Blanket Stitch Chat

We had a couple of super relaxing days over Christmas. It was such a glorious day so we finished the day watching the sunset at the beach while sharing a nice bottle of wine with a couple of old friends - Just perfect.

After spending each morning in the vineyard or in the garden, I have been working on getting the instructions for 'Golden Leaves' ready. I discovered that I had used quite a few variations of Blanket Stitch and it made me think about just what a versatile stitch Blanket Stitch really is. It is fabulous and I use it all the time - you may have noticed if you have been following along here for a bit.

'Golden Leaves'
1. Top left, close together to cover sections of leaves.  2. Bottom left, spaced and interlocked for a 'net' effect.
3. Right, open for grass, slightly spaced and opposite directions for the trunk, close together for the lower leaf section.

The basic Blanket Stitch is really quite simple, I have put the steps HERE if you need to see how to do it. What I find can be a little confusing is that when the stitches are worked close together, many stitch directories and patterns will refer it as `Buttonhole stitch`. I tend to ever only call it Blanket Stitch - my logic being that just because the spacing of the stitches is closer, doesn't make it a different stitch.

For my crewel work I often use Blanket Stitch to fill narrow shapes - I love the effect of the neat `purl` edge that the stitches create. When you use Blanket Stitch like that or if you have very long rows, you are bound to have to join a new thread sooner or later. If you simply anchor the last stitch and then start a new thread, you get this little lump and you can pick where the join is. There is a little trick to joining a new thread when working this stitch - you may already know it. Blanket stitch - Joining new thread 1. When you are ready to start a new thread, take the old thread to the back as you would for the next stitch. Leaving a thread loop, bring the `old` thread to the front away from the line of stitching and un-thread the needle. 2. Secure the new thread and bring it to the front inside the thread loop. 3. Pull the `old` thread tail until the loop anchors around the new thread. 4. Continue stitching - and there you are, an invisible join. The tail of the old thread can be secured later.

Happy Stitching,

Anna X

Warm Wishes...

... from a beautiful, sunny Adelaide. I wish all of you a very, Merry Christmas with family and loved ones.

2013 has been an amazing year and I want to thank you for taking the time to follow what I get up to. Your comments have made me smile, think and wonder, and I have treasured every single one. The interest and support you have shown is both humbling, inspiring and ever so motivating and for that I am so very grateful. I do not have a crystal ball, but whatever 2014 brings I am ready and I look forward to sharing it here.

Anna xoxox

Dream, then Do...

I got this fabulous sweet gift from my dear friend and colleague, Ellaine.
Although it is that time of year, it is not a Christmas gift - and no, it was not my birthday either.

Yesterday was my last day at work. Yes, as from today, I am officially no longer employed!

It is both so exciting a really, really scary at the same time. Some of you may know that I have been working at Country Bumpkin for a rather long time, lastly as editor of Inspirations magazine. I had never in a million years ever imagined that I would be working in publishing, let alone editing a magazine. It has been an amazing journey - fun, hard work and an enormous learning curve. I will miss it and all the truly talented and fabulous people I have worked with and got to know over the years.

Anyway, it is time for me to move on - and, although it is sad to say goodbye, it feels so right to step away. 

So what has that got to do with a notebook, you may ask? Well, the next chapter I am about embark on has a lot to do with this blog and with my own design work and embroidery. I have many plans for next year and sometimes it is hard to know just where to begin. I was thinking that to make it all happen, I would need a very, very good New Years resolution - except, I don't know about you but they don't really work that well for me. I have usually forgotten about them within a few weeks. 

Then a few weeks ago I read about choosing just One Little Word for the year. Just one word - the idea really appealed to me and for once I decided to actually participate in the workshop. So that is the reason behind this beautiful gift, that I will truly treasure (I feel like writing in it already, but that would be cheating). 

Over Christmas, I will be sharpening my needles, dusting off the keyboard and trying to get some order in my piles of 'stuff', ready to dive into 2014. I don't anticipate that what I am planning is going to be easy, but I am looking forward to every minute of it and when it gets too hard I will look down at my new little pen and be reminded "Don't say No, say How".

Have a fabulous weekend, 

Anna x

Starry Night Winner

It is a beautiful Wednesday morning in Adelaide and time to draw the winner of the Starry Night ornaments...

Thanks you so much for all your comments - I have had a great time reading them. There are some fun and fabulous Christmas ornament stories amongst them and I am so glad I am not alone in my lack of Christmas tree and decorations. Mind you, reading all these has brought the spirit of Christmas to my house - perhaps the box of decorations (not the tree) will come out after all.

GIVE AWAY - The winner is... 

'Arts Crafts and Scraps' - Congratulations! Hopefully these will get to you in time to help dress your half naked tree.

Please email me with your postal details and I will get them in the mail for you right away.

The pattern will be here until Christmas. They really are very quick to make, so if you didn't win I hope you will have the time to enjoy making your own.

Have a lovely Wednesday, everyone.

Anna X

(I numbered your comments and used random.org to draw the winner)

Free Pattern and a Give Away

There is something about this time of year that makes my fingers itch to make little pretty things. Do you know that feeling?   

 

We are having a pretty low key Christmas this year but I just couldn't help but make these little ornaments. 

The pattern is in my Etsy shop and on Craftsy , but you my dear blog friend, you just click HERE for your FREE DOWNLOAD.

 

Now the only problem I have with these two, is we don't have a tree to hang them on. The story behind that goes like this...

We bought a tiny but beautiful little spruce for our first Christmas in Australia. It sat in its little pot and I had great aspirations on its behalf of it one day, growing up to become a big beautiful Christmas tree. We cared for it and watered it, kept it in the shade and managed to keep it alive despite the not very Christmas tree friendly climate that we live in. One day, our sweet little boy then aged two came upon a pair of secateurs and decided to help with a bit of gardening. The first thing to go? Yes, you guessed it - the top of the Christmas tree! Following that we got a tree that would pack away neatly in a box. I don't know about you, but there is something about trees that pack away into boxes that is not quite right. It did the job but I never liked it. So last year I swore it would be the last time it ever went up, thus we don't (yet) have a tree this year. 

 

GIVE AWAY

Since the ornaments have no tree to hang from at my place – what about at yours? 

* I am giving them away to a good home, so if you think they will be happy on your tree, or somebody you know needs a bit of cheering up, leave a comment below. 

* Since we are so close to Christmas and I would like for the ornaments to arrive at their new home before the 25th so we have to make it snappy. I will draw the winner on the morning of Wednesday 18th December (Aust CST)    

* I will announce the winner on Wednesday, so keep an eye out. If you win, you will need to contact me asap with your shipping information so that they can be posted as soon as possible.

Good luck and have a lovely week.

Anna x

 

Over the hills

I have been stitching hills for the past few days.

I begun this piece some time ago, but there hasn't been much to show you until now - rather it would have looked really strange and not made much sense. I have for a long time wanted to embroider raised figures. I have done a few but nothing as big as this one. This will eventually have a large raised figure (no those funny looking violet sticks are not strangely coloured tree trunks, they will at some point become legs) as the main motif, but as with all things raised, I usually complete the background stitching first. It has been rather enjoyable filling each hilly bumps with its own pattern and getting them all to gel.

I haven't used any difficult stitches - the three hills above are filled with blanket stitch - with a scattering for French knots (or were they colonial?), chain stitch and the front one with close rows of cable stitch . 

I am particularly happy with the large hill above. Again the it is not a tricky stitch, just rows of spaced blanket stitch, three in each block and each row stitched into the previous. Like this:

I am hoping to finish the last two hills this week so that I can begin working on the figure over the weekend. Let's see how it goes.

Have a lovely Thursday,
Anna x

Taking it easy...

... well, kind of. I am really, really terrible at doing nothing.

I have this week off work (bliss) and have absolutely nothing planned (even more bliss). It is kind of one of those 'time off' times where you just take time to catch up on all the stuff that you don't normally quite get to. I am sure you know the feeling of lots of little bits of unfinished business lurking on shelves, in cupboards, in piles - I have great 'piling' systems, and little jobs that you want to get sorted but never do. It is a nice feeling - catching up.

Starting the week winding down the best way I know how, with fingers in the dirt, the veggie patch is looking lovely. Looks is not everything when it comes to veggie gardens and I wish it would all hurry up and grow so we can pick other stuff than lettuce and spinach, but it will happen. Beans, tomatoes and cucumbers are going mad - poor corn, got eaten by some hungry creature, but luckily it is not too late to start again.
The vines are growing like mad this time of year - so hours are spent first with tractor (not me, I don't do tractors) then with hedging shears to keep them in check.

With the outdoors tended to, I cleared the first pile yesterday. It was a fun pile to clear too, turning the Crewel Creatures into little zipped pouches. I had fun with these. Franky Fox (I think this is my favourite), Silby Sheep, Goof Green, Wally Wombat and Spunk Sparrow are in the shop waiting for new homes.

As much as I enjoy teaching, and making patterns and kits - it is nice to just stitch. No note taking, no diagrams to draw, no thinking about why or how - just stitch, let the needle and thread do what it wants to do.

But some of you asked about the chequered grid pattern I stitched on the creatures. These are laid trellis or trellis couching, very typical of Jacobean Crewel work. Basically you place long straight stitches in a grid over a shape.


  

I have put a FREE stitches download for Trellis Couching HERE that will give you more detailed instructions. Have a go  - the main things to remember are: you need to use a hoop, your fabric must be kept drum tight while you lay and couch the grid (this will make sense when you see the how to) and take care not to stitch too tightly.

Super easy, quick (well as all things embroidery; relatively quick) and once you have the basic grid you can make so many different patterns. The large left hand leaf and Franky Fox's back are stitched in exactly the same way - Isn't it amazing how much a change of colour and a few stitches can make?

Have fun,
Anna X

Golden Leaves progress

Do you sometimes sit down to stitch - ever so determined to finish what you are working on?

Finding my studio filled with beautiful sunlight yesterday morning made me pretty determined to finish my little 'experiment' playing with bright golden yellows - just a few small details to go, starting with herringbone stitch for the main stem...

... wrong! First of all, it just didn't look right along the main part but on top of that it simply did not work at the little curly bit at the base. Nothing like starting the day with a bit of reverse stitching is there?

Starting again - this time two shades of green and interlocking blanket stitch. This is such an effective way of filling stems and narrow shapes. You simply work one row of blanket stitch, spacing the stitches one thread's width apart, then stitch a second row in the opposite direction, placing a stitch into each space in the previous row

I am much happier with this solution and even though the stem is now filled in completely (which was not really the plan) I don't think it looks too heavy.
I didn't quite finish and I am starting to think about what to make it into. Any ideas are most welcome.

Happy Stitching,
Anna x