EEC - circles

I've been trying out different ways to make these. This one looks best so far but I'm still not happy with it. I will try some other thread. My hardest part is making the stitches even. They turned out well on the half portion edge but going all around wasn't so good. I did some with a true buttonhole stitch, with the ridged edge on the outside and some with it inside. It seems to look better if I keep the ridge on the outside. This one was done with a regular buttonhole (blanket) stitch. I tried marking a line to follow but I need a solid template instead of eyeballing it.

I'm having trouble keeping up with Karen's latest additions. I wish the text had more photos. I'll forget details from the movies and they are only available for a limited time, but I guess the basic idea is all I need, since I keep changing things anyway. I just haven't had the time or energy to pursue it this week. Tomorrow is my first half-day back to work. I kinda suspect I'll be sleeping the afternoons away the rest of this week. I don't think I've even checked out the latest TAST stitch this week!

TAST Cretan Stitch

I could not get excited about this stitch and wasn't going to do it at all but then decided I should at least make the effort. I think it's too much like other stitches and didn't motivate me. I also tried to embroider the kind of stitch and you can see why I generally avoid that! So hopefully the next one will inspire more than this one.

Karen had a video on ruching fabric recently. I wasn't planning on doing it and didn't really, but the idea of it enticed me to make a ruched flower. Actually, I was looking in my files for instructions on the Japanese Kanzashi Fabric Flower and found I had instructions for a ruched flower!

So I tried it with some crushed voile that I had. This is the first attempt. I decided I made the bottom part too long which is what makes the center. It's just too poufy here but a button in the center might fix that.

Then I stitched a second version with less fabric in length and shorter in width. It turned out much better, at least for this project. It still needs something in the middle but I don't think there is as much bulk.

I've placed the two flowers tentatively on the piece where I added a vine. I will probably remake another like the second one and use it instead of the first sample. I may add some French Knots around them too.

EEC Week 2

I've stitched all the seams and am now working on the embroidery embellishments. I used perle cotton in size 5 and size 8 for both. I embroidered the Y stitch from TAST on this section and added the webstars. I still have a few to add. I've been considering some tiny buttons for the loops OR the prairie points. I've never had any trouble with this type of embroidery transfer pen not washing out. If I were going to apply it to silk or another fabric I don't commonly use, I would test it on a scrap piece first. I really love the ferny look here. I used the blanket stitch on one seam.

I have a running stitch on one side and cross stitch on the other. It's hard to figure out what to do here as the embroidery makes it kind of busy anyway. Still, it's the same thing for the whole length so it does need something.

I'm going to try the wadded up poufs in the section near the top, not shown here. It has a sort of multi-sized snowball pattern on the fabric. I'm going to use some crushed voile that I bought recently. It's light enough to go in this section well and would not do well as a section piece on its own because it is so sheer.

I will probably add some more embroidery of other stitches not already used. The plain cotton section might be good for some cross stitch text although I honestly hate doing cross stitch. I love the look of it but not doing it. I'm not good at embroidering block or cursive lettering either!

I do like the way this is looking though I feel like I'm going awfully slow. I keep telling myself I can always snip out unwanted stitching and start over. Most of the time it feels right before I begin.

On the pre-embroidered section, I might take a leaf from someone else's page who used the long tube to stitch down a curved vine-looking section. Since it's solid white, it might make a good contrast against all that existing embroidery. I'll think on it. Hmmmm.....if I already had some tatted baby lace done, that would work with the vine too.

TAST - Feather Stitch

I didn't do a lot of variations on the Feather Stitch but I stitched enough to get the feel of it. I used the water soluable markers to draw some guiding lines but still found myself counting threads to get the spacing even. The curvy one was tricky. I didn't have the space to add more curvy lines with it but I think it would be good in different colors. The last one was a whim. I kept increasing the number of threads as I moved down to make the line larger. Then I went back and added French Knots, which I needed to practice for another project, and enjoyed seeing how it took shape.

I used the other half of the page I'd already embroidered with the Blanket Stitch. This is how the whole page looks now. I haven't figured out how to label the stitches. I didn't really leave room for that and am not sure I need to. I'm not good at embroidering words.

I divided the sections with plain sewing thread this time instead of perle cotton and when I took the center line out, it didn't leave traces of color. Yay!

I found some cording at JoAnn's Fabrics and added some loops before I basted. Now I'm just waiting for inspiration. I ended up getting a lot of trims during my shopping. I'll use them on other pieces, I hope!

I've done the embroidery Karen showed us so far in the past but not on a project like this so I need to practice a little first. I'm also getting ahead of myself. All I need to do right now is embellish the seams. I might do something with the Fly Stitch from TAST. Hmmmm....yes....things are coming to mind now. Stay tuned!

EEC Pinned for Basting

I finally put together some pieces and pinned them. I'll ponder it a bit before I do the actual basting. In fact, I was just going to run into town for something and I think I'll run by JoAnn's and get some tiny white cording - or braid. It needs something besides the embroidery, I think.

I love Karen's whitework but I don't have any confidence in my own skill! I keep wanting to add color because I use color so much but at the same time, I love the white. I suspect I will add buttons too...white ones,with an elegant pattern. Maybe. So much thinking!