Fluttering Away

I've been doing some tatting, and I've made some butterflies for a friend.
Lyn Morton's Butterfly pattern from her book Tatting Jewelery tatted in vintage Clark's size 30

tatted in vintage Twilleys size 20
hmm, looks like they need blocking                                                                     

Too blue in Lizbeth's 'Peacock'

in vintage J&P Coats size 50


and the smaller one in size 70











showing sizes

Here they all are






All but the bottom 2 are fluttering off to my friend

And this?
Well,.......... I was experimenting.......
It's supposed to be a butterfly ......
a side view with double layers of both top and bottom wings

turned out a little frillier than I'd planned


poor thing looks doubled over in pain, and it can't straighten out


oh well, back to the drawing board........



Hope you're having a fun day
Happy February tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting
Hugs from Suz

Sunday Inspirations January 29, 2012

I finally got back to some painting!
Remember this?


 The Challenge:
card 1:-  choose your favorite color, and create a painting using different hues and values of the color. Use also the color you like least.
card 2:- paint glass arranged in an interesting way.



  This is what the painting looked like before Christmas.

I've added some more reflections

 side by side of the inspiration and the painting

darkened here, lightened there

highlighted portions, and greyed others





















and realized I could work on this for a very long time refining every reflection, but, I decided:
It's finished!


This painting measures 12" x 16"
and I am pleased with the result. Even though the challenge was not to replicate the glass design, I think the final painting is quite realistic.

The new challenge:
card 1:- do a painting of signs
Card 2:- use tape as a design tool. Create a wet-in-wet underpainting in light tones. Once dry, use the tape to apply random shapes. Then draw and paint your subject.

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday!

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

TAST and CQJP

Week 4 of TAST is the Cretan Stitch. Here's my practice piece:

CQJP  Progress:

 With feedback from the Tuesday Stitchers, (thanks Ladies) I beefed up the seam treatments on my CQJP,


Lots of French knots

 more bullions
I used 3 different coloured threads to repeat those in the snowflake material

( sorry it's blurry)

and a heavier thread for the feather stitch

I decided to leave the rest of the areas unadorned, for now. More can always be added later, and I wanted some open places for tatted snowflakes, too.










Now it's time to turn my attention to block #2!

Hope you're having a weekend filled with doing something you love.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Idea Crystallized

I found some 'crystals', 14mm faceted octogonal disks, and decided to play a little and tat around one, just to experiment.

I like the play of light, and the way crystals reflect different colours.......

The beginning....


I thought of using it as a pendant for a necklace or just as a focal for my CQing.

 see how the colours change when it's on a different fabric?

 The result:  sort of a snowflake

the arms look a bit wonky in the pic, but  it hasn't been blocked

this will be sewn down on fabric, perhaps on one of my CQJP blocks




I think I liked it better as a pendant.

It was fun to experiment. I think I'll try a few different patterns and see what happens.











Have you been experimenting lately?
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

TAST: Week 3 - Feather Stitch

Here's what I've been stitching for TAST

Feather stitch and long arm feather stitch on the left in pink and pale green

Double feather stitch on the left in dark green

Closed feather stitch in pink and light green in the spiral

I also used the feather stitch to create a leaf shape and fern in the dark green

I really like the double stitch, and how it looks like seaweed.


I've been having fun practicing my embroidery stitches.

I wonder which stitch we'll do next week?


Hope you're having fun stitching too.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Tatting: Flowers

I'm taking a Colour Theory Course with StitchMap, and part of my lesson included creating 3 flowers. One was to be in warm tones, another in cool tones, and the third? a mix

warm in shades of yellow, orange and red.
It's Lizbeth thread colour 100, size 40

my attempt at tatting a mint green Dahlia
tatted with J&P Coates in size 30

I was trying to create the look of a clematis flower here, and then made some funky leaves.
This delicious thread is 'Rio' by Lady Shuttlemaker.

Each flower was sewn onto black fabric covered with organza. Next I'll add a felt backing and maybe some trim to the seams.
















Have you been tatting, too?

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

TAST and CQJP

I've not been around much, sorry to say, but I'm getting back in gear and hope to be posting more often.
Here's my TAST for week 2:

The sampler is stitched totally with buttonhole stitch, except for two lines of straight stitch on which I used the buttonhole stitch.


Next time I think I'll have to make my stitches a bit larger.
Gee, see the crooked rows. You wouldn't know I used a ruler, would you?    ...sigh....practice...practice....








I've been working on my January CQJP. I was waiting for my Christmas present to arrive in the mail. The goodies below are from Evening Star Designs. 





and I loved what I'd received so much, I used the rest of my Christmas money for a second order

I plan to use quite a bit of these supplies on my CQJP 2012!

The middle bundles open up to reveal these wonderful fibres!

 I used one in a variegated colourway to wrap onto the stitches of this seam treatment, adding green and pink and repeating the colours of adjoining fabrics. The ends were tacked down with red seed beads.

Bullion stitch adorns the silver. I think I should have made it a bit fatter.

I added seed beads to the row of flowers.

So far, so good, I think, but there's a lot more to do before my January block is finished.


Here's a pic of Turtle Island last week. It looks as though the snow is blowing in waves across the frozen lake, but this was a warm day, and mist was rising from the ice.

My amaryllis is in bloom, and looks beautiful, but, I'm disappointed it has so little scent. Don't you think the strength of a flower's scent should be in proportion to it's size?  This baby would make the whole room smell delicious, then.












I I finally finished piecing all my blocks for the CQJP 2012 Christmas wall hanging!  Yay!!  Here's a peek:

Lots of fun stitching ahead.
I hope you've been having fun doing something you love.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Tuesday Stitchers: TAST: Wk 1- Jan 2: Fly Stitch

Tuesday Stitchers: TAST: Wk 1- Jan 2: Fly Stitch

http://suztats.blogspot.com/2012/01/tast-2012-week-1.html

TAST 2012 -- week 1

TAST  week 1 :
FLY STITCH

  I've made a  book of double-layered fabric for my TAST challenge. I hope to stitch on the front of each side, hiding the backs when I then stitch the rows together, adding seam binding for a smooth finish. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see if it works. ;-)
This book has 30 panels, so I may need to add more, have two fabric books, or use more than 1 stitch/panel.  When completed, the fabric book will fold up accordion style, I'll add or create a cover from the panels, and tie the book together.

I've given the fly stitch a longer tail, and joined rows of fly stitch together to create a honeycomb pattern. I thought the stitches in the upper right section of the panel looked like geese flying in formation. The Y in fly is formed with a fly stitch. What fun.
Sorry the thread color doesn't show up better-- I may decide to use some darker colors next week.

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season. Best wishes for a creative New Year.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz