kerrykatiecakes

I have found myself really challenged with this block! It is nearing completion in the round robin rotation and all the work already on it was so lovely - mostly really lovely silk ribbon florals done in gorgeous hand dyed ribbon. I could not manage any silk ribbon good enough not to stick out like a sore thumb so have decided instead to stay with the floral theme but to use another technique. So this is the first part of what I have done. Here I am again embroidering a plant I have never seen - or at least never seen in bloom except in pictures. It is an aloe vera. Someone on the CQI list had mentioned it would be helpful to them, and others new to cq, if it were explained what stitches are used, what threads, etc., so I am going to try to make it a practice to go into excrutiating detail from now on in hopes it is helpful. If you aren't interested in all the details, just look at the pretty picture! lol The inspiration for this motif came from the book, Ribbon Embroidery a...

This lovely puzzle piece arrived in the mail this week from Pat Winter, along with some lovely goodies I will put to use very soon in my stitching. I think this puzzle piece is adorable! Pat does such lovely stitching - it is a real pleasure to have a piece of her work now. Thanks Pat!

I came across more initial hankies at the thrift store, another box of three, with the initial "E" this time. I am popping one in the mail to my friend, Leslie E., and the other two are up for grabs. I love the embroidery on these ones and think they would make a lovely addition to a piece of crazy quilting. So, if your first or last name starts with "E", or if you have someone special in your life with an initial "E" that you would like to make a project for using one of these hankies, leave a comment on this post. The first two comments will receive the hankies.

This time the BAS Challenge is a stitch that can be used in either seams or motifs. It is an incredibly versatile stitch once you learn it. I put off learning the bullion stitch because I found it very intimidating, but I have to say that once I got the hang of it I have had a lot of fun with it. The possibilities are almost endless..... bullion roses... ... figures like watering cans... ...Christmas puddings... ... this little robin and worm - my personal favourite!... ....romantic hearts filled with roses... ... even a beehive and little bees.... ... or baby rattles! See, the possibilities really are endless! Now that I hope I have you inspired with ideas, here is the scoop on this stitch. It is simply a glorified french knot! There is an excellent video tutorial on Mary Corbet's Needle'nThread blog in her Video Library of Stitches. Mary has also written very good information and tips in this post. You can also check out Sharon B's Dictionary of Stitches ...

My friend, Ilys, came out for a few days to the campsite and worked on a baby quilt. This is one of the blocks (and Ilys!) The fabrics are all flannel and the prettiest colours! The centers are all these little animal characters that are fussy cut. The sashing that Ilys has planned is a white flannel with tiny mini-polkadots in multi-colours. I think this is going to be just adorable and I can't wait to see it finished!

Jo in NZ is having a great giveaway on her blog to celebrate her 600th post. Check it out! While you are surfing around, Jo also has a couple wonderful Etsy shops that are worth taking a peek at: the first one is where you will find all Jo's crazy quilted and embellished functional art , and the second is " Vintage Vices ", where you can find all sorts of vintage doilies, linens, etc to use in your own art.

Well, I thought I was done with Debbie's Christmas block when I posted a picture of it earlier but I just had to go back and add a little more. I like it better now - I can still see more places I would like to add more work but this time I really will mail it! It is in the envelope with postage etc so this is it! lol I decided that the vintage star sequins were a little too flat and uninteresting so I removed them and did it again. This time each one has a sequin, then a bead, another sequin and another bead. I think the added depth adds a bit more interest. This area of the block was bothering me that it was too bare and I had these great sequins I found recently and decided to make three sequin flowers here. These sequins are quite large - now I am starting to worry about how many larger size motifs I have on this block. Time to stop second guessing myself though - Debbie can tweak to her hearts content when the block gets home. So, I think this is the most sequins I ...

A couple of my favourite regular campers, Ross and Lorna, came out for a visit this week. I was thrilled when Lorna brought some of her minatures to share with me - I have been anxious to see them. The rug above is needlepoint and was one of Lorna's first pieces she made. The afghan in the foreground of this picture is crocheted from a regular afghan pattern. It is only the thread and tool she uses that makes it this tiny! Can you believe how delicate it is!? This chair is my favourite piece! It is hard to believe but Lorna makes these from scratch, doing the woodwork, stitching and construction - she just wings it! The upholstery on the chair is done in petit point - 50 count! I think it is just beautiful! She constructs the doll from scratch, building the body and then the clothing after, including all the jewelry and accessories. I love the little cameo at her waist. You can't see it from the picture because of her full skirt but she is sitting on a rattan settee...

I have finished my work on Debbie's block for the Christmas Round Robin I am in. I have already posted the two waste canvas cross stitch motifs I have done. If you look closely you will see three of my BAS seams as well: the braid applied to the ribbon surrounding the silkie Debbie provided was one,under the deer is my Hedebo edging with beads, and the seam between the blue and burgundy patches is my sample of Sorbello stitch. I have been wanting to try the bullion stitch Christmas puddings from A - Z of Bullions for awhile now so this was my chance. They were a lot of fun to do! I have admired the lovely pine cones I have seen people stitch so I wanted to try one. I built an evergreen branch with stem stitch wood and needles and then built a cone with sequins and seed beads. I feel like I could keep stitching on this block for another couple weeks but I have to send it on sometime so I guess it is time to quit. I sincerely hope Debbie likes it!

In the waste canvas tutorial in a previous post, I mentioned that fractional stitches could be accomplished but did not elaborate. Since I was doing just that this afternoon I thought I would take this opportunity to illustrate what I meant. The waste canvas is made up of pairs of threads. In most cases, you treat the pairs of thread as one thread as I have done using the silver metallic thread above. However, if you want to make half or quarter stitches, you can divide the pairs of thread to give you a middle space. If you click on the above picture, I hope it will be clearer and you can see that is what I have done with the stitches in the gold metallic threads above. Here is this motif finished after the waste canvas has been removed. It is one of several lovely blackwork motifs in The Cross Stitcher's Bible by Jane Greenoff.

This week's stitch is the Sorbello stitch, an old stitch that originated in the village of Sorbello in Italy. It is closely related to the Palestrina Stitch that we used in Week 28. According to my research, Sorbello Stitch is a common stitch used in cross stitch, needlepoint and embroidery. I have to admit that it is a new one on me! There is a set of diagrams in Sharon B's Dictionary of Stitches which should be very helpful. You can also read more about the use of this stitch in Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb at Google Books - the photograph of the stitch in progress is especially good there . When you try this stitch keep in mind that it needs to be worked fairly loosely. A looser tension really allows the beauty of this stitch to shine through. It is a lovely stitch to do - simple yet effective - and a great rhythm develops as you are doing it. I hope you will give it a ry. Enjoy and have fun!

First, the roses... This little blossom is the wild rose, which is incidentally the provincial flower for Alberta. It grows low to the ground and is very hardy - comes back year after year no matter how many times it gets mowed down. Smells gorgeous too. Now, the whine... It is "crunch time", the time that comes each year when I just want to go home so bad and would quit my job at the drop of a hat and leave the lake to go back to my home, sweet home. I am so homesick! DD, Katie, will be moving to the city the 26th of August so she will be gone before I even get home! It makes me so sad that she will be gone and that I am missing 0ut on all the fun of helping with the first apartment - picking towels and shower curtains, talking about how the furniture will be arranged, etc. Duke, the bloodhound, is getting into all sorts of trouble because there is no one there all day - that would usually be me that would be there to keep him company and watch he doesn't get into misch...

I keep taking pictures of the sky and the water... the water and the sky... Can't help myself since both are constantly changing! I love it when the sunshine comes down in rays through the clouds. I can't remember who told me these were "the fingers of God", but I have thought of it that way ever since. It seems so apt.

I found this stitch while looking for something small but with some interest to use as a seam treatment. I needed something small to compensate for a large seam adjacent to it. This is usually used as an edging but I thought it would make an interesting seam so I am sharing this here and it is the Build a Seam Challenge for Week 33. I hope you like it and will give it a try! It is not difficult but it was totally new to me. I hope when you see my wonky tension, etc you will keep in mind that these stitches are new to me as well usually! lol I have posted a tutorial directly under this post, showing how I did the seam. I broke it down into a lot of little steps to try to make it clear. I hope it is! Have fun with it!

This stitch is a Beaded Hedebo Edging. As the name implies, it is usually used as an edging stitch. I came across it though while I was looking for something to use for a seam treatment that would be on the smaller side and yet a bit unusual. I think it fits the bill perfectly. There are quite a few steps but once you get in a rhythm it isn't bad. I need to practice a bit more and work on my tension but I am still pleased with it. I used my trusty Tiger Tape again for this one. The stitch is worked in two steps. First you work the row of large and small cross stitches and then work across them again adding your beads and Hedebo stitch. Start by bringing your needle up at the bottom left hand side of your seam. Take your needle to the top of the seam area and take it down, bringing it up again directly below. This forms the first leg of your first small cross stitch. Now you form a larger cross stitch. Take your needle down at the top, leaving a larger gap and brin...

I was preparing to put a small cross stitch motif on a crazy quilt block when I remembered I had promised to do a tutorial on doing this with waste canvas, so here it is. You need to find a small cross stitch pattern you like that will fit in the space you have and figure out how large a piece of waste canvas you will need. Most cross stitch charts are graphed into 10 X 10 squares like the ones above. Waste canvas looks like needlepoint canvas except a little lighter-weight and is marked off in 5 stitch divisions by the blue threads. It comes in several sizes, 14 count being the most common and what I am using here. The canvas has double threads between each hole but you treat them as one unless you are doing a quarter or three-quarter stitch - they come in handy then as you can put your needle between the double threads to make the half stitch. I allowed myself half an inch on all four sides beyond the outer edge of where the motif will reach. Center the waste canvas on the spot you...

Sending out the "B" initialed hankies to Thelma and Lauri today - have fun with them! On the Christmas in July giveaway I am sending out the book to Skye today, thanks to the help of the random number generator. Hope you enjoy the book, Syke!

The August long weekend is over and it was a mixed bag. The campground was very busy and that was good. The family came out to visit and give me a hand and that was the best part. It is always great to see the kids and the grandkids and to get to spend some time with them! The down side was the two nasty storms we had go through during the three days. Friday night we had a thunderstorm preceded by a wild wind storm. There were at least fifteen tents absolutely flattened! A lot of campers gave up on the weekend and went home then - likely a decision they are happy about now since we had an even nastier storm come through on Sunday night. Everyone was woken up at 3:15 a.m. by lots of thunder and sheet lightening. Then the hail hit. They were golf ball size or bigger and none of the trailers escaped damage. It was really scary in the middle of the night to wake up and find all the roof vents were smashed and we were all cold and wet with hail and water pouring in. The noise was incredible...