Stitching with a Shimmy

Shimmying through life with needles and thread…
May 10th, 2012

What I’m Up To…

tramatina1.jpg

I always feel like I need to keep to a strict schedule on the blog, and then life happens and I fall off the wagon. When this happens, I feel like I’m disappointing you, and me as well, since I love the communication we have through here!

If/when I take a day job (which is looking more and more likely every day), this is only going to become worse. How can I write for others, write for me, update my shops and still crank out designs? Eesh! It’s overwhelming. And don’t forget, teach dance, workout and dance for myself in there!

And yet there is this inner need for schedule. For consistency. For putting very specific types of posts on specific days. It’s like these days my overly logical side is in a tug of war with my creative side – and I can’t get either to put down the rope and work together. Heh. My inner world is a lot like the US Congress!

So for now I’m going to try to ease back into blogging – and TAST, for that matter. The TAST weeks where I managed to stitch improved my creativity immensely, and that’s a good thing. I’m not going to fret if I can’t keep up every week though.

I am going to try to keep up with the Thursday posts about what’s on the design table or embroidery frame, however. That’s the kind of thing I really want to keep sharing with all of you, and your feedback makes my week!

That said, stitching relieves stress. (Unless you add business stress TO your stitching!) Here’s an article a friend passed on to me about how more people are picking it up and why.

Enjoy! (And go stitch something!)

March 16th, 2012

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

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

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

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!