Annies Crazy World

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…

Over the years I have made many New Years Resolutions, most of which have been forgotten within weeks if not days but 12 months ago I made a New Years Resolution, to blog regularly ALL Year, I set myself the doable target of a minimum of one post per week which fitted with participating in Sharon’s Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge…I also started 2007 with the private goal of bettering my record of 100 consecutive days of posting that I had done as part of Sharon’s 100 days 100 details challenge…

I not only kept my 2007 resolution but, having completed the TAST Challenge and blogging 364 posts, I exceeded it with the additional benefits of making my mother’s Memory Quilt, finishing a few UFOs and then there has been the pleasure of sharing and the delight of meeting new friends.

And so it is again time to make a New Years Resolution…I have thought about what I could resolve to do that would be as beneficial but don’t think that I can go past Last Years Resolution and thus I herby announce that My 2008 New Years Reslution is To Blog Regularly ALL Year….included in that blogging will be Sharon’s Take It Further Challenge and The Taming of my Studio, also influenced by Sharon.

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.

Boxing day, the day after Christmas day, a day to rest and start clearing up…well I did a lot of resting and not a lot of cleaning.

I got the unfinished Santa pockets out to late to finish for christmas this year and have decided to finish them now so that they are ready to deliver on time for christmas next year so here is Santa Pocket #2.

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

The last few days have been unseasonaly cold and wet and we had thought that we may have to eat christmas dinner inside but we had a beautiful 22 degrees celsius (72 degrees fahrenheit) day, warm enough to eat outside and slightly overcast so that it didn’t get to hot.

Jessie and I went to my sisters place for lunch and she set the table under her pergola.

Our big brother had sent us a cheque to spend on christmas day so we decided that we could afford to have prawns for entree, we beleive that a love of seafood is in our blood and we learn to peel them at an early age

Due to the messy nature of eating prawns we sat on the lawn to devour them.

For the main course we had cold chicken and ham with salads, as kids we always looked forward to christmas lunch because we had pickled onions and other treats that we didn’t get at other times of the year, my favourite was hard boiled eggs and I was delighted to find the the box of free range eggs that I had bought was all double yokers.

For Desert I made Chocolate Mousse, I used Muffin patty cases to make Chocolate shells to hold individual serves of the Mousse.

A wonderful meal and plenty of left overs for the next few days including the plum pudding, cheese and crackers, chocolates and the fruit including, mango, cherries, watermelon that we didn’t get to because we had all eaten enough.