Touch My Stitches #16: Detached Chain Stitch

Day 272 Week 7 of 52 of the TAST Challenge. The Detached Chain Stitch or Daisy Stitch or Lazy Daisy Stitch.

(See the end of this post for all my previous links.)

Still continuing to catch up on all my TAST stitches but slowly getting there, yay!  I was going to work this piece in all white originally but then I was sitting here in my studio and saw the vintage wooden spool of red thread and knew that was where I had to go next.  This is a part of my whole, go with the flow plan, and not trying to predict where each piece will take me.  I feel like this is allowing me to enjoy and focus on the stitches more, be a part of the process.

I went with the cliche' flowers on this one.  No originality.  BUT I was going to stop here and now I have spied another color of thread on the vintage shelf that will fill in the flowers on this lattice work better AND I am going to continue it all the way around the border. 

I LOVE wooden spools. Found a big lot of these while out thrifting one day, in a tool box under a bunch of rusty tools and the owner just wanted to get rid of them so I walked out with a steal...and I am using them which is a bonus to me.

 Not all of my stitches are perfect, I was chatting and watching my kids while they were at their activities so I would make them too wide or make the attachment too far from the stitch.  I did go back and correct some of the more horrendous mistakes but for the most part I left it alone.  I also have been adding some free floating petals to this 'scape (I seriously need to come up with a name for this one.).   I have in mind to float some more petals across the center too.

You can see I still haven't soaked off the marks from the border stitches.  I couldn't wait to start on the next stitch though.  I can see in my head what this part will look like with the additional of more colored flowers and will most likely finish that part before moving on to the next stitch-3 more to go and then I will be caught up to this week!

Find all the weekly TAST stitches that I have completed HERE.

Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST)<<--Come check it out and join in!

Week 1: Fly Stitch

Week 2: Buttonhole Stitch

Week 3: Feather Stitch

Week 4: Cretan Stitch-Open

Week 5: Herringbone Stitch

Completed Oceanscape with first 5 Stitches.

Week 6: Chevron Stitch

What will you create today?

Touch My Stitches #15 : Chevron Stitch

Day 271 Week 6 of 52 of the TAST Challenge.  The Chevron Stitch

(See the end of this post for all my previous links.)

I am behind on my weekly stitches but continuing to challenge myself to finish them and learn more about stitching.  In keeping with my free developing 'Scape series I saw this fabric at the store and knew that it was going to be the background for the next set of stitches.  I know I said I was going to do this all with scrap fabrics but A. It really spoke to me and B. I had a coupon.  It is a printed Duck Cloth, I really like stitching on this fabric because it is a little thicker and well it just works for me.

But with duck cloth you really have to finish the edges because they get all shreddy, especially after washing.  Here I zigzaged the edges and cut them with pinking scissors.

The Chevron was a little more time intensive and a little less free flowing.  I really had to put down not only long straight lines but smaller dashes where the top and bottom T parts would go.

After washing the duck cloth becomes very soft and flowing so it was hard to keep the stitches straight, even with the drawn lines.  Normally, I do not hoop but I tried here it just didn't work out because the stitches were on the edge of the fabric, I didn't have a big enough hoop and the stitches themselves were bigger than I expected in this piece. Perhaps I will investigate getting one of those rectangular frames in the future.

I am not quite sure what this is going to be but I had it in my head that this would be a frame of some kind.  Framing what we shall see as I move on to the next stitch. I would have liked to see these stitched smaller but this is what my hand and head were telling me to do.

You can see all the marks I had to make.  The fabric is soaking and then I will have to dry and iron before moving on to the next stitch because the red pencil marks turned parts of the white thread pink.

I have never worked this stitch before.  I definitely made a few mistakes, these are not as free flowing as some of the other ones.  You have to really concentrate to keep them straight and as even as possible.  I did pick out some of the mistakes but others I left in so in the future I can see where I started from.

Find all the weekly TAST stitches that I have completed HERE.

Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST)<<--Come check it out and join in!

Week 1: Fly Stitch

Week 2: Buttonhole Stitch

Week 3: Feather Stitch

Week 4: Cretan Stitch-Open

Week 5: Herringbone Stitch

Completed Oceanscape with first 5 Stitches.

Touch My Stitches #12: Oceanscape completed!

Day 258  Well I finally feel like this piece is finished.  It incorporate the first 5 weeks of the TAST challenge  (you can see the first 5 stitch posts here).  

 I went back in and added more Cretan Stitch to the waves at the top in various colors and I like the way it looks more 'wave-like'.  The fish are now truly romping through the motion as they roll with the waves.

I am still in love with my sea anemones.

Now to just figure out how to display it.  Right now it hangs on my inspiration wall, which is just clothesline I have on the wall.   I will have to think about it because at the end of the year I would like to have these to display together with all the stitches I accomplished during this challenge.  Any ideas for displaying?

What will you create today?

Touch My Stitches #11: Herringbone Stitch

Day 255  Week 5 of 52  5th week of the TAST Challenge and I am having a blast working on this oceanscape piece.  I think it might be finished but we shall see what this next week's surprise stitch before I make final judgement.

This week we worked with the Herringbone Stitch. I was not too sure how to incorporate it into this piece but after some initial sketches in pencil, using the stitch as a guide, I decided to do sea urchins which then turned into anemones because that is what they resembled more when finished.

The tiny anemones are scattered across the ocean floor.  I used back stitches to form the bodies and then tiny Herringbone stitches to make the tentacles. I hope you can see the stitches they were so small and I couldn't get my camera to focus on them well.

After I finished the tentacles I added single stitches in pink, purple or red to give them color in between the Herringbone ones.

I also added small gold colored seed beads to the top parts of the anemone bodies.

I used regular DMC floss in two strands for all the parts of the anemones.

I also finally added eyes to my schools of fish swimming around, in random seed bead colors from my mishmash bead stash as I use up all odds and ends for this project.

This has been a great way to use up all my leftover threads.  I did not know what would happen and had no preconceived plans when I started this project with that first TAST stitch.  Who knew what direction this would take and I am just pleased as punch at where it has gone on its own.

I think I am in love with these anemones the most out of everything on this oceanscape.  I want to make more of them.  It makes me miss the ocean I grew up near.

What will you create today?


Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST)
Week 1 Fly Stitch
Week 2 Buttonhole Stitch
Week 3 Feather Stitch
Week 4 Cretan Stitch

Touch My Stitches #10: Cretan Stitch-Open

Day 252  Week 4 of 52  I had some time this weekend to get to catch up on the 4th week of the TAST challenge.  I was trying to use the Open Cretan Stitch to create a wave effect on the top of my oceanscape. I don't know if I like it yet.  

My girls helped me pick out the colors in a dark teal and green to simulate waves peaking and roiling over the top of my ocean.  I go back in and add a few more waves but I will step back and look at it before making any more changes.

I hoping it will look better once I get the eyes in the fish.

 Now that I look at it again it is not too bad except the one stitch where I angled it too far.  But I rarely take out mistakes when I am learning because it helps me to learn.  I had never tackled this stitch before and I think it didn't turn out too badly.  Stitching is so soothing and this is a smooth one to do, almost effortless.  If the (Closed) Cretan Stitch is not a future stitch I might just go ahead and work that one into this piece as well.

Yea the beads in the fish will make it look more like the oceanscape it is supposed to be, will work on that today!

What will you create today?

Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST)
Week 1 Fly Stitch
Week 2  Buttonhole Stitch
Week 3: Feather Stitch

Touch My Stitches #9: Feather Stitch

Day 249:  Week 3 of 52

Here is last week's stitch from the TAST Challenge.  I added little schools of fish swimming through my oceanscape scene.  I plan on adding some beading for the eyes as well.  

 The main part of the fish are worked with the Feather Stitch lazily swimming through the water.  And then I just filled in the parts that made them into fish with a different color thread. 

I am using 2 strand of floss in a variety of colors as I try to use up my thread scraps.

I love that I have a simple vision in mind for something and then it just seems to come together as I add new stitches.  I am a week behind in the TAST challenge and have to go work on Week 4 now so will share that this weekend.

What will you create today?

Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST)
Week 1: Fly Stitch
Week 2: Buttonhole Stitch

Touch My Stitches #8: Buttonhole Stitch

Day 241:  Week 2 of 52

I love this weekly TAST challenge. I worked on this a little last week but needed to get through the costumes for the ComicCon (more on that tomorrow) so had to put it aside.  I was able to pick it up again last night so here is my continuation of this Ocean/Underwater piece with the Buttonhole Stitch included.

The first week's Fly Stitch is underneath some Buttonhole Stitches as well as some more Fly Stitches.  You can see I am using embroidery thread in 3, 2 and single strands.

 I also added these wonderful beads and chips to the underwater scape.  In these two pictures I had only added a few longer Buttonhole stitches in the green and the ones that the beads are on.  The colored stone chips are on thin Fly Stitches.

 I did go out and buy the beads and stone chips but I am trying to use up the scraps of thread and cones that I have found at thrift stores for this project to use up what I have available.

 In these last 3 pictures I have added the stones and all the longer Buttonhole and Fly Stitches in green over the smaller stitches to give it some dimension.  As I get a new stitch every week I will keep integrating them into this piece in some way until I am satisfied with the look and then I will start another one.

 I can't get over the color of some of these stones.  As I add stitched living creatures amongst the vegetation of this ocean bottom I think it will really make these stand out.

What will you create today?

Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST)
Week 1 Fly Stitch