TAST Week 44 - Closed Base Needlewoven Picot

I wanted to use this week's stitch in a different way, rather than for flowers and leaves, but alas inspiration did not strike.  In the end I decided to try a dahlia, inspired by this picture:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

I had grand plans for several rounds of petals in gradually darkening shades of pink, varying the thickness of the threads and the arrangement of the pins to get different petal shapes and sizes, but although I did enjoy the stitch, by the end of the second round I'd lost patience with it :-D! What I ended up with looks more like a pink daffodil, but is quite pleasing nonetheless.

I used pearl cotton no. 8 and DFN threads. For the third round of petals I used two pins arranged like a teepee to get a broader petal.

One thing I didn't really understand was how to finish the stitch off properly so I sort of made it up, which is probably why some of the petals are a little bit twisted. I finished off the centre with French Knots, which I am happy to report that I've now got the hang of.

My flower looks a little bit lonely all by itself in the middle of the hoop. I feel like I should embroider something around it, but not really sure what. Any suggestions?

TAST 2012 Weeks 42 and 43 - Italian Border Stitch / Buttonhole Wheel Cups

I missed last weeks stitch - too much going on (and I'm a bit late with this too) - so this week's offering has both the Italian Border Stitch and Buttonhole Wheel Cups.

It's a small sampler but I really like how colourful it is.  It also includes my first attempt at a Shisha.  I've used DFN and perle cotton threads.

It's always worth taking a look at the highlights. There are always some excellent and inspiring examples. Take a look at week 42, and this one from week 43 which was so sweet.

Look What I Made - Kid's Backpack

This is older boy's new backpack.  I made it.  It's been upcycled from a waterproof chair cover that hasn't seen the light of day for about 10 years! I'm doubly proud of it because I made it from scratch.  From deciding how I wanted it to look, to drafting the pattern and working out all the measurements to get it to fit together, to actually putting it together.  It wasn't all straightforward, but when I cut the last of the loose threads and turned the bag the right way out, I felt elated.  When older boy said he loved it I was thrilled. I suppose that must be what he feels like when he presents one of his much-loved creations to us for approval.  I like it so much I'm going to make a smaller version for baby boy to take to nursery.

TAST Week 41 - Knotted Loop Stitch

After a failed attempt at using the Knotted Loop Stitch for windmill sails, I thought that the stitch would be perfect for the leafy fronds of a palm tree.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially the trunk.  I used Jannlyn DFN threads. They are quite chunky, which has given the piece a lovely textural quality.

Granny A Day - Week 40

My red, white and blue blanket is starting to take form. Thankfully I decided to have a go at joining a couple of squares, because I found out that I'll need to join the squares in as I go during the white round as well as the outer blue rounds to avoid some REALLY fiddly sewing up afterwards.  Just a sneaky peek so that I can do a big reveal later ;)

I also managed to add a couple of rows to the baby blanket enlargement project.  I need to pick up the pace a bit as the weather's turned cold recently.

TAST 40 - Beaded Hedebo Edge Stitch

This week's stitch is the Beaded Hedebo Edge stitch.  Go over to Pin Tangle for a description of how it's done.
In a flash of inspiration I thought that the stitch would look great worked in metallic thread as tinsel on a Christmas tree, so that is my offering.
The end result isn't as good as I envisaged.  As I didn't have beads I thought that buttons could work, but I think the ones I used are slightly too big for the tree; and I haven't got the hang of French Knots, which were also supposed to take the place of some of the beads.  The metallic thread was a little tricky to work with as it was difficult to keep all the strands together.  But having said that I think it's a fair effort and I might have another go at it. I think it would be cute on the front of a Christmas card.

Granny A Day - Week 39

After deciding on a design for my blanket, the project took a bit of a detour when I decided that mostly white probably wasn't a practical colour for a blanket that would get used a lot (especially in this house), rather than being mostly decorative.  So I settled on mostly blue, but then changed my mind about the design. After much crocheting and unravelling of a test square, I've finally settled on the new design. I'm turning the centres through 45 degrees, so the finished blanket should have multi-coloured diamonds interspersed with solid blue diamonds, giving it a quilty/patchwork look.  The good thing is that I can still use all the centres that I'd already made, and as the squares are going to be a little bit bigger I might get away with making fewer.

Take A Stich Tuesday (TAST) - Week 39

I've been following TAST over on Sharon B's blog Pintangle for a while, but this is the first time that I've decided to join in. Until recently my embroidery stitch knowledge consisted of chain, blanket or buttonhole, satin, running and back stitches, so this is a fun way to learn new stitches and will encourage me to create something instead of just thinking about it.

This week's stitch is Knotted Buttonhole stitch (sometimes called German Knotted Buttonhole) and my offering is a very simple mini sampler.

Granny A Day - Weeks 35 and 36

The last 3 weeks of the school holidays were manic! But while we were away on holiday I got my Granny-A-Day mojo back. I've known that I wanted to make a red, white and blue blanket ever since I finished a scarf for baby boy in that colour scheme, but never got around to doing anything about it apart from buying the yarn. I always work best when I have a clear plan laid out, so I sat down and worked out a block arrangement, and the crochet flowed easily.

The blocks will have a 3-row granny square at the centre in solid red, white or blue, surrounded by 3 rows in red or blue, surrounded by 3 rows in white, and I plan to make it 8x8 blocks which should give a nice man-sized blanket. So far I've made 48 out of the 64 centres that I need. I'm really looking forward to seeing it finished.

Sweet and Simple Girls Outfit

I've been picking up bits and pieces of fabric for years. Always with the intention of making something with it of course, but a recent sort through revealed some pieces that were coming up to being 20 years old! In the meantime, before the summer holidays I started going to sewing classes and every week we had to bring in a project to work on in the class. So presented with the perfect opportunity I finally got around to using up some of that near-vintage fabric in a simple skirt and matching top for my niece.

The skirt is a very simple gathered skirt with elasticated waist made by sewing two rectangles together and making a casing for the elastic waistband. There are numerous tutorials for this type of skirt online. The top is my version of the Endora Top that I saw on the Simple Simon & Co. blog. Another super simple, but stylish pattern. I added a black lace trim and used black flower buttons to liven up the plain fabric and to echo the black in the skirt fabric.

Forgive the poor photos, but my model was rather less than willing at the time.