Needle Lace Dragonfly

This Dragonfly was done for the Stitch map challenge in July. 

 

 

 

 

The Wings outline was done with the chain stitches.  Then Straight stitches were used to create lines over the wings.  Then Stab stitches were used to achieve this needle lace effect.    Though the body ofthis dragon fly does not look good , I am happy with the way the wings turned out.  Need more practice though.

 

Rainbow Cross Stitch Blocks 5 and 6

After a long break, I picked up the rainbow cross stitch blocks recently and completed two more blocks. 

I like stitching with vibrant colors and these cross stitch blocks gives me immense stitching pleasure.  Out of the 9 blocks that are offered in Crafty Mummy. I have stitched the blocks which I liked the most .

I am still thinking

- Whether I should stop the blocks and finish this into something.
- Whether I should frame this and hang it in the living room.
- Or should I continue stitching all the 9 blocks. 

 

Black Work - Maple Leaf

This is my first ever Black work done as a part of the Stitchmap June Challenge.  I have never tried blackwork before.  The unique thing about blackwork embroidery is that both the front and back appears the same.  This blackwork is done with the red embroidery floss just to represent the color of the Maple Leaf.

Generally, counted stitches are my favourite.  This one was fun and quite challenging.  Initially it was very difficult to follow the route and I ended up unpicking my stitches several times.    Then I practiced  with the paper pattern using different colored sketch pens, following the chartered route.  Then I found it easier to stitch .

Here is the back of the maple leaf .

 

and here is the front of the maple leaf.

 

Kanta SAL - Completed

Though this SAL got over in the May 2014, I worked very slowly on this piece and finally completed this last Saturday.  The entire piece is just done with the humble running stitch.  Generally I embroider on white or offwhite fabrics and therefore the thread colors selection becomes  easy.  However this one caught me off the guard, I doodled with all the colors and finally am happy with the choices I made .  Though it was difficult to get the proper alignment  I love the Dhaner Sheesh border stitch the most. Thank you so much for hosting this SAL Anita. I had learnt a lot and I intend to use them in my future projects.

 

TAST 132 - Kiko's flower Stitch

Here are my trials on Kiko's flower stitch.  I like all flower oriented stitch and this one is no exception.

 

 

The brown and green flowers are done with Anchor Stranded cotton floss.  The yellow flowers are done with Perle cotton 9 thread.

 

  I tried CQ seam treatment with a three petaled kiko's flower stitch, straight stitches and French knots and with a synthetic pearl bead in the middle.

 

The butterfly is done with Perle Cotton 9 and I got the idea from here.

 

Floral Umbrella

Hi,

Here is an umbrella tightly packed with leaves and roses. This was stitched in the month of April for the Stitch Map hexie.  Every month in Stitch Map , they offer three different patterns and we are free to choose the pattern of our choice.  The patterns are stitched and then are finished as Hexagons.  The roses are made with Whipped spider wheel, Cast on Roses and the yellow flowers are done with Twisted Detached Chain stitch.  The Umbrella is done with Back Stitch,Seed stitch, Split Stitch,Fly Stitch and Satin Stitch

The elliptical leaves and the heart shaped leaves are done with the blanket Stitches.

I have tightly packed the umbrella with baby's breath.  The baby's breath is done with seed beads and fly stitches.

 

Beginner CQ course - Kathy Shaw

Recently I took Beginner Crazy Quilt class offered by Kathy Shaw. I have very little experience with CQ.

 She had split the beginner course into 10 lessons.  Each of these lessons had one or two assignments to be completed.  The course text included lessons on  -  Hoops & Q-Snaps, How to achieve Balance, Flip and Sew block piecing, Making simple CQ templates, Various Seam treatments, Silk Ribbon embroidery Basic Stitch guide, SRE Iris,SRE Woven Rose, Small SRE seam flowers, Fly Stitch SRE Roses, Fly Stitch SRE Rose Vines, Lace motif attachments and Surface Beading techniques.

It was fun and joy  to see how just a  few scraps of cloth come alive depicting a beautiful garden with various elements - Seam Treatments, Silk ribbon embroidery, Lace Motifs and Beading.

The course was well written from a beginner's perspective, very thorough and detailed with step by step photos and other eye candy photos. 

Thank you Kathy for your generosity in offering this Free course.  I am awaiting for your announcement on the Intermediate course around January 2015.

Here is my completed Beginner CQ block.

Happy Day!!!

 

Cross Stitch Flower Monogram

Hi,

Here is one of my cross stitch flowers with the monogram letter "R".  I started this cross stitch when we were holidaying in Mussorie (a hill station in North India).

I continued to stitch during our early morning train journey from Dehradun to Delhi. We stayed in Delhi for a few days and my stitching continued in Delhi as well. I am a early riser, so I enjoyed stitching during the calm of those wee hours without any iota of disturbance.  Once my DH and sons wake up and get ready we use to hop into the metro train of Delhi .

We visited RedFort,Qutub Minar,India gate,Jantar Mantar.  We went shopping at Connaught place, Palika bazaar and Sarojini Street.  We went to Agra and had a great time visiting TajMahal.

So many family time fond memories attached with stitching this piece.  This pattern was a freebie offered by Renate at her
Blog.
 

 

Meet you soon with my next post on Shisha embroidery. 

 

 

 

Rainbow Cross Stitch blocks 3 and 4

After a month long break , I am back here completing my blocks 3 and 4.  I am really excited stitching these unique blocks with the rainbow colors.  I am still contemplating on what would I make with these colorful blocks. Definitely I will not frame it and hang it in the wall.  May be  a Card wallet with just 8 of these blocks and gift it to my hubby for his birthday.The free patterns for these blocks can be found here

 

 

 

Self Shading Cross Stitch Rose

This shaded cross stitch rose was done for March challenge at Stitch Map.  There were two other patterns offered - Australian Gumnuts and Wattle.  I love cross stitch and I was confident that I could finish this well before the end of March and this was the reason for me choosing this.

The entire rose was done with just two floral colors - one darker shade for the outline and a medium shade for the rose.  The shading effect was achieved by using 2 strands of floss, 1strand of floss and with full cross stitch and half cross stitch across the rose.  The leaves were done with the single strand of green floss with back stitches.

Initially it was boring and frustrating working these dainty stitches with single color floss, however when the rose started blooming,it was quite interesting and delightful.  I love the end result.

Rainbow Cross Stitch Blocks - 1 and 2

Yay!!! I have completed the blocks 1 and 2 of the rainbow blocks.  I am not sure what I would be doing with this finished block but I am so happy to stitch with these really vibrant colours.

My two sons are enjoying much with these rainbow colors. As the block gets finished , they locate the rainbow colors.  They are too enthusiastic in helping me make the cross stitch, they pull the thread too much and most of the times, the needle comes out from the thread.   I end up rethreading the needle often :)-.  Happy to see them interested in what their mommy is making.

I will be parking this project for a couple of weeks, as I have to complete another embroidery challenge before the April 30 deadline.  Its going to involve a lot of flowers

SAL - Kanta

When Anita had announced the Kanta SAL, I immediately joined.  But I was unable to start stitching immediately due to my other commitments.  Last week, we had a long week end here in Bangalore due to Ugadi festival. I was able to catch up with this SAL and I am now happy to say that I am upto date on this SAL.

This is the first time I am working on such a dark color fabric.  I have been preserving this cotton fabric for the past 9+ years as it was given to me in Tirupathi temple.  First it was a challenge to outline the design on the fabric - I tried with the light box method..and it did not work.  So, I used a white carbon paper to trace the design on the fabric.

Next challenge was choosing the floss colors.  I tried some 15 different colors in a doodle cloth and finally settled for these colors.

The colors used are

Kanta Booti - Anchor 033
whipped running stitch outline and two rows of filling - Anchor 0186
Centre Flower  - Anchor 0302
Spirals,scrolls ,outer eye shape border, outer triangle border - Anchor 049
Curvicules at top (blue filling ) - Anchor 0433
Curvicules spiral (Red outline) - Anchor 046

All are done using 2 strands of Anchor floss .

I am not happy with the work on the center flower.  The petal edges are not uniform and I have made sure to have different shapes of petals with my night time stitching.  :)-

Anyways, I tolerated my ugly stitching of flower by saying - all these occurs when you learn something new and kept progressing.   If I am going to expect perfection, I am not going to finish this piece.

Now I know where I have gone wrong, I will more careful when I do it the next time.

Thank you Anita for this SAL.

Rainbow Cross stitch block

I love doing cross stitch.   Cross stitch , its like a meditation for me. While I was simply surfing the net for some free cross stitch patterns I landed up at this crafty mummy and was genuinely happy to see the free Rainbow Cross stitch blocks on offer.  My hands were itching to start this project .  I have got some 15 count aida in my stash and then rummaged through my thread box. Bingo !!! Out of the 7 different colors of the rainbow palette, I already had some 5 available in my stash.  Last weekend I went to the nearby shops but could not find the Indigo color mentioned.  So I just grabbed the closest color.

First I prewashed the aida cloth.  The aida cloth what I have is somewhat very stiff due to the startch so I prewashed the aida , zig zagged the edges so that the aida cloth edges dont unravel.  Then I basted the centre and marked the Top with a "T" of the aida fabric.

Now I am all set to start stitching.

The needlecase in this above photo is one of my completed projects of last year.    This free needlecase cross stitch pattern can be found here.  Last year I ordered different types of needle and made about 7 cross stitch needle cases for my needles to rest snuggly in a cozy little needlecase.  Here is the front of the needlecase.

Here is the back side of the needlecase.

Here is the inside of the needlecase.

This is the home for tapestry needles.  :)-

Flower Monogram

Hi,

Its been a long time I blogged.  I have joined the monthly challenge at stitchmap. For the month of February, out of the three choices offered, I chose the embroidered monogram.   The flowers are made with the bullion stitch and lazy daisy stitches - with a little beading in between.  The leaves are stitched with the fly stitch.    The letter R is done with the heavy chain stitch which is then interlaced.

I have used mainly anchor stranded cotton floss and a couple of flowers are done with the light pink cone thread.

Here is the picture of it.