TAST Week 12: Barred Chain Stitch

I skipped week 11's Whipped Wheel stitch, which I'll probably come back to later.  It may not be destined for this particular block, but we'll see.  In the meantime, I added this week's Barred Chain stitch in brown there in the middle and accented it with a brown button.

The pink and blue stitch combination on the left is Chevron stitch accented with pink buttons and French knnots, and blue Lazy Daisy. The curved vine with purple buds is a hybrid of some stitch combinations in a Judith Baker Montano book.

She has several pages of floral stitch combinations in this book.

It also include instructions for a number of basic stitches.

Here's the block so far.  I'm saving that blank spot on the lower right for a special accent I'll add when the seams are done.

TAST Week 10: Running Stitch

I had an unusually busy weekend, but I managed to fill in a few spots on my March block.  I found a bit of sparkly thread to interlace with running stitch, and I added some fly stitch to the center image of the block.  I  used outline stitch to sew the doves motif, which I found in this old embroidery pamphlet I've had for awhile.  Since it has 55 cents penciled in on the cover, it must be a garage sale or thrift store find.

The pamphlet is undated, but it brags that, although it it written in English, it was printed in France, and it has the imprint of Thiriez & Cartier-Bression of Lille-Paris.  It also announces that a series of these "albums" is available "in Stores, Habersashers' and Ladies' Needlework shops."  Oh my.
 

The designs are charming and not snooty at all.

It gives illustrated directions for stitches, and some sweet projects.

Some of my favorite on-line sources for embroidery motifs are: Vintage Transfer Finds, where florecita has started posting again, and the mother lode: the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers site on Flickr, which you have to join to access, an easy process.  Once you're on the site, be prepared to spend some time browsing.

Have a great week everyone.  I'm on Spring break this week, which means I'm doing my taxes, car maintenance, and other deferred projects.  

TAST Week 8: Chain Stitch and Week 9: Couching

The February CQJP block is done.  I added more fly stitches to mimic feathers on the blue jay, and along the base of the tree as leaves for some blue French knot flowers.

I used chain stitch to create a vine for the tree trunk, and gave it some red berries.

The March block has an image of flying geese at the center.   I couched a wooded bead with Coral Zig Zag stitch right above it.
 

With some tiny beads, this became a fancy beetle.

I've picked some morning glories and some doves for the patches opposite the beetle.  Onward, onward.