Tuesday, December 29, 2015

TAST Stitches 22, 23 & a Gift Seam

TAST Stitch 22: Buttonhole Wheel


These little wheels are fun, but I will admit I need more practice! I was very thankful for Sharon's tip to add more spokes (placing the stitches closer together) if they did not sit flat.


TAST Stitch 23: Cable Chain Stitch


Well... I do need to make my stitches a little more even. Perhaps a bit more planning before beginning my letter H would have clued me in on the number of stitches and better spacing. It was a fun stitch!



Sometimes the trickiest part of TAST for me is figuring out the best way to work the stitch into one of my current projects. In this case, I combined the cable chain stitch and the buttonhole wheel to add a motif section to a Christmas fabric postcard.  I think they made a fun addition. 



Oh! Beneath the words, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" do you see the little green gifts tied with red ribbon? Those were created using one of Sharon B.'s crazy quilting templates (from Set 2) and a few past TAST Stitches. 

I am not affiliated with these templates, but I did agree to review my experiences with them. Using a quilting chalk pencil, I traced the smaller squares (pictured on the template above) along the seam. After my first few attempts, I found it easiest to make a red straight stitch down the center of the square and green satin stitches on either side of that red stitch. (Using size 8 perle cotton, it took 3 green stitches to the left and to the right of the red stitch to fill the square.) Then 2 red detached chain stitches were added to the tops to create bows. It was quite fun!

Please note: you may click on any photo for a larger view.

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 hereIf 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!

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great message and presents! I ordered the second set after Christmas for me, but I already have that template with Carole Samples' templates. What a great idea for using that shape!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Very Creative use of both the template and the TAST stitches. I want to conquer that chain stitch...I LOVE it. And so the New Year will begin with even MORE stitching fun in store for us!!
Happy New Year.

Katie said...

More beautiful stitches! Love them.

KimM said...

Love the idea of the template - never seen one before. And - of course - beautiful stitches.
hugs
xxx

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I was using the chain stitch today - small world! I love your wee little presents!!!!