CQJP, TAST, and WIPs

CQJP, TAST, and WIPs

I've been working on my May CQJP, and there have been a few changes:

Mr. Snowman changed his scarf to a red 

one, and, look!  He now has twiggy arms. 

That makes it easier to hold the tinsel he's 

putting on the Christmas tree.


Can you see the little copper decorations he's already hung on the tree? There are sparkles, too.

Tast stitch for this week, Butterfly Chain Stitch, decorates my CQ block..... it was fun to do.....

Looks as though Mr. S. has decorated the hall for a party. .....icicle lights strung along the wall......and snowflakes  hung here and there......


I wonder what else he's planning to do..........

My WIP's are from my Basic Crazy Quilting Course at StitchMAP.

 A little bit of tatting on the second needlebook I'm making as a gift

here's a peek at some more seam treatments.........

My needlebook is all embellished and it was fun playing with different seam treatments and layering them in search of something unique.
The middle one is herringbone, but it could be made using V's too for a little different look

I've completed the seam treatments on my thread roll-up although I may add some beads later......

there's some stitching going on on the pale orange patch.......next time I hope to be finished two motifs and a spider web....


Sounds like a lot of stitching coming up.......

We have our choir concert series this week: 1 dress rehearsal, and three performances, so I might not be around very much. (And, to save time, I just copied my post from The Tuesday Stitchers blog.)

Have a great weekend!

Hope you have some fun stitching, too!

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

TAST- Bullion Knot and CQJP

I don't know why it's called a bullion knot stitch.....I think it should be called a bullion wrap instead. Seems to me I've wrapped the thread around the needle at least a bullion times....lol.....(sorry)
I've been making bullions:

DH calls them worms......

I have variegated green bullions

and more, here....



there's so many


I wonder why they're all together like that.....

they do look like worms, crawling over each other.....

oh, look! It's a tree!....well...sort of......

and the tree topper?

it's supposed to be  Shisha, but I used a really large sequin for the mirror, and tried the shisha stitch to secure it

in the top of the 'mirror' is a smaller silver sequin, then a green sequin topped with a red crystal

you can see the sequin shape and a bit of the stitching. This is as close as I could get, so sorry it's somewhat blurry

The tree is on my May CQJP

Mr, Snowman is admiring the lovely Christmas tree.

I'm sure he'd be pointing to it, if he only had arms.........

hmmm, the tree topper isn't centered.....

so it looks a lot like our Christmas trees........lol

Mr. S was getting a little unruly-looking, so I used some silver metallic thread and buttonhole stitch around the outside of his 'snow' to tame the threads.



He's staring at me with his black crystal eyes.
I think he wants arms, don't you?




I hope that you're doing something you enjoy.


Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

TAST Times Two and May CQJP

I've spent the weekend catching up on my stitching. I posted about my Chikan Embroidery on the Tuesday Stitchers here, but I also finished TAST for the last 2 weeks. Yep, a little late.

As both stitches were new to me, I just played a bit.

Once I got used to this stitch, it was kind of fun

I enjoyed making the square frame

I liked the half chevron stitch, and plan to use this again.

 May CQJP

here's the first element on the CQJP: Mr Snowman

Each year, when the kids were little, we'd go outside after a good snowfall, and make snow people.

I still have to add arms, and a scarf, but I wanted to share.....
I think he's sooo cute

Mr. S. is only 3 3/4" from the top of his hat to his snowy butt.

What a schnozz!

My Mother's Day bouquet was a dozen red roses ( thanks DH! ) and they looked like red velvet. Mmmmm, smelled good, too!


I hope everyone celebrating has had a wonderful Mother's Day.
I spent some time this afternoon with needle in hand and wonderful memories of my Mother. I miss her.







Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

TAST- Wheatear

This week the TAST stitch is Wheatear: a new-to-me stitch.
I began with some practice lines, and then decided to see what different shapes I could make with just this stitch.
Here you have my results:

an 8-point star

maybe the different threads will show the star stitches more clearly

a seam treatment that creates a cross-stitch when the wheatears run closely together in a line






a spaced out wheatear line in green, with another line upside down and between the first row of stitches

My sampler

the motif in the lower right is created with opposite stitches in the pink joined v to v, and two detached  green wheatears joined point-to-point in the center of the pink, with inverted green wheatears on each side of the first green ones.
Hope that's understandable.


Sorry my rows and motifs aren't quite straight.....I stitched this as DH drove the truck to and from his brother's home. We had a nice 2-day visit.

Hope you've been having fun stitching today.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

TAST- French Knot

I've been in a silly mood lately, and had a punny idea for TAST for this week. And it was looking really good, until I made an error in stitching the pattern. I didn't notice until I was finished.......and then I made it worse trying to fix it.......sigh.
And, groan, it probably wasn't worth all the time I put into it.........
Nevertheless, here it is in all it's mess:

Yes, that blob of  french knots was supposed to look like an actual knot.....



I'll have to pay more attention to stitching next time instead of watching Ringer, won't I?  That'll teach me!



I wonder what next week's stitch will be?

Hope you're having a good stitchy week.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Tatting, TAST & Treasures

As I've challenged myself to concentrate on my embroidery and CQing this year, I realize I've been missing  my tatting and painting.
I found a portion of a book ( pages 5-32) in the second -hand shop filled with edgings: crocheted, knitted, and tatted edgings. I tested this one in Lady Shuttlemaker's 'Victorian Valentine' thread, size 20.

Called edging A-648, it measures 1" deep.
I think it will be perfect for a seam treatment on a future CQ!

TAST this week is a catch-up week, so I stitched the whipped wheel I missed while I was sick.
I decided to have a bit of fun, and added stem stitch, french knots, and straight stitch to my whipped wheel garden.
I made some whipped wheel and reverse whipped wheel flowers.

Rachel, from The Piney Woods Tatter, sent me some treasures: 3 skeins of thread, pearls, an assortment of buttons, green beads, and a gorgeous pendant she tatted.
I know I'll have lots of fun using these! You know I love greens, so this package was perfect.
Thank you so much, Rachel!
You can see Rachel's tatting on her blog.

Hearing the small roar of falling water, I went for a walk up to the beaver pond.
Water has been trickling from the pond, over rocks and boulders, down the rocky hill, pooling in rock depressions, and gurgling over stones, twigs, and pebbles.

 It cascades downhill from the beaver pond, meandering here over the ground, and there beneath the clump of trees, around the rock hill, and down, down  to flow into the lake in the bay creating muddy splodges of colour.

Here, the ducks gather to feed on the grasses fed by the silt, the blue heron stands frozen, searching the waters below for a frog or two, and, the beavers emerge from the creek to patrol the lake.

The beaver pond shallows

the beaver pond, with the dam on the left.

I like the way the clouds and sky are reflected in the water.







I hope you're having blue skies today.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz