Blanket stitch

The second stitch for Take a Stitch Tuesday is the Buttonhole stitch, also known as the Blanket stitch.  This is the first embroidery stitch that I learned -- when I was a Brownie Girl Scout, we made "sit-upons" using 2 squares of red checkered  flannel-backed vinyl, with folded newspapers for batting.  We stitched these squared together using the Blanket stitch.  I believe I may still have my sit-upon tucked away somewhere .....  We did the same project the next year, but upgraded to a foam cushion in the middle, replacing the newspapers.  The trusty blanket stitch was used again, too.

This week, I used the blanket stitch to outline a simple amoeba flower shape as a nod to the use of the blanket stitch for applique work in traditional quilting.

Join us on Facebook (FB) with our "TAST - Take a Stitch Tuesday" which is an open group.  Sharon Boggon, of Pin Tangle fame, posts a new embroidery stitch every Tuesday (it often appears usually on Monday nights - as she is posting from Australia) and includes many eye-candy inspiring samples as well as links to more "how-to" steps for each TAST Stitch-of-the-Week.

Click here to see those posts or click here to see my "Buttonhole" sampler I made back in January 2012.

Sneak at the next stitch: It is the Feather stitch!  click here for more on the feather stitch

A new season of TAST begins

Here is my first stitch of the new run for Take a Stitch Tuesday which started again on July 14, 2015.  My goal is to keep up with the weekly assignments this time around.  I plan to add my new sampler pieces to the embroidery roll that I began a few years ago, the first time I participated in TAST.  Click here to see those posts or click here to see my "Fly" sampler I made back in 2012.

This is the size of my embroidery-sampler roll as of today -- I believe I need to add the last few pieces that I stitched in 2012 before I begin the new 2015 section!  Ever running behind and racing to catch up - that's me.


Join us on Facebook (FB) with our "TAST - Take a Stitch Tuesday" which is an open group.  Sharon Boggon, of Pin Tangle fame, posts a new embroidery stitch every Tuesday (it often appears usually on Monday nights - as she is posting from Australia) and includes many eye-candy inspiring samples as well as links to more "how-to" steps for each TAST Stitch-of-the-Week. 

More TAST

Two more stitches from my TAST progress ...

The Stem Stitch and the French Knot are both featured in my little flower sampler above.  Both stitches are familiar ones, ones I learned as a young Girl Scout fascinated with embroidery, tying knots.  Note: as a Girl Scout, I also loved camping and earning badges!  Be sure to look at the Pin Tangle website for more fabulously inspirational stitchery.


Click here for the original post on Pin Tangle about the Stem stitch, the 15th stitch; and click here for the post about the French knot, the 16th stitch
.

Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to peruse Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Satin stitch

I must confess - the satin stitch is not one of my favorite stitches to stitch, as I feel that a machine can embroider this stitch so much prettier (in my humble opinion) than I can.  Of course it could be that the satin stitch works better on fabrics not as loosely woven as the linen in my sample below.

I had fun designing and stitching my little kitty, then played around with filling in the background with geometric patterns.  This is the 14th stitch featured in Take a Stitch Tuesday and you can click here for the original post.


Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to peruse Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

My Sampler-on-a-Roll

Here is the start of my "sampler-on-a-roll" where I am showcasing the many stitch samplers made for the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge which Sharon B is running on her Pintangle website.  The idea of putting all my TAST pieces into one long roll is totally inspired (or out-right copied) from Sharon's own For the Love of Stitching Band Sampler.

My sampler is just beginning.  It currently measures 5 1/2" wide by 42 1/2" long (or 14 cm by 108 cm).  At the moment it is mostly comprised of the stitches featured in the 2012 Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge, with an additional favorite quote by Albert Einstein (about Knowledge and Imagination).

I think my sampler-on-a-roll has too many empty spaces (or too much un-embroidered areas) - so I may try to embroider more densely as I work on "growing my sampler-on-a-roll". 

The original For the Love of Stitching band sampler was started by SharonB in January 2009.  It now measures over 96 feet (and still growing).  Below is a sneak peek at her work of wonder!

Click here to learn more about this lengthy and luxurious band sampler.  It is the inspiration for the start of my own which I've yet to name.  I really like the name Sharon gave hers, so I am pondering whether to do the ultimate copying and name my sampler-on-a-roll after her band sampler - "For the Love of Stitching". (Isn't that the sincerest form of flattery?)



Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to peruse Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Barred Chain

This sampler shows two stitches: the Barred Chain and the Alternating Barred Chain.  It is in the family of the Chain Stitch, but it has a much spikier appearance.  It is a fun pair of stitches to learn.  I am happy to add both to my stitch repertoire, as it is the first time I have ever heard of these two stitches, and the first time I have ever stitched their pattern.  It is a relatively easy stitch to learn.

This is the twelfth stitch featured in this year's Take a Stitch Tuesday series.  Click here to see the original "assignment" of the stitch.

Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to peruse Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Whipped Wheel

I am running late in posting my progress with Take a Stitch Tuesday (at the slow speed with which I am stitching, I may need two years or more to complete this yearlong challenge of weekly stitches).  This post features the eleventh stitch in the series, the Whipped Wheel.  Click here for the original announcement of stitch #11.

The Whipped Wheel is a stitch that I have never used before.  It was fun trying to make this stitch look pretty as well as uniform.  I think I almost got the hang of it.  I rather like the 5-spoked wagon wheels the best. 

I think I will try this stitch again as a wildflower blooming in a garden of embroidered blossoms.  Hmmm,,I rather like that idea -- but first I must finish more of these sampler stitches!




Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to peruse Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Running

I laughed when I saw that the Running stitch was following the Couching stitch in our year of Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge.  The term "Couch Potato" pops into my head when I see "couching".  Running is the opposite to being a couch potato - am I the only one to see the humor here?

This is my ad-lib running stitch.  I began with the pattern across the bottom - a direct copy from one of SharonB's samples.  Then I began running around on my own, slowly building upward.  The top winding path of stitches is my favorite ... I think.

The original Challenge Stitch of the Week post that features the running stitch, the 10th week, is here.  If you are thinking of joining this embroidery challenge, this is one of the easiest stitches to learn.




Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to peruse Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Couching stitch

An update of my Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge, here is my sampler of Couching, from week #9 of a year-long challenge (the original challenge post by SharonB is here).

I intended to feature a gorgeous, unique item in this couching sampler, but when I was ready to stitch, I could find nothing....  So I improvised with a simple piece of string.  It is a white cotton string that was used once before as a 'stand-in'  when I ran out of rubber bands while tie-dyeing t-shirts (that's the backstory of  its multi-colored look).  I enjoyed the challenge of couching the string onto my fabric, letting the many twists and curls of the string dictate the ultimate curving design.




Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to peruse Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Chain stitch

More progress is being made with my Take a Stitch Tuesday work ... This small, simple sampler is my work with the Chain stitch.

I learned the Chain stitch when I learned to embroider as a young girl, but rather than challenge myself to push this stitch further, I have whipped together a simple sampler as I drive myself to catch up with the current stitches being posted.  This one is from week #8, while they are currently stitching stitches featured in week #32 - oh my!  but no time to despair, I have embroidery to do!

For lovelier eye candy featuring the Chain stitch, click here for the original challenge post (be sure to click on some of the links in the comments section) or click here for SharonB's selection of favorite challenge pieces.



Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (including both the history of a stitch and a step-by-step how-to stitch each) look at Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Detached Chain Stitch

Continuing to make progress in my "Catch-up-over-the-Summer-Break" challenge, here is the seventh featured stitch from the year-long Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge being hosted by SharonB (click here for her Pintangle website).  This is the Detached Chain Stitch (click here for the original challenge post).

The Detached Chain Stitch reminds me of the lazy daisy stitch that I learned as a young girl (after researching a bit, I discovered this stitch is listed by both names!)  As I have made many lazy daisy's years ago, for this challenge I am creating a many-petaled flower, reminiscent of the mums worn during Homecoming Football games (yes, I am calling up high school memories!). This flower was fun to stitch - hard to stop stitching, once I began.  Hence my flower kept growing and growing.  But as I recall those football mums did run to extra-large sizes (especially for Homecoming!).




Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section of any featured stitch post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us

OR
   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see just my stitching posts.

Half Chevron

My ongoing project this year is the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge.  Here is my sampler of the Half Chevron stitch, featured in the nineteenth week of TAST-2012.  I've jumped ahead in my effort to catch up (and so I can post a link to the Pintangle Half Chevron page).  Click here to see the original challenge post about the Half Chevron stitch.

This is another fun stitch - though it was a touch confusing to learn as it has a few different steps than the Chevron stitch (look at my Chevron sampler here).  I love the geometric-ness of this stitch and the variable ways in which it can be layered.  I experimented with layering the Half Chevron onto itself (over lapping, back-to-back, face-to-face, and to make a frame).  I had more trouble doing a rambling organic version, but I think that was due primarily to my own preference for it's simple geometric elegance.

I am one week closer to being caught up (stay tuned for more posts as I catch up with the stitches featured between weeks 6 and 19).




Take a Stitch Tuesday is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section in each challenge post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us....

OR

   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see all of my stitch samplers.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) be sure to look at Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.

Chevron Stitch

My ongoing project this year ... TAST = Take a Stitch Tuesday.  The featured stitch from the sixth week (yes, I'm racing to catch up -- at least a little bit ...) is the Chevron Stitch.

The Chevron Stitch is an easy stitch and so very geometric, yet fun to twist into a freeform style too, although I kept to a fairly tame meandering as you can see above.  My favorite version is to stack the stitches (the blue above).  Click here to go directly to SharonB's Stitch Dictionary, Cretan Stitch entry. Click here to see the original challenge post on the Pintangle blog.


Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), is an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B from her website Pin Tangle. Click here (for the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section of any featured stitch post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us

OR   

You can follow me on my blog.

Click TAST to see just my stitching posts.

If you enjoy embroidery, or wish to learn more about many stitches (from the history to a step-by-step how-to) click here for Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.  

Herringbone Stitch

Where does the time fly to?   I finished this piece ages ago, even took the picture some time back, but I am just now getting it uploaded to share with you....

At long last, here is my Herringbone Stitch sampler, part of my ongoing (perpetually behind) Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge.

This stitch was featured in the fifth week of TAST.  I enjoy starting off with a classic simple Herringbone, then test it with a meandering wandering style.  It is fun and will be a nice addition to my growing stitch repertoire.  To learn how to do this stitch, please click here (a direct link to Herringbone in Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary - a wonderful resource for all stitchers!)


Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B of Pin Tangle fame.  Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or follow the many participants (found in the comment section of any featured stitch post) to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us.  Of course you can always follow my sporadic work here on my blog -- click my TAST label to cut straight to my posts.

If you enjoy embroidery, or would like to learn more about the many stitches (from their history to a step-by-step how-to) click here for Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary home page.  She has compiled an amazing compendium of information and fabulous photographs!

the Cretan Stitch

My ongoing work in the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge features small sampler pieces of each week's featured embroidery stitch.

The fourth week (of TAST - Take a Stitch Tuesday) features a stitch I had never used before, the Cretan Stitch.  I enjoyed using two colors, one overlapping the other as I worked on this sampler piece.  Exploring the stitch's length and width was fun too.  I even tried a few free-flowing, rambling Cretan stitches, letting the inner-stitching-goddess take over!

One enjoyable feature of the TAST challenge is learning about each week's stitch,  from the basics of "how-to-stitch" to the details of the individual stitch's history.  Did you know that this stitch, the Cretan Stitch is named for the island of Crete, where the local women have used this embroidery stitch to decorate clothing for centuries?  There are two variations, called an Open Cretan Stitch and a Knotted Cretan Stitch (to learn more, click on any of the highlighted names).

Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B of Pin Tangle fame. Click here (to go to the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or check back with Pin Tangle, or any of the participants to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us.  Or look back on my blog and click on my TAST label to see my posts.

If you enjoy embroidery, or would like to learn more about the many stitches (from their history to a step-by-step how-to) click here for Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary home page.  She has compiled an amazing compendium of information and wonderful photographs!

the Feather Stitch

I am running a tad behind, as per my usual, 

so without further ado ...

Here is my sampler piece for the 3rd week of 

the 2012 Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) Challenge.

the Feather Stitch

The feather stitch is an embroidery stitch that I know, as it is one I learned back in my youth when I was an eager embroiderer and a happy Girl Scout.  The bottom row in gold and the middle row in bright blue are examples of the classic feather stitch.  At the top right is a free-form feather stitch 'snowflake' in purple, with a rambling, meandering medium blue semi-free-form feather stitch in the corner.  At the top left, the curious shapes (sidewise hearts or fish missing their eyes or ... what do you see?) were inspired by another TAST participant whose version looks more like tessellating fish lips (smoochie smoochie) but you'll have to see her work to believe me!  Click here for more feather stitch highlights or here for a view of the fish lips (on Flickr).

For more about Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B of Pin Tangle fame, click here (it will take you to the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).  Please join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or check back here with me, or with Pin Tangle, or any of the others participating to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us.

the Buttonhole Stitch

The featured stitch for week two of Take A Stitch Tuesday 2012 is the Buttonhole stitch.   For directions on how to embroider this stitch, click here (it is a direct link to Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary!).

This is the first embroidery stitch I ever remember learning.  Many years ago, when I was a young Girl Scout, we made simple sit-upons.  We took two square pieces of flannel-backed vinyl, tucked a foam cushion between them and embroidered the blanket stitch around the four sides.  These blanket stitches were utilitarian as well as decorative.  I made two (and possibly more) of these sit-upons and used them on many Girl Scout camp outs and outings.  I may still have one tucked away somewhere and promise to post a photo of it (if my sit-upon turns up one day).

Meanwhile here is my exploration of the buttonhole stitch for my weekly Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge.

I have never tried doing free-form button-hole stitches, nor have I ever made wavy ones, or ones that depict a sweet little heart.  This was a fun challenge because while I am familiar with the blanket stitch, I explored new ways of stitching with it.  I do prefer the variations of symmetry that the stitch naturally allows over the rambling free-form scribble-stitch (or perhaps I need to practice my free-form stitching a bit more!).

By the way, it is not too late to join this ongoing weekly embroidery challenge.  Click here for the beginning directions on Sharon B's Take a Stitch Tuesday.  Click here just to see her Pin Tangle blog -- she's amazingly talented, and warmly spotlights others (with photos and links) in her writings too  -- so many great things to admire and drool over!  As Sharon would say, make a cuppa and come browse for a bit.

the Fly Stitch

The first stitch of the new year of "Take a Stitch Tuesday" challenge is the Fly Stitch.  For directions on how to embroider this stitch, click here (it is a direct link to Sharon B's wonderful stitch dictionary!)

The Fly Stitch is not a stitch I have used ... ever?  But is simple and easy to learn.  I have done a very quick rendition (as I do not wish to start off running behind this year ....)

I stitched my fly's in green embroidery floss onto a small strip of Aida cloth, so that the fly stitch becomes the leaves and stems for my button flowers.  I have been wanting to make a piece of creative button flowers... this is not that piece, but it just enough to further whet my whistle.  These are the simplest button flowers I've ever seen -- just a 4-hole button held down with a cross-stitch of embroidery floss.

I plan to add smaller fly stitches -- in black -- to be flitting among the blossoms (flies, bees, any flying bug?)  stay tuned -- I will add a photo once I've added the tinier flies.


For more about Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B of Pin Tangle fame, click here (it will take you to the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).  You are free to jump in now and join the group for a year of fun stitching ....

In the beginning ...

Every project must begin somewhere ...

 

and this is the beginning of my band sampler, as inspired by Sharon B and her beautiful work which you can see on her website, Pin Tangle.  Sharon hosts an annual embroidery challenge  called "Take A Stitch Tuesday" (or TAST for short).  I have joined her challenge and am also starting my own band sampler much like the one she has growing (side note: Sharon's is over 24 feet long! or over 22 meters!).  Click here to see the beginning story of this year's TAST and Sharon's "For the Love of Stitching Band Sampler".

My little piece, pictured above, will always remind me that I began my band sampler the year I joined the TAST challenge.  I wonder how long mine will eventually be?  At the moment it measures 3 inches long and 6 inches wide.

TAST 2012

Calling all the Stitchers (and Stitcher-wannabe's) out there -- it is time to sign up for TAST -- Take A Stitch Tuesday!

Don't you like the label?  It is created by Annet, whose blog is fat-quarter.blogspot.com

Take A Stitch Tuesday is run by Sharon B, from her blog PinTangle.com, where she has posted a list of the many who've already signed up to participate.  Basically, Sharon (who lives in Australia) posts a stitch each Tuesday (in Australia, which appears here on Monday) and challenges everyone to try out this stitch on something this week.  It is an open group, one can follow along, or join it and share their stitches made via Stitchin Fingers group, or via blogs, or through Flickr.  To learn more click here (for details on the new year's group & sign-up list - and to sign up!) or click here to see Sharon's  "For-the-Love-of-Stitching Band Sampler" or click here to learn more about any number of community challenges.

If you're interested in the Stitchin Finger group (a ning thing) click here for a direct jump to the homepage.