This holiday season saw a return of the embroidered elephants. Work had fun White Elephant Gift Exchange and so I made a couple of T-Mobile branded white elephants for fun.
Take a Stitch Tuesday week 43: Coral Stitch
I used coral stitch for the outline of the Gnome’s boots. I was looking for something simple, but still with texture so Coral stitch was a perfect fit.
Take a Stitch Tuesday week 42: Cloud Filling Stitch
This was a new stitch for me. Week 42 worked out perfectly as I had been hunting for a filling stitch on some Holiday Gnome pillow covers that were sewed last year. The gnome designs are from paper pieced patterns purchased on Craftsy and sold by Quilt Art Designs by Janeen van Niekerk. I want to add some crazy quilt type stitching and beading to the seams for texture and interest.
Take a Stitch Tuesday week 40: Woven Detached Chain Stitch
Week 40 was a lot of fun. I rewatched the Breakfast Club and practiced weaving a long row of detached chain stitches.
Feather stitch is one of my favorites, worked below in DMC Cotton Perle #5 variegated 4068. Detached chain stitches in green and mustard yellow, and pistol stitch using DMC Cotton Perle #8. Woven detached chain stitch using Cotton Perle #5 color 921.
Take a Stitch Tuesday week 39: Oyster Stitch
This was my first use of Oyster Stitch so still figuring things out. It was fun to create sunflower petals using something other than the detached chain stitch. I will probably practice with this more and even include some lines of oyster stitch later on in the project.
Stitched using Cotton Perle #8 for oyster stitch flower petals and french knots in the sunflower centers.
Take a Stitch Tuesday week 36: Plaited Feather Stitch
Not my best work, but plaited feather stitch using DMC Cotton Perle #5. One strand DMC 921, the other variegated DMC 4122.
Take a Stitch Tuesday week 35: Long Tail Chain Stitch
It has been a long break from Take a Stitch Tuesday, but I’m back! I will work through as many stitches as I can between now and the end of year to see how far I can progress through the full list. I have definitely missed stitching. Hand embroidery has become a fascination as well as a stress reliever, and being back feels almost therapeutic. If you keep up on the blog you have probably read how I accidentally discovered (fell into!) hand embroidery several years ago making gimmicky felt dog ornaments as Christmas presents. But needle and thread spoke and I have been hooked ever since.
Originally my TAST project started with a holiday season table runner. That lasted through TAST 13…. And then it was sort of hard to keep inspired with red and green as spring was happening outside and the amazing Pacific Northwest was waking up. Now it is November and we are back to short days and constant gray drizzle which almost encourages a hot cup of tea and a cheerful embroidery project.
I actually started back on TAST last month on a pillow meant for Halloween. I found a collection of black print pieces at JoAnn a couple of years ago that had been in my stash since. They made for a perfect background of pieced coordinates. This was my first crazy quilt project using a dark fabric background and I loved it! The bright colors of floss just pop on the dark background and it was so much fun to stitch. I will definitely be doing a bit more like this, even outside of Halloween.
So back to TAST. Below are a couple of samples of long tail chain stitch.
Ever found yourself on Pinterest at 3 AM? I’m not saying this is a good thing, or even a planned event, but when the sleeping gods are not smiling on me I tend to find myself browsing through Pinterest in the small hours of the morning. And I’ll hand it to Pinterest, their search algorithm is pretty good.
Take a Stitch Tuesday week 13: Buttonhole Wheel.
Chase Handcraft 