August

August is here and, as I write this, so is the sunshine! It's been so lovely to see it. 

I am also trying to write this while watching the olympic fencing finals - men's epee and women's sabre today. So hopefully I won't be too distracted.

July passed by in a bit of a blur to be honest. 

We spent a lovely week in France visiting my parents and although the weather wasn't brilliant we at least escaped the torrential rain and storms they'd had the week before! And we did spend one glorious day enjoying the unexpected sunshine by the seaside!

But other than that I haven't got much to report. 

Motivation for crafting has ebbed since I don't have a pressing deadline at the moment (I'm very much a last minute sort of person - it runs in the family!). I have been playing around with some Scandinavian style embroidery which I am quite pleased with. 

I enjoyed making these even though the embroidery itself took a while.

There are some new stitches for me in there which is always nice. The swirly pattern is stitched in whipped backstitch and the dashes around the outside of the heart are bullion stitch. 

They are stitched onto felt (my favourite medium at the moment it seems!) and I stitched the pattern through tracing paper. This was a reasonably successful strategy but picking out the teeny bits of paper was rather annoying and did fluff up the felt a little too much. Will have to rethink that for next time!

I think they might make a good addition to my shop range for the mid-winter-festival-that-will-not-be-named-so-early-in-the-year. Or maybe smaller versions for Valentines day. We'll see.

As it's August, it also means that I have now been blogging for a year (and 11 days to be exact). So I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read, followed and commented on my posts over that time. I really do appreciate it.

I have big plans for a competition or a tutorial in the near future (so many 'big plans' for the summer - wonder if I'll get them all done!) so watch this space!

30 Days of Creativity - Day 7

Just a quick post today. I am so busy with getting ready for CraftFest and with a custom order that has just come in. It leaves very little time for even small creative projects!

A little while ago, I ordered some of the plastic make-your-own buttons thinking that they would be nice covered with Liberty Fabric or a simple embroidery. As is often the way with me, they have sat forlornly in a box ever since. Yesterday, in search of a quick, simple project I thought I'd do a few practice buttons and see if it was worth having a proper go at. 

 

Here are the finished articles.

Couched embroidery cotton

Lazy-daisy stitch embroidery

Liberty fabric covered

Check out everyone else's work here.

TAST Challenge week 8 - Chain stitch

If I'm honest, I have really struggled with the challenge this week. The stitch was chain stitch which I have used many times before: most recently on the cover of my 2012 diary.

I like chain stitch but I really struggled to think beyond the straight or wiggly lines that are familiar. So here is my attempt - I didn't manage to fill the space but may have another go if inspiration strikes!

I had a go at a few shapes...

and patterns...

I will have to check out everyone else's ideas to see if there's anything else I can use this stitch for.

TAST Challenge week 7 - Detached chain stitch

 

Detached-chain stitch or lazy-daisy stitch is the stitch that first brought me to Pintangle and introduced me to the TAST challenge! I was originally looking for a way to decorate a felt elephant reminiscent of the painted elephants of India.

So as you can see I am fairly familiar with making flower shapes with this stitch but hadn't explored much beyond that.

So here is my sample of detached chain stitch...

 

I did a few more flowers to get warmed up to the stitch....

and then started creating some different shapes...

I like the shape created by these stitches - the area bounded by the chains is interesting. I think I'd like to do some work with stronger contrast colours making geometric patterns. We'll see what happens...

As I'm so late posting, here are Sharon B's highlights.

Compilation of TAST stitches so far

My samples so far have been been very regular and linear so I've been meaning to complete a more creative piece to push my stitching further.

So here it is: a picture including all six stitches so far, using the various stitches as a way of filling flowers. I have chosen yellow mainly because the weather has been so cold and miserable and because I had some very lovely cut daffodils smiling at me from the table.

So here we go...

...a chevron stitch flower...

...a herringbone stitch flower...

 ... a cretan stitch flower...

... a feather stitch flower...

... a buttonhole stitch flower...

... and fly stitch to fill in the spaces and form a background.

Here's the finished picture. Granted, some of the stitches work better than others but I am quite pleased with the textures and the overall result is pleasing.

Looking forward to the next six stitches...

TAST Challenge week 6 - Chevron stitch

This week's stitch is Chevron stitch. I have never tried this stitch before and was a tiny bit daunted by Sharon's description to be honest. I also had to find an on-line clip of someone doing the stitch as I just couldn't get my head round it. After that I actually found it to be quite an interesting stitch.

 

Here's my sample of Chevron stitch...

 

...and the close up version.

And here are all the variations I've tried this week...

I quite like the star - an effect found completely by accident! I sometimes find that is the best way!

I have finished a more creative piece using the six stitches so far... you can see it here.

TAST Challenge week 5 - Herringbone stitch

A new month, a new week, a new TAST challenge and a new linen page to work on.

This week's stitch is Herringbone. This is a stitch I've heard of but I don't think I've ever actually tried it!

Here's the close up of my sample...

 

I had a bit of a play with the basic stitch, changing the stich lengths, spacing and regularity. 

I particularly enjoyed layering different stitch "frequencies" in the different colours. 

 

It's an interesting stitch this one; I like the effect of the contrasting colours. I enjoyed it although I did struggle a little to fill the space this time.

I'm really inspired by the work of everyone again this week. It's wonderful to be able to see all the different interpretations. I absolutely love these! Two beautiful herringbone designs on Temari (kumo temari and Japanese Temari) - never seen them before... wonder how they're done..... No, mustn't start thinking that, I do NOT need a new craft!!