Chain Stitch ATC

This is for a swap on Swap-bot for the first in a series of Embroidered ATC's. This one is for the chain stitch. My first thought when I saw this was to use some of the South African embroidery -- love the 2 Ndebele ladies pattern there -- techniques I had learned last year which often start off with a chain stitch and then embellish that stitch, but finally I decided to just go with a plain old chain stitch.
One thing I learned when I did the dragonfly ATC is that I did not want to draw on the card itself and then punch the holes, because there is always erasing to do and that doesn't always go so well on the darker background. So this time I drew on a piece of scrap paper cut to ATC size and once I was happy with that I used that as my template as I poked a pin through it and the actual card. The nice thing is I have the pattern for myself if I want to try it again with the more embellished chain stitches.
Next, I picked some shorter lengths of embroidery floss I had in my stash and that I thought looked good with the ATC card (which was cut from the back of a Christmas card) and got busy doing the chain stitch.
Hope my partner likes it.
The next swap in the series is for the lazy daisy stitch.

+91/+12.25

African Folklore Embroidery and an ATC Challenge

In May my mom treated me to a lecture about African Folklore Embroidery. The lecturer was Leora Raikin, who is such an interesting speaker. She spent the morning taking us on a bit of a safari, sharing lots of information about animals, people groups and, of course, about the embroidery itself. She passed around so many beautiful examples of the work done by the various people groups and explained how they expressed something important in their culture or in the world around them. She also shared many examples of the work she and her cousin had done.
For the afternoon session we each chose a square of black fabric with whatever design took our fancy and some thread and then the fun began as Leora taught us some of the basic stitches used in the embroidery. What we learned was based on the chain stitch, so simple, and yet . . .

A few weeks later I saw an ATC challenge swap that would allow me to use the embroidery techniques on one of the three cards I would make for my partner. Couldn't resist signing up.
Here is the ATC that used the African embroidery using black card stock instead of black fabric:
One of the things that makes the embroidery so lovely is that the threads used are multi-colored, with the color changing very quickly. I didn't want to use the beautiful threads I had for my kit because I don't want to run out before I am done with that piece, so I used crochet cotton that I had on hand, some colored, but mostly white, and colored it myself with Sharpies. I don't know how well the Sharpie color would do in a situation where it was being washed frequently, but in this application that shouldn't be a problem.

Finished Angel Ornament

Last month my mom invited me to go with her to a meeting of the Needle Arts Guild. Many years ago I was a member, but had to give it up when we moved to our current neck of the woods. This is where I learned to do counted cross stitch, pulled thread work, trapunto, blackwork, sashiko, Brazilian embroidery and even tatting.
Anyway, it was so good to see some faces I had not seen in more than 20 years, to visit and to see what they were working on these days. One of the best parts is that they have a table where everyone can share their current WIP's and finished projects.
The October meeting featured a stitched and beaded angel. It turns out it was supposed to be a two part lesson, but I will not be able to be there in November, so I just winged the beading part and this is what I came up with:

We're Getting Settled

We moved into our house last week, because that is when escrow finally closed. We had been expecting it to close about a week and a half before that and so things were getting quite tense for a while there.
Now we are starting to get rooms into the shape and there are less and less boxes lying around the house. Ken has done so much work. He is amazing.
Yes, I should have pictures to share with you, though I am sure you do not want to see the dead mouse I found floating in the pool yesterday. No one told me that was part of owning a pool. All I know now is that we need more chlorine, no matter what the actual chemical balance of the water may suggest. We need more chlorine.
I also will not put up a picture of the lady who keeps parking in front of our driveway and saying she didn't know that someone was living here now, no matter how often we tell her. Sheesh.
So, because I don't want to go through a month without posting something and because I like posts that have pictures, let me share this with you:

This is a pin I made from a pattern in the book Doodle Stitching. I used beads instead of the french knots the pattern called for. My version is also stitched on felt so I didn't have to turn under the edges.
Doodle Stitching is also the inspiration for this pin also stitched on felt.

Hope you enjoy them.

It Wasn't Even My Favorite Quilt

Sunday, my mother, my aunt and I went to a quilt show. They had some truly beautiful quilts. Others were just interesting. Two of them did nothing for me at all.
One of the interesting quilts had been done by a Polish quilter who was inspired by a wall in a city that had been repeatedly covered with handbills. As I recall, the colors were mostly grays with some muted colors and the design/pattern of it was made by the words on the handbills. It was not something I would want to have in my home, but it did have its own beauty and I am glad I got to see it. As I was leaving the show, I was thinking of how I could use some of the ideas in the quilts I saw as elements or inspirations for some of the things I like to make. This was not one of the quilts I was thinking about.

That night, I was cutting something out of my church's bulletin, when all of the little graphic bits in it reminded me of the handbills quilt (I have no idea what its real name is, sorry) and I thought it would be interesting to make an ATC out of them. This is the result.

Halloween ATC

Halloween ATC
Originally uploaded by joanieponytail57

These are the ATC's I sent out today for the Halloween ATC swap. They are pieced paper, and embroidery with silver gel pen stars.
While I was making them, my husband, who was doing some cleaning/organizing, brought in a box that had something called the Love and Money Loom set inside. My sister-in-law had given it to me years ago around the time I got married.
Hmmm, I'm making ATC's for a halloween swap. I have way too much thrifted orange yarn that I'm not sure how I will ever use up. And I have a loom set easily available. What to do. What to do.
Turns out both of my partners won't have to be worrying about that bubbling hot cauldron ruining the finish on whatever it is you put burning hot cauldrons on.

Roses W/ Thread ATC's

Roses W/ Thread ATC's
Originally uploaded by joanieponytail57

When I signed up for the Thread Embellished ATC swap on swap-bot I had in mind to do the woven blocks. Before I started it I saw these roses in an embroidery book from the library. My first thoughts were 1) those are couched with thread and 2) I have that yarn. So, I had to make them. Of course, the thread used to couch the yarn really isn't much of an embellishment so I added the swirls so these would qualifiy. These are just a bonus for the swap since I still sent the woven ones.