TAST Weeks 50 and 51

Last week's TAST stitch, the last of 2012, was the Knotted Cable chain stitch and the week before was the Berry stitch. I had a really difficult time with the Knotted Cable chain stitch. Neither the written instructions nor the photos were fully helpful to me and I couldn't find a video to help either. So, I muddled through it quickly just so I can say I did it.

Sharon will be continuing the TAST in 2013, with some changes that you can read more about here. I plan to continue and hope to be able to keep up. I sure have been learning a lot after years of using just the basic stitches.

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Weeks 48 and 49

Last week's TAST was the Arrowhead stitch and this week's is the Buttonhole Eyelet Flower. I had lots of fun combining them. But, although the Bullion Knot stitch is one of my favorite stitches (along with the French Knot) and I've made hundreds of them in the past, I just couldn't wrap (pun intended) my head around it this time. So, I found Mary Corbet's video to refresh my memory. (Please excuse the pencil marks I forgot to erase.)

As usual, click to enlarge

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 47

This week's TAST is the Portugese Border Stitch. I thought it to be a strange sort of a stitch. I found no video, nor other instructions, but Sharon's instructions were easy for me this time. After fiddling with the stitch in a triangle shape, I decided to try a straight line with beads. I put a bead on each of the foundations stitches and then worked up one side of the row. By that time I realized I hadn't made the foundation stitches long enough and didn't have a enough room to work up the other side. I decided it looks just fine this way and left it alone.

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 46

This week's TAST is the Checkered or Magic Chain stitch. It was a pleasure to have something a little lighter to work with this week, but there's no way I could have done it without Mary Corbet's video. I certainly did enjoy stitching it. 

And, just because Mary mentioned that she never tried it with three threads, I had to try it! It works! You can see some bumps where I didn't pull the unused colors through all the way, but with some extra care while stitching, it would look right.

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Weeks 44 and 45

I've done the TAST for Weeks 44 and 45 together and they happen to be almost the same stitch! Week 44 is the Closed base needlewoven picot and Week 45 is the Open base needlewoven picot. I was helped by another good video by Mary Corbet of Needle n Thread for the woven picot.

My plan was to make a circle of the open based, that would have been 12 of them, and a circle of the closed base inside. While it was an easy and fun stitch, I started to get bored really early on. So reduced the plan to what you see and filled in the circle pattern that I had penciled in on the fabric with some French knots. 

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 43

This week's TAST is the Buttonhole Wheel Cup stitch. I found it to be a fun and very easy stitch to do. I've been doing my TAST sampler on a piece of Osnaberg and recently ran out of space. Before the sample I stitched last week, I sewed on an extra piece of fabric. Last week and this week I stitched to cover the seam. Since I stitched last week in the middle of the line, I decided with this stitch to extend each side to the end, which is why you are again seeing Weeks 40, 41 and 42.

  
And, here's the whole sampler, so far:

Click on the photos to enlarge. If you click on the TAST label at the end of this post, you can see details about each one of the stitches.

Enjoy!

Debbie 

TAST Weeks 40, 41, 42

Catching up with the TASTs for Weeks 40, 41 and 42. The Beaded Hedebo Edge, the Knotted Loop and the Italian Knotted Border Stitch.

I combined them all into a small sample. They were stitched on the seam where I added a piece of fabric to my sampler. I really wish I had time to be more creative.

I had a lot of trouble with the Knotted Loop. I just couldn't get it at first. But, I got some good coaching from Jeanette of JennyPennyPoppy. Thanks, Jeanette! See her creative version of it.

 

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 39

This week's TAST is the Knotted buttonhole stitch. Pretty easy, but I just don't have time for anything more complicated than just the regular stitch this week. But, of course, I had to add a bead to it!

I added the bead before wrapping the thread around the two 'spokes' of the buttonhole stitch and then the bead got secured with the knot.

I won't be doing the TAST next week and will probably be doubling up on it the week after, doing 40 and 41 together.

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 38

Just enough so I can say I did it!

This week's TAST is the Drizzle stitch. Trusty Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread made it much, much easier with her video. 

After I made two curls, I decided to try putting on a bead. For that, I needed to thread a second needle in order to get the bead on top, and then unthread it and thread the original needle to finish the stitch. But it's more interesting/less boring that way. 

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 37

Back on schedule with the TAST, here is this week's, the Pistil stitch. I love French knots (Week 16), so how can I not love the pistil stitch. I actually don't remember ever having used it before and it was fun and interesting to do. It is one of the stitches that Laura Wasilowski uses a lot and she has a video on how she does it. Here is one of Laura's posts where she shows it and here's another one.

My next post will be about the winner of the giveaway on my previous post. Sometime later today. So, if you're interested, you can still enter. There are very few entries, so the odds are very good! 

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 35

It's TAST time again. Week 35 is the Sheaf stitch. I did not like this one, but got through it, albeit a bit sloppily. 

Hopefully, next week will bring a stitch more to my liking. Actually, it will probably be the week after as next week is probably going to be a catch up week. While I don't need to catch up, I do like having a week off!

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Weeks 33 and 34

This summer has been really busy, but I'm obsessed with keeping up with the TAST. I am trying not to let more than a week go by without trying out the stitches. So, here is another simple 'double'. Week 33,  Pekinese stitch, and Week 34, Linked Double Chain. 

I've never done either of these stitches before and didn't have a good start with the Linked Double Chain. It is VERY rare that I rip out stitches of anything I do, but I did it this time, because I really didn't like the way it was coming out. I figured that I'm doing so few stitches already, as it is, I may as well do them right!

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Weeks 31 and 32

I wasn't able to get last week's TAST, Algerian eye stitch, done in a timely fashion, so I'm combining it with this week's, the Cast-on stitch. I got kind of bored with the cast-on stitch after the first few. It was so easy when I did it exactly as Mary Corbet does.

Here's a shot of a small portion of the family chuppah that I made that has the cast-on stitch. It's from ten years ago. I must have had a lot more patience then, to make so many cast-on stitches at one time!

Next week is going to be a another very busy week for me, so it is likely that I'll again be combining it with the stitch of the week after.

Have a good weekend,

Debbie

TAST Week 30 + knitter winner

The winner of Henya's stitch markers is Sarah, who said "i am a subscriber of henya's blog! i have been for quite some time actually lol"! Congratulations, Sarah! I will be emailing you shortly for your address. Thank you to everyone who entered and are now readers of Henya's blog.

This week's TAST is the Oyster stitch. I just did a little doodling with it. Sharon B.'s image tutorials are very good, but I do better with video. Another great video tutorial by Mary Corbet! Don't know what I would do without her!

One of Mary's recent posts at Needle 'n Thread is about Random Stitch Samplers. What she shows is sort of what I've been doing with the TAST stitches. Five or six of the stitches are not on this sampler, they were done on individual pieces of fabric, for various reasons. 

I had been thinking of cutting them all up and then mounting them on other fabric to make a band sampler, but I decided to keep it the way it is. I will add more fabric to lengthen the piece for continuing the TAST. I will also add temporary pieces of fabric to the sides (after trimming and straightening) so I can fill in more spaces on the sides of the main fabric. For those not experienced in embroidery and may not understand what I'm doing, the extra, temporary, fabric is in order to have support for a hoop in that area.

Enjoy,

Debbie

TAST Week 29

Don't forget to check out my giveaway for knitters! Deadline July24.


This week's TAST is a good one. I did a simple experiment and got through it quickly. Not so perfectly stitched this time, though. Again, Mary Corbet has a very good video for the Basque stitch.

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Weeks 27 and 28

I combined last week's and this week's TAST. As I mentioned last week, I'm not crazy about the Bonnet stitch and I didn't find it in any book either. But, I managed to make something simple of it along with this week's Up and Down Buttonhole stitch.

I did find a nice video tutorial at Mary Corbet's Needle n' Thread for this week's, the Up and Down Buttonhole. All of Mary's photo and video tutorials are very good!

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 26

This week's TAST is the Palestrina stitch. When I looked at Sharon's instructions for this stitch, the first thing I thought was, I can't do this, it's for lefties! Then I started clicking on her links for variations and found what she calls the Reversed Palestrina, which is the same but going from right to left. So that's what I used, sort of. While I made each individual stitch from the right, I did them left to right like in the fantastic video tutorial by Mary Corbet. 


The only one of my books that I found it in was Judith Baker Montano's Elegant Stitches. She has a very good diagram there.

I kept it simple this week, so I could finish quickly and get back to knitting Wendy Johnson's Knit-a-long Mystery Shawl.

I'll get back to quilting one of these days. I'm still surrounded by fabric all the time. It won't be going away.


Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 25

This week's TAST is the Cable Chain stitch. This is a new-to-me stitch. I had a lot of trouble with it. I tried following Sharon's instructions. I googled to find others and tried following Sarah's instructions. I found that Mary Corbet, of Needle 'n Thread, has a video tutorial. Of course, all of their instructions were very good, I just kept doing the wrong thing!


I must have started and ripped out (cut the threads, actually) about five or six times before I FINALLY figured out what I was doing wrong! I should have taken photos, but didn't think of it at the time. So, here are my simple results.

I also found this diagram of an interesting variation, but I wasn't going to push my luck. I didn't have a chance to look through my books, as I usually do before I even start. OK, I forgot.


Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 24

Click here to enter my giveaway for Cheryl Lynch's Sew Embellished. You have until Sunday night!

The TAST is back after a week off! This week, Week 24, is the Buttonhole Wheel. You can see that I had a really good time with this one!

Enjoy!

Debbie

TAST Week 21 and Week 22

Just didn't make it in time for TAST Week 21, so I decided to combine it with Week 22. Week 21 was something called the Butterfly Chain stitch and this week's, #22, is the Knotted Cretan stitch. Now, I love knots in embroidery, but I did not like this stitch! Very strange stitch and not enjoyable. 

The outer ring of the hexagon is the Butterfly Chain (I did mine a little differently than the original way) and the inner hexagon is the Knotted Cretan. I used a Cebelia 10 thread that I dyed myself for the big stitch quilting that I did for Michael's quilt 12 years ago. Sorry the link inside that post for that quilt doesn't work anymore. There is another link available, but I can't find it right now.


Enjoy!

Debbie