Sunday, March 10, 2024

TAST 2024 Week 10: Crossed Buttonhole Stitch

TAST 2024 Crossed Buttonhole Stitched Trees

 
For Week 10 of Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) 2024 at Pintangle(dot)com, the Crossed Buttonhole Stitch was introduced. 

Crossed Buttonhole Stitched Tree

My favorite way to use this stitch is creating trees. In 2015, Anneliesedi worked the stitch into several tree samples and shared them with the TAST Facebook group. I loved them so much that I had try it out.

Crossed Buttonhole Stitched Trees

I cut even lengths of a green and a white size 8 pearl cotton and threaded both onto my needle to work these stitches in a way that created snowy trees. I used a darker shade of green for the tree on the left. The stitches were worked from the bottom of the trees to the top.

The Beyond TAST stitch for Week 10 was the Detached Buttonhole Stitch. I hope to work it into my next Crazy Quilt Journal Project block.

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee



Saturday, March 9, 2024

TAST 2024 Week 9: Buttonhole Wheel Stitch

 

Beaded Buttonhole Half Wheel Stitch


The Buttonhole Wheel Stitch was introduced for Week 9 of Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) at Pintangle(dot)com. 

Buttonhole Half Wheels

I chose to work half buttonhole wheels onto a seam of my Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2024 February block. The stitches were created with size 8 white pearl cotton. 

My stitches have improved over time, but I am still working on consistent sizes, even though I traced them curves out on the back of the block prior to stitching.

Beaded Buttonhole Half Wheels

After working the stitches, I added clear beads to the center of each half wheel.


I originally worked the buttonhole wheel stitch in 2015 to create the letter "o", as seen above and in this post.



In 2018, I worked the buttonhole half wheel stitch onto a crazy quilt seam, as seen above and in this post


The Beyond TAST stitch was the Buttonhole Wheel Cup. Although I have not worked that stitch yet in 2024, I shared a photo of the one I stitched in 2017 using size 5 DMC pearl cotton in color #4040. This photo was originally shared in this post. I loved the texture.

Thank you for visiting!
Renee

Sunday, February 25, 2024

TAST 2024 Weeks 5 and 8: Buttonhole and Detached Chain Stitch

 
Buttonhole Stitch, Detached Chain Stitch, and Seed Beads

The Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) stitches I work with may be increasingly out of order, as I try to work them into my Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2024 blocks.


The TAST Week 8 stitch shared at Pintangle(dot)com was the Buttonhole Stitch. (The lighting was not very good when I took this photo, so the colors are off.) 

Using a strand of Impressions by Caron thread (a blend of silk and wool) in color 0000, I worked the buttonhole stitch along a seam. My stitches were intentionally unevenly spaced and frequently slightly angled.


The Beyond TAST Stitch for Week 8 was the Closed Buttonhole Stitch. I have not worked this stitch for 2024, but I have used it in the past with Detached Chain Stitches and French Knots to create an angel seam, as seen in the photo above. There is more information in this post.


The stitch introduced for TAST 2024 Week 5 was the Detached Chain Stitch, which is sometimes called a Lazy Daisy Stitch. I worked this with the Buttonhole Stitch to create one of my favorite crazy quilt seam embellishment. I added pairs of Detached Chain Stitches to each side of my Buttonhole Stitches to create leaves.


Here is a closer view.


To complete this seam, I used a single strand of DMC #225 embroidery floss to add Mill Hill Petite Glass Seed Beads #42027. The full combination of stitches and beads created a seam of little flowers.



The TAST 2024 Week 5 Beyond TAST stitch was the Long Tail Chain Stitch (plain, beaded or whipped), which I plan to work into a future CQJP 2024 block to make snowflakes, similar to these that I created in 2016. You may read more about those in this post.


Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Monday, February 19, 2024

TAST 2024 Week 4: Chain Stitch

 


Week 4 of Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) 2024 at Pintangle(dot)com was the chain stitch. So, I created two more chain stitched snowmen using size 8 white pearl cotton. 


I also used glow-in-the-dark Kreinik to chain stitch a moon. 

These were added to my February Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2024 block.

There were 2 Beyond TAST stitches introduced, but I was unable to think of a way to work them onto this block. The stitches were the Raised Chain Stitch Version 1 and Raised Chain Stitch Version 2. If I work these into another project this year, I will share photos at that time.

I will be honest, I was much happier with my snowman on the January CQJP block than I am with the two on this block, but that is okay. 

Do you have a favorite way to use the chain stitch?

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee




Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2024 January Block

 

CQJP 2024 January Block

One of the things I love about crazy quilting is watching a bare block like this transform.

I was not happy with the tree stump as it was, so I carefully added satin stitches under the back stitch trellis with size 8 brown perle cotton.

Snow drops were added with 4 mm white ribbon. I put a ribbon stitch in the center and two straight stitches for the outer petals.

Green size 8 perle cotton was used to create stems with a stem stitch. A French knot was added to the center petals and where the stems met the blossoms.

Straight stiches of green 4mm silk ribbon created leaves.

I threaded a needle with two strands of size 8 perle cotton - 1 white and 1 green - and worked two rows of crossed buttonhole stitches from the bottom to the top to make whimsical little trees. 

Small silver flower sequins were attached with clear Mill Hill Petite Seed Beads using a single strand of DMC floss #762.

It is so nice to be able to spend time relaxing with embroidery again. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Renee


Tuesday, January 16, 2024

TAST 2024 Week 3: Stem Stitch

 


Week 3 of Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) 2024 at Pintangle(dot)com introduced the Stem Stitch and the Portuguese Stem Stitch for Beyond TAST.

First, I used a stencil from Sharon Boggon's Stitchers Stencils Set 1 to trace a line to follow along a seam.

Size 8 white perle cotton thread was used for the stem stitch.

Next, I added flower sequins that were held in place with Mill Hill Petite Glass Seed Beads. However, I will use regular seed beads in the future. Some of the sequins can pop over these tiny beads.

A strand of Kreinik Metallics Fine Braid #4 Pearl thread was used to add tiny leaves to the flowers with detached chain stitches.

The Portuguese stem stitch was worked with size 8 white perle cotton to create little snow drifts under the snowman and the tree on my Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2024 January block.




Have you worked the stem stitch or Portuguese stem stitch? Do you have a favorite way you prefer to use these stitches?

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee

Note:
1.) Click on a photo to see a larger image.
2.) You may learn more about TAST here.
3.) You may learn more about CQJP 2024 here.

Monday, January 15, 2024

How to Embroider a Snowman Using Chain Stitches

 
Embroidered Snowman Using Chain Stitch

It has been a couple of years since I embroidered a snowman using the chain stitch. I had a hard time remembering exactly how I did it, so I thought I would make a tutorial to refer back to in the future.

First, I used a quarter (on the bottom), a nickel (for the body), and a dime (for the head) and traced them with light pencil marks on the back of the block.

Starting from the center of a traced circle, I made a triangle with three chain stitches. Then, I continued chain stitching in a circle until it was the desired size.

I used white DMC size 5 thread.

As seen in this photo of the back, my stitched circles ended up slightly off center. However, starting in the center of each circle and chain stitching in the same direction kept all three sections of the snowman lined up.

I ended the chain stitches at the bottom of each circle.




Once the body was stitched, I needed to decide on the face. I wanted this snowman to look up towards the moon on the block. 

Using 2 strands of a variegated DMC orange floss, I made a triangle pointing up towards the sky using 3 straight stitches.

Using the same floss, I satin stitched the nose. (I have found my satin stitches are a bit more even if I create an outline to stitch over first.)

Next, I attached size 10/0 black Czech glass seed beads, using a single strand of DMC black (#310) floss, to create eyes and a nose.

For the mouth, I couched 2 strands of the same black floss down using a single strand of black to tack it down. 

To be honest, I was nervous about adding a scarf and a hat. Using a single strand of a light blue embroidery floss and back stitches, I created outlines for them both. (I traced the outlines on the back of the block first to use as a guide.)

Using a variegated blue/purple/pink size 5 DMC thread, I satin stitched the hat (starting with the brim) and the scarf.

Next, using the same thread and Turkey Knots, tassles were added to the scarf and a fluffy ball was added to the end of the hat. 






Using a variegated brown DMC floss, I removed one strand (of 6) to couch down the remaining 5 strands to make arms for the snowman. Fly stitches were added to make the hands, using the 5 strands of floss.

You may have noticed the tree branches in the photo with the arms. I knew I wanted to add a tree, and decided to make that first so the arms on the snowman would use a brown in the tree. 

The tree was created using the Easy, Breezy Trees Tutorial on Kathy Shaw's blog (found here). A variety of threads were used. I cut lengths of Kreinik Metallics Pearl #4 Very Fine Braid, DMC Metallic white/blanc floss (all 6 strands), 2 shades of DMC variegated brown flosses (all 6 strands), and white DMC perle cotton in sizes 8, 5, and 3. I used a single strand of white floss to couch down most of the tree. Some of the brown branches were couched with a single strand of one of the brown variegated flosses.

Thank you for stopping by! If you use this snowman tutorial, I would love to see your creation.

Please note: 
1. You may click on a photo to see a larger image.
2. Directions for all of the stitches used for this tutorial (except the straight stitch) may be found in the Stitch Dictionary at Pintangle(dot)com here.




Thursday, January 11, 2024

TAST 2024 Week 2: Back Stitch

 

Pintangle TAST 2024 Back Stitch


Week 2 of Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) 2024 introduced the Back Stitch and the Back Stitch Trellis

I worked both stitches into a tree stump on my January Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2024 block.


First, I sketched a tree stump and traced it onto a small piece of waste canvas.


The Back Stitch Trellis was worked first, to fill in the tree stump. (This proved to be more challenging with the shape of the stump than I anticipated.) Then the Back Stitch was used to outline the stump. All of this was created with a variegated brown size 5 perle cotton.


I removed the waste canvas.


Then, using two strands of a light brown DMC embroidery floss, I colored in the top of the tree stump with more Back Stitches.

Later, I will fill in more of the tree stump, most likely by adding beads.

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

You may learn more about TAST here.
You may learn more about CQJP 2024 here.