a more appropriate stitch for it.

"Splash". Week 7 and 8 Tast and print on fabric

The last two weeks of Tast have been detached chain and running chain stitches.  I have combined these on a fabric page  I have called "Splash".  There have been so many wonderful examples worked once again for this weeks Tast but I think my favourite of all is one stitched by Luiz called Good morning Maharani.  Click on the link and have a look at his wonderful and creative stitching.   Also hop over to Sharons Pintangle and read more about the Tast adventure.

Some time ago I was playing with the Gimp programme and produced what are called nova circles.  Then I discovered these could be printed onto linen, however, I was unable to get the placement on the linen right and ended up with two overlapping pictures on the one piece of fabric, which has languished in a box ever since.

At the time I did print one correctly on the linen and turned it into my piece I called "Carnivale" 

This piece is called "Splash"  I again used a variety of threads and included some gold thread in the needle.   The 'scales' of the fish on the right are all detached chain, and the fish on the left is filled with running chain.

Here is a closer version as well.

The Nova circles look like bubbles to me.  Below  is  a photo below of the original piece of linen that I  printed with two overlapping designs.

For those who have not seen it here is a picture of "Carnivale"  firstly the greyed picture and the completed one.

This has actually photographed darker than it really is.

Carnivale

Tast Week 6 Chevron Stitch

Blogger also fooled me when I posted about my Chevron Stitch for week 6 of Tast and took me to my old blog for that as well, and somehow I just did not notice. If blogger was nice and would allow cut and past for the moderators, it would make life so easy in this case. Blogger (he, it has to be a male)  won't even let me go from one to the other without signing in and out and back and forth. ...

Anyway here is the picture of my week 6 Chevron stitch just to keep the record of my stitches all on the one blog here.   There are a lot of lovely samples of this stitch on Pintangle 

You can find more wonderful samples of all the stitches so far on Flicker

To me chevron stitch says smocking so that is why I have added a little piece of it here and appliqued it onto the page with some wild stitches.

The ric rac  round the border of the cream linen fabric is a piece I have had for years looking for a place to use it.   It has a white edging of fine needlelace which gives it a special appearance and makes a nice border inside the ric rac.

Stitch number 7 is detached chain, and  I am still working on that.  I am hoping that this weeks stitch will be one that I can add to the page to go with the detached chain.

Week 4 Cretan Stitch

Well, FINALLY finished week 4.  of this year's TAST with Sharon B.  I started off with these sketches

Then I ended up with this

The 'leaves/trees' were originally rectangles then squares,  then after I began embroidering did not like them so change to the leaf shape.   I have used a lot of Brazilian Rayon threads, with some variegated single stranded in the bright colours.

I had originally intended to do some beading but then thought that would be overkill in the end.

I am so glad this page is finished now I can tidy my table and sewing room before guests arrive on Tuesday.   I have a unit inspection on Friday so wont be able to make any messes between times and ruin the neat and tidy personna I have created for the real estate people.  

On the health front just want to let all my concerned and caring friends know that I am ok.  The blood test the GP had back on Friday were good and the reading she took when showing me how to use the glucose monitor was good as well and she is very happy with me.

AND I now weigh just under 75 kgs...which I am pleased about...all those salads are having an effect....and of course no ice cream, no creamy biscuits and cakes, and no lollies  has helped a lot too.  ...very sad face....I do miss my ice cream..which I think had become an emotional crutch.  It is so good to be getting slim again I will appreciate it while I can in case the weight goes back on again.

Excuse the poor photos I have been 'fiddling' with my camera so will now have to get the book out and see if I can put things right.
 

Book pages

My friend Judy sent me some lovely deep pink velvet ribbon in a parcel of goodies before Christmas, and i just want to show her what I have done with it. The ribbon was just perfect for a surround for this.  I have pinned it onto some blue wool, and now it is ready to become a cover for a journal...if and when I will find the right size book.  So I wanted Judy to see what I had used it for, and to show her ET as she had not seen it.

Some may remember this embroidery which I nicknamed ET....cant you just see the big "eyes" it turned out that way purely by accident.  This cover is for a journal of some of the general embroideries I have done over the years.

I have also made a page from my buttonhole stitch sampler.  I placed the sampler and the and the edgings diagonally on the page, and added some more samples of the buttonhole stitch.  I also used some more of the threads that Judy sent me...see the golden yellow on the length of blue ribbon.

The blue edgings are from the stash of laces I received from my neighbour.

Week 2 Buttonhole stitch

I can't believe where this week has gone...one day it was Monday, and all of a sudden it is Saturday.   Today is the day my grandaughters who I have not seen for 2 years are coming to visit. Just an overnight stay, but I am sooooo looking forward to it.

I did accomplish something this week, working on the buttonhole stitch.  This such a versatile stitch, and the more you explore the more ways you find to use it.  First I added a piece to the page I started for fly stitch. 

The buttonhole flower is one I had already worked for the Stitch Files. 

Then I got carried away and worked a sampler for the Stitch Files.  I like the little cat so much I used him twice.

It is almost time for the next stitch, which will help to make another week fly past.
Now I had better fly I have lots to do.

Week 1 Fly Stitch

Even though I took a box of sewing to do, not much got done, mainly because I spent a lot of time relaxing with a book, and again, having 'nana naps'  However I did make an effort with the Fly Stitch, for Week 1 of Tast 2012 although a very meagre one.   I am thinking at this stage of  putting these into a journal.  I have a lot of lace and thought it could be a way of using some of it.

Some years ago I did a course where we had to experiment with various stitches and I have dragged these out again to share with you all.

Close up of the fly stitch flowers.