Stitching with a Shimmy

Shimmying through life with needles and thread…

Archive for the ‘TAST’ Category

March 16th, 2012 by deRomilly

TAST – Week 11 – Whipped Wheel

Week11-WhippedWheel

Week 11! Whipped wheels. I actually love this stitch. I went for a more abstract version on this, and while I like it all right in this orientation I think if I framed it I’d rotate it to the right 1/4 turn. ;)

I learned a bit. 1. If you’re going to put them in a design, either use removable ink for the circles, or draw the spokes and not the outer edge, especially for larger rings – I tend to forget that larger makes them more octagonal, and it was hard to cover the permanent ink.

I played more with placement and being able to overlap with these, including adding beads to the spokes before whipping, and to the whipping thread as I went. All in all, they are very different looks, and I think I prefer the “put it on the spokes” method.

Click the images for more detail! The texture is great, and lends itself to photography from different angles very well, even if it did capture my added cat hair specialty fiber perfectly!

March 12th, 2012 by deRomilly

Two things today…

1. TAST is late, but finished! :) (hard to stitch or stay on schedule when husband is sick for a whole week!

Week 10 - running stitchYes, it IS all running stitch, despite appearances. As usual, click on the photos to see more detail.

The stem is double running stitch and pattern darning at the hip.

The side petals are double running stitch with running stitch forming seeding inside.

close-up

The purple-blue long petals are whipped running stitch.

The turquoise long petals and darker blue center petals are done in a running stitch that has been whipped as though I were making a pekinese stitch: whipped in loops over two stitches. It’s more oval than round because the running stitch is spaced further apart than the traditional back space.

The design is from this month’s Elmow Package. :)

2. Monday treasure – hard to go ‘splorin’ on the net when your husband’s been sick! LOL But Mary Corbet posted this link this morning, and so I’m stealing it because it’s well, amazing!

Japanese embroidery as done by a master. I wish I were this quick!

March 2nd, 2012 by deRomilly

TAST – Week 9 – Couching

Couching Example

I spent the week running my across town to get my car fixed, so no time to stitch. Luckily I had this couching sample from years ago. It was supposed to be my final project in the Silk and Goldwork EGA class taught by Kay Stanis, but I went and got married and moved twice in the middle of the course, and never finished the final project. Probably 10 years is a little late to turn it in now, although I will probably finish it at some point! I already see issues with my stitching! (and boy are my color choices bright!)

Click for lots more detail.

February 24th, 2012 by deRomilly

TAST Week 8 – Chain Stitch

Chain Stitch Variations

My unfinished Chain stitch work – chain, broad chain, whipped chain, magic chain, and magic chain worked in a Fibonacci sequence through the middle.

The design is a highly simplified line drawing of an Art Nouveau swirly thingy I found in Dover’s Art Nouveau Motifs book and CD set. (No. 018) if you’re playing along!)

Click for more detail. The small spiral is worked in Renaissance Gallery’s Overture cotton (a lot like Caron Watercolors), and the big ones wrapped around in DMC – a hot pink and a variegated grey/black. I’ll probably finish this over the weekend, but I wanted to get it up on the day I promised y’all for TASTs. It’s been a busy week, and tonight we celebrate my goddess-son’s birthday… he’s 15, and I can’t believe it. It seems like yesterday!

February 16th, 2012 by deRomilly

TAST – Week 7 – Detatched Chain Stitch

Detatched ChainWell, this week we’ve been fighting illness in the household. I seem to have caught a milder version of whatever it was the EO had last week.  Other than sleeping, and doing a little writing for business, I’ve been distracted and feverish. This is the result.

This week’s challenge is, I think an example of some ideas look better on paper than they work in real life. :) Once you get a detatched chain stitch big enough for a bird-body, you have to couch down the sides as well to make it stay remotely chain-shaped. And that’s easier said than done, especially without a drawn outline to follow! So, other than the bird, this is a pretty standard use of the lazy daisy stitch – flowers. The colors are brighter than those I usually choose – the background is a grey-green, and they do more than pop off of it, despite the appearance in the photo! As usual, click for more detail.

Week 7 Sketch

Sometimes the doodle works better than the embroidery!

One thing this TAST challenge is doing for me, is making me take an idea and run with it quickly, without over-thinking it. If I want to get it posted by Thursday or Friday, I really need to be finished by Wednesday or Thursday evening. Since I’m the consummate over-thinker, this is a good thing, I think. It’s making me try things with stitches I have in the past overlooked as too geometric to do my organic work with, and making me work quickly. Seven weeks in, and I’ve already learned a lot about myself and how I design!