Annies Crazy World

 
 
 
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    This is Annie Whitsed's Crazy World a world where I stitch the joys and chaos of life into beautifull crazy quilts. email annie@loopylace.com
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More about detail 122, the Evolution of a Stitch – details 125 to 137 January 31st, 2007

Detail 122Elizabeth commented that detail 122 had her thinking about what other ways it could be turned, which got me thinking about how this stitch had evolved…

…I said that it was a variation of Buttonhole Stitch and indeed it is close to being a half Buttonhole wheel But from its origin it is actually a variation of Double Feather Stitch…I have looked over my crazy quilts and chosen samples that show how this stitch has evolved over the 20 years since Jan 1987 when I was teaching just my second crazy patchwork class, I had shown Julie M how to do Double Feather Stitch…

Double Feather Stitch

Julie came back the next week and showed me the mess that she had made with it…but I didn’t see a mess I saw a new stitch and replied with ‘OOOh can I copy what you have done?’…It looked something like this

A Mess, I don

Both sides of the seam but pointing opposite directions

The detail above has the stitch on both sides of the seam but pointing in opposit directions…On the next detail I changed the angles to create a more open stitch and mirrored the stitch on the second side.

Both sides of the seam mirrored

On the next detail I have changed the angle of my stitches and the ends of both stitches finish on the seam line.

the ends of both stitches are on the seam

The next seam is very similar to the one above but not the ends of the stitches in the middle go down at nearly the same point.

Both sides of the seam but pointing opposite directions

The stitches above are from My first crazy quilt which I finished in Jan 1988…The next 2 stitches are from My second crazy quilt which I finished in June 1992.

different shapes

On this his next detail I have added an extra tie down sitch to change the shape of the stitch, I have also added a Colonial knot…On this detail it is also worth noteing that each pattern repeat is a little bigger than the last making quite a difference in size from one end to the other, it was probably accidental but is the sort of thing that I sometimes do on purpose and is the reason I tell beginners to concentrate on learning the mechanics of stitches and not to worry about the size of there stitches because more often than not the change in size is a very gradual increase of decrease in the size of the stitch which I think gives a visually pleasing effect.

with a Colonial knot added

The next seam is on a Purse I made in 1992 which appears to be when I started adding beads to this Stitch.

with beads added

The next seam is on my Tea pot Cozy made 1994…not how the different threads sit differently contributing to the different look of the stitch.

use different threads

Until this point there had only been 2 stitches in each pattern repeat…in the next detail, on a block for my third crazy quilt cica 1993, all the stitches go down the same hole in the centre and a third spoke appears creating its likness to buttonhole stitch.

Three Spokes

decorate differentlyAs well as the evolution of this stitch these details show how you can experiment with changes in, the angle of the stitch, the size of the stitch and the thread that you use, to create your own visually pleasing stitches…warning don’t be dissappointed if you later find that the stitch you have discovered has actually been discovered by others and already has a name because with embroidery the discovering for yoursself is the fun part…enjoy the journey.

The other way to create variety is by combining your stitches with beads, in the details above there is a few examples of where beads can be put and in the detail on the left the stitch forms a background setting for a button and a random scattering of beads.

Colating these stitches has been a lovely trip down memory lane for me and as a bonus I have found a few stitches that I really like but havn’t done for a long time.

TAST Week 5 Chevron Stitch _ Detail 124 January 30th, 2007

Visual Journal PageThis morning when I woke up I checked what this weeks TAST Stitch was and then went back to bed with a cup of coffee and my Visual Journal…I played around with changing the angle of the cross bar but it looked a bit higgledy-piggledy…I then played around with the idea of thread beads, either 2 seedbeads or 1 bugle bead, onto the cross bars, I think that adding beads is probably worth trying but as beads need a fine needle, It would need to be done with a fine thread…

The last sketch on the page is a row of narrow chevron overstitched with a row of wide Chevron, I like the shape of the spaces created and decided to start with that variation…as it turned out it was only a starting point as when I found the seam I wanted to do on my box top, the pink fabric on one side of the seam is to textured and bulky to stitch onto so I adjusted the stitch to be straight on one side…I chose a thread to match the pink patch so that it would move the pink into the green…I then used metalic thread to do detached chain stitchs and gold beads as a feature on the seam…The finished seam is different to my starting point which is one of the things that I love about crazy quilting.

TAST week 5 Chevron stitch

detail 123 January 29th, 2007

Herringbone stitch

Herringbone stitch variation. This is a good filler/blender stitch for when you want to embroider every seam but need a stitch that is not going to compete with a buzy fabric.

This is the Third Block for my mothers quilt…The Photo is my dad on the right with his brothers and sisters, my Uncles and Aunts.

3rd block for my mums quilt

Detail 122 January 28th, 2007

Variation of buttonhole stitch

This stitch is a variation of button hole stitch…work a row down one side of the seam and then mirror it on the other side of the seam.

January 27th, 2007

Camera Card ReaderThis little device is a Card Reader, cost me $50 but worth it because it means that my camera can talk to my computer again and even though I have had the borrowed camera, it is wonderful to have the use of mine, the one I know how to use, back again…

A Buzy Bee This photo is one that I was wanting to transfer to my computer when I discovered that the usb socket was broken…this Bee had so much pollen covering his legs and head that he could hardly fly still gathering more, he was moving so slowly that he was easier than most to photograph.

And then this afternoon delighted to have my camera back I went outside to see what I could find to photograph and to my delight this playfull cockatoo was on a low branch of the tree…I so liked these 3 images together that I couldn’t choose just so I have put the big images on flickr where you can view them as a slid show

cockatoo shows me his crest Peek - a - boo Looking at me

Australia Day – Detail 121 January 26th, 2007

Today is Australia day and I have celebrated by embroidering the word AUSTRALIA as a seam treatment on my Box Top

Australia as a seam treatment

I used Stem Stitch because it gives a solid fine line and because you can get a nice flowing line by making the stitches tiny going around curves.

I did chunky free form lettering so that I wouldn’t get bogged down trying to get the letters all the same size.

I chose a thread that matched the colour on the next door patch so that it visually extends that colour into the patch with the embroidery and thus breaks the long seam line that this seam is a part of… I have taken a photo to show how this seam fits into the surrounding patches (this view also shows the TAST week 2buttonhole stitch fan and the TAST week 4 stitch from a couple of nights ago).

How Australia fits in

The last few seams on a block _Details 119 & 120 January 25th, 2007

naked heavenly embellishments blockI am nearly finished the seams on the Heavenly Embellishments block and when I only have a few seams left to embroider on a block I stand back from it to see if the block needs anything to balance it…This block needed more brown to balance the brown patch in the bottom right corner so I chose a brown thread with which I did a seam of Feather Stitch timmed with pink Colonial knots to soten it.

feather stitch

Then for the seam in the top left corner I used the same brown thread to work Cretan Stitch which I trimmed with Fly Stitches

Cretan and fly stitch

TAST Week 4 Cretan Stitch – Detail 118 January 24th, 2007

2 rows Cretan Stitch with Beads

I have used the Cretan Stitch on my Box Top where I worked one row of Cretan Stitch across the seam and then worked a second row partially overlapping the first row, the second row also has deeper V shapes along the middle which makes the seam different on each side, I emphasized the difference by putting beads along one side only. I finished the seam treatment with a flower bead in each of the squares formed by the stitches.

Detail 117 January 23rd, 2007

I took a photo of the seam that I stitched today but didn’t look at it till just now only to fint that it is out of focus and the borrowed camera doesn’t do flash when in macro mode so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

For tonight I will show you another seam from the crazy quilt that I am making for my mum

feather stitch

Feather stitch with silk ribbon rose buds. Work the feather stitch with large spread out stitches so that the buds arn’t cramped. The Rose buds are a straight stitch of silk ribbon held in place with a fly stitch in the same thread as the feather stitch stem.

Dad’s block on mum’s quilt _detail 116 January 22nd, 2007

colonial knots to hold on braid

For this seam I used a stripe from a piece of quilters cotton. The Colonial Knots decorate the edge at the same time as stitching it on. Bring the needle up through the edge of the fabric, form the knot and put the needle down beside the fabric so that the knot sits beside the fabric, this is a nice and very easy way to stitch braids and ribbons onto your crazy quilts.

The last seam on this block is a double row of herringbone stitch.

Herringbone stitch

And this is the finished block, with a photo of my dad.

My dad on a block for mum