A mixture of sewing projects

 Embroidery of Chance 

I started with a velvet square in a dusky pink colour.

 Added random wool tops with needle-felting just to add a bit of colour to start with.

Then, using the TAST stitches and a dice roll #5 for which box of threads I will use.

A coin toss gives me Regular or Irregular stitching.

Other rolls of the dice give me - Design Shape, Line Design, and Decoration or Embellishments for the whole piece.

Knotted Feather Stitch - Irregular, curved

Inverted Feather Stitch - Regular, haphazard

Raised Herringbone Band - Regular, triangle, vertical

The CHANCE part is working out fine so far. I think I might change the way the threads are randomly chosen though as I wasn't too pleased with the bright green on the back of the raised herringbone band. The best way to get a cohesive colourway would probably be to choose perhaps a dozen or so threads that would actually look good on the background, and then have the dice choose which one to use next.

I will PLAY with that idea on the next roll of the dice.

 Ear Ear Project 

The soft spongy ear-pads on my headphones disintegrated two weeks ago and it's a bit painful trying to use them without the soft pad, so here is my solution to that problem.

I am very pleased with the result. Rather snazzy I think.

 My Mum's Steam Engine Cross Stitch 

Here are the photo's of the large cross-stitch project that my mum started but had to give up on due to failing eye-sight.

As mentioned on a previous post, I shall be finishing the last 3 carriages in her memory.

The whole thing when finished is 1.6 metres long (yes, over one and a half metres) and about 200mm high.

That is quite a large cross stitch panel.

I'm not sure when I will have time this year, but it is on my TO-DO list.

 Learning Lace Making 

This is the treasured lace-making equipment I have.

All of this was my mums, and I have inherited quite a few of her books on the subject as well.

The domed cushion for pinning the projects.

Her best bobbins in her custom made case for them.

A collection of her other bobbins in another case she made.

A few of her special pyrography bobbins.

And a pair of very special bobbins in a box.

Well that's it for this week's show-and-tell.

Hope you enjoyed the eye-candy.

Happy Stitching

Four Crazy Quilt Blocks

This week has been a busy one on the stitching front.

I have completed the four crazy quilt blocks that were needed for the centre part of the quilt.

This now means I have ALL 16 blocks done, and, AND, I have stitched half the quilt top together, and pinned the other half ready for stitching. But the second bit won't get done today as Tony has just invited me out for drive and a picnic. I cannot resist this opportunity for another adventure with 'doo'man..

So without further ado, here are the pics to show you how far I have got this week.

The four crazy quilt blocks.

These blocks are muted whites, off-whites, greys, light creams & natural colours.

I have not worked in such a one-tone (plain white) colour scheme before, and I have discovered that I rather like it. It was another unexpected learning curve.

My 12 blocks in the black, white, turquoise & teals will be surrounding these in a 4 x 4 block arrangement.

Lots of TAST stitches, lots of 'invented' stitches, and lots of surprise (to me) combinations.

I especially love the mandala combination stitches. 

Here are (rather a lot) of close-up pics of the stitching from the above blocks.

And here is half the quilt top stitched together (but not pressed yet).

After ALL that heavy stitching on the black & turquoise blocks, stitching on the white blocks was a real treat, haha. 

The fact that I managed to stitch all four blocks in 8 days was a revelation in what I, personally, can achieve. I was, of course, urged on with the need to get this quilt finished by the end of January so that I can start my next crazy quilt adventure, which is waiting patiently in the wings.

The coming week will hopefully see this quilt to completion, or to the binding stage at least.

Happy Stitching

CQJP latest block

I'll update this post title later with whatever number (or month) block this is. 

At the moment I cannot remember which block this is as I have been away from stitching too long while I was visiting my UK family.

I've been back home in New Zealand now for three days, and I have finally finished the block.

And here are some close-up pics of the stitching and beading.

And now I must see if I can find the time to catch up on the couple more blocks needed for my CQJP challenge to be completed before 2013 arrives.

I have some very lovely things to add to my December block. 
Very special things from my mum. I'm really looking forward to doing that block in memory of mum who sadly passed away on Dec 1st 2012.

Happy Stitching

Crazy Quilt Journal Project - block 9 update

My September block (block number 9) is still not completed yet, but the end is in sight now though.

The blue braid treatment.
 I love the intense stitching and concentration needed to get this braided stitch to go around 'the bend' like this. It took an absolute age to stitch.
 I added the brighter blue chain stitch edges to a braid stitch from Mary Corbet's website.

Bead embellishing done on a previous weeks TAST stitch

A little triangular decoration for an area that didn't need much embellishing.

This is the crochet scallops edging I 'invented' and created for this block.

TAST Hebedo stitch with ribbon and beads. 

Photo is a bit dull, sorry it doesn't show the stitching too well.

That's all I had time to stitch on my CQJP, but I have a few other projects that have progressed this week instead. 

Watch this space. 

I'll add new posts on those projects during the week.

An enjoyable stitching week

It has finally stopped raining here long enough to be able to walk in the fields without getting the 'slurpy-slurp' of stuck-in-the-mud welly boots (gum-boots). 

The flowers in the garden are brightly bobbing their colourful heads at me, the plum trees in the orchard have that wonderful white blossom that looks amazing as I stand underneath and gaze dreamily skywards and catch the beautiful glimpse of blue sky as background to the white blossom.

I have to look for the tell-tale signs of newly scratched earth in the undergrowth to direct me to the nesting spots to collect the hidden chicken eggs.

Oh what a merry dance I perform on my daily rounds.

Spring has sprung.

And the stitching.................oh, the stitching.

First, here is the August Block final pic that I missed showing you last weekend ..........

And so onto the stitching done this week on the September block.

This drizzle stitched piece was actually stitched the previous week, but I attached it to the block this week and added all those lovely French Knots to 'embed' it in its new place.

Does it looks like a multi-layered cake or a flouncy ballerina's tutu to you?

Do you remember that 'string art' craze of your youth?

Or maybe you remember it as a required lesson in the math classroom.

It was created by hammering nails into a wooden board and then you had to wind string back and forth to create geometric patterns.

Or you started with a piece of card with perforated holes that you threaded string through.

Well.................

............. here is my free form stitched version. 

A happy accident that appeared while I was 'playing' on my block this week.  

And now for this weeks TAST stitch.

Week 39 

(at least I think it is week 39, I seem to have lost my memory track)

The Knotted Buttonhole Stitch

And I'm sure you know me well enough by now to know that this Knotted Buttonhole seam is going to get some extra 'Cy embellishing treatment'.

My crochet trim for this block has been created too, but just not added to the block yet, so pics of that one next week. Also, I have stitched most of the butterfly for the central patch, and a few more seams that are half-stitched so far.

This block is progressing nicely, but I'm not sure that I can complete it during this coming week as I have a couple of other project deadlines looming up fast. But at least it is mostly done now.

I'm happy.

Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Happy Stitching