Annies Crazy World

I have added a seam of Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch which I flipped from side to side and trimmed with white and silver beads.

A Seam with Ric Rac held on with Herringbone Stitch and trimmed with Pistil Stitch and Colonial Knots.

And a seam with a flower trail composed of lace flowers with bead centers and Silk ribbon leaves.

I want to make a little something for a young friend who is getting married at the end of the month and I only have a few days because it has to be sent overseas…I remembered this little white heart that I made as a class sample in 1991 (including the lace edge it is 4 inches across)…

…It will only take a couple of days to make and using the first one as a model I have pieced a new one…the first seam is a crested chain stitch, with alternating stitch lengths and a pearl at the end of each stitch….I don’t normally work in a hoop but because this is a small piece I thought I would try using a hoop, I ams till decideing wether I like the hoop or not.

The last time you saw this seam it had 4 of the pink herringbone shapes, I didn’t like it and couldn’t think of what I could add that would make me like it, what to do? I decided to unpick the last 2 shapes I had added but that didn’t help me immediatly because I had marked the top shape on the front of the fabric with a pencil and an eraser didn’t work to remove it…

…more thinking time but I was at a complete loss as to what I could do to cover it and had almost decided to restitch it…more procrastination because I didn’t want to restitch it, what to do? Take the plunge and wash the block I always hesitate before washing a block but sometimes it has to be done, I massaged a small amount of dishwashing detergent into the marked area, rinsed the block thoughly, layed it flat to dry and placed it face down on a fluffy towel (the embellishments don’t get squashed because they are cushioned by the towel) and ironed it on the back.

This time I covered the center part of the seam with a soft pink bow and used 3 Stem Stitched Stems to lead the eye off center to the 3 pink Silk Ribbon Flowers, To make the flowers I used about 2 inches of 7 mm wide silk ribbon, I folded the ends to the middle, loosly rolled the ribblon and pushed and pulled it into shape as I stitched it on, tiny green detached chain stitches neaten the bottom of the flower and a dark bead gives detail to the top.

Umm despite the problem and delay of having to wash the block I am glad that I unpicked because I am happy now and the finished block is below.

I have pulled my Box Top out again…A good thing about not working on a project for a long time is that when you come back to it you have fresh ideas and see it through different eyes…

when I was last working on the box top I had a long seam that I wasn’t having any ideas for, I had put a black and gold ric rac along the whole seam but didn’t like it, when I got the box top out again today I immediatly saw what I could do to break the seam up, I unpicked one end of the ric rac and looped it back on itself similar to what I did for detail 424 and sprinkled a scattering of beads along it.

This seam is a rushed Silk Ribbon with beads scattered amongst it’s gathers…

This is the last seam treatment on this stocking, just a few embellishments and the trim across the top to do but they are going to have to wait because I have had enough of christmas for now and am going to pack the christmas things away till December…

Now that the years end is nigh I have used my visual journal to check off the TAST Stitches that I have done and make a list of those that I still needed to do.

First on the to do list is

TAST Week 25 Long and Short Stitch

…Umm does half a loaf of bread count?…I started this loaf of bread to put on Mum’s memory quilt, in memory of my Dad having been a bread carter for years but didn’t get it finished because I hate working Long and short stitch…so I do hope that half a loaf of Bread counts, I did give it a try.

TAST Week 37 Rice Stitch and its variation Boss Stitch

Week 37 is also quite a while ago as this stitch prooved to be more of a challenge than most…I saw rice stitch as very much a counted thread stitch and couldn’t imagine it as a crazy quilt seam treatment that is untill today when the pressure is on because I would like to complete this challenge before the years end…Today I thought what if I put the big crosses linked corner to corner along the seam, a quick sketch it just might work…to vary it even more I alternated the larger squares of the Rice Stitch with the smaller squares of Boss Stitch…the squares are a little wonky because it is harder to gauge the size and angle of the stitches when the threads can’t be counted, but it is such inconsistancies that give seams there own character and I like the effect.

TAST Week 48 knotted Cable Chain This is a nice stitch that I have used quite a bit.

TAST Week 52 Spanish Feather Stitch

I love this Stitch…To vary it I randomly changed the angle and length of the stitches and wandered it back and forth across the seam.

TAST Week 49 Pistil Stitch

Umm It’s new years eve and the radio has been interviewing the fireworks organizers around the country and I am thinking Pistil Stitch fireworks. I did fireworks on my mothers quilt using french knots and straight stitches but they can be done just as well with Pistil Stitch.

I did the starburst fireworks a couple of years ago on a block that I originally pieced for another project…Today I added the silver ones on the left, the ones that shoot straight up into the sky releasing puffs of light as they go.

As this is the last of the 52 TAST Stitches Firworks is doubly appropriate as a celebration of finishing the Take A Stitch Tuesday Challenge and my Congratulations to everyone who took part in TAST in any capacity, that is Sharon for her inspiration and hard work coordinating, To All the stitchers however many or few seams you finished, and a Big thank you to the blog readers…And A Very HAPPY NEW YEAR To Everyone.

I didn’t think that I would like this stitch very much but to see what Berry Stitch, the TAST Week 50 stitch would look like when placed end to end I did a short seam on a sample block, I used a piece of my left over Thread ends and when I pulled out a an extra strand of another colour because it was a sample block I didn’t bother seperating it and surprise, surprise, I think the extra colour flecked through it helps I actually like how the berry stitch looks on the seam …

So I did another seam on a christmas stocking with an extra strand of metalic thread.

I have done Chained Bar, the TAST Week 51 Stitch on one of the unfinished Christmas Stockings. I worked 4 lots of bars along the seam so that they crossed back and forward acrosse the seam line but the undulations formed are so slight that they are barely visible.

This seam on the same stocking has always annoyed me because the front of the train is chopped off but tonight when I was working on te chained bar stitch I realized that the front of the train would still be in the seam which means that by unpicking the seam and nicking the fabric either side of the section that I wanted I could lift the train over the seam in the same way that I did the design on the Pink block.

To finish the seam I did a black buttonhole stitch which extends the black background around the train.

This Flower Trail is composed of different ribbon flowers, it had a few lazy daisy leaves but not enough so I have added more leaves with Drizzle Stitch, the TAST Week 43 STtich

I still have a few TAST stitches to catch up and have been casting around for ideas of how to use them…This photo on a box for a net of christmas lights gave me an idea for TAST week 50 Berry stitch which is also known as double lazy daisy stitch or double detached chain stitch

As it turned out the Berry Stitch was to big and heavy but a single detached chain on each intersection worked…now I just have to find another idea for the Berry Stitch.