Thursday, February 27, 2014

February Block Challenge Finished

At last I have finished my February block. This one was a marathon because I decided to make this a practice block for bullion stitch. 


I am afraid I got lost along the way and in the end I used a lace butterfly to finish the block. This is supposed to be farm with vegetables and fish and bees and one sheep that really needs to be shorn. All in all I enjoyed doing this block it pushed my comfort zone right out.
March I have decided is going to be easier I will only be allowed to use seam decoration lets see how that works out.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

More Hexies - The Knot Garden

I have been working on my Knot Garden again. Now I have at least finished one Hexie I can get back to the Garden. I was having a terrible time with the original stitching not because I cannot do the stitches but because I could not see the outline  of the design. 2 lessons learnt here.

1. Be more careful when you are transferring the design do not go at it like a bull at a gate. Make sure all the lines are transferred and you can see them properly. My ole eyes are not what they used to be.
2. Read all thinstructions before doing anything!!!

I started with the Palestrina stitch and as you can see in the picture below it is terrible.
It is lumpy and bumpy and not at all attractive. I then decided to ink over the pathways, seemed like a good idea at the time and maybe it will work at a later time when I am prepared to remove all the stitching incorrectly started. The flower beds are not supposed to be Colonial knots and as I said before the Palestrina knots are revolting.

Enter Kathy Shaw's blog and her notes about the garden. At last it makes sense to me I can see the shapes happening.

So I ditched the original and started at the beginning. Here is where I am at now.

Nice neat Palestrina, though I must admit I used 2 strands of floss not just one to get the look I wanted. The pathways are starting to come together. I think this is going to be a WIP for a couple of weeks as I can only sit for so long but I think this is going to work.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Well I have just finished my first hexie for the Stitchmap Hex Labs. I started doing the knotted garden pattern but after doing more frog stitch than colonial knots I decided I must at least finish one project for the month then I can continue on the garden.

This is the front. I did not have the correct silk ribbon for the swirly rose so I used a finer ribbon and made groups of roses. The woven roses have a yellow bead tucked into the centre and the group of 5 roses have stamens made of purple bugle beads and yellow seed beads. The little 3 bead elements are just pearlised seed beads.   
Outlining frame is Palestrina knots in variegated mauve Perl 8 thread to match the silk ribbon flowers. 



On the back of the hexie I covered the show through stitches from the Palestrina stitch with a plain chain stitch using the same thread as the front. I may go back later and whip the chain but we shall have to see.
Back to stitching the garden maybe my brain has worked it out now. I love doing Colonial knots but I am having trouble defining the paths of the Celtic Knot. I must admit I am no fan of Celtic Knots so this may be the problem but I am not going to be beaten by a pretty piece of stitching.