TAST Running Stitch Week 17

This weeks stitch on Take a Stitch Tuesday was Running stitch.
I decided to do a base of running stitch in different patterns and then see where I would go from there.
The first sample shows the formation of the rows that I did.The second one shows the finished sample.
I played with the rows and did whipped running stitch and threaded running stitch and I also wove thread around 4 stitches in the 3rd lot of rows to make circles (like in my chicken scratch sample) .

I had no direct plan as to what I would do after I made the initial sample so I just let the needle and thread do the talking.

I used a variety of threads on Jobelin fabric (I think)

I'm pleased with how it turned out.

My sample folder is showing signs of "gapoza" (gaping at the edges ) I can only imagine what it will look like when the challenge is finished.

Ebony's First Embroidery Class

My Grand-daughter Ebony had her first lesson in the Children's school holiday embroidery classes at the Embroiderers Guild on Tuesday.
She has been waiting for about 18 months to go to one of these classes because she had to be 7 years old before she could attend.With great excitement, and a little fear as well she arrived all ready to begin.
As you can see in this photo she was all concentration and was unaware that I had taken her photo.What she was making was a mobile to hang in the window consisting of 3 flowers made in felt with blanket stitch around the edges and each flower was joined by a string of bead danglies.
In this photo is one of the flowers with her first attempt at blanket stitch.There is a sequin sewn in the centre which she managed to do by herself. She got tired of doing blanket stitch --so the next 2 flowers were done in an over-edge stitch which was less strenuous for her(and her teacher too)

The next photo shows the finished mobile.

Each flower has a string of bead dangles between them and there is also a dangle on the bottom and the one at the top.She only needed help when she had to thread the needle back down through the beads on the top and up through the bottom ones.

Here is the mobile hanging in the window.

And here is the proud student showing off the finished item which she had to finish at home because she was loosing concentration after 3 hours of stitching. (Notice my dry back garden through the window because we have a severe water shortage here at present)

I was so proud of her and her first efforts which she has presented to her Daddy.

Well done Ebony

TAST Palistrina Stitch

Finally I have had a spare hour to do my sample for this weeks TAST stitch which is Palistrina.
I don't remember ever doing this stitch before but I really like it .
It was easy to learn and I liked the way it allowed me to do curves.Once again I have used a variegated thread -this time it was a hand dyed silk thread called Marakesh from Colour Streams which is an Australian Company.
I love the Marakesh colour and I have silk thead - fabric -silk ribbon and silk tops all in this colour.
I purchased these all from the Thread Studio in Perth.
I haven't used them much because I just love looking at them.
I have used a 28 count even weave natural coloured fabric.

Dotee Doll Swap

My Dotee dolls and ATC's arrived several days ago but blogger would not let me put my photo's up.
From left to right they are from Kim(USA) Dot(Aus) and Jane(Aus). And the Dotee ATC's are from Elizabeth(Aus.) Sammy(USA) and Dagmar(Germany).

Thank you ladies for My lovely Dotees and thanks to Dot for arranging the swap for us.

Well done all concerned.

TAST Oyster Stitch Week 15

I have finally finished my sample for Oyster Stitch.
And did I have some problems with this one in the beginning.
Once I discovered that I was doing something wrong I was o.k. but it was touch and go there for a while.
I thought that this was going to be the week that I wouldn't be posting a sample.
Now that I have mastered it I love it and will definitely use it again.
The threads I have used are Perle 5--variegated Embroidery thread and rayon ribbon floss on a pale blue counted linen fabric.

D for Dotee

This is the other thing that I made at the Paper Art shop last week.
I made it for Dot who is one of the most generous people I know.
Recently she arranged a swap for Dotee dolls and Dotee ATC's and this was my way of saying thank you to her.
Dot notified me today that she had received it so I can show you now.
It is made from a cut out cardboard letter and torn up strips of co-ordinated paper were glued down onto the letter with Modge Podge.
When the entire letter was covered and dry I then roughed up the edges with an emery board and then applied Distress inks to give them an aged look.
The flowers were cut out with a punch --the edges were distressed also and held together with a brad and then adhered to the letter.
Ribbons and gold thread were added to embellish it.
Thank you Dot and I'm glad that you like it.

Even more cards

Last Thursday I went back to my local Paper Art shop and made some more cards.
This class was called "Cards for all occasions".
Although this was a rushed class as we made 6 cards in 3 hours it was more about construction than anything else.
The first card is a wedding card and we used a Versamark ink pad to stamp the design and added embossing powder in silver and then used the heat gun to raise the embossing powder.
Holes were punched in two corners and ribbons were added. Next was a Mother's day card-I liked the design of the card but not the colours that were given to us.
The technique was pretty straight forward and was about layering different coloured card stock and adding ribbons.
The 3 gemstones are brads and in real life look quite glitzy.
This was not a favourite with me and I think it was mainly the colours that put me off. The 3rd card is a card for the man in your life..
There was a lot of fiddly bits to this card and I found it to be too busy,
I also chose the wrong ink to use so the stamping is not very clear.
Not happy with this one either..my fault not theirs.

The 4th card is a birthday card for a female.It has the opening in the centre where the pink panel on the left hand side meets the white panel on the right hand side.The centre piece with the floral stamp has part of it overlapping the pink section and the lime ribbon is added for effect. Next is a Christmas card which is very simple but effective.The white piece had 3 christmas trees cut with a punch but the trees were still attached to the white card as they weren't completely cut out like the normal punch does next this was placed on a piece of red card and the 4 brads were attached and then this section was adhered to the yellow green piece that was then adhered to the dark green card.
The last card was a childs birthday card. The design was stamped onto a small piece of white card and this was coloured with watercolour pencils and lightly washed with an Aqua Wash brush which makes it look like a water colour painting.The piece of orange ribbon was then tied to the piece of green card which was stuck onto the orange card and then adhered to the white card..
I learned a lot about layering and embellishing but what I really did learn from all of this is that I must start using some of the metres of ribbons that I have purchased in the past and then forgetten that I have them and also the dozens of brads that I have stashed away.I did make something else in another class but I can't show you until the person I made it for receives it as it is a surprise for her.

Charms for a swap

I am taking part in a charm swap being run by Julie H from Perth in W.A. whereby I had to make charms to be swapped with 9 other people----and here are my charms.
They are made from paperclay.
I rolled the" Delight " paperclay out to about 1 cm thick and cut them to the size that was specified by Julie approx. 1 inch by one and three quarter inches.
After about an hour I imprinted them with a stamp.
When dry about 24 hours later I painted them with black poster paint --I then wrapped them with wire and painted them again with the black paint.
Then when this was dry I rubbed the black paint off the wire and then rubbed Goldfinger on the charms to make them look metallic.
I hope the people who receive them will be happy.

Surprise Mail

Yesterday I received in the mail this beautiful Tassel from Joanna which surprised me because we only talked about a swap last Monday/Tuesday.
Now we all know how hard US Postal and Australia Post work(I don't think) but they sure worked miracles this time.
It only took 6 days from the time Joanne posted it until I had it in my hot little hands and that included 4 days of public holidays here in Oz.
I would say that is some sort of record.
Sorry about the photo because it is a much nicer colour than it looks here.
She also sent me this great card making book because we are going to do some Card swaps.
It is full of great card making techniques so maybe I will get to use some of the stamps that I have purchased (because I couldn't live without them) and haven't used yet.
Thank you Joanna you are a very generous friend.

Photo of St Michaels and all Angels Church

I received this photo via e-mail today from Katrina and Michael Morton who attend St Michael's Church at Hall.
Because they are unable to comment on my blog they have asked me to comment for them.
I am putting it on as a posting not a comment.
Quote "It is such a privilege to have the opportunity to be able to attend St Michael's and All Angels Church as parishioners and be able to look at the Banner each time we enter church.
What a great effort by all concerned" Unquote.
Katrina and Michael

Thanks Katrina and Michael for you comments.

A Special Day

Today has been a very special day for me because for about 5 months my friend Dimity and I have been making a Church Banner for the St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church in Hall a small village on the border of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
The Church is a small building and would probably only seat about 50 people and was built some 60 years ago.
The Church that I attend is St. Barnabas Church and St Michaels is part of our Parish.
The banner consists of a central panel in blues starting from dark at the bottom going up to light at the top and will be a permanent fixture.
On either side of the central panel is a panel that will be changed with the Liturgical seasons i.e yellow-red-green and purple.
The bottom of the side panels will always start with a dark blue section first.
The Magpie is an Australian bird and represents the Holy Spirit(instead of the dove in this case)
The Magpie is also a special part of the Hall church because it can be heard warbling during the Church service.
The Gum leaves represent the Congregation gathering to worship and also reflects the Gum tree that is in the Stained Glass Window at the opposite end of the Church.
The Magpie was worked by Dimity on a base of black felt and is all hand embroidered using black and grey wool-cotton and silk threads and has a white leather beak that we shaded with a black fabric pen.
Dimity also made the leaves and then I applied them to the banner by machine-I stitched some of them down with satin stitch and blanket stitch and some were stitched down the centre allowing them to stand up in 3D effect.
The movement that comes from the design is amazing.
And to have it hung for the first time on Easter Sunday is so special.
This is the Panel with me on the left with Bronwyn our Minister and Dimity on the right.
Click on the photo's to see a larger view

This is the Stained Glass Window at the other end of the Church It has an Australian Gum tree in the foreground and rolling hills in the background.

I forgot to take a photo of the Church.
Thank you Dimity it has been a privilege for me to have worked with you on this special project.

ATC's received and sent

Last week I received this beautiful red ATC from Janine in France she has called it CanCan.
It really is a beautiful card and so rich in colour and very French as well.
The pink card is the one that I sent to her.
It has a background of navy felt with gold mesh on top and some paper serviette and then stitched with a variegated perle cotton which was in the bobbin and sewn from the back.
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

TAST Week 14 Bonnet Stitch

And here is the week 14 sample for Bonnet Stitch.
It took me ages to understand this stitch -I think it was because I was reading it incorrectly and it didn't make sense to me.
But after a good nights sleep it all fell into place and I was happy with the outcome.
I thought I would try something different this time so I used 2mm silk ribbon which I think looks good in this stitch.
I also used a variegated thread and again I don't know what it is but it is nice to work with.
Well I am all caught up now so I can get on with other things now.

TAST WeeK 13 Knotted Cretan stitch

I am a bit late with this sample because of my holidays but
I have finally finished it.
It seemed a strange stitch in the beginning but it was easy once I got use to it.
I used a variegated Perle 8 cotton thread but I am unsure of the brand and I worked it on Aida cloth.

Embellisher

Before I went on holidays one of my friends at the Embroiderers Guild brought her Janome Embellisher along to one of our group meetings for us to see and have a little play.
Yippee do- did I have some fun( as well as breaking one of the needles) I produced this sample.
I started with a piece of green felt and then added some dyed scrim pieces and a few bits of dyed mulberry bark and some fibres.
I may have over felted it a bit but I rather like it anyway.

I am not sure what I will do with it --either make 2 postcards and 2 ATC's or maybe 2 needlecases --I will wait and see what eventuates after a few days of pondering-- and now I have to figure out how to convince my husband how I can fit one more thing in my sewing room.