Take a Stitch Tuesday

This is the Knotted Cretan-the next stitch given by Sharonb at www.pintangle.com

I like Cretan anyway, so adding the knot wasn't a problem and adds lots of texture. The green is done in perle cotton #8 with the right side showing more than one knot on each stitch.

The yellow it to show how they can nest. The right side is done wonky.

The orange is a heavier thread called Isabella. It was in my stash, so I don't know if it is even still available. The next row shows it with the perle done over it.

Time was short this week, so it's just a simple example.

Class

I've been taking a Tunsian Crochet class at www.craftsy.com

 The first projects are these squares which are supposed to be washclothes but that I will make into an afghan. They teach 3 different stitches.

This is a 3 color one, although the blue and blue green are close in value. The limiting factor was the yarn available at Joanne's. It's a bamboo acrylic blend and nice to work with. The nice thing about this is getting color and only having to weave in the ends at the beginning and end. Cool technique.

The Craftsy courses have been good. They have a free Block of the Month class to give you the idea of how they work and if they will work for you.

Quilt

This is about 40" square and is a wonky 9 patch. The shibori fabric is from Sue http://suebleiweiss.com and is so beautiful that I wanted to feature it. The pink is a hand dye; the purple is a commercial fabric.

 I decided to accent the angles in the piece with the quilting.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

The Butterfly Chain is this week's stitch from Sharon at http://pintangle.com I hadn't done it before but like what you can do with it.

This seems to be my busy week, so I'll answer comments here. The challenge quilt is about 40" by 30" Annie.

The vest pattern is fun, but the armeye is pretty high. It would be easy to lower it and also to make the vest longer if you wanted. It's knit sideway which tends to be more flattering to most bodies anyway. It's just rectangles(so am I) starting at the underarm, across the back, bind off for the side, cast on for the front and knit to the edge. To do the other front, just pick up stitches at the first underarm, knit that and cast on for the front, knit it , bind off.

Knitting like that has so many possibilities and works for more than two yarns without having so many ends to weave in.

Knitting

I just finished this vest from an old, old pattern. It uses two threads, each on an alternate row. By working on a circular needles, you just knit one row/one thread, then go back to the beginning and repeat with the other thread. It made the Boucle' go further and really features it. The other yarn was a plain navy one.

It was fun to knit-I like unusual ways of doing things. The closure is a hair ornament the just slides out of my hair, so it's nice to find a use for it. I bought it at a Craft Fair. The model is my dress form.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

 http://pintangle.com is the site of the stitch challenge. Bullion Knot this time, so I tried it in a bumpy thread-a real challenge and then a fuzzy one. It's hard to see with the fuzzy yarn but was easy to work which surprised me. I put it on my sampler with the French Knot-seemed logical.

the Columbia Stitchery had a group that was learning to do Brazilian Embroidery. Here is my Poinsettia. Hard to believe I made those long knots.

The Rose is another sample from that time with Buttonhole loops on the outside. I really should do something with them other than store them in a notebook.

More samples. That knot can do a lot of things.

Fiberactions Quilt

The scheme is split complementary this time-one of my favorites. I don't know why the colors in the detail look so grayed, but the large photo shows them much better except for the lime. Even trying to manipulate them doesn't help, and I'd rather create than spend forever on the computer.

The background is free cut for the piecing and is hand dyed cotton. The lime circles are leftover from the last challenge. I'm still interested in using circles but wanted a change and used the construction fencing openings as a template. The shapes are fused to the background and hand stitched using a running stitch and Perle Cotton. It's machine quilted.

Be sure to check out the other quilts by using the icon on the right.

Crazy Quilt

I've been taking a class at www.maureensvintageacquisitions.com  taught by Pam Kellogg  in using Waste Canvas to stitch on the block. The canvas makes the stitches perfect. Pam is a good teacher.

I worked two blocks, because it is easier to do two than to spend all the time and only have one. The lace is just pinned on. It's some I painted probably with Colorhue although any paint will work. The colorhue leaves it soft. I heat set everything whether it says to or not. Be sure to dry it first, as acrylic wet and heat can cause a chemical reaction I've been told.

Quilt

One day I just had the overwhelming urge to make a Prayer Flag. The next day I heard that a good friend was having triple bypass surgery. Isn't it something how those things happen? So here's to Virginia who made it through the surgery fine and is recovering.

The flag is bigger than the usual ones, because the sheer I used was part of a panel given me by a decorator at the gallery I had my Wearable Art in. The bottom is weighted and the thisle type flower and ring were printed on the fabric. I fused the leaves between the two layers of the sheers.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

Half Chevron is this week's stitch for TAST-a challenge from http://pintangle.com  I like what it does with the overlapping of different threads but the curved sample is my favorite.

I found and photographed this fungus on some dead tree trunks. It's very pretty in person, so it's probably poison. When I was a guide at the science museum, it seemed that the pretty things were. I googled it but just found photos-need to try some more as time permits.

Bead Journal Project

Here is the May cuff for the Bead Journal Project. It's roving felted to a piece of felt than Machine quilted after I steamed it.  I used the rings this time and beading to accent them. The edge is the picot stitch.

Quilt

This is the result of watching the Block of the Month video at www.craftsy.com It's a free class and the instructor explains things very well. I'm not doing all the blocks, but this one appealed.

There are 12 blocks here which used up the fabric I had-strips I had cut years ago that I found stored in a box. It's all strip pieced with I like to do. It's big enough to be a lap quilt for the nursing home and used up more of the stash.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

Crossed Buttonhole is the next stitch from Sharon at http://pintangle.com  I try to always have some crazy quilt blocks ready for stitching in case I have to wait somewhere and had this green one. It shows the regular stitch and then two rows of it done back to back using Perle cotton. It will end up getting more stitches.

This is the experimental one. The light green is Perle Cotton 8. I used the fuzzy one over the first row and dropped down a bit. It also gets smaller as you look to the right.