TAST week 3

The stitch this past week was feather stitch. There is so much you can do with that one!

I must admit I cheated a little bit, and copied the fish from another participant... I may still add another row. You can see where there are fish started "tessellating" with the other row. I wanted to work the next row with purple pearl, but I didn't have purple #8, only #12, and it wouldn't match. I will look for some purple and add a row if I can find some.

On the right side, you can see a little "picket fence" buttonhole stitch by the flower/eyelet. I do like how that turned out... it is just a couple of stitches of sparkly thread.

The other feather stitch motif is very delicate. It is a combination of feather stitch and french knots that looks like a vine with roses on it.



There is a little more room in the middle for another variation... I would love to do a simple back and forth stitch with a wider fiber... like a silk ribbon. I'm afraid I am going to have to go on an expedition into my stash room. If I don't come back by tomorrow, send help!

Pincushion Parade

The blogger at Love Laugh Quilt is hosting a Pincushion Parade this week, and invited people to share their pincushions and link back to her blog posting here. Pincushions are small, easy to finish, and just the right size to try out a new technique or two... I have quite a few. Two of my treasures are from friends; the turquoise emery is from Moonsilk Stitches (my Christmas present this year) and the silk with bullion stitches is from Paula, a blog buddy in Australia.

In this set, we have a felt pincushion on a crystal pedestal. It was a summer guild project a couple of years ago. I still like how it turned out. The pink circle is my temari pincushion: the base of it is a CD. This is the one that sits on the arm of my chair all the time. The Hope pincushion commemorates surviving breast cancer. I cannot remember exactly, but I think I won the kit at guild, and then stitched it.

The blackwork pincushion here I submitted as one of my additional techniques for my juried application to join a guild, so it is certainly over 25 years old. (The guild no longer juries applications.) [The purple circles are from an applique UFO which is almost that old as well.] The strawberry emery was from a very complete kit, which included everything to finish the project, including the emery! The flower on the left side is from a felted pincushion. There is no sewing in this one at all, I just started with a ball of fluff and ended up with this. This was one of my technique experiments, and was a lot of fun.

The three little guys on the right were an experiment as well. I was planning on giving pincushions to friends at Christmas, but was not happy enough with any of these to give them as gifts. There's a snowman, a crown, and a rabbit in a top hat. The ideas are cute enough, but they did not turn out as cute as I would have liked.

I hope you enjoyed the parade!

TAST week 2

The TAST stitch for this past week was the Buttonhole Stitch. I did 4 little samples, one even on top and bottom with a pearl cotton, 2 threads between stitches; one with the legs stepping up and down with a silk floss; one with the header undulating, with another silk floss; and a buttonhole eyelet with pearl cotton #8.

I think I have to do one more sample, just to balance out what I have here... one horizontal line of stitching sort of wrapping around or framing the eyelet. The challenge will be picking the right color. I am trying to let the fly stitches guide the color selection.

I looked through my metallic/silk drawer, and found a couple of appropriate threads, and through my pearl cotton #8 drawer, and found a couple more. I should be set for threads now.

I really enjoyed working these stitches, and I'm excited to see what the next stitch is. I'm also working on the header, working on pricking my pattern so I can use the powdered charcoal to transfer the lines to the linen. I will try to take pictures of the process. There will be room at the top for the date and some initials too.

TAST week 1

I finally got my sampler set up, and the stitching done for the first week of TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday). You can read all about it here.

These are the colors I pulled from my silk box. The skein on the left is my inspiration; all the colors are being picked to coordinate with that skein. It is Waterlilies (silk floss) in the Tahiti colorway. I still want to look at my Pearl #8 drawer to see what colors I can find there.

Here are more colors:

The challenge is weekly, continuing for a year, so I think there will be opportunity to use most of these colors.

I finally found a piece of material, got the basting in, and did the first week stitch: Fly stitch. You can see that I left some room for a header/title. I didn't do too much exploring on the stitch this week, mostly because I was already behind, but I have some good ideas for the stitch for this week: stay tuned!

Saturday in the City

Last Saturday, DH and I decided to go into the city. I wanted some origami paper; DD1 had given me a globe origami book because the pictures reminded her of temari, but each globe takes at least 30 sheets or origami paper, and I had given mine away when I taught a girl's club several years ago. So I need some paper.

(Luckily, DD1 was free on Saturday too, so she came out and bummed around town with us. It was wonderful to spend the day with her!)

This is a little shop in her neighborhood. We didn't go in, but I wanted to. I love the sign in the window "Stuff for Sale Here." I also got a kick out of the mat on the sidewalk with the doggie sleeping on it. I could tell it was his regular spot. Maybe next time we are in the area... there is a very nice candy store next door that carries "no sugar added" chocolates that DH can eat, so we will be back.

I thought we could go to Togouri Mercantile, where I got most of my Japanese temari books for the origami paper. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were closed for inventory! I was pretty bummed. That's the second time in a row that my plans in Chicago were a "no-go" because I didn't call ahead.

We managed to find something to do, though. We ended up going to the Container Store, and Whole Foods. At the container store, I finally found a small case for knitting accessories. I had bought something at a grocery store with no dividers (big enough to hold knitting needles), and something at a hardware store (big enough to hold crochet hooks) but both of those were really too big to put in a knitting bag. The one I got on Saturday has a space for a small scissors, enough room for crochet hooks, and I can even squeeze a couple of DPN (double point needles) in in case of an emergency. I knew if I kept looking, I would eventually find the exact thing I needed.

Whole Foods is always fun too. I have been buying hand made soap there. It is not cheap, but the bar we are using now has lasted for 6 months, and I love the smell. It is a small indulgence. I also bought some beans and lentils to make soup.

For supper we ended up in "little Vietnam" at the Tank Noodle Restaurant. DD1 and C had taken me there on Mother's day this year, and I wanted DH to experience it as well. As the name of the restaurant says, most of the dishes are huge bowls of soup, with noodles and other flavors. I ordered dumplings, DH had meat-balls, and DD1 had a curry flavored soup. I couldn't finish mine, but I did eat all the dumplings and all the chicken. It was yummy!

I did finish another hat and a pair of mitts for DD2:

Don't you love all the different buttons?

I have been plugging away at the wrap for DD1, and I am over 1/2 way with the knitting, but most of the time this week I have been reading Dorothy Sayers mystery novels. I got all but 1 for my Nook (and all but one of those was free!!!): Unnatural Death, The Unpleasantness at Bellona Club, Murder Must Advertise, Whose Body, Strong Poison, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon. I am still missing Have His Carcass. I really like these mysteries, and I tend to re-read them. I finished one at midnight last night, and will read Busman's Honeymoon today.

My favorite author (Diana Gabaldon) posted a review yesterday of her favorite author; I couldn't find the first book in that series for the Nook, so I bought a used paperback copy, just to see if I like it. I can't wait until it gets here... a new series is always so exciting!

Textile Warehouse

The Groupon Coupon for Textile Warehouse is available! You can find the link here. I got mine!

Let me know if you want to ride together.

The winter that was not

I have had a couple of quiet days, the kids went back home, DH went back to work, and Jake and I have been hanging out. DD2 requested a hat and a pair of the Betty's Button Mitts, the hat is done except for stitching the flower on, the left mitt is done except for adding the buttons, and the right mitt is 1/2 way crocheted. Next will be the fun of picking out buttons from my Textile Warehouse stash. I did have an unhappy surprise last night with the yarn I was using... I came to a knot in the yarn and then the next section of yarn had only 2 plies rather than 3. I cut off the offending portion, and wound it into a little ball; there are at least 10 to 20 yards of the 2 ply stuff. (!?) I have another skein of the same thread for a different project, so I will checking out the quality of that skein too. I really like the yarn, but I will not be using it if it seems to be poor quality.

Not a lot of progress yet on DD1's wrap, or C's smocked outfit, but both items are still on the front burner. I am leaving as soon as this is posted to buy a new Ott-light. Mine seems to have given up the ghost. I thought at first it was just the bulb, but the bulb from DH's light didn't work in mine either. You cannot blame the light for giving up, it has been used 8 to 16 hours a day for (maybe) ten years? I can't be without my light; fortunately it seems to be on sale today.