Stitching has started...

Yep, I've made a start on the embroidery.  I have this idea in my head that I can make this quilt really great with embroidery... but I think it will probably end up just OK.  But I've gone too far to turn back now.

So not too much to report, other than I've made a start on the gazillion French knots required to polka dot that tree.  I've figured out that 1 metre of floss will get me on average 47 French knots and so far I've used I think 26m of floss.  So using an average of 45 knots per metre to make the math easier that puts me at 1170 French knots and I'd say I'm not even halfway done.  If I couldn't do a French knot before I'm certainly getting some practice in!  At this point its still quite relaxing and I'm happy enough just French knotting.  I figured once I start getting bored with French knots I'll make a start somewhere else.  I'd like to start on the windows but I'm still a little scared of those, so still looking for reasons to delay beginning on those.

My main issue so far is running out of white floss.  I went up to the store and they have plenty of B5200 and 3865, but no regular White which is weird.  I wondered if 3865 is actually white, but after some googling I don't think it is.  I've raided Miss P's stash and used all hers as well.  So today I'll pay a visit to the local quilting shop and see if they have any plain white.  Otherwise I guess I'll be making a start on those windows sooner than expected haha.  Actually come to think of it I can just work on putting a centre vein on the leaves first.   Aha! I can still put off those windows then - yes! 😆

Anyway if you're interested I'm using 3 strands and a double wrap French knot.  Seems to give enough size that they can be seen from a distance  (remembering this is supposed to be a wall hanging).  I read an somewhere recently that the author reckoned you shouldn't need more than 2 wraps you should just increase the strands of floss for a fatter knot.  Quite good advice I think, seeing in my own experience the resulting knot seems to get a lot less controllable the more wraps you have. 

Thats all I have for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

Slow going...

Ok so starting to attach the clouds, tree and leaves hasn't gone entirely to plan.  I went to the local quilt shop to get some fabric glue (can't think what brand, but the one that 'everyone' seems to use) and no luck.  But the lady did sell me a spray on adhesive that is apparently permanent and that she personally uses all the time and finds great.  Well I'm not sure how exactly she is using it.  But its awful!

I sprayed all my clouds and stuck them down, the tree I used an appliqué glue stick... and then carried on with the spray for the leaves.  All seemed to stick ok.  So I left it a couple of days to make sure it was all set and dry.  And then started machine stitching around the edges.  Thats when it happened.  Bits started lifting and in some cases full on falling off.  Grrr.  Of course not all the bits came off, most of them just lifted in weird and unusual ways.  And left a sticky residue on the backing fabric.  So I couldn't even start again. Double Grrr.

So anyway... I had no choice but to re-pin it and just go for it.  After a lot of swearing and the usual amount of blood sacrifices the tree, clouds and leaves are stuck down.  Phew!

I have already glued most of the windows to the houses as well.  But I'm hoping at they're considerably smaller I won't need to scrunch the fabric so much while stitching them down so fingers crossed they'll stay stuck enough to get that done.

I've got no choice but to carry on with the two adhesives I have because I can't get anything else locally.  But as I said I'll work on the windows and doors next.  And then when it comes time to attach the houses, I'll glue one and then sew it really quickly before it comes off.

Lesson learnt - should've gone with Steam2Seam 😆

I did a bit of embroidery yesterday as well.  Hubby and I were big X Files fans back in the day.  And I came across a wee UFO embroidery on Pinterest the other day and ages back I bought some glow in the dark thread so thought it was the perfect piece to try it out on.  After my last foray into drawing my pattern onto black fabric (that didn't wash out, I'm still not over that).  This time I traced my pattern onto baking paper and then stitched (tacking stitch) through the paper and the fabric to transfer the design.  Didn't work quite as I had expected in that it was a pain to remove the paper.  But it did the trick.  Only took a couple of hours.  It's not going to change my life, but it was still a bit of fun and I'm sure I can find a spot for it somewhere.  And yes its still covered in the dogs contribution 🐶

That's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

Stalled a bit, but still at it...

Last weekend was a long one so I thought I'd make some great progress on my houses.  What is it they say about best laid plans?  Well, my dear hubby decided (probably not really decided, but he still did it anyway) to have a heart attack first thing Saturday morning completely destroying all my good intentions for the weekend.  He's fine and luckily I love the big lug so I also forgive him for disrupting my weekends plans.  But needless to say I didn't get far.

And now its already Sunday and I've not done anything to it.  In saying that I have managed to buy another piece of fabric for the background, although its a bit darker that what I have already which I'm not sure about but I'll iron it up and test it out.  And I've also managed to buy some more black fabric because I have no idea what the piece I've been using is made of (or from) but its not cutting well, lots of fraying and just falling to bits.

I did make a little progress in the last weekend while hubby was in hospital.  I don't know how I'm going to shift this all to the other piece of fabric... it'll probably take me longer than it has to pin it to this one by the time I've numbered the bits etc...  Oh well 😊

Thanks for stopping by!

Two blog posts in one week - wow!  But just wanted to share that I'm making some progress - Yay!

I've already learnt one new thing.  Freezer paper isn't something that it used in New Zealand for freezing stuff, so firstly getting hold of it isn't easy and secondly its crazy expensive.  I've read blog posts about large rolls of the stuff costing like $4 USD.  Here I think I paid the equivalent of $3 a METRE! Well maybe I've learnt two things then, living at the bottom of the world can make things considerably more expensive haha.  But anyway, with this being my first foray into the use of freezer paper I made a rookie mistake.  I drew out my pattern on the freezer paper, cut it out, ironed it to the fabric and then cut the fabric.  Now if I'd read that a week ago, I'd be like 'yeah and?'  but why did I cut twice?  why didn't I just draw it out, iron it on and THEN cut?!?  Cause I'm a newbie thats why haha.  I realised my mistake after I'd done all the clouds, leaves and about 90% of the branches.  Oh well live and learn, right?

So I've decided I'm going with a plain background for the sky, I might live to regret it.  But if I keep waiting to make up my mind 6 months will have passed and I won't have started.  Instead of having white-blue-white clouds I'm going to do blue-white-blue to put some additional colour in the sky.  Considering how little sky is actually visible between the trees and clouds I'm hoping this will work out.  I'm going to cut and pin everything before starting to assemble, so I can check the colours work. And colours are where I fall down every time, so I'm thinking this hopefully will be a good approach.

Turns out the piece of fabric I'd ear-marked for the background is only 90cm wide, so just fitting with my design.  So I need another piece of fabric, I'm also a bit cross about this because there is no way I would have bought only 90cm and not a full metre, so I've been short changed at the store.  But then its as cheap as chips and its not like this piece won't be used at some point, but even still I definitely paid for that missing 10cm and I need it!

The other benefit of using the calico as a backing is that I can just see my pattern through it so I'm not going to have to mark up my fabric at all - phew!  But since I've started removing the freezer paper I have of course also removed all my numbering, so when I unpin it all I'm going to have to be renumber all the leaves (which I numbered on the freezer paper and on my pattern so I could match them up.  Oh well another live and learn moment I guess.  Maybe a chalk pencil of the back of the leaves or something as I take them off?

Also had a 'Oh yikes!' moment yesterday when I started laying out the branches.  If I'm adding the spots onto those branches with French knots, firstly I'm going to need a LOT of them.  And secondly they're going to have to be pretty sizeable to be seen once its on the wall.  Oh well we'll see, its all part of the adventure. 😀

Oh! Just had a thought... I should add a chicken in there somewhere.🐓🐔🐓🐔

Thanks for stopping by!

Gosh this blogging thing was a whole lot easier when I wasn't working.

So whats been going on, well the painting is done finally, the new carpet is down, looks fab!  Miss P has now done a whole term at her new school.  Work has gotten busier and won't be letting up for a few months yet.

Stitching done recently... not a jot, unless you count a quick mending job on hubbies motorbike jacket.  I do have a new project in the works though.  Quite a few years ago now my first foray into appliqué was a quilt from a pattern called From the Mountains to the Sea.

Its all fussy cut from various New Zealand fabrics.  Took me months just to cut out all the bits.  And then months more because I'd never appliquéd before let alone machine appliquéd.  But it has had pride of place on my lounge wall for what must be 10 years plus.  But when we took it down to paint it was so faded that its not gone back up.  I can't believe I'm going to have to throw it out after all those hours and hours... and hours of work.  

Mine had a blue framing fabric without the wee touches in the bottom corners.  But wow looking at this pattern now REALLY makes me see just how sad and faded my version is now.  Oh dear.

But anyway... the question arose was do I cheat and buy artwork or make another quilt.  Well at this point the answer is make another quilt.  But of what?

Well with such a question hours of mindless googling must ensue right?  I didn't want a pattern this time, just an image.  And I've fallen in love with this painting/print.  I don't know what or why but something about it just kept making me come back to this one.

Its by Karla Gerard and is called One Afternoon.

Now I know I'm never going to be able to match fabric to those colours.  But my theory is that I will use grunge fabrics for the houses and my OCD tendencies will have me matching the house colours as best I can.  That and I'm terrible with picking colours.

But the best thing is, look at all the wee details... now to me they scream embroidery.  So not only can I create another quilt for my rather blank wall, I can then use my new skills to decorate it with embroidery!  And I don't have to fussy cut a gazillion little bits of fabric like I did for the last quilt.    (I'll see if I can dig out a picture, a quick google hasn't turned it up anywhere).

So anyway.. so far I have ordered a pile of fabric for the houses (prob too much) and traced the picture to make a pattern, enlarging it to about 90cm wide and whatever tall.  This resulted in a very pixelated image when I printed it off so I've spent some time smoothing out the lines of the pattern etc.  Once my pattern was enlarged the houses and windows have become very strange shapes, too strange in fact.  So I've had to straighten these up a bit.  I think its just the enlargement process thats made the pattern look so crazy.  Even if its just my perception I can't do it.  So I've straightened them up a bit.  I'll endeavour to not make everything too straight because then I think I will lose one of the things I like most about this image.

My big concern currently, which is stopping me from really jumping in is the background fabric.  I just can't find anything that is calling out 'YES!' to me.  So I think I'm going to have to go with something boring like a blue... a natural kind of colour.  I did think I could use maybe running stitch to create interest in the sky, but we'll see...

Don't you just hate that bit of a project when you're super keen to get started, but the other part of you is terrified of starting in case you just make a mess.  Well currently thats where I'm at.  Still building up the courage to make a stand on that background fabric and get at it!

I just have to remind myself:

• That there is no way the end result will be exactly the same as this image.  But it can still look great.  
• I will have a tonne of fun making it and then embroidering it.  
• I will learn new skills, even if its learning how NOT to do it.
• I will probably spout a good few swear words along the way.  As long as there aren't any my daughter hasn't already heard that should be OK.  
• There may be tears and tantrums, but thats OK
• And lets not forget a few drops of blood - no sewing project is complete without the blood sacrifice!  
• No-one but me will know it doesn't look just like the original image.
• Its only fabric and time.  No-one will die, no-one will get seriously hurt.

Well after that pep talk I'm not sure why I'm sitting here doing this rather than getting at it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Still here...

Hello.  Yes I'm still here, still crazy busy with work, school holidays and painting the lounge (yes still!).  But I am slowly progressing my layered piece.  I think I have done more stitching on my scrap cloth than I have the actual piece, seeing if this stitch will work or that one.

Anyway... here it is... I think my wee clover needs to come out, the colour is too un-naturally green.  So I'll redo that and put some more around about the place.  The whole thing doesn't look all that lichen-y, but I'm enjoying the lack of a plan and just winging it.

Speaking of lichen.... I stopped back at the Doctors the other day so I snapped a couple of pictures of the back fence (that I mentioned a while back covered in moss and lichen).  Its just a crappy old unloved iron fence but I do love how nature is doing its best to reclaim the wood.  I took the photos pretty quickly because I was worried the people living OVER the fence would think I was a weirdo taking pictures of their houses haha.  Who would've believed me when I said 'Oh no! I'm just taking pictures of the moss on the fence!' - of course you are Miss - NOT!!! 😆

I love that top photo.  No idea how to replicate it... but it still makes me happy.

Thanks for stopping by!

New Project... TAST Challenge 'Layered Stitches'

I've very slowly been working at the layered stitches challenges for about a week now.  I know the challenge is long over, but I figured I've been behind so long now I might as well just pick a challenge that suits rather than the latest one.

And I'm terrible at freeform embroidery.  So it is definitely a challenge!

I still did some googling (couldn't help it) and I decided I like all the hand painted fabrics.  But as usual I was ready to stitch and didn't want to be waiting on fabric to dry.  So I decided I'd paint the fabric with stitches instead (its supposed to be layered after all right?).  I used a running stitch in 3 shades of a creamy-light brown colour and just attempted to fill in the hoop with a mix of thicker areas and more random areas (which scratched my itch to sew 'something', so that was good).

Also whilst googling I found Henriette Ousback who has done some amazing embroidery of moss and lichen.  Go check her out she's awesome.  So if you were wondering what the brown-green splotches are thats my moss 😀  Its quite funny because a couple of days before I saw Henriette's moss embroidery I spent a good few minutes checking out the moss and lichen on the fence at my doctors surgery, didn't take a picture at the time due to a flat battery, but maybe I should go back and do that.

Meanwhile I'm actually quite happy sitting here doing French knot after French knot while I watch TV.

No idea where I'm really going with this.  I'm just winging it.  Trying to free form it, or whatever the cool kids are calling it these days.  😆

But its keeping my hands busy while work and home is still crazy.  Doesn't look like much yet, but fingers crossed it will eventually.  And if it doesn't, thats Ok too.

'Toast'

Yep... Four or five washes later I still have white pen marks on the isolated stitches project.  Dang it!  So 'Toast" and I are currently not on speaking terms and he's sitting in the bathroom on the towel rail where I left him to dry last weekend.  If he apologises I might wash him one more time this weekend, iron him up and call him done.  I'll post the pic on TAST and then file him away in a drawer somewhere.  Although I guess at this point I should just throw him through the machine... its not going to hurt if he's only going to end up in the drawer if that doesn't work.  Fabric was awful as well, was some kind of quilting cotton, but I've never seen any fabric gather so much dog hair and fluff.  All my embroidery ends up with a good portion of my fur babies included no matter how hard I try to keep it away from them.  But that blue stuff was like a magnet for it.

Maybe it was just never meant to be.


Thanks for stopping by!

There's good news and theres bad news...

Shall we start with the good?  My isolated stitches rooster is finished!  the crowd goes wild (in my mind).  Yep he's done.  I'd like to say I used a gazillion different single stitches, but I haven't.  And the design I chose I think limited the stitch choice.  I'm sure we all remember those terrible bullions for a start!

So what have I used?  Detached chain, French knots, woven bar, arrowhead, pistil, and some...um I'm not sure if its still a picot if its attached or if its called something else?  Well whatever they're called I used some of those for his thighs.  So in the scheme of stepping outside of my comfort zone I think I did ok.  I also have long/short stitch, whipped chain, regular chain and some back stitch.  I don't believe I've done a project to date that has used as many different stitches as this one.  So I definitely think I can tick off having challenged myself.

Now to the bad news... my pen hasn't washed out.  Uh-oh.  Its a new white pen.  Same brand as I usually use, although I usually use the blue.  And yep I did trial it first on the piece of the fabric and yes it did wash out.  But today, its not washed out.  Is it just that its been on there too long?  I don't know.  Maybe its a knock off pen?  Possibly, I bought it off an auction site so you never know.

I'm not crushed about it though, which goes to show my heart hasn't been in this project as much as usual.  But that also isn't surprising considering how I have struggled with it.  I'll give him a more thorough wash tomorrow and see what happens.  Fingers crossed.

Somehow he hasn't acquired a name as he's been stitched.  So I think I'll call him 'Toast' cause the whole thing is toast if that pen isn't going to wash out!  😆

Thanks for stopping by!

Quick progress check

I thought I better share my progress. Mostly because I'm pleased I've made some!  

Miss P is busy trying to talk me into embroidering portraits for her this weekend.  Of King Henry and his wives no less.  She loves history.  I'm quite excited about giving it a try.  Might give me some motivation to finish this guy.

Anyway thanks for stopping by!

Isolated Stitches

Hi,  Well I had a bit of time over the weekend, finally, for some stitching.  And based on how much unpicking I did I probably should've gotten a lot further!  There is something about this project that just isn't filling me with the same sense of excitement I usually have with a project.  But it can't all be rainbows and unicorns right? 

I've done the next feather of his tail in arrowhead stitch, 2 strands with the pink and white. It doesn't look too bad in the photo but I pulled it out about 3 times as my arrowheads kept getting shallower and shallower as I went along.  I'm sure at the end of the day no-one will probably notice but me (or someone who embroiders themselves).

And I've begun on the third tail feather.  This one I'm going to fill in lengthways half orange and half yellow with long/short stitch and then use the background blue colour to do pistil stitch in a fanned shape down the tail. 

So yep, thats where I'm at.  Fingers crossed I can find some more time and motivation to do a bit more this week before yet another Beyond TAST challenge gets started.  I think I'm already 3 behind now.  Need to pick smaller projects for the challenges I think.  😀  And stop feeling so guilty when I get behind!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Little 101 - Rice Stitch

I don't think Rice Stitch was part of the TAST list from the last round and I had told myself if there were new stitches then I would try and make time to do them.  And what fun!  There was something comforting about doing another Chicken Little, like getting into your PJs after a bad day at work even though its only 530pm (which makes my hubby roll his eyes but I still do it!).  That and creating a wee project that only took a couple of days was good for the soul after all the arguments I've been having with my other chicken project.

Anyway....

Rice stitch made me think of those golf jerseys with the diamonds on them.  You know the ones with the diamond patterns usually in pastel colours??  I did the large cross stitch in a single strand of pale pink and then did the 'legs' in two strands of the pink or purple to get the golf jersey look.

I like this wee guy quite a bit, firstly the original jpg is quite sweet.  And for some reason it made me think of my grandad.  Grandad always had a hand knitted jersey on and if it was warm then he wore a knitted vest.  Nanna always knitted his jerseys (and vests) and while I can't imagine him ever wearing one this colourful - this Chicken Little is for him!

Thanks for stopping by!

Some progress..

Hi... Maybe that title is misleading... but then it doesn't say a LOT of progress does it? 😆

I've been busy with other things and I've been stalled.  What to do in that area of wonky bullion knots?!?  

But inspiration finally struck  - detached chain.  I've done it in a single strand which looks a bit sparse I think, but when I considered that the rest of the tail feathers could result in something quite busy I figured that I am at least on the right track with detached chain.  Whether I need to go back and pull them out again and replace them with two strands remains to be seen.  I guess I could also use the blue thread in between the coloured stitches as well to make it more 'complete' feather wise.  But I'll see as I go.  

Actually the more I think about it the more I like the idea of the blue between the coloured chains.  Blogging is actually quite helpful at times!

Anyway thats all I have for now.  I need to make the most of this quiet time and actually do some stitching.

Thanks for stopping by 😁

Where do the weeks go?

I haven't made much progress, well, on anything.  And especially not stitching.

One Fish Two Fish - finished stitch 12 of the current round of TAST making this page 1 of my fabric book slash stitch sampler.  I haven't washed the pen out yet as I'm worried I'll lose all the marking for the other half of the fabric which is page 2.  Have decided I will use this colour scheme for page 2 and then I'm getting rid of it, it looked all very nice on the swatch but in practice its just not doing it for me.

TAST Isolated Stitches challenge - I've got a bit stuck with this.  Not sure if its those horribly wonky bullion knots causing my block or if its just the project itself coupled with lack of time.  I'm going to spend some time unpicking the bits I don't like this afternoon and see if that helps rejuvenate my interest.

I love loads of French knots!  and I'm pretty pleased with how the detached chain came out over the white area, although you can't see in the photo but I have a heap of dog hair caught in there that needs picking out.  I might unpick the bottom of his chest there, there are two buttonholed bars that are sitting a bit wonky, there was too much room for just one and not enough room for two.  And we all know those bullions have got to go!  I do like the colour mix of them though so need to keep that bit. Actually brain wave!  Whipped chain might be the ticket... not truly an isolated stitch mind you... But I'd hopefully be able to get the uniformity I need.  As theres no real rules to the challenge other than experimenting with isolated stitches its not like I'd be breaking the rules.  

Maybe thats what I need to remember - even if there were rules its my project I can do what I like!

Going forward... I wondered about using picots for his thighs... tacked down of course, can't have his thighs flopping about all over the place haha.  (Or maybe whipped spoke)  The other white area of his chest there I'm thinking raised cross stitch flowers on top in the blue.

Hmm maybe what I needed was just to 'talk' about it... Right I'm off to doing some unpicking!

Thanks for stopping by!

Isolated Stitches

So I've made a decision.  I'm doing the 2nd of the Beyond TAST challenges - the Isolated stitches.  I found this crazy cool rooster below.

So I've made a start.  I'm using a mid blue fabric simply so I could still trace the image through it.

The Bullions look awful I know, they're going to get picked out.  I'll use them on one of the other feathers where they will be packed in tighter together.

The Bullions weren't floating my boat so I made a start on the other bits.  The original picture has 'cut out' areas which won't work so I'll fill those areas in and then stitch on top using a blue to match the background (as best I can).  Like that white section there, that will have detached chain on top of it I think.

I'm still not convinced this is going to work... but in the name of exploration we'll see.  If nothing else I'm learning something about bullions.  Like how NOT to do them! haha

I've not used this white pen before either... so fingers crossed it will wash out.  Its come out of the trial piece of fabric today but I've heard so many stories about these pens reappearing.  Not that I've had trouble with usual pen before and this is an Adger pen like that one so fingers crossed.

One Fish Two Fish

I've added my jellyfish, he doesn't look bad.  I couched down the tentacles and while its not perfect its OK.  So just got to finish off Herringbone and then I think I'm caught up.  Whoop whoop!

Thanks for stopping by 😀

A little progress...

A couple more fish added to my sampler in the last couple of days.  Just figured out a name for this 'One Fish, Two Fish' you know like Dr Suess? One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish and so on.  I almost know it by heart I've read it to my daughter so many times.

Sorry for the slightly blurry pic.

Still no decision on the Beyond TAST challenges.  

Current challenge - Couching:

I've had a play with a few types of couching and either I suck at couching or DMC floss isn't an ideal thing to use for couching.  Probably the first option. 😀  I did get a not bad result with a single strand of thread doing Bayeux stitch, but gosh that could take a very long time.  And I can't decide between a medieval style project or a modern style.  Decisions, decisions.

Previous challenge - Isolated stitches

I've found a chicken that could work for this.  Yes I know a chicken! but I kind of like the theme I've got going with the challenges so I'm sticking with it.  But I don't know I'm just not feeling it yet.

So I'm sticking with my little fish for the minute until I make a decision 😀

Meanwhile though I'm going to blur the line a bit on One Fish, Two Fish and do a jellyfish for the couching... or at least thats what I think I'm going to do.  I guess we'll soon see how if it works out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Beyond TAST

So what next?  Do I do the isolated stitch challenge for Beyond TAST that I missed while doing the rooster OR do I do the next Beyond TAST stitch which is around couching.  I have an idea for the isolated stitches one and I'd love to have a go at the medieval type embroidery.  Have already spent way too long trying to find a 'medieval chicken' picture on the internet.  But creating a isolated stitch kind of collage chicken would also be fun.  Decisions decisions.  Apparently couching can happen quite quickly so I may be able to do both in the time allotted for the challenge.  Either way I have to find an image first! 😀

And meanwhile in the Bat Cave...

So I've finally decided on a theme for my stitch sampler/fabric book - Fish! Yes fish... I know, I know, I usually do chickens.  But I find it helpful to have a starting place and I thought I'd try something a bit different but still with a starting place of X.  So fish it is.  Although I'm already thinking I should have made them a tiny bit bigger, but we'll see.  They don't seem to take too long so I can always start again, right?

Fabric:  My fabric is some shirt linen I got at the local craft store in a natural type colour.  Pretty cheap and cheerful.  

Fabric Size:  My piece of fabric is um..  I don't know... maybe a bit bigger than A4?  I have room for 2 pages of fish on the same piece.

Fish Size:  Each fish is about 1 1/2 inches long by 1 inch tall.  I've sketched out some fish shapes on a bit of paper to use as my 'pattern'.  I've marked out sections so I can fit 12 fish on each page (3 fish across on 4 rows).  Although I might just do 3 rows on each page, will see how it looks once I have 3 rows of fish.

Text:  I'm free styling the text this time because tracing through this fabric is difficult and the colour of the fabric is also not good with my water erasable pen, especially when I make a mistake.  Both of which probably suggest I'd be better off using good old white calico like usual but I'm trying to step outside my comfort zone a tiny bit.

Thread:  Just my regular DMC floss.  Colour wise I found a colour combo I liked the look of so am going with the for now.  There was only 5 colours in it, so I'm adding other colours in 

the same groupings to provide some variation which you can't really see in the shot of the fish below. (For colour ideas this tatami club have some beautiful combos if you're interested check them out.  Just google 'dmc colour combo tatami' and then look at the images)

So the idea is to stitch along with TAST week by week.  But of course as I'm late to the party I'm already behind so I'll just potter along and see how we go.

Right I'm off to google more pictures of medieval chickens.  Did you know there is a chicken or two on the famous Bayeux tapestry??  There is, I promise!  Only problem is its on a spit after its been roasted for dinner.   Haha not quite what I'm looking for.  

Thanks for stopping by.

He's done!

Now fingers crossed the people at the framers will be able to help with the puckering.  I'm pretty sure a square mat around the edge will fix (pronounced 'hide') the wonky edge of the printed background. 😀

I love him.  I love him.  I love him! 💕 I almost want to crow myself haha. 🐓🐓🐓

Thanks for stopping by!

Nearly there...

Well he's nearly done.  Do those beautiful blogs that only ever show you a tiny little peak of the current project drive you crazy??  Well, they drive me crazy.  But I wanted to stop in and share my progress but he is so achingly close to completion that I'm going to do the dreaded 'sneak peak' thing. I'm sorry but he is SOOO close to done.

I spent quite a few hours in the weekend working on him.  I stitched and stitched trying to get him finished.  I stitched until I just couldn't see the difference between the colours any longer and this is all I have left.  Remembering he's only 10cm x 10 cm in his entirety.  So this little bit is probably just over 1 cm long and not quite 1 cm deep at the deepest point.  I was gutted!

But I'm so pleased I pushed past my fear with him.  

He's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  So many times I've been bent over him thinking ohhh these colours don't work or the colour changes are too sharp.  The stitches are too uneven or they're too lumpy.  But sometimes you just need to step back a bit, put it down for a bit, walk away.  Take a photo even (which I'm finding is a great way to do it).  You need to stop being lost in the individual stitches and colours.  Step back and see the overall effect.  No-one (but you) is going to notice that you've got two identical length stitches side by side there instead of staggered a bit.  They're not going to notice that the colours don't look quite like the original picture cause they're not going to see the original picture.  And no-one is going to notice that your shading might be a bit wobbly in that spot, or that one, or even that one over there.  Because its not about the individual stitches or even this section over that section.  It's about creating something beautiful.

And while its harder to swallow, even if they do spot all those imperfections that I'm sure are there.  So what!  I'm super proud of him.  I think he looks fab.  What the heck do 'they' know anyway! 😏

Anyway I have tomorrow off work so fingers crossed I'll get him finished.  No chores until he's done!

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Progress - Yes!

I seem to be making some progress on my Beyond TAST rooster.  I think coming to the realisation that he was going to be eternally awful in his unfinished state has given me enough courage to carry on with him even though I have no idea what I'm doing and I could very well make a terrible mess of it.  But he's definitely going to look awful half done.  Anyway the wattle is done and I've begun work on his comb.

I'm still not that happy with the reds... but you can only sew with what you have or what you can get. And even though they're a lot 'redder' than the original image I'm pleased with how its turned out.  I wish I was more artistic and could relate the colours for the shading better... but I think I've got enough colour differences in there to at least not have it appear totally flat.

I think I used about 5 or 6 different reds in the wattle.  At one stage I had them all going at once.  What a nightmare, tangles everywhere and the colours are so close in value that at times it became simply a case of 'ok lets throw a bit of that one in there now' without any real clue which one I was using haha.  Its definitely not been a section I have been able to sew at night, even with my sewing light.  Maybe I should start working on the beak during the evenings... hmmm maybe.

Anyway here he is so far.

The next Beyond TAST stitch or stitches have been announced and they're individual stitches.  Not sure I'll get around to trying something with those, not for a while anyway.  I want to get this guy finished.

Oh! and yes he is as wonky as a wonky thing.  I'll see what I can do with him once he's done... The stitching on the comb seems to be pulling that section in as I go... so its obviously just the mass of stitches causing it.   I still love him, wonky bits and all.  I really should try some form of backing next time.  I'll learn eventually haha.

Miss P's TAST progress

Did I mention my sister gave Miss P a huge case of threads?  We're busy working our way through it, putting it all on nice new plastic bobbins and relabelling it.  Seems my daughter has the same pedantic ways as her mother and prefers it all looks nice and neat.  Anyway, she's doing pretty well.  She's finished Fly and Detached chain.

I think I mentioned that we're doing TAST together and that she's picking the elements we include for each 'motif' on our sampler.  So for this one we've got a felt Letter (no idea why she picked an H) and a bit of ribbon, and 3 buttons (not in the picture) along with the two stitches, Fly and Detached Chain. 

I've set her up a FB account so she can post to the TAST group herself which she's pretty keen to do. So now we're just waiting on approval.  

I have possibly opened up Pandoras box with the FB account I know.  But she's under strict instructions on how it will be used and how it will NOT be used.   😀

Speaking of which why is she so quiet??  Thats never a good sign.  Sounds like I better finish my ramblings and go check.

Anyway thats it for now, thanks for stopping by.  

Oh! I almost forgot, feel free to leave a comment, I suddenly seem to be able to reply to them which is new.  Whoop! Whoop!

Beyond TAST - Running Stitch

Not a lot of progress on my beautiful rooster...  I've not had so much time the last week or so.  I stitched his cheek and then unpicked it all and re-did it... Then made a start of his wattle (?) and unpicked that too.  Sigh...  I'm not happy with the reds available from DMC for this project... but I've made a call, its what I've got so I'm running with it... (running, get it?? 😄).

I think I also spent a good bit of time procrastinating about it... I've discovered I have a bad habit of stopping a project when it gets to the bit where I'm likely to ruin it.  Which is ridiculous, its no good only half done, is it?  Sigh... so deep breath... onwards...

Anyway here he is.  Not sure how I managed to photograph him so wonky... just as well I'm not doing this for the fame and fortune, eh? 😆  Don't you just love those blogs with all the immaculate photos, the embroideries artfully placed in the shot, the teaser shots so you can't see the whole project until it completely done??  I do...  I love to look at the pretty pictures.  But if you're looking for that, you ain't gonna find it here haha.

TAST 2018

Well Miss P managed two weeks quite exuberantly, but is now flagging.  My sister gave her a HUGE box of threads and I thought that might get her all excited, and well it did she even got her sewing out.  But it didn't last long.  She says she's still keen but we're not seeing much stitching action.  Oh well.. it was nice while it lasted.

Exciting News

In June last year I was contacted by a lady from a quarterly Dutch cross stitch magazine who wanted to use one of my Chicken Little photos for an article they were writing about TAST.  Unfortunately she contacted me via Facebook messenger and because we weren't friends I didn't see the post until a month or more after she'd sent it.  I contacted her but of course it was too late.  Sigh.
But! She's contacted me again and apparently they're doing another article that they want to use one of my chickens for.  So exciting!! (and totally crazy at the same time).  The article isn't going to run until the June issue and they could of course change their mind about the photos they use or whatever.  But it was so nice just to be asked the first time, let alone then be asked a second time.  Whoop whoop!

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Uh-oh

Ok well it seems everyone Beyond TAST-ing is being good and following along with the idea of trying pattern darning.  Maybe I should've tried harder to stick to the guidelines... but I had it in my head it was a suggestion and that it was about exploring where a stitch could take you.

Hmmm... now I'm wondering if I should share this handsome boy on TAST at all.  And if I stand a chance of finishing him in time before the next Beyond TAST stitch is announced anyway.  Not to mention that I'll be setting an expectation that I won't be able to live up to for future stitches.  Oh bums!

But I'm so pleased with how he looks so far though.  I'm even pleased with how his eye came out.

Anyway here he is so far... just running stitch, a lot of it, packed in tight, 1 strand of DMC floss.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I don't muck it up... I think he's my favourite piece ever so far.

Thanks for stopping by.

PS.  Miss P is already saying things like "I have a whole week right??" (headshake). Will there be a week 2 of TAST for Miss P?? hmmmm we'll have to wait and see I guess 😖

Happy New Year!

I thought over the break I may have picked up some stitching but instead I've had my nose stuck in a book (or 12).  Nothing stitch related at all, pure escapism type stuff... bliss!

I did do a bit of appliqué to make a wee earring holder for Miss P, but not a lot of stitching.  She loves it and it does the job it was designed to do so a success!

TAST has restarted this week along with the new 'Beyond TAST'.  Both are using the Running stitch. I believe the idea of Beyond TAST is that you have a month to experiment with the stitch a bit, Sharons suggestion was to try 'pattern darning'.  I did a bit of a google for some ideas and then decided without an even weave piece of fabric that any form of 'pattern' would drive me batty as I wouldn't be able to get the stitches even.  So what to do?

Well, checking my chicken stash I came across this fellow.  Isn't he lovely??

Anyway I wondered about using the running stitch to create his feathers.  Running stitch as a filler stitch.  I don't have to get the stitches even, in fact it would look weird if they were and it will no doubt stretch my skills (and my sanity).  I'm not too worried about the feathers, I'm more worried about the beak and comb etc.  So we'll see, I've picked some colours and just need to sketch him out and get at it.  Or maybe I'll print him and then stitch over the printed image, he wasn't that easy to trace so that may get around some of the issues around shading and shaping etc hopefully.

Am also debating following along with the regular TAST and using it as a bit of a push to actually create a stitch sampler which I've been meaning to do for ages I just can't come up with an idea I like.  But as Miss P is keen to try TAST as well maybe if I stitch along with that as well it may keep her interested to actually stick with it.  She's only 8 so I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't even make it into week 2.  But for now she's as keen as.  Here's her first TAST.

But back to work this week, so things like life might get in the way of all these grand ideas.  Time will tell!  Until next time... thanks for stopping by.  😊