Back at Work...

So I dragged out the 'having the summer off' for nearly 5 months... not a bad effort really.  But back at work now so less time to sew 😞 but more money to buy stuff to sew 😍

Here's what I've made since my last post

Scrappy hearts - 

TAST - butterfly chain, buttonhole wheel, buttonholed cable chain, cable chain & coral stitches.

and last but not least #52tagshannemade

 

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 Not sure where the time is going...

TAST tags - cretan and looped cretan

#52tags - layers, a pocket and a tiny landscape:

Second textileartist.org challenge - using words in your embroidery

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 Productive week this week:

TAST  - French Knots and Pistil stitch

Scrappy Hearts Challenge - inspired by a 1960s dress fabric

#52 tags - Week 11 Circles and Week 12 Buttonhole

And TextileArtist.org are running some free workshops over the new few weeks.  The first one being run by Sue Stone.  Here was my 'go' at it.  I'm not a drawer by any stretch, I'm more a tracer haha.  But I learnt a few things on the way... mostly what not to do!! 😂

And lucky last a new Chicken Little.  I realised that when I did TAST we either didn't do Inverted Feather stitch.. or for some reason I just didn't do it.

Who has time for a job?!?  Not me!   😆

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TAST Week 10

This weeks stitches are Chevron and Inverted Feather and with the weather being rather wet along with being currently unemployed I've already knocked these two off this week.  

I made the tops of the chevrons touch to give a solid line.  It came out OK, but it looked better in my head when I imagined it.  Oh well.

The Inverted Feather I used 3 strands of floss to make it a bit chunkier and this seemed to improve on previous attempts at this stitch.

Scrappy Hearts

I've also made a couple of scrappy hearts this week.  I've had a play with the heart shape itself and think I finally have a shape that I like which is a good start.

• Heart 1 - I redid my beach heart as a flat heart and thinking I'll continue to make them flat from now on.  I'm much happier with this one.  I'm sure Miss P will find a use for the original one 😀
• Heart 2 - There was a challenge to make a purple and brown heart as these aren't a popular (or easy) colour combination - turns out I only have one purple fabric.  But thats OK I just used both sides to fake it haha.
• Heart 3 - Another member suggested St Patricks/Green hearts so I've woven three green fabrics together to make the base of my heart and used a simple running stitch in the same colours to decorate it.  I was going to add another heart in the centre in the darker green but couldn't decide if that improved it or not.  A quick 'with or without?' conversation with the hubby decided it.  No extra heart.

#52 tags - Suffolk Puff and some Lace

And last but not least here's my tag for the week.  Prompt was 'A Suffolk Puff and some Lace'.

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TAST & Scrappy Hearts

So last week's TAST stitches were running stitch, which I'd already done.  And twisted lattice band which really doesn't seem to work well with DMC floss.  With Sharons example the herringbone stitches seemed quite wide so I tried that.  When I first started lacing them I thought Uh-Oh this is going to be a resounding fail.  But they actually laced up pretty well - phew!

This weeks stitches were couching and chained bar

So I joined the Scrappy Hearts FB group this year.  The idea being that you make a heart a month.  I'm still trying to figure out the perfect heart shape for this challenge.  And whether to stuff them or not stuff them.  My first heart I made for Miss P for Valentines (can't recall if I posted it or not).  This week I've made two hearts in different shapes.  This one for my wee niece made from some fabric from one of her old skirts and pair of shorts.  Including a couple of bits of sea shell that I got hubby to drill holes in as a bit of an experiment which worked in rather nicely with the wee pre embroidered whale on her shorts and the wee blue whale button that I had from a pile of novelty buttons I bought years ago.  Hopefully she likes it!

And this one to celebrate summer.  I really wanted to use this dyed cheesecloth as ocean.  Unfortunately either the shape is wrong or I overstuffed it as its very hard to photograph and still see the 'beach' at the bottom.  Or maybe my ocean is just too big.  Dunno.  Might try it again with the longer heart shape. Either way its all about seeing what happened and being a little less hard on myself and that I did achieve.

Next task is for make my tag for this week.  The theme this week is 'Suffolk Puff and a bit of lace"

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#52 tags - Week 9 - Bits, pieces and a gift

The theory with this weeks tag was that you should use something that was given to you and some bits and pieces.  What?!?!?!  Haha.

OK, so seeing I've been scrounging denim (or denim looking pieces) from my sisters.  My wee niece contributed a skirt and a pair of stripey shorts, neither actually denim but definitely denim looking.  So I used a stripe of each of those.  Plus some even-weave that her mum gave me (I think) so long ago.  That covered the gift bit.  Anne used a safety pin on her tag this week and I bought some wee black ones a few weeks back but haven't yet had a chance to use them - so perfect time to use those to cover the bits and pieces!!

Feels summery this one.

In other news I finished the piece for my little sister.  I think it looks better than my first slow stitch piece.  Maybe I learnt something the first time around? haha.  

The colours aren't right in this photo, the photo is a bit washed out.  The piece is about 4 inches wide and to be honest I didn't measure how long it is.  Anyway she assures me she loves it.  So phew!

There are some closer up shots down below if you're interested and the colours in those shots are truer to real life.

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 #52 tags - Week 8 - French knots, bullion knots and pistil stitch

Ahhh bullion knots... I think I dislike those more than I dislike buttonhole.  I really should practice them more.  

The photo looks a bit washed out but the main fabric is actually a grungy green.  The brown and grey fabrics are ones I painted myself the other week.   And I just adore them!

Meanwhile I'm also working on my sisters piece.  Which at this point I like more than I liked the one I made myself.  She doesn't want to see it before its done.  But I am so pleased with how this beading looks I'm posting a close up of just that area.  

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 Oops I forgot...

To post my tag for last week (and this weeks one has just been announced).  The prompt this week was to make hexagons from circles by folding them.  A bit fiddly when you're talking about making them for a small piece like these tags.  This piece feels/looks a bit empty I wish I'd done a bit more now.  But at the time with the heavily patterned background I thought it might be a bit much.  Oh well, live and learn.

Last weeks TAST stitches were Herringbone and Raised Close Herringbone so heres my effort for those.

And this weeks TAST stitches were Detached Chain and Alternating Barred Chain.  The barred chain really did my head in.  As soon as I stop and think about which way to make the bar I get confused and muck it up.  But got there in the end :-)

Other than that I'm working on my sisters piece.  I think its gonna turn out better than mine.  So if she doesn't totally love it then I might have to keep it for myself.  😁

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