TAST 74 - Zig Zag Chain

This week’s TAST on Sharon B’s Pintangle blog is the Zig Zag Chain stitch. My sample includes #5 perle (dark blue), two rows back to back with #8 perle (medium blue), and #12 perle (yellow).

  

This is a stitch I like and have used before. Here is a small line (green floss), with an added chain stitch going out to the right on my recently finished penny purse.

 

This little yellow line is on the back wall of my “Crazy World” bird house.

This seam is on the Victorian bag. I've added other stitches to the right of this zig zag chain too.

 

I had a busy day yesterday and didn’t put all that many stitches in the Kingfisher. (Maybe I'll have something to show tomorrow.)  I’m teaching some extra English classes over the summer at the children’s English school where I work part time, substituting for some other part time teachers who are on vacation. Yesterday I had two classes that went really well – 4 and 5 year olds in one and 7 and 8 year olds in the other.  I also had one class of 3 year olds that did not go well at all.  There were only three of them, but it started with two of them giving me the crossed arm sign (meaning no) and the third who just woke up from a nap, all refusing to repeat the vocabulary or say anything at all in English.  I was happy that that was the first class and the next two were better.

Cattail Leaves

I’ve been working on the leaves. Basically there are only two patterns in the leaves (hexagons or hexagons with diamonds), and two weights of black threads plus I will be adding some green Kreinik. By filling in more or less of the spaces in the leaf patterns, the leaves look darker or lighter.  Some of them will get outlined.  As I suspected, there are a lot of compensating stitches.  It’s coming along.

Monday Morning Star Count - Progress

I have my 36 hexagons tacked and have started putting them together. 

 

 

While Ted's Away, I Stitch All Day

Ted’s gone on a weekend trip with his canoe class, so I spent most of yesterday with the Kingfisher.  The threads I’ve used so far are DMC black floss, YLI black silk, and Kreinik #4 in light blue and darker blue.  I have a few chores this morning, but hope to start working on the cattails a little later today.

The Non-Birthday Dinner

Ted and I love having our birthdays and we celebrate the entire month, not just the day we were born. One of our friends here doesn’t like birthdays, imagine that!  He doesn’t even want his birthday mentioned.  His wife organized a dinner get together with friends on his birthday, but no one was allowed to say anything about his birthday.  We enjoyed the get together with friends and the meal at Bombay Blue, but hated that we didn’t get to sing Happy Birthday or even make a card for him.

 

The Bird Takes Shape

Kingfisher Start

I’ve decided to work on one of my New Year Resolution pieces – Tanja Berlin’s blackwork Kingfisher.  I traced the design onto the tissue paper and basted the design to the 32 count fabric with red sewing thread, which is removed when the blackwork is completed.  It’s rather time consuming to do this basting, but well worth the time involved. The design areas are small, so I expect there will be a lot of compensating stitches.

 

After removing the tissue paper with the help of some tweezers, I’ve already stitched the first two small areas on the wing.

 

When I’m doing blackwork, I think how much I like doing it and wonder why I don’t do more of it.  I’m probably thinking that about most things I’m working on. There are some people who like to do one thing and that’s what they do, like quilting or counted cross stitch or painted canvas. I like to do many things and never seem to have enough time to devote to them all.

University Student Festival

This past weekend the University students held their annual festival. Ted and I went together on Saturday morning and he returned on his own Saturday afternoon and Sunday.  After all, the university is in our back yard so he didn’t have to travel far to attend again.

There was a large area in the parking lot and several classroom areas indoors. On stage there was musical entertainment and an eating contest and demonstrations.

Fans with the festival logo were given away to attendees.

There were tables of original art for sale and we bought some things to give as gifts.

 

There were quite a few food booths, although I didn’t eat anything at the festival.

The calligraphy and art students displayed their work.

I think a good time was had by all.

 

 

Mid Year Check on 2013 Stitching Resolutions

I posted here about the stitching projects I planned to finish in 2013. I chose these projects because I really wanted to finish them. The year is a little more than half way through, so I should have half of them completed, right?  How am I doing on them?

I completed the fish quilt and sent it as a baby gift to friends in the US. I posted about it here.

I did work on the Plum Panache velvet beaded shawl, but I haven’t worked on it in awhile and it isn’t finished yet.

 

I haven’t yet started the silk ribbon miniature Baltimore quilt.

 

I have two blackwork birds on the list.  I finished the peacock and it can be seen here.  I have not yet started the kingfisher.

And finally, the miniature chair cushion on silk gauze.  I’ve put a few (very few) stitches in it, but it is not finished either.

 

Two finished, one with some work on it, two not even started, and one with only a few stitches added.  Not good.  Should I put the US map and the hexagons away and get to work on one of these?

Welcome!
I had a Japanese lightbulb moment this past week.  Whenever you enter a shop or restaurant here, the employees all yell something.  It happens all the time, but I never could figure out what they were saying.  In Japanese class last week, we had a dialog between a store clerk and a customer.  The first thing the clerk says is "irasshaimase".  It was like I was in a comic strip and a light bulb lit above my head.  Of course!  This is what the shop people are always yelling when I enter the store.  It means Welcome!