TAST Week 2 and My Color Wheel

This is the second week for Sharon B's inaminuteago (see link in sidebar) Take A Stitch Tuesday and this weeks stitch was Buttonhole. Now I must say that in several of my stitching groups we have had a very lengthy discussion conserning whether this stitch is Buttonhole or Blanket. In checking several of my embroidery books even the published authors (from the 1970's) could not agree. At this point in time I will defer to Sharon calling it the Buttonhole Stitch.

The top left sample is done on 19ct. Cork Linen and reading from top to bottom the basic stitch is done in 2mm Silk Ribbon. For want of a better name I'll call the second section "mountain" because it reminds me of a mountain range and was worked in #8 DMC perle cotton. The third section known as alternating buttonhole stitch was done in a rayon thread approx. the size of #8 perle cotton and I really don't remember the name of the thread as it was a piece left over from a multi-thread needlepoint piece done about 16 years ago. The final section on the linen is done with #5 perle cotton.

The top right sample was stitched on #14ct. Aida with the double basic stitch done in #5 perle cotton. The second stitch of this grouping - closed buttonhole- is done in #8 perle cotton. I have no idea what to call the third stitch group but was something I just played with and is worked in 4 strands of DMC Rayon Floss. The triple stitch was done in three colors of #20 crochet thread and the bottom section was done in two shades of gold ...... the light gold is #8 and the dark gold is #5...... I ran out of thread in my needle on the dark gold and so that pattern was left unfinished..... after all this is a sample and not a sampler

Now to the really fun part. I have been enjoying using buttonhole flowers on some of the hearts I've been swapping in my ChainsOfHearts group and wondered how a buttonhole leaf would look. I really had fun with the flower and leaves in the bottom left sample done on muslin colored poly/cotton fabric. With the addition of stem stitch, running stitch and colonial knots I have a neat looking flower. The threads include #16, #8, and #5 perle cottons. The last sample was also done on the poly/cotton fabric. The red flower is a varigated #16 perle; the purple star flower using #12 perle has a miniature flower button for the center and the last flower uses #5 perle for the petals and #8 for the colonial knots. I really like the depth of the colonial knots.

Now to add some other finished and unfinished work using the buttonhole stitch. This is a pair or soon to be pair of pillowcases..... the top one has all the needlework done but I still have to seam the top end. These are 100% cotton tubing cases. I still have trouble with clear pictures but I wanted to show how I started and how I finished. When I began with the embroidery I followed the directions very carefully. At that time I didn't know I could do whatever I wanted to them and after finishing the first and starting on the second I realized that I didn't like the heaviness of thread so left the pair unfinished for a number of years. The basket is done in single strand DMC cotton floss and the pansies and leaves were started with two strands. Its pretty but was not the delicate look I wanted. Also the pansies were done in straight stitch with backstitch outline. Well, guess what, when along came the buttonhole stitch week I decided to get out the cases and finish using a single strand of floss and the buttonhole TaDa! I still need to hem and do the tatting for the second half of the pair but this now becomes one of my WISPs for 2007.

	<--finished
			uncooked-->

Now my latest heart to be swapped in the COH group has some of my dyed lace and all the seam treatments were done in one of my crochet thread dyeing experiments. The seam treatmens which include buttonhole do not show up as the thread is a light blue/green shading. In the green section I used #30 Sulky in the buttonhole wave. On the pale blue section to the left of the butterfly is one of my tatted motifs which does not show up at all nor do the few beads I've used but in reality the heart is very delicate looking and quite pretty.


During the second week of our TAST series, Sharon mentioned the importance of using a color wheel so I thought I would show you my version. In the early 1980's while an active member of our local quilt guild I became interested in Seminole patchwork as the result of attending a workshop at a quilt symposium. There I purchased a swatch packet of the solids used in Seminole patchwork. For years they laid in a drawer just looking up at me saying "What are you going to do with us?" Finally I decided to put those 1 1/2" x 2" pieces together into an unorthodox color wheel. The narrow border is 1" wide solid purple and the binding has just about everyone of the colors in the quilt in it. The binding fabric looks like someone just took paint and threw it causing the colors to splash and go everywhere but it was exactly what I was looking for. This is one of my teaching tools when questions on color come up as they always do. I use it for many of my needlework classes.

Well, hope to see you next week.