About 6 years ago when I left it to late to buy a Christmas Tree and the real trees were sold out…I don’t like artificial trees and would rather use the branch of a tree which I have done before but when we got home I showed my son a 6 inch high miniature tree that I had and we decided to decorate it for our Christmas tree.
As well as the miniature tree I had a length of miniature gold tinsel other than that it is very much a crazy quilt tree as the red tinsel is a piece of chenille thread and the decorations including the star on the top are beads and charms from my stash.
It took us 3 times as long than a full sized tree takes to decorate but we had a lovely creative evening together…
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Combined Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch with Herringobone Stitch and done two rows matching the herringbone Stitch down the centre.
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This Seam is 2 rows of a Feather Stitch Variation which is worked all on one side and then mirrored on the other side of the seam.
I didn’t really need to add beads to this seam because it does stand alone but as I have beaded every other seam on this stocking I added a single bead in each section the stitch forms.
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 This seam treatment is done with Fly Stitches topped with a row of Stem Stitch. When I originally did the seam I did the fly stitches in groups of 3…
I have now conected the groups with additional fly Stitches and then used gold metalic thread to add a Pistil Stitch (which is the week 49 TAST Stitch), to each point to give it a fringe like edge.
I wanted to do more to this seam then just add a bead to each of Herringbone Stitch but the stitches where to close together so I have just put a bead on most of the stitches but have added interest by alternating them with the Detached Chain Stitches and red beads.
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 I have been reminded that Christmas is approaching fast and that maybe it is time to start thinking about it…
To get in the mood I have pulled out a 6 inch christmas stocking that I pieced and started to embroider 5 or 6 years ago and added beads to 2 of the seams.
The first seam is 2 rows of Chevron Stitch to which I added red beads
The second seam is Double Feather Stitch, I added a white seed bead and a petit red bead to the end of each stitch.
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 This morning I received a phone call from my sister to say that she needed me and my Camera.
She has had a Cactus for 20 odd years…it doesn’t flower every year but has had individual flowers which last about 24 hours…
This year 8 flowers have blossomed on the same night and she needed me and my camera to get a photo of it and being a lightly overcast day the lighting was in favour of getting good photos.
After I had taken the photos she told me I could blog them if I liked because the flowers are so beautiful they should be shared.
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On the left side of the Photo I have put a Button Cluster.
I have used MOP (Mother of Pearl) Buttons and used beads to give them Sparkle.
On 4 holed button I used a pink crystal with green seed beads to match those I did on top of the pink ric rac.
The dangling beads are done by comming up through a hole in the button, thread on desired length of beads, select the end bead and go through it only once before putting the needle back through the rest of the beads in the dangle and the same hole in the button…leave thread a bit loose when securing thread on the back, if thread is to tight the dangle will stick up instead of dangling.
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 These shapes are the start of something but at this point I have no idea what.
The shapes are Closed Herringbone Stitch outlined with Stem Stitch…I did the 2 that run along the seam because I didn’t want a buzy embroidery stitch butting onto the loop of ric rac and I had the intension of putting a fan or something between the 2 shapes but when I looked at it in relation to the block around it I realized that the space was to central to put a focal embellishment because it would be almost directly above the heads in the photo.
I then added the other 2 shapes to fill the seam and thought that I needed something else in the gap above the seam but looking at the photo now I am thinking that it actually does look ok as it is…I’ll sleep on it.
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Spent today comforting a friend and didn’t get any stitching done so I have a couple more of the photos that I took yesturday to show you.
A Black Swan guides her chicks to the shore.
Ducks taking to flight together…When I took the photo I didn’t see the boat and was amused that in the photo the ducks look as if they are running across the top of the water raceing the boat.
And a Pelican that was in a quite backwater, he was sitting still so I had time to zoom in and get a good shot…The waterlilys and reflections make a nice background for him.
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Today was a lovely Sunny Day and we went for our walk along the Shores of Lake Burley Griffin.
Looking West to where the walk started you can see on the left the Captain Cook Memorial Jet and On the right of the photo in the distance is Black Mountain Tower.
Looking East you can see The Carillion, A huge musical instrument which has bells at the top of the tower that are played with a keyboard that is pounded with the fists.
Blundell’s Cottage is an historic house museum.
The Museum was closed but even the outside of Blundell’s cottage is charming.
All around the cottage there are lovely gardens.
Out the back of the cottage is a Water Tank on a Stand.
Out the side is a lovely rustic piece of old farm machinery.
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