TAST Week 17 - Running Stitch

Such an easy stitch this week, but what to do with it. I have worked gold thread around the flowers and stems on part of my cream block. The flowers I whipped and the stems I left plain.








I knew I wanted to make a dragonfly. The wings are whipped running stitch, the thorax is several straight stitches, tapering down and then laced across with running stitches. The tail is made with 3 lengths or running stitch and whipped with a french knot at the end. The head is straight stitch,the eyes french knots in silver madeira metallic and running stitch in metallic for wing fill-in.






I wondered if I could do a lake scene in the running stitch. I decided to do the picture all in one go and I ended up bored when I was almost done, so I put in a few french knot trees on the other side of the lake and fly stitch bush on the foreshore.
I'll never put Van Gogh out of business.

Our lake and ocean

These are pictures taken last week of our Lake Victoria. There are a series of connected lakes that go for many miles to Lakes Entrance, which is where many professional fishing vessels are moored.
The first is our local beach and shows the left side to the marina and hotel. The second is across the lake and is too misty to see the mountains in the background. They don't look high, even when they are clearly seen, but they are when you drive through them.
The third picture is looking to the right and shows the wooden groins that were placed there to help stop erosion from the current. Every few years the dredge comes and clears the channel and pumps sand onto the beach. This then covers all the wooden structures. ... and the grass



















The two photos below are at our surf beach and part of the Ninety Mile Beach. The ocean here is called Bass Strait. Tasmania is south of this.
The strange thing about our 'Ninety Mile Beach' is that there seems to be one in every part of Australia.

EYE CANDY

This is my latest Gathering block from Bear in Sth Australia. Unable to make the Gathering she mailed it to me.
I wish you could hold it, to see her beautiful roses. All over the block there are various sorts of roses, large and small.
Is it any wonder I love this and all the rest of my blocks.


















I am sure that these Gathering Blocks that I received will entice you to look at them all. Each one is beautiful and I feel honoured to own them.
You should be able to double click on them for a close-up.

The first here is by Andrea from Tasmania, who sadly was unable to be with us at Easter. My colour preference was cream but not a 'must be cream' There were no restrictions for added colours.

The work by Andrea is so delicate and I love the WOW. (for those who may have forgotten, like me, white on white) There is such a lot of detail on this.


Julia made this next one, and she must know how I love garden flowers and hollyhocks. The seams are lovely. The roses and violets are gorgeous.

Lilac and purple are a favourite of mine














Bet you wouldn't pick this lovely block as having been made by a 'new to embroidery and cq" lady.
Our Texan friend Brenda made this for me and it's a classy and beautiful block.















My lovely lilac and sage block is by Maria, who loves seams. I like these too and the bouquet of flowers. There is a group of three silver leaves which is a charm I have not seen before.















My friend Vivienne made this beautiful block. with the silk print of daffodils and she replicated them in the bottom left corner. Not an onion in sight, only bulbs. Close up these daffs are small and the cups perfect.













Can you imagine anyone called Rowdy making this serene and charming block? So hard to believe isn't it. The delicate lilac flowers, the little heart around my initial and a tiny bouquet, the twisted organza ribbon couched down with wee flowers.

Perhaps it was a boisterous twin I met.

Love the work Catherine










Another absent friend. This time from the US.
Norma has dyed the angel and beautiful apricot fan. I forgot to ask if she crocheted it too. Her roses and seams are so pretty.















Sandie was our hostess for Easter and she made this beauty. Sadly my camera caught the lovely centre silk in a funny light and has made the picture seem faded. It is quite pretty, you will have to take my word for that. Such lovely soft pinks and creams













Margaret from Queensland is the maker of this last block here. Margaret also was absent from the group, but maybe next time our missing friends will be able to be with us.

There are so many types of stitches here and they all come together beautifully. It is easy to see why I love the cream as it shows off the work to the best advantage. Well I think so, others may not.
: - )

Believe me I could have raved about these blocks, but I thought I'd let you make up your own mind.

I am sure you have found much to inspire you as I have done.

TAST Week 16 - Palestrina

I am now up to date.
An easy task this time. I love Palestrina stitch and used 4 shades of Semco Tapestry wool to make a Celtic heart pattern. I think I'll be using this more in cream cotton. The pattern would look better in one colour, but I wanted to make sure I crossed the lines properly.

TAST Weeks14 Bonnet stitch and 15 Oyster stitch

The Bonnet Stitch came out strangely the first time, but I realized after that it had to be worked from right to left. Also I hadn't caught the thread at the bottom, so I ended with a detached and narrowing line. I tried a single version, a face to face in green/red and a back to back in green/violet.

This one I wanted to try to see how oversewing the stitch would look. It could be good in other colours as a sea bed.












Then I tried a square


















and a doodle of up and down stitches


















and of course, a tree. For the trunk I made wider bites and kept the height short..it's worked sideways.


















Week 15 was for Oyster Stitch. What a trial. It took ages to get it to look right, though I am not saying that I did it correctly. I went through several metres of threads before getting the stitches to stop unravelling.


I found the three detached 'buds' sat well in a fine doubled-wool thread and I turned them into a snail and a butterfly.

The roses were a terror to do in knitted, silky floss. No way would they stay unless I stitched them down somewhere. The chain stitch keep slipping upward. I tried several methods to keep them as the diagram showed, but no luck.
A bit of judicious green stitching and they look okay to me.


Lastly the flower and buds in A'broder and they sat as nicely as you could wish for. I hope next week's stitch is easy.. or do I? The challenge is just that and I sure have had to work at some of the stitches lately.

My 12 Gathering Blocks

When I started these 12 blocks with the personal likes/dislikes we were given, I became confused by having far too many choices. I did Andrea's and came to a grinding halt. After a lot of thought I realized the choices were guidelines only, not meant to have Every thing included and I found it no bother to start again. As you see below I couldn't even stick to the guidelines LOL
My hope is that the girls all liked what they received from me.

Andrea's block was the first I did and as she wanted bright colours, this block seemed to take on a life of it's own. I had no bother completing it.
















Norma's block is fairly simple and has a snail from Maria Freitas BDE book, a dragonfly , hand painted fan and some SRE roses.















Bear likes purples, but no way would my brain accept this. I think the only thing I did that was requested was roses , of which there are plenty and a butterfly. I also did my second beetle from Jane's book














Margaret's was also easy, as she likes blues and flowers and I love embroidering flowers.

















Vivienne loves a Victorian look and I hope I achieved it. I tatted the cross and used flowers for her initial. I know she loves daffodils, so I tried one. Surprisingly Viv put daffs on my block, which are small and so lovely. I enjoyed the crewel wool pansy which is another favourite of Viv's.













Julia also is a Victoriana lover and I tried to keep the colours to burgundy but felt it needed a lift and I chose oatmeal/cream shades. This was my first Scarab beetle from Jane Nichols beetle book. It was fun and very easy to create. There's a bit of my old broken jewellery near the top left of the block. I wound vine leaves around her initial.












Brenda asked for Victorian shades also. Very popular with our girls. As Brenda is new to Cq-ing, I tried a little of each application as an example for her. A little beading on lace, SRE on a small motif in the middle, buttons with stitches and beads and a charm or two.













Kathy requested no block for herself as she didn't have time or experience to retaliate (grin..) but being 'Us' we decided to surprise her. I think Kathy is more of a sane quilter at present. Bear let us know she liked hunter green and I did this on mainly cotton. I'm always surprised when I use cottons to embellish on, that they are so soft and easy to work on. I tried highlighting the flower and berries.










Mary asked for creams, but for some reason I kept including pastels. I did this one on and off, trying to get back to just cream, but my eyes and fingers would not co-operate.















Sandie's block was fun. I made a colourful fly (don't ask what sort please) from Jane's book.
The quail is from Maria Freitas BDE book and a pleasure to make. Very quick too, which surprised me as I used a single strand of Rajmahal for bullions/Turkey stitch, etc.,












Catherines block was dictated by the fact she loves her garden. The tree top is made from wool lace and I hoard the last small section of it, using it for special things. I used small amounts of wadding to make the clouds 3 dimensional.
I can just see Catherine lolling about her garden, being waited upon by her DH.













Maria's block was another easy one to embroider. Maria asked for turquoise and lavender and embroidered seams. Well I didn't get them heavily encrusted, so I hope she liked it.

For Ingeborg

Ingeborg is this Madeira thread the one you were trying to identify? It has a woven or knitted appearance and is about 1/8 inch wide.