Saturday, November 30, 2013

BFF Month 2.2 Stitching

Here, finally, is the next instalment of the Month 2 stitching on Best Friends Forever:


I did a lot of experimenting on the big hearts here before I hit upon a stitch that looked the way I wanted it to. I wanted a lot of texture so the hearts would stand out even though I was using a light colour.

When I'm "shopping" for a new stitch, I always come back to Country Bumpkin's A - Z of Embroidery Stitches, vols. 1 & 2:


These are probably the most used books on my bookshelf. They are spiral bound inside the cover, so they lie flat, and the detailed photographs are excellent.

Twisted chain stitch turned out to be perfect for this design. It works up quickly, and I found it to be very forgiving -- it creates a fairly straight line even when your stitches aren't! It's worked on both sides of the line...


...and can also be used for applique.

For the flowers I stuck with the stitches I've been using since Month 1:


The petals and leaves are done in back stitch with four strands of floss, the flower centres are tiny chain stitch, and the stems are stem stitch, naturally!

Regular readers may be wondering what happened to the apple tree from Month 2? After much procrastination it is now well under way! Here's another preview:


In the long run I think the padded satin stitch will prove to be a bad choice here, because I'm sure it will catch on something. But I'm committed now! Hopefully the whole tree will be done soon. ;)

In the mean time, happy stitching!


14 comments:

  1. Great choice of stitches for this piece. I think that the variations of the chain stitch are among my favourites when looking for a heavier stitch. Thanks for the close-up of the stitch. Your "BFF" project is looking really good.

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    1. Thanks very much! That close up photo was actually terrible -- dark and with a heavy orange tint. LOTS of photo editing was required, but I'm glad I was able to save it!

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    2. The twisted chain stitch is super nice - lots of character and texture. I know what you mean about the padded satin stitch catching on stuff, but it sure looks nice and fat. Your stitching is so nice and even.

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    3. Looks fantastic and I love my copies of those books too. Needleworkers heaven inside the pages of Inspirations.

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    4. Thanks very much, Mary Ellen! I knew another quilter would understand about the satin stitch issue. :) I've been trying to avoid it, but here somehow I lost my head! I don't want it to end up too precious to use. Anyway, thanks for the support!

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  2. I know what you mean about those CB books, I love them too. I think the padded satin stitch is fine and will look great in the finished work. I do have a suggestion: as you finish each block, please photograph all the completed blocks and show them on your blog as a group. It will give readers a really good idea of your progression.

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    1. Thanks very much, Cynthia! Each month has four motifs on the same piece of linen, so I will have to finish all four before I can cut them apart and set them into the blocks. That's when it really will be fun to photograph all the progress so far! I definitely will do that. :)

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  3. Twisted chain is a great stitch. also I am very keen on double knot stitch, works wonderfully on tree trunks and branches. Like you have the stitch books and yes they are more often off the bookshelf than on! Your padded apple looks delicious!

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    1. I will have to look up that double knot stitch. Thanks very much, Margaret!

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  4. I'll be on the lookout for those books. I've been finding myself looking at different stitches. I love the double chain stitch, it really makes the hearts stand out. I think you apples will be fine,I can't imagine anything getting caught on them, and they look so good!!

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    1. Thanks, Rachael! The first book is still available at the Country Bumpkin website -- http://www.countrybumpkin.com.au/index.php. They both go in and out of print, but I'm sure there will be a lot of them in Australian bookstores. Good luck!

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  5. Great texture - and colour too. The purple is a great addition to the other colours. Chain stitch in all it's variations is so useful - and I love doing it. The twisted variation looks terrific.

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    1. Thanks, Jillian! It's one of my goals with this project to use more purple. :)

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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