SGRR Update

Hey everyone. Here is an update on my Spring Garden Round Robin. I have just finished Susie's block. We are nearly near the finish now. There are only a couple more blocks before I get my block back. Below is the complete block before I mailed it on to Debbie.



Here is a close up of one of my favorite flowers on this block. The center is raised cup stitch. I found this stitch over on Sharon B's blog. I am really anxious to try this stitch with a thicker thread. The petals are detached chain stitch in two different colors. I stitched a bead into the center of the raised cup stitch. A few of these flowers are stitched onto a vine of chain stitch.

Here you can see more of the vine. I also stitched down green leather leaves onto the vine. The purple flowers are actually part of the fabric pattern. The fabric is so pretty I wanted to enhance it rather than cover it up. The flowers are stitched in padded satin stitch. The wonderful thing about this stitch is that even if you are not the best at satin stitch, it still comes out looking great!

Here is a small caterpillar made from buttons and beads. This darker green vine is couched down.

Here is a better veiw of the couched down vine with more leather leaves. The blue and purple flower is woven spider wheel with french knots around the outside.

These french knot lilacs were stitched by DeeDee. I also stitched somke tiny gold butterfly beads around this area.

Below is a hand dyed lace motif I won in a giveaway from Nicki Lee. I stitched some gold cup beads with purple seed beads ontop of the lace motif.

Here is a generalized view of the work I added to Susie's block.

I had a little helper. My Tucker just loves all the bright colors on these crazy quilt blocks.

Well that is all for now. I am patiently looking foward to the next block. Until then stitch and be merry!

Susie's Block

Hello everyone. I have recieved the next block in my SGRR. This is Susie's block.



I am having a wonderful time stitching on it so far. The picture below shows the section I am working on. I am stitching for both me and DeeDee, who is having some minor back problems. She started by stitching the lilac flowers. Aren't they pretty. Just look at all those french knots. I guess I missed a good shot, but the dark green thread is a hand woven textured thread. I'm not sure what it is exactly. I couched it down with gold thread.

The picture below shows the first thing I stitched on this block. It is a light green stem/vine in chain stitch. I just love chain stitch. It can be used for so many different things.

Below is a close-up of the leaves. The leaves were cut out of a soft light green leather. They are stitched on with a line og gold backstitch down the center of the leaf.

As for Susie's block, that is all I have to show for now. I do plan on adding many flowers next. Also I am toying with the idea of a stumpwork butterfly. We shall see.

Moving on you will notice I have been toying around with jewelry work. This all started with spiders. One day a couple weeks ago I ran across a tutorial for beaded spiders on Shawkl. They werte quite beautiful and festive for the Halloween season. I decided to try one. In fact I made about 6 or 7. Pictures will come in a later post. They came out very nice. I ended up selling most of them. Two were birthday gifts. This gave me an idea to try to make a small profit off of them. I went to Michael's and was bargain hunting, because beads are expensive. I ended up buying a small kit that turned out to be a steal. Anyway within the kit there were findings to make jewelry so over the past weekend I decided to play around with it. Here are the results.

I love these earrings. They remind me of fall.

These earrings really sparkle and they match the necklace.

Below is a close up on the bead detailing.

So not bad for a beginner I would say. I will also be trying to sell these items. For now I am just selling to friends and family, but I have been looking into opening an Etsy account. Once I have a good stock of items I may do it. If anybody has any feedback as to their success with selling on Etsy I would love to hear it.

A final word on Tambour Embroidery. I have been simply fascinated, bodering on obssessed with this technique for well over a year. Finally for my birthday my hubby let me buy the hook and miscellanious tools. Finding info on this technique is rather difficult. There are very few classes on the subject also. However I have found a DVD made by Bob Haven an instructer on the subject. That is currently the first thing I am saving up for. I can't wait to share my explorations on this subject. Until then I will be anxiously awaiting my Joann's order! Stitch and be merry!

Busy Busy Busy!

Hi all! I have been extra stitchy busy! Before I share the details I would like to establish an end date for my fabric giveaway. I will pick the winners next saturday. That is July 16th, so keep an eye out. Please keep in mind that these are free. If you can't afford the postage I will provide it for you. Now on to business.


Look what I just found this morning. I walked to the store for a bag of ice and stopped by a yard sale. A very nice lady sold me all this treasure for just a dollar. I am so excited!



So this is my very first large cross-stitch. I'm not going to tell you guys what it is but I will be posting updates. The first person to guess correctly what it is will recieve a free goodie bag from me. It is being stitched on 28 count white aida. I didn't use the colors the pattern called out for. Actually my husband chose the colors for me so I am very excited to see how it turns out. He's really good at stuff like that.

This will be a small change purse. All the embroidery is finished. I am just going to add a couple of lace flowers to it and then it is ready to be stitched together. This is the first of the christmas presents I am making for this year. I figured I better get an early head start. I will be making several change purses. The cross-stitch will also be a gift for my sister-in-law and her fiance.

I recieved the next block in my Spring Garden Round Robin last weekend. This is Cat's block. She had the wonderful idea to make it all green so the flowers would stand out. I am very jealous. It was such a great idea!

This is a closeup of the corner I am working on. I started with feather stitch and back stotch lines to lay down a foundation of greenery. Then the blue bits inside the feather stitch are my very first attempt at the oyster stitch. I like this sticth very much. Something about this pattern reminds me of peacock feathers.


This pink stitch as you can see is 3d. It is a woven trellis stitch. I am making flower petals. To achieve the 3d look I inserted a pen cap underneath the foundation stitches as I wove them. I rather like the effect and can't wait to see how they turn out.

Breakthrough

Hello everyone! It feels so good to post finally. I've been having so much fun stitching that I completely forgot about sharing. I have made more progress on my swap block.


Here you can see a closeup of the flower spray. Not too much change here. I beaded and stitched a few of the leaves. I am going to do the same for the flower petals except in purple.

This view really shows the texture.

Here I have chain stitched vines over a piece of lace. I used DMC variegated thread for the lilacs to give them some depth.

Here is another close-up. The frnch knots for the lilacs were done with only 3 strands of floss. The green floss is satin.


On Monday I recived DeeDee's block in the mail. It is my first for the Spring Garden Round Robin over on stitchinfingers. I love the bright playful colors she used. Not to mention all the polka-dots! I love polka-dots!

I have already stitched a small pattern on it. I used the same green satin floss chain stitch as was shown on the swap block. I was trying to go for an atique-style pattern here.

I used mostly chain stitch for the flower petals. However the buds are bullion knots and I used french knots for the tops of the pistils.

I am thinking of adding a couple small stumpwork butterflies. Hmmm...

Big Update

Hi all! I have a lot to share today. The first being my progress on my Band Sampler. I have almost finished the chain stitch section. Take a look.

Here I have made a block for a swap with a friend. I love the soft luxury theme.

This is the block I made for my Spring Garden Round Robin on Stitchinfingers. I still have to make a little book to go with it.

Here's a close up of the butterfly. It was my first attempt at applique. It went fairly well except at the top of the body where the antennae will be.

This is a block I recieved in the mail a few days ago for the swap with a friend.

This is a close up of the center. Isn't it cute?

She also gave me some charms. I love the teapot!

So I needed to update my thread stash because I am running low. I decided to start buying the thread I need for my fairy cross stitch and grab extra of each color. My goal is to get three of each color and sustain three. I grabbed the first 5 colors on the list. The orange was an extra color a friend insisted I buy.

Here are more goodies from the floor of my friend Angie's Tailor Shop. I swear it is like a Crazy Quilter's dream and the best part is, that it is all free.

I have been secretly coveting this bag of blue beads for a couple of days. I like the wierd leaf shape beads.

And finally this is a good size swatch of shiny light blue fabric. I have no idea what to do with it. Any siggestions?