TAST

Please excuse me if I'm a bit terse today but I am not feeling too well and I'm not sure whether it's my usual problem or whether I've picked up a virus. Either way I had a couple of fainty turns yesterday and I feel washed out today so I shall be brief.

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I haven't a lot to show in the way of craftyness but I have been trying to catch up on my Take a Stitch stitches over on Stitching Fingers. The latest three are shown below and are pretty much self-explanatory. I bought the base cloth in a charity (op) shop a couple of weeks ago and thought its open weave would be ideal for doing these stitches on. Unfortunately it's a bit of a bright colour and doesn't photograph too well, it doesn't go with many colour either........

I really like featherstitch and I'm sure there are lots of other variations I could use.

I didn't know fly stitch at all before this exercise but I can see it has lots of possibilities. There is a lot more yellow in the original colours of these threads, blame my laptop.

I know I could exploit this stitch much more but I was tired when I did it so more work required.

I have been given 2 blog awards but I will post them later as I am off for a little snooze zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Ooh! I just have to say, thank goodness Gustav was bad enough but not the terrible disaster everyone was dreading. My thoughts are with all those who now have to deal with its aftermath.

Jill Tattersall and TAST

An artist friend of mine has let me know that she is featured this month in an interview on the net so I thought I would post a link here for anyone who is interested. Jill Tattersall lives in Grantham and is a mixed media artist who bases her abstract art in nature. She works with all types of mediums, paper, fabric, metal, found objects and produces works on canvas, on paper, on wood and in sculptural form. Her work is experimental and it was seeing her work at an open studio event that encouraged me to be more experimental in my own work. Jill is featured in an interview at 1st Angel & Friends and you can see more of her work at her website http://www.jilltattersall.co.uk.

I've had a play with Cretan stitch which is, I think, the stitch for week 4 at StitchinFingers. Just 2 weeks behind now! Algerian Stitch and Chevron here I come! Thank goodness next week is a catch up week - no new stitch!

Take a Stitch Tuesday

Oops! Nearly forgot! I'm behind in the Take a Stitch Tuesday stitchalong at StitchinFingers but I have now completed the Week 3 stitch which was Detached Chain.

I have to admit I picked up a few ideas from people who have already done this stitch but I really enjoyed doing it, it is so versatile! I'm not so sure I like my base fabric though, I may have to rethink what I'm working on. Ever onward, next is cretan stitch which I have done before (a whole 2" of stitching!) and I have a few ideas for experimenting with it. Watch this space!

Please excuse any vagaries in the layout today, blogger seems to be having a funk!

Dotees, bits and bobs

This has been a very busy week for me as I have my Mum staying in preparation for my DH's birthday bash tomorrow night. As a result I have been totally un-creative, apart from a short sewing workshop on Tuesday for which I have nothing to show.

Emma was asking about Dotee dolls so I thought I'd put a few up here to give you an idea of what they look like, if you aren't familiar with them. The originator of the pattern was the lovely Dot in Australia. You can make them any shape you wish, they don't have to be the same as mine. If you Google Dotee for images or search Flickr for them you will get lots of ideas. Spread a little Dotee love around the world!

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As you will see from my sidebar I have recently joined StitchinFingers Ning. One of the groups within StitchinFingers has been set up so that we can all participate in a re-run of Sharon Boggon's TAST, or Take a Stitch Tuesday. The idea is to learn or revisit an embroidery stitch each week. I missed the first week but, by coincidence I had been working on herringbone stitch for a swap.

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This is one of three ATCs I made for a swap at MixedMediaATCs_UK - a bit ragged but mine own! ( You may recognise the fabric as Kate's). I will have to revisit this stitch to explore its possibilities.

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Week 2 was Buttonhole or blanket stitch which I really enjoy doing (one of the few stitches I know already). I cribbed a few ideas from other people in the group, for which thank you.

The third stitch is detached chain stitch but I have not started this yet. Thank goodness every fourth week is a catch up week.....I'm going to need it!

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This final ATC is for the June Lottery at MixedMediaATCS_UK on the subject of.............? Wimbledon!! (Excuse the little damage which happened in the making). The dashing little figure is Great Uncle Bulgaria who is, of course, a Womble!

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I probably won't get chance to blog again before next week so I hope you all have a lovely weekend. We have got a party, a wedding, a concert (open air and rain is forecast, no I mean really, heavy, rain!) and friends round for a chinese meal not to mention shopping and seeing Mum off back home so my feet are not going to touch the floor from tomorrow morning until Monday! Wish me luck!