TAST 2018 and TUSAL 2018

 TAST = Take A Stitch Tuesday

I've been keeping up with the stitches. Not hard as my sampler isn't that big. Some of these stitches I will never do again...ever...LOL  I'm right handed but I was taught to sew left handed so sometimes it's hard trying to get my head and hands sorted out. A few beads need to be added too to tart it up a bit.

TUSAL (scheduled each full moon)

The Full Moon in July is the Buck Moon, named after the new antlers that emerge from the  foreheads of male deer around this time of the year. It is also called Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, and Wort Moon.

It should be called the Weed Moon this year as it so dry the only plant life that seems to be thriving are weeds. No one is cutting their lawn as the grass is dead for now. Once it rains it will revive. As a result everyone seems to have a lot of Queen Anne's Lace, Bellflowers and Wild Chicory in their gardens. Even along the roads where there are grassy areas. I don't mind as it means the wildflowers are starting to come back now the city stopped spraying weed killer along the road verges. Some call them weeds but I guess it's really a point of view. It's been years since I saw so much Wild Chicory...usually only way up north.

 Well since it is a full moon today and therefore TUSAL time here is my ORT jar...lots of colours.

Take care:)

TUSAL for March!.......

It's that time again. My TUSAL jar. I've decided to start a new one for 2018 as the old one was a bit full.

What is TUSAL?

You can read all about it at Daffycat's blog....here.

TUSAL is scheduled based on the new moons. I was curious so I went on line to inquire about new moons and discovered that....."The Full Moon in March is the Worm Moon. It is also called Lenten Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Chaste Moon, Sugar Moon, and Sap Moon. It's the last Full Moon before the vernal equinox." You can go here and read more about why it's named after worms:) Who knew?

So where do some of those TUSAL threads come from? Well.....

I have been very good at keeping up with my TAST stitches. The latest stitch we had to do was the couching stitch. I just realized that it looks sorta wormy right? LOL

I tried to use the stitch on my doodle embroidery project. I took some cord and some chenille fiber and used them for the center of a flower. A bit boring but it worked.

I like to use the couching stitch when I do crazy quilting as it's a simple way of attaching fibers, trims and laces. Here is a sample of a piece of chunky chenille fiber that I used when I took a CQ online class with Kathy Shaw.

In this case it was a bit fiddly following the curves of the letter but I can see all kinds of lovely uses for this type of stitching.

That's it from me for TUSAL until the next new moon.

Take care:) 

Finishes and WIP's

I was following along with Pam Kellogg's "Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along" and completed Sampler One. As I mentioned in a previous post I was trying to use up bits and pieces of canvas left over from other projects.

I haven't really followed along with her second sampler as it didn't really appeal to me. Maybe a bit too traditional although I did use two of the bands...the middle part of number 2 repeated and number 3.

I didn't quit though. I've been adding bands on my own. Some of them found online. Some my own creations. There's lots of inspiration for bands out there. Just Google Blackwork, Redwork, and so on. Pinterest is also a great source...better than Google actually.

 Some look at bit plain. I intend to add some beads here and there.

And......

I'm ALMOST caught up with "Take A Stitch Tuesday" aka TAST". 

I decided that I needed somewhere to put my stitch samples. So I made a cloth book with cloth pages. For the front cover I decided to use some of my ORTS....old ragged threads...that I have in a bottle on my work desk. It's where I put the ends from embroidery threads, ends of silk ribbon...whatever. I have stared at them for ages and wondered why the heck I was keeping them. Habit I guess.

I was sort of inspired by various crafters/artists that use fibres, threads and ribbons and layer them between sheer fabric or netting and create "fabric". I used a piece of white cotton and a piece of white wedding tulle. In between I placed threads and bits of ribbon from my ORTS jar.

To sandwich the layers together I used a running stitch on the diagonal.

The rest of the cover is some lovely purple batik. To reinforce the cover I used cardboard front and back and a separate piece down the spine. The fabric pages were glued together and then glued to the spine of the book.  So messy and gluey...eeek!  Ah well:)

Not my best effort. There are much better ways of making a cloth book. Next time I will do it very differently.....less glue.....LOL  But, I must say it's quite tactile and it does invite one to turn the pages. I have lots of pages. I intend to put my sampler pieces in the back as a reference for future CQ seams.

Take care:)

Morris Hexathon....Blocks 6, 7 and 8

I'm at the half way mark as the 16th block template was posted on Saturday.

6. South Kensington

7. Avebury Stones

8. Greenwood

I'm also back on TAST...Take A Stitch Tuesday. I've gotten way behind on that but it won't take me long to get caught up.

Here is stitch #29...the Barb Stitch. I did the beaded barb stitch version. It would make a lovely and very easy to do seam treatment for Crazy Quilting.

Take care:)

A Wee Bit of Stitching......

I've been trying out some of the stitches from TAST in a bit of crazy quilting.

Mostly Fly, Feather, Chain, Detached Chain, French Knot and Cast On stitching.

TAST Status......

So far I have done 24 out of the 123 stitches on the list.....only 99 more to go!!!!!

Since Deva's stay at the vets she has decided to spend more time with me lately. I have a short set of storage drawers on wheels that I have to put beside the window. She's quite insistent about it.

She snoozes there.

She has gotten a bit chubby too.

If there is any action outside she can go behind the curtain and sit on the window sill. Very convenient:)

Take care.

TAST Challenge Blog

Just for the heck of it I have created a blog to track my TAST challenge. I am by no means an expert. In fact I'm quite the opposite. I can do basic embroidery stitches but I have never done anything out of the ordinary.

So far I have posted about the first 15 stitches in the challenge. Some have been easy and some not. But, I will say I'm enjoying it a lot and will keep plugging along:)


I don't know if it's me but I have found some of the instructions a bit confusing. So I'm very grateful to Mary Corbet and her How-To Videos. They have been so helpful.

I was also very happy to find a great stitchery resource at Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials. 

I've made little swatches with the stitches on them. Nothing too fancy or complicated. I will eventually put them into my stitch diary as a future reference. 

Anyway I'm determined to finish all 123 stitches on the TAST list.

Take care:)