Off topic

I got totally sidetracked while making the background for some cast on stitches. This is what did it.

The stitches in this delicate lacy plant for my background are what totally captivated me. I started doing a fly stitch and then thought about tying it for a little spread at the top and a bulb-like look at the bottom. I tried some more little plants on the felt with tiny beads in the blub part but got so hasty in my photographing I forgot to snap their picture. The beads seem to go well with this stitch.

I tried it “on grid”.

Then I had to experiment with off grid lines and trials with threads. And there went my stitching time–all used up on an off topic stitch.

100/3 compared with pima cotton

Whether this stitch is in use and has a name, I’ve not had time to explore. I almost think it’s something I’ve worked with before, but I’m not certain.

Slivers and slices

This week I began following Sharon b’s suggestion to do French knots in conjunction with previous TSTC stitches. I’ve been taking it in the direction of a slivers and slices review of the TSTC stitches. Today is week 5-8. And sadly they are sporting some pretty poor French knots. I experimented with a number of threads in these samples. I found it was much easier for me to do French knots with something like a Perle 8 or thicker than with something thinner like a Perle 12 or 100/3. Will my practice ever make perfect when it comes to these stitches? No, I don’t think so, but I’ll reaccess the question when I’ve made it through TSTC week 24.

Week 5 Chevron stitch

Week 6 Algerian eye and eyelet stitches

Week 7 Feather stitch

Week 8 Fly stitch

More French knots–if you’re wondering what this section is, it is for experiments with my variation from last week. I like it more as I work with it. It seems clean, fast and has a lot of play in it. I’m learning more about it and had fun testing it on curves last night. Photos to follow. Please do let me know by a comment, if you know what this variation is. Thank you!

A word of thanks winging it’s way to Kay Susan for her blog flog.

A few fly stitch fills and borders

Well, I took a few minutes away from some of my other work to try a few ideas on fills and borders. Of course, those few minutes turned into about an hour. But I’m still glad I did it. And I did finish one project except for the fastening yesterday. One more should be finished off by Tuesday and I figured out what to do with a third that had been hanging around for too long. I feel extremely happy about that. Because there are three more that need stitching and I can hardly wait to start them. I brought one more in the preliminary stage last week.

I hope you won’t be bored by the repetitive colors. I nicknamed this my peaches and cream collection. The benefit to me is that as I evaluate the variations, I’m not influenced by the color but consider the design, negative space and so forth. A couple of these are crying out to me that they should move out of Perle 8 and go into another thread. Several others cry out for embellishment.

As you may notice I did only one “off grid” piece. This was on the very first post about the fly stitch. Everything in today’s post is counted. I laugh over my love for both the formal, counted side of stitching and design and the uncounted freestyle. I do think the rest from the formal counted side has allowed me to come back to it with a real zest for the best parts of it. I feel thankful for the freeing experience of doing other designs without the constant concern of replicating every stitch. Sharon b‘s class on the personal library of stitches was instrumental in this, so I send out a big thanks to her for that class and TSTC along with prayers and best wishes for a successful surgery and recovery.

Details on yesterday’s TSTC Week 8 post

The sun is out in the central valley again! Today, I got better pictures that show how to do the variations on some of the fly stitches I was working with yesterday. You will notice that sometimes the tie down stitch very small at other times, exaggerated or hidden other another stitch. I wish I had time to develop some of these into fills and not just lines or borders and so forth. I’m having to work very hard on the more commercial side of my needlework since my daytime job seems to be shaping up into lots of extra hours in the next few months. But at least I can tuck these away in my resource book and when the slower times come around I have these starts to go back to.

This yellow border is the only one that may not be very understandable because of the thread running through the middle of it after everything was stitched. It’s two row of hearts “back to back” with the points in opposite directions, edged by larger fly stitches on each side with a common tie down stitch between them. Then a thread is whipped stitched through the middle and pulled slightly to bring the stitches together.

The middle stitch in this photo below is one that I ‘d like to try out with a thicker thread and experimenting with the length of the loop might change the look, too. I would have fun trying to turn any of these into a fill.

In the next photo the color of the thread is a blue with gray added. Well, when the thread is bent by the tie down stitch the angled thread catches the light much more than the rest of it. I didn’t even notice this when I was looking at the stitch myself; the camera magnified this aspect of the thread. There is one extra straight stitch in the middle of each low point. And the high points share a common tie down stitch.

This red stitching is probably the simplest. The exaggeration of the tie down stitch some how makes this work. I like the rhythm and it’s easy and fast to stitch. I might just have to spend a few minutes and make this into a fill. What could be done to make the center area more than white space? So many possibilities–a sequin, beads, SRE or another stitch.

TSTC Week 8: The Fly Stitch

This is just a quick post with a couple of things I’ve been stitching. It’s a rainy day here in the central valley and I’ve got several appointments this morning that I can’t miss. Please see the side bar for links to SharonB’s blog and click on “Take a Stitch Tuesdays” at the top of her blog. The fly stitch is one of my favorites. Sharon’s Stitch Dictionary also listed on my side bar has many examples and demonstrations of additional variations.

My apologies that the picture quality is not better, I took these inside and I have to remember next time that floss and 100/3 do not photograph too well for showing stitch detail.