Art

Quite a while ago I made two books from fabrics and laces I'd painted and bonded to Timtex. This is the leftover piece. It's hard to stitch through, but I like to use the rattail cording to make a design.  The circular pieces are beaded separately on Ultrasuede and attach afterwards by hand stitching. I liked the lace hanging over the edge, but two sides were bare and needed the rest of the rattail.

 

The color on the detail isn't right. The beading is in orange and pink. Trying to change it also changes the background.

Stitchery

Since Take a Stitch Tuesday is taking a week off, I decided to show a sampler I work on to try flower ideas. I do love flowers and this makes a good record of which ones work best. I started on counted thread fabric but really prefer to not have to take the weave into consideration and work within that framework. It's a stretch for me-rather be free.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

I love to do hand stitching and decided to take part in Sharon Boggin's TAST challenge this year at http://www.pintangle.com   The first stitch she posted was Fly Stitch-one of my favorites as it is so versatile. This is a section from an old sampler showing some variations.

Another old sampler with more variations.

This is on wool fabric which I love to stitch on. It is soft to the hand, easy to stitch, and has enough body to support the stitching.

Here is a Crazy Quilt block I'm working on where I used the Fly Stitch to decorate both the painted rickrack and the satin ribbon. It's a bit subtle which is the aim for this set. The rickrack was in my stash from ages ago in all the bright colors it came in. I found that I could paint it with acrylics and get something I was more likely to use.

For this one I used some weird yarns to stitch. The orchid has long threads hanging from it. I love what the blue did. It's the yarn across the bottom of the photo. I must use more of those types of yarns in my stitching but never did before. It adds an element you couldn't get any other way and a surprise.

Stitchery

When we lived in S. California, I had a business partner who taught silk painting. She didn't sew and gave me  her samples when she needed to get rid of some. This is one that I always liked and wanted to add stitching too. I finally did. Now I need your help. It's 16" by 11", and I don't know what to make from the piece.

 It looks good folded in half for a book cover. It's nice as is for a hanging. The problem with a hanging is finding fabrics to go with it. A purse comes to mind.

Here is the detail. Any suggestions?

Stitchery

The motif that I have been playing with in pieced quilts worked well for a stitched and beaded piece. I did straighten it up to meet as this seemed to need to be formally balanced.

I do these pieces when the mood comes over me and save them to go into something at a later date. Now I'm not sure how to use this, what to make with it.  Any suggestions?

Take a Stitch Tuesday, Stitchery

To prepare for a workshop several years ago, I played with Electric Quilt and came up with lots of quilt block possibilities. This is one that I felt would be much easier to stitch than piece. I do like the design and will probably use it for a journal cover. I could use suggestions. It is chain stitch in perle cotton.

This week's offering from Sharonb at http://www.pintangle.com/ is the Spiked Knotted Cable Chain. The blue is perle cotton, the fuchsia is embroidery floss. It was easy to manipulate.

Stitchery

Here's the motif/quilt square design in stitchery. I lined things up, because the stitching seemed to need a more formal arrangement. It is stitched in Perle  cotton and matte silk. I think a repeat would make a good border. This will be inset in a bigger piece.

I had a piece of painted cotton that seemed to ask for stitchery. First I put painted cheesecloth around in the orange areas and held it down with straight stitch with a rayon thread. Then I did the green area in needlelace(buttonhole stitch). It's about 9 inches square.

On both pieces, I'm trying to decide if they need more stitching. Opinions?

Gift, Stitchery

My friend Marjorie http://www.thedragonflystudio.com/ really liked the red Crazy Quilt purse, so she dyed these fabrics for me in exchange for it. I think it's so much fun to exchange art and am always open to swaps.

In March at the Columbia Fiberarts Guild 4 members will be doing demonstrations for the program. Here's a sample of what I'm doing.

Stitchery

Before taking Susan Sorrell's class Fertile Earth at www.joggles.com , I'd printed the photo I took of mushrooms on fabric. It sat for several years, because any of the stitches I tried still made the piece look flat.

Her class taught me to layer sheers, cheesecloth, and net on the background before stitching. It really gives the piece more depth.