Week #3 and #4 of TAST Stitches

Well, I've still got a lot to learn as far as editing my photos. I spent over an hour trying to follow my notes but I had left out a step......... I think I've got that part down now as once I remembered what I'd been leaving out the process went a little faster. For week #3 of Sharon's TAST challenge the stitch - Detached Chain was really a simple one as it was one of the first stitches my mother taught me at age 5. I just needed to play with it a little. The first thing I did was using 18ct. Aida and adding some ultra suede scraps cut in ovals to form a 5 petal flower. The detached chain was done with a #16 perle cotton and really does not show up in this photo. I should have used a heavier thread in a contrasting color. The center of the flower is a button attached with #5 perle using French Knots. I'm just beginning to get comfortable using buttons in my cq work. I need to go back and look some more at Sharon's "I dropped the button box" post for additional inspiration. The piece on the top right is on 28ct. Quaker and using #8 perle cotton I just "played" with the stitch and did add some beads and French Knots. Nothing spectacular. Now on the bottom piece I used 32ct. Linen and taking a hint from Sharon's samples I did a padded flower. For my padding I used 2 white flannel circles and the first layer of detached chain was done in red #5 perle; inside those stitches I used green #16 perle. Around the outer edge are peach #5 perle Colonial Knots with green #16 perle "leaves" on the outer most edge. The very center is filled with yellow EdMar Lola in French Knots. The small flower to the right is just a "Lazy Daisy" purple #8 perle flower with French Knot stem and Detached Chain leaves. Just something to fill the space as I wanted the main interest in this sample to be the padded flower. The bottom "chain" is done in a #8 varigated perle. The earrings were worked on #22 Hardanger using Detached Chain, Stem Stitch and French Knots.


I still need to use darker threads but I really don't have many dark threads in my perles and they are my favorite threads at the moment. The first Cretan Stitch sample here is done on 14ct Aida in a #8 dark aqua as an elongated design. There are many possibilites for embellishing this particular design but I left it plain. On the bottom of that sample I used a total of 5 different rows of Cretan Stitch with varied spacings and 2 different size threads: #8 brown, #12 shaded browns. Then between rows 2 and 3 I added orange #5 French Knots. I really enjoyed working this pattern. Like I said, I'm just getting into using buttons, so on the pale blue #22ct Hardanger I used three mother-of-pearl flower shaped buttons attached with Pistol Stitch done in EdMar Lola and for the leaf I did what the A-Z of Embroidery Stitches by County Bumpkin Publications of Australia calls the Closed Cretan. I want to do that one again but with smaller thread AND smaller leaf size. Stem Stitch was of course used for the stems. The final sampler was also done on 22ct Hardanger. The top sample was done as a couching stitch over light purple satin ribbon with #16 perle in a dark purple. The middle group was done in a red #8 perle with the detached stitches in a red/black varigated #12 perle. The bottom grouping is incomplete. I've noticed that some people would call this "wisteria" and it probably could be used that way but I intended mine to be a "grape vine" grouping.
Looking forward to week #5.