Judy~Back in the Saddle Again~Cable Chain and Palestrina Stitches TAST and June Block

Being gone for 10 days made June feel like an extraordinarily short month! Lots of stitching happened this week both to catch up and then finish the June block. I made it, and Sue doesn't look the least bit frazzled, does she?

Once I got the hang of the cable chain, thanks to Debra's french knot hint, I actually grew to enjoy this stitch. However, I sure was glad Sue's bonnet wasn't any bigger!

All the while I was fiddling with the Palestrina stitch, I was wondering whether this was the same music-Palestrina-person. (Note to self: look this up!) My attempts were pretty feeble, sadly. This stitch just isn't designed for 2 strands of embroidery floss. In case you don't recognize it, the stitch is on the edge of her sleeve and on the watering can. I got a little carried away with french knots there. I did have fun with the star stitch on her sleeve though.

So here she is, June's Sunbonnet Sue, working hard in her garden. I had great fun with the daisy-like flowers. The edge is two 24-wrapped bullion knots couched down. To tone down the satin stitch filling I used a single strand of floss and made some fly stitches. The leaves are done with fishbone stitch, another fun one if you've not yet tried it. On to July, I wonder what stitches Sharon will assign this time?

Carolynn--Practice catch-up!

Saturday was Sew Day at Nancy's house. Our group spent the day stitching and chatting and looking at Nancy's beautiful, beautiful garden! She is one of the stops on the Gig Harbor Garden Tour next weekend, and her garden is truly an oasis!

The others spent the day on Jelly roll 1600 quilts, but I used it to catch up on all the TAST stitches I've avoided for the last month or so.

The results aren't pretty; I went from stitch to stitch, giving each a try.  Somehow I just couldn't get the hang of knotted cretan--look how many awkward tries! But at least I've tried each, and I've got a new block to start adding them to.

Barbara's June CQJP and Cabled Chain Stitch

I'm posting late as I had to help my daughter move yesterday.  She's moved into a very cute house with a girlfriend from work.  We're getting this moving kids thing down to a science.

I finished my June CQJP block early.  We had a couple of days of rain last week--heck it's raining now--so I just kept stitching.  Now that Mad Men and Game of Thrones are done for the season, I picked a new series to watch on my computer while I sew: True Blood on HBO, a campy vampire saga.  Tell me I'm not the only one who likes bad TV.

At the top of the block in pink is the cabled chain stitch, the TAST from last week, which I did in zig zag.  

I did a bullion rose cluster above the cardinal.

I may re-do this pigeon's outline from feather stitch to something that stands out more, otherwise this block's done and I've reached season 2 of True Blood.

Cy - TAST wk 25 & CQJP WIP

I have used this stitch in the past, but not too recently, so I used this week as a bit of a 'refresher' stitching time.

I was rather surprised how quickly I had forgotten how to do this stitch, lol. 

I started with two straight rows following a seam on the block. It looked so wrong though, and it took me quite a while to work out what I did wrong - I must not have been concentrating when doing the 'chain' part of the stitch because some chains were twisted and some were not, it looked so uneven that I 'frogged' the lot - and I'm not a person who usually unpicks anything, so that just goes to show how very wrong it was.

So then I stitched these two wavy lines, making sure that I got the working thread coming from the same direction each time, so as not to get any chains twisted like before.

Cable Chain Stitch worked on my Crazy Quilt Journal Project June block.

This is another of my INVENTED seam treatments.

Stem stitch roses and Satin stitch in between them.

I quite like the effect of a band. It's a nice 'solid' seam treatment.

This one started with the turquoise ribbon Running stitch.

Laced to-&-fro with 6 strands of green floss, and a white bead added in each circle.

A motif in one of the patches.

French Knots, Silk Ribbon embroidery, silver metallic thread Straight stitch & V stitch, silver beads.

I have also done a couple of other stitching pieces on the CQ block but I've not got any photos of it yet.

I should be able to finish this block during the coming week so will reveal ALL next weekend.

And I have been 'playing' with fabrics, paints and dyes for yet another project that I cannot reveal until September. (Watch this space with patience, hahaha).

As a follow-up from a previous post on my blog about Life on the Farm - Applemunchers, here is a pic of some more Applemunchers that visit the orchard everyday.

Aren't they beautiful? 

They are very social and vocal birds, and live in small family flocks here in NZ. 

I also saw these in an almond tree today, and as there are no almonds at this time of year I am puzzling over what they were eating.

Happy Stitching

Angela ~ Cable Chain Stitch

This was a pretty easy stitch that went quickly.  I used 6 strands of silver metallic thread and 6 strands of black cotton floss for the 2 areas of cable chains.  I was originally going to use just the metallic but as much as I had to fight with it to do the small amount you see, I decided it was not going to happen to use it for all the chains.

I worked the border as a broken chain for obvious reasons as you will see below.

My subject this week turned out to be very serendipitous.  Tuesday was June 19th, known as Juneteenth hereabouts.  It's hard to read the embroidery in the photo so here's what it says:

The Emancipation Proclamation took effect Jan. 1, 1863 but it had very little effect on slaves lives in the Confederate States of America.

JUNETEENTH

Commemorates June 18 & 19, 1865

On the 18th, Union General G. Granger and 2000 Federal troops arrived at the port of Galveston, Texas to take possession of the state and enforce emancipation. On the 19th the General stood on the balcony of the Ashton Villa to read the General Order No. 3.

You can visit my blog to read the order and see a photo of the lovely Ashton Villa in Galveston.

This symbol I used is an anti-slavery design.  The more familiar one is of a man and carries the motto 'Am I not a man and a brother?"  This one, used less widely is of a woman and her motto is "Am I not a woman and a sister?"  I thought it more appropriate for a woman's embroidery journal. 

Not the greatest picture as it was taken with my phone.  The shutter button on my camera isn't working and I understandit costs about $200 to fix it. I probably will just buy one of the new Nikon Cool Pix instead of getting it fixed. I wanted a digital SLR camera so badly but the lenses are terribly expensive.

Anyway, on the right is my cable chain stitch. That motif is supposed to look like a basket of flowers but could be an ice cream cone. Either one works!

Carol - TAST, Cable Chain Stitch

On the Struggle Scale this was a biggy, not made easier by my trying a couple of placements, both of which looked quite wrong.  You can see holes in the ribbon to the left where reverse sewing  took place many times.  My placement problem was the Cable Chain forming a "stalk" leading to my floral applique.  So, should I rip it out yet again or embellish - well this is the result. 

Stitched using perle 8, perle 12 and a fine silk thread

I'd very much like to take credit for this combo, but that belongs to Jacqueline Enthoven from her book The Stitches of Creative Embrodiery, Slipped Cable Chain, page 140.  I think it forms a pretty stitch and feel sure will be used again.  So, if I've cheated then my apologies.

Debra-TAST-Cable Chain Stitch

I'm definitely adding the Cable Chain Stitch to my Stitch Stash of Go To Stitches. Once I realized the wrap had the same movement as a french knot with one wrap, I was happily stitching along.  I added it to 3 projects: my Sewing journal, TX Mockingbird Panel and now I have started My Life crazy quilt.

Thread thickness made a difference.  This is very delicate on the Sewing Journal page.

I prefer the roughness of these crewel wool threads over the dainty perle cottons.

This is the Cable Chain worked with a heavier perle cotton and I like the way the curve of the stitch softens the edge of the handmade bias tape.

So there you have it!

TAST: Week 25: Cable Chain Stitch

The TAST Stitch for the Week of June 18 is the Cable Chain Stitch.
For more information and examples, check here on Sharon B's blog.

Instructions are included in the text.

Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorial is here.

Photo Courtesy of Pin Tangle