TAST - week 5

This week it's Herringbone stitch.

from top to bottom:
Tied herringbone

herringbone


double herringbone


laced herringbone


herringbone ladder stitch



It was fun practicing this stitch. I wanted to try interlaced herringbone and close herringbone, but I ran out of room.
Do you see that green above the stitching?  I'd used my marker to name the stitch, but decided to damp stretch the fabric since I could see the marks from the hoop. I spritzed, and ' herringbone' began to bleed onto the fabric. The air turned blue while my fabric turned green! I was madly spritzing and blotting until only a faint hint of colour remained.  Thank goodness most of it came out.  Now I'll have to find a permanent marker.

My red amaryllis is 4 years old and is now in bloom. Looks as though there will be 4 flowers. Each year the bulb gets larger.









Last night there was a little colour in the sky behind turtle island. It disappeared within a few minutes of taking this shot.








Hope your day has colour in it.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

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