Sheaf Stitch TAST up-date

 Stitch #52 on Sharon's Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge was the Sheaf Stitch.  It's above the 3 rows of Buttoned Herringbone stitches on the left side.  I had done this stitch before but it had been awhile so it was nice to have a reason to do it again.  My TAST owl is slowly nearing completion.  This week's stitch is the Turkman Stitch which is another new one for me.

 I am actually doing some cross stitch.  I love cross stitch patterns and love how it looks but it's not my favourite form of stitching.  I liked this small pattern by Lizzie Kate and thought it will be a nice birthday gift for my daughter.  I've already made 2 mistakes though which I am not going to fix :)

 Am so enjoying the felting process and stitching on it as well.  I named this piece I'm A Hoot :)

Once a week a couple friends at work meet at coffee break to either knit, stitch or needle felt.  I've been trying my hand at needle felted gnomies.  Someone named them Wynken, Blynken and Nod.

 and introducing Binkel - another needle felted gnome.

I didn't seed any squash in the garden this year but when this volunteer plant came up I just let it grow.  For not getting watered or anything it's done really well and there are 3 more squash on the other side.  Certainly glad now that I didn't hoe it under :D

Here's to Fall and a wonderful September.  Happy Stitching and creating everyone :)

Felting & the Eastern Stitch

I tried my hand at making a wet felted vessel using a resist.  It was too thin in spots so I needle felted an owl and added stitches to it as well. So that it would sit well I cut the bottom off of a plastic bottle and put it inside.  Looks MUCH better now than it did at first.

Here I laid out some roving and did a bit of needle felting as well.  Next step is to wet felt it and hope everything stays in place. 

This is the card I made for my mum for Mother's Day.  The free pattern is available from Happiness is Cross Stitching.

Cloud Filling Stitch was the Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) Week 38 stitch on Sharon's Pintangle site. The idea on what pattern to make with this stitch came from Annet's Fat-Quarter blog. I was very pleased on how nice this stitch looked and it wasn't too complicated either.

My TAST Owl slowly but surely filling in.

Another new stitch for me was this Eastern Stitch - the week 41 TAST stitch.  I'm going to do a few more and then I'll begin this week's TAST stitch which is the Fern Stitch.

Yesterday this beautiful Yellow-rumped Warbler flew down right by the window.  Thankfully it stayed still long enough for me to get this photo :D

Thank you for stopping by and wishing everyone a creative rest of the month.

Felt Stitching

 My finished felted wall piece all stitched and ready to go into a local art gallery show that's coming up in March.  I love the feel of stitching on felt and am absolutely hooked on it!

 This is what the piece looked like before dyeing.  I made a piece of wet felt using merino fibres and then clamped various resists (mostly washers).  I dyed it first in green, reclamped and then dyed it in burgundy, reclamped and then in sky blue.  Now I am on the lookout for more resists to use to get different patterns.

 Valentine's Day is coming up and I started a little free pattern from Happiness Is Cross Stitching. 
I love the free black cat patterns on this site :)

Last weeks stitch for Take A Stitch Tuesday was the Arrowhead stitch.  A very straightforward and easy stitch to do which I worked on my Owl's breast.

Have a wonderful and creative day everyone and thank you for stopping by :D

2 More Stitched Pages

 On more of my eco-dyed fabric from a workshop I took in August with Arlee Barr and Karin Millson I finished my D page using detached buttonhole stitching.  For some reason I quite like this stitch and should incorporate it somehow in other things.

 My O page stitched with oyster stitches on onion dyed fabric.  This was a bit tricky to learn and I had to practice it a number of times on a scrap piece of fabric.  I free motion embroidered the owly :)

 This free pattern is available from Holly's Hobbies.  I just had to stitch it for myself :)

 Another free pattern from Happiness Is Cross Stitching.  This little ornament will be a gift for one of my sister's in law.  Free patterns on the net that are so easily downloaded are great!!

The Grey Partridges are back in the yard.  Haven't seen them all summer but now with cooler temperatures and a bit of snow they've come back.  Hope all 7 of them make it through the winter.


Hope everyone will be able to find some quiet stitching time today.
Thanks for popping by :)

First Crazy Quilt piece

 Progress on my first ever crazy quilt piece.  It's a 9" x 9" block for this month's stitchery guild project.  Some of the stitches I've used are:  chain stitch, french knots, chevron, lazy daisy, fly stitches, bullion, ribbed spider web and straight stitches.  I'm going to try a herringbone next on one of the remaining seams. 

 I'm learning a lot about what not to do on my pulled thread chatelaine project.  #1 save doing the neat hedebo edging to the end so that it can go into a hoop easily #2 don't pull too tight as it can warp the design (as you can see on the left hand side sample).  Once I get the rhythm of the pattern going it's quite enjoyable and relaxing to do.

 4 layers of roving with bits of wool and silk hankies all layed out and ready to begin the felting process.  There's a rubbery circle piece in the middle to act as a resist.

 After wetting and rolling and shocking and throwing, I removed the inner circle and voila.  I was very happy that it turned out to the size I wanted.  I started with 15" x 15" and it felted down to 12" x 12" which is just what I wanted.

 This is a different felted piece that I was experimenting with some needle felting on as well.

It was lovely to see the bees on our blooming Nanking cherry tree.

Happy May everyone :)

Hearts and Tyvek

 A quick and easy cross stitch heart pattern that I came across at dandee designs.  One for each of my daughters and I'm set for Valentine's Day :)

 Hearts stitched together pattern also available from dandee designs.  She stitched her hearts separately which actually look better.  If I have time I'll do another one.

 Been playing this week with some Tyvek (house wrap).

 I cut it into pieces and painted them with metallic acrylic paints.  They all dried in less than 1/2 an hour.  Then I ironed them between sheets of parchment paper.  Some I ironed a bit too long as it just melted and disappeared.

 Other pieces bubbled and puckered and holed up nicely which I then free motion stitched owls on.  Not sure yet what I'll do with them yet.

 This one will become an artist trading card.  I need to back and put an edge around it.

 Also played with candy wrappers again and made another couple of atc's to trade.

 Thankfully I have co-workers and friends saving wrappers for me.

 Last week we went down hill skiing at Castle Mountain in Alberta and I was thrilled to see Stellar Jays.  I had put out some peanuts and cracked corn and within minutes there were 5 of them right outside the door.

Have a wonderful week everyone and a Happy Valentine's Day :D

Chain Stitched Applique

 Slow progress on my whole cloth piece but I did manage to add a couple of bright orange flowers to it.  Using fusible web I ironed this flower down and chained stitched around the edge and added some pistil stitches and beads.

 Wanting a 3 dimensional look as well I buttonholed around this flower and stitched it on with french knots.  I have 3 more flowers to go and then will add a few stitched bugs.

 This is supposed to be the beginnings of a cross stitched robin but I've already made 4 mistakes so we'll see what bird it will be by the time I'm done :)

 Grouping of 4 of my owlet accordion books that I've enjoyed stitching.

Owl accordion booklet opened up.

 4 more owl accordion booklets. 

It always makes my day when a Sharp-tailed Grouse comes into the yard.  We've been having -28 Celsius and into the - 30's at night so I am glad to scatter a bit of seed on the ground for the birds.

Happy New Year and wishing everyone a creative and wonderful year!

Sampler in Blue Nearly Completed

I had thought I was absolutely finished but then when I took this picture I saw there was a row on the right side border that I haven't crossed yet!! There might be more uncrossed stitches so I'd better look carefully. Very carefully.

 More candy wrapper stitching.  Certainly glad for friends that are saving wrappers for me.

 This month's guild stitching project is to make a 9" x 9" whole cloth piece.  Using a light box I traced flowers and curly cues onto the cloth.  Then using acrylic paint, textile medium and a small brush I began to paint.

 This is my completed painted design.  Next I will put a pellon backing onto it and begin to outline stitch the flowers and stems using running stitches, back stitch, chain or maybe even cable chain.  Not sure yet.  I should be working on Christmas gifts but this has gotten me side-tracked.

I didn't have an onion mesh bag for the suet I made for the birds but this Downy woodpecker didn't mind that I used an avocado mesh bag instead.

Have a most wonderful day and thank you for stopping by :)

Poppy Fabric Postcard Swap

 I participated in a poppy themed fabric postcard swap in September with Lin at St. Viktor Quilts and this is the lovely postcard she made and mailed to me.  Poppy Seed Heads was made using shibori dyed fabric, gold Markal rubbing of a poppy seed head and hand stitched.  Thank you very much Lin for making such a nice postcard for me.

 I heat gunned organza and a granola bar wrapper onto a piece of felt, fused the red organza to the felt, added some beads and hand stitching for my Poppies for Lin fabric postcard.

 Slow progress on my Sampler In Blue.  I really hope to be finished by the end of October or November at the latest.

Enjoying the beautiful Autumn colours.

Have a delightful day everyone :)