Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Exciting News + TAST Stitches 19 & 20

Last Monday, I was absolutely thrilled to receive a set of Sharon B.'s new crazy quilt templates to review! (I am not affiliated with the templates.)

I have only had a bit of time to play with them so far, but I am having fun!



The first time I used the templates, I created under-the-sea vegetation with the barred chain stitch on Annette's block for the Crazy Quilting International Under the Sea Round Robin. 

I traced several of the stem-like templates so they covered the seam and curved around in ways that I liked. Then I stitched them with green size 8 perle cotton. 

TAST Stitch 19: Bullion Knot


Three bullion knots were added to the end of each vine using pink size 8 perle cotton. Two pistil stitches were placed between the bullion knot petals.

Sea stars are probably my most common use of bullion knots.

These roses were one of my favorite motifs created with bullion knots.

I struggled with this stitch until I read Sharon B.'s tutorial in 2014 and realized I needed a milliner's needle. 





TAST Stitch 20: Butterfly Chain


I used red metallic thread and the butterfly chain stitch to couch a white glittery ribbon onto a Christmas themed block. The red and white reminds me of candy canes and peppermint.

So far, this is the only way I have used this stitch. The photo above is part of the pincushion I made for my mother-in-law in 2014.

In the future, I plan to add a kite to a block and use the butterfly chain stitch for the tail. It reminds me of the cloth strips my mom taught me to tie to the tail of my kite when I was a little girl.

TAST stands for Take a Stitch Tuesday. It is a personal stitching challenge offered by Sharon B. on Facebook and on her blog, pintangle.com. You may read more about it here. If you follow the TAST Facebook group, you know there are some incredibly inspiring examples of these stitches being shared. Anyone may join at any time during the challenge. Thank you, Sharon, for offering TAST!

Later this week, I will share the 2nd seam I created using Sharon's new crazy quilting templates. 

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee


9 comments:

Christine B said...

What beautiful stitches Renee! I love your use of the new stencil and the bullion knot flowers are really pretty. I also love your sea stars and the way you have used the butterfly chain stitch. Have fun playing further with the stencils.... I think I might need a set! Christine x

Pamela said...

Great examples of these two stitches! Can't wait to see what you do with the templates.

Queeniepatch said...

Sharon's templates are GREAT, and you will LOVE using them, I am sure.
You are the Queen of Bullion Knots, and teh Butterfly Chain will look just perfect on the tail of a kite.

Katie said...

Oh more gorgeous stitches. Great job!!

Angela said...

your stitching is exquisite!

Anonymous said...

I'm jealous. I was going to get them this coming week, but the garage door opener had to be replaced, so it's put off again. I have the first set, so I wanted this one, too, because it has some wonderful things I sort of finagle right now. But it isn't a need and the garage door opener was since I don't have a key to my house! My younger son lost the final one when his car was stolen by an ex-girlfriend. Instead, I will enjoy seeing what you do with them! These are wonderful pictures, and inspiring me for my last 2015 block!

FlashinScissors said...

Lovely use of all the stitches, Renee! I I must start a sampler soon - I really want to try out some of these stitches!
Barbara xx

crazyQstitcher said...

You have created some lovely designs with the templates and TAST stitches.
I must order a set of templates.

Your bullions are to die for; enlarging the photo show just how beautiful they are.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Can't wait for my templates to arrive so I can play with them. I use the first set a lot so I know these will get lots of use too. Mailman stalking is 'the thing' at the moment!