Grandpa's Garden

I've been working on a block effort for a cyber friend...a tribute to her late Grandfather. From her accounts, he was a very devout country gentleman. Every year he planted a large garden...so I attempted to stitch a small garden spot on the block. The base fabrics in the constructed block are from her grandfather's ties. It is an honor to contribute to a block for my friend. Two other ladies have already gone before me, and others will follow me, so the final block will be a surprise to me as well as my friend.

My contribution will be the garden, and some seam embellishments. Here are some photos of the garden's corn, lettuce, "tommy toe" tomatoes, cabbage, carrot tops, and watermelon. Hopefully, I have done the memory of his garden justice.

The corn stalks are covered floral wire with gold rice beads for the ears...covered in 4mm silk ribbon...and more SR for the leaves. The lettuce is a cast-on stitch done in variegated green (perle cotton, sz12). The tomatoes have floral wire covered in brown fiber threads, with tiny little plastic branches covered in green threads...with various clusters of gold, green, red beads to (hopefully) resemble small tomatoes. The cabbage was cool to do...they are lime green rick rack roses. The carrot tops are silk leaves with clipped edges...and the watermelon vine is a peace of tatting from a dear friend.

TDiTM Stitch #5

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

Okay, I'm redeeming myself after posting stitch number 4...or as I like to call it "the ugly cousin stitch". :)

Here's a beauty...a simple little stitch that seems so delicate to me, and I will be using this one a lot I think!

Stitched here in a single color, but could be done beautifully in variegated or two colors I think.

Here are the supplies used:

Threads:
Size 8, Perle (silk), color: lime green

Beads:
Rocialles seed beeds (size 15/0) color: yellow green transparent
Swarovski® Crystals, Bicone, 4mm, color: peridot

I would prefer the peridot crystals in size 2 or 3 mm...as I think the 4mm is slightly too large...but, I used what I had...as I expect you will do. Hope to see your stitch version posted to the HGTV Message board string. ;)

TDiTM Stitch #4

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months Post

I wish that I had not used the black thread on this stitch, as I think it makes it a little harsh. If you stitch it upside down, it might remind you of an Aboriginal drawing...as it did me.

A light and medium blue would have been better...but, oh well...number 4 is done! Guess we need a few complex stitches along the way. They serve a purpose...filling up space!! :) I'll be eager to see what you do with this one!

Threads:
Size 8, Perle (cotton), color: teal
Size 12, Perle (cotton), color: black

Beads:
Rocialles seed beeds (size 15/0) color: black opaque
Jablonex® Czech Loch Rosen, crystal, Flat back rhinestone, 2 mm and 3 mm

Happy stitching!

TDiTM Stitch #3

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

Here, finally, is simple little Stitch #3. This one seems so lovely and delicate to me, and I really like it done in beads. You will note that there is one less bead than French knots in the pattern, because of the size of the beads versus the size of French knots…and I wanted to keep the delicate feel of the stitch and three stacked beads just didn’t seem right to me. You stack them for yours if you like. 

Stitch #2 is done in size 8 perle (cotton) in light purple, coral, and very light green. The beads are 2mm size mother of pearl (dyed very light purple).

Now that I’ve got the photos large enough for you to see the details, I think I’ll have to work on the actual stitch chart. Perhaps cropping some of it out, and “shortening” the stitch row will make the actual stitches look bigger…of course, that means you don’t see the “ends” of the row, and that might be kinda weird. Well, let's give that a try...hmmmm, yep I like the larger version. I'll try to get all the "bugs" worked out of loading pictures on this blog...long before we get to Stitch number 144!!!

I’d love to see your stitches, so post to the HGTV message board when you finish. It will be interesting to see what colors you choose…and if you use any beads in your versions!

TDiTM Stitch #2

Woo Hoo! Happy New Year!

I promised the second and third stitches in the Twelve Stitches in Twelve Months Challenge, and just finished a blog for that…but when I added the photos…I had put a repeat photo of stitch number one into the files for stitch number three. Now, how did that happen??

So, had to stop…go back to my photos and re-crop and size the correct photo. In doing that, I realized that the images might be too small for you to get a clear idea of exactly how to stitch them…so I am going to do two blog entries, allowing me to put extra photos of each stitch.

The stitch charts are done in Illustrator software, which I am new to using…so please do not get caught up with the “solid” versus “not solid” symbols I use. The stitch chart has black dots where the needle goes for the zigzag (I think I’ll try and do without that for the stitches I’m designing now…ssshhh, I’m on #16 if anyone is keeping up). If in doubt, look at the photos..and hopefully you can understand what the chart symbols represent that way.

Stitch #2 is done in size 8 perle (cotton) thread. I chose Kelly green and bright yellow, and really like the cheerful combination. The right side has beads added. The tiny ones are rocialles seed beads (size 15/0) in Ceylon light yellow, and the larger beads are seed beads (size 8/0) in yellow with silver lining, the flowers are Czech pressed beads (size 7mm) flower bead caps in yellow.