Stitchery

I need to inset this piece in something but wanted to show it in case blogger locks me out again.

It started as a monoprint fabric. I put iron on interfacing on the back to support the stitching as it is cotton.

 First came layers of painted cheesecloth, then the machine stitching with a leaf pattern. I hand stitched using Feather stitch. All of this was to create the feel of greening behind the flowers.

The flowers are Fly stitch, Chain stitch and woven stitches. The stems are Chain and stem stitch. The green seemed too prominent, so I whipped the chains with another green.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

I've gotten behind in TAST by being out of town. Here is the Up and down buttonhole.

The green is Perle Cotton and done in the traditional way. The browns are to see what happens in overlapping the rows.

The rust is a thick but smooth thread worked randomly. The yellow is silk and worked back to back overlapping the rust in places.

The last is hard to see and was hard to work even with a big needle because the thread is lumpy.

Quilt

I had leftover pieced bits and decided that they were a good base for a quilt, so this was born. The fabrics are mostly painted or hand dyed and pieced however they went together. A design wall is a perfect place to decide who goes where.

Class

I took the Beetle class from Arlene at www.joggles.com I've been curious about stumpwork and this was a good opportunity to learn something about it. She was a good teacher.

His wings stand up from the fabric. Sorry the photos are so bad, but he's shiny.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

http://pintangle.com is the site of the challenge.  This stitch is the Basque Stitch which I haven't done before but really liked and even added a row to my Crazy Quilt.

The top row is a two plied wool yarn done randomly. The middle is cotton with an eyelash type of thread plied into it. The bottom is embroidery floss done back to back.

Quilt

This is the piece I posted to http://fiberactions.blogspot.com for the challenge that revealed this week. We were to use 3 colors: black, and colors starting with the first letters of our name. Mine were Slate, Jade and black. Be sure to check the rest out on the blog.

 The black is commercial fabric; the rest hand dyed. The motif is one I work with a lot.

The quilting seemed to need to be in each section using the color of the section and crossing over the block lines. It was fussy to do, but I'm pleased with it.

Right now I've been able to access my blog and will schedule some posts.

Bead Journal Project

Here's my July cuff. It started with felted the roving to a felt base then machine quilting it. The rock looking beading decided my design. I go with what the project tells me to do-took years to believe in that method but it works.

It seemed to need the line of beads to contain the rest. The closure is snaps. I'm liking that method, as it can be adjusted to fit more wrists.

Dyed Threads

I used the Dynaflow and did some reds in Perle Cotton and embroidery floss.

I'm getting very frustrated. Blogger, Google and my server seem to be having a problem. I keep being asked to update my blog, but every thing I try--following their directions--they tell me is wrong.
So anyway, I may disappear and just start another blog. I hate to do that and lose all my followers and google reader list, but I've wasted way too much time on this.

I'm going on vacation next week to visit family and will deal with it the end of the month. If I get a new blog, it will show up on The Fiberactions one. Now of course being upset, I can't remember the address for it. Probably http://fiberactions.blogspot.com

I'm sorry that I won't be commented on your blogs until I find you again.

Quilt

This was a challenge. I decided to use some African fabric purchased ages ago on a trip to Houston. The yellow was a dyed fabric that was so whimpy that after the quilt was pieced, I painted in using the floor as a table in the painting studio-overwise known as the downstairs bathroom. At least water is readily available there, and I'm limber enough to work on the floor. It did come out OK, and I like the metallic look to the paint.

The slashed piecing is so wonky that I stayed with that for the border too and machine quilted straight lines to echo that.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

The Bonnet Stitch is next for TAST-the challenge from http://pintangle.com

I don't think this is my stitch. First I used a cotton knitting thread and didn't take the bite through the fabric at the bottom. I guess I did a detached version.

Then I read the directions instead of just looking at the picture-not good at that but if all else fails...maybe I'll read them.

The left side green is it done in the normal manner. The right side is freeform. The thread is Perle Cotton #8.

The brown is a cotton thread of unknown origin but appears to be cotton. I changed the distance of the bottom part of the stitch. There really is nothing to keep it in place.

Cards

Our daughter was here for an art day, so we made cards again. Not so many this time, as we had a lot to show each other of the things we'd done since her last visit.

I had a chance to use some of the pieces that were made when I tested the Big Shot die machine.