09 06 06 Paisley Challenge Begun

This is the begining of a 6 by 4 postcard of a paisley design challenge in the Stitching Post group. Sharon B. graciously allowed use of her paisley designs for us to embroider and interpret. The challenge is to take one of the three designs she posted on her blog and interpret it in any size and any technique. We can add design lines but not take any of Sharon's original lines out. This one has lines added, but i have a feeling that they will be changing as the embroidery progresses.

You can see Sharon's designs

here

07 14 06 Some Seam Treatments(old post)

I can;t keep up with Sharon's 100 details in 100 days but i do have some seam treatments that I have done in the past, and the not so distant past. One of these days i will do her 100 details and enjoy every minute of it. In the meantime....here are just some plain old uncategroized treatments.lol....(I tried putting in the code
but kept getting an error message....sorry..)
These two are from an old block ...RedHotBlues block....






Beaded Block Seam


Another older block seam



And on the same block.....



More later....
let me know what you think...and if you are coming by for the first time....please consider putting yourself on the map at the right!

ktj

07 13 06 Bear's Heart(old post)

Here's the heart Bear made for me!
Isn;t it just scrumptious?



Let me know what you think!

07 04 06 Stitching Post Challenge(old post)

The

Stitching Post

is doing a Two Stitch Challenge right now.It's a further exploration of the chain stitch and blanket sttich on one piece.. The design area is 8 by 10 and those in the group who are participating are doing it on a medium-blue piece of plain weave fabric. Further, we are limited to using only two colors of thread. We aren't limited in the number of different types of thread to use so there will be lots of ways to explore what the stitches look like and ways they can be used with each other to create pattern and texture.

The line drawing below is one i just finished. If you click on it will open bigger and then if you click again it opens to the original size. This can be saved and will print out to 8x10. This is for personal use only please, and i would love to see what anyone does with it. One of the members of the list and I are tossing around the idea of doing a one by one rr with a small design and i thought this might be something we could use. After finishing it i thought maybe folks on my list would enjoy it, and maybe others as well. I think it lends itself to all sorts of treatments....many of the shapes can be altered all left out all-together and you could use the bigger shapes to make a needle-lace or point lace design practice piece. I think it would also lend itself quite well to practicing crewel fillings of all kinds.And then, last but not least, i also think it could easily be adapted to all sorts of free-surface embroidery combinations.




let me know what you think..

ktj

07 01 06 The QUILT(old blog post)

OverView of The Quilt



A number of years ago Diane Karr put together a quilt top for me that was made up of a number of crazy-quilt blocks set around a central medallian. The blocks had been made by members of the now defunct ACQL list, which was then the first crazyquilt related list on Yahoo. I am still in touch with a number of the folks who made blocks for this quilt top. The top never made it into a finished quilt (long story) and was finally given to me unfinished. It is a beauty and one of my priorities is to get it backed and tacked(or tied) with the names of folks embroidered on the backing. Along withthe quilt top itself came a spiral bound book made by Nikki Young who, along with Deb Tuffree and Diane Karr organized the whole effort. The book has a picture of each block along with a message from each of the block-creators. I have the book in full view in a cupboard in the dining room. If there were someone in my family to inherit the book and the quilt, they would both be heirlooms.
This quilt is an incredibly special piece of work, not only because of the quality of the stitching but because of the incredible efforts and warmth of the people who made it.I often think that one of these days I would like to have NOTHING in my living room but a few pieces of furniture...and this quilt.

The Central Medallian
Debbie Tuffree





Anita Pennington(Neets)


Betty Densford


Carole Miesenhelter


Carolyn Adams


Daphne Secker


Dian Moore


Dorothy Matheson


Helen Thorkelson


Ida Billig


Jane Cunningham


Janet Killups


Janie Jones


Linda Knott


Mae Vernon


Nikki Young


Patti Schreiner


Sandy Fields


Sharon Brewer


Sue Trautman


Valentina Burbank

06 30 06 Red as A Neutral(old blog post)

Quite some time ago I started a piece in response to a discussion about what really constituted a neutral color.....what i came up with was round cq all pieced with red patches.It's about 20 inches across and I have scanned some sections of it. OF COURSE!!!!!!! it's not done...(I mean, what were you thinking!)If you click on the pictures they will open up to quite large sizes.

Blackberry Bush with Coneflower Seam


Coneflower Seam(close-up)


Vine with Woven Spider Flowers
this goes across two patches




Curved Seam with Flowers


Bird and two seam treatments


Spider web flower(close-up)

06 12 06 Chain stitch practice( old blog post)

The next picture is of the chain stitch practice as it is evolving...i LOVE LOVE LOVE chain stitch! I love the raised texture of it, the sinuousness of it, the way is just seems to slide from color to color...it can be dense, or light and airy..and i love what it looks like when it is uniform..with all the little individual chains as near to the same size as you can get them. yea, okay, i'mm probably a little over the top when it comes to the stitches but to me they are the voacabulary of embroidery..If you don;t know what they can do how can they be fully used in a hand worked piece..the embroiderer will have less "words" at her disposal to use. Can you imagine speaking with a vocabulary of only 100 words or so....and not even know all the connotations of the words? Yep, that's how I feel about stitches and why i am happy doing this stitch practice even if it's not the most overtly creative work i have ever done.

05 18 06 Ida's Block(old blog post)

This is a small log cabin block i did(about 4 inches square) i did as a little block to include in a card for a friend that was not feeling well. Each log has a differnt treatment. The threads are all fairly large, either craft thread or cotton crochet thread. The very top log is a simple buttonhole wheel with some staight stitches and two lazy daisies. on the left in yellow and red is a buttonhole done twice(once in each thread color) andthen some crossed stitches in the blocks of the buttonhole. and of course, the inevitable lazy daisy...

to the very right(as you look) is just chain stitching in some bright colors. Not the best, but at the time, it's what i could do.

in the very center are some buttonhole wheels with straight stitches and some lazy daisies aboe them on the left-hand log. the log right above the center is large cross stitches with vvarious other stitches in the open spaces.

The right hand log next to the center has a buttonhole base, then some fly sitches with extremely short catches....(the darker blue) and the long pink stitches are straight stitches made to look like the catch stitch of a fly.

the lower log is a fly stitch line with some french knots and lazy daisies extended off the fathers.

05 18 06 cretan stitch (old blog post)

well, you are probably tired of all these composite sttiches by now since they are so basic....this is a double cretan with lazy daisies and a little straight stitch above the catch stitch of the lazy daisy.
the hearts are satin sttich. You can barely see a double chevron stitch with a little french knot rose on the top.

06 11 06 A gift from Janie Jones(old blog post)

This is a sewing caddy that was made by Janie Jones as a gift for me several years ago. I was so overwhlemed with how beautiful it was, and the thought that some one could make something like that and then give it to ME no less...well, you can imagine i was afraid to use it. Recently however, I decided that i couldn;pt take it with me when i go, so, like the special chine, it's getting used. And believer me, i use it evry day and think of Janie's incredible generosity every day. The insides hold a scissors, small needlebook, thimble in a little pocket, and there is a pincushion, plus a couple of bigger pockets which i am using for threads and extra needles.

When i say this sewing caddy holds so many gifts, i am not talking about what is inside the pockets, but what is inside me when i look at it..thank you so much again Janie for such a beautiful gift, and such beautiful feelings. Below the over-view are details of the various parts of the outside. It folds in three with the dragon part being the inside flap.

If you click on the photos, all but the overview opens to another fairly large view. You can really see her stitching in these views.



TOP

BOTTOM



Fan Detail(guess you could tell , huh?)


Punchneedle tree


Stamped velvet with paint


Dragon applique with embroidery

Isn't Janie's work just wonderful? I am so proud that she made this for me. Janie doesn;t have a blog or site, so any commments you want to make to her, i will make sure she gets them!

happy stitching

ktj