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Friday 8 July 2016

Friday Frolicking

Happy Friday, the first day of the weekend!

The Frolicking in the title refers to Kaye's group blog Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics where we each post what we stitch on during Friday.  The idea is to pull out an older WIP or project we are trying to complete.  My rotation changes each Friday so that's quite often what I blog about there.

This week I have been celebrating JOJ or Just One July with Justine and numerous others.  Following on from her success during Monogamous May Justine has decided to trying being a OAAT stitcher (One At A Time) and this month she is focusing on a Bothy Threads Cut Thru Pirate Ship.

I'm going to JOJ-lite, ie I chose one Focus For a Finish project but also stick with my weekly rotation to keep up with the various SALs.  This week the FFF project has been Teresa Wentzler's You Were Hatched.  In fact I am so close to a Finish, I'm not going to show you the whole piece, just extracts!

Here is one corner:


The chart uses a Dinky Dyes variegated blue for the Celtic border but I've used a DMC Metallic Blue backstitched in a DMC Gold.  One done, three to go!

The next two photos show a little trick I use when I'm backstitching pointy things like dragon wing tips.  Instead of stitching the diagonal backstitch line in the same holes as the 3/4 stitch, I move it across one thread as you can see.  Then I stitch the straight backstitch over the three threads instead of the usual two. 

(you can really see the blended blues in this photo too)

In this photo you can see the difference it makes.  In the top circle I followed the line of the stitching and the wing tip is blunt.  But in the bottom circle I made the diagonal one thread longer and you get a nice pointy wingtip:


It's not just wingtips this is useful for.  I do the same with anything with a 3/4 stitch point, leaves or petals on flowers for example.  Hair tendrils too.

Here's my bathtime project.  You might have more idea what it is now, any guesses as to the designer of the piece?

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland from Crafty Kitten

And here's my rotation piece for the weekend.  The Second Friday of each month is Christmas Friday and this is from The Primitive Hare Christmas Cubes for the Christmas Ornie SAL Blog:

stitched on 35 count Country Mocha linen

I started this letter for my Longest Day Marathon and stitched the snowflake minus one stitch.

I got a lovely little prize in the post this week.  Remember the May Monster Madness Blog Party?  I won a prize!  Here it is on my fridge, next to my Rocky Horror magnet and the "Save the Date" for our niece's wedding (venue deleted so you can't gatecrash!)




Finally, I went to an award ceremony at the local college for a video game design competition the Large Boy had entered.  He didn't win but did get a very favourable comment from the judges.  Many of the critiques picked out areas of weakness compared to other parts of the design but his was all positive.  If you accept that this quote is a compliment - "He has seamlessly woven in a narrative which is simultaneously touching and disturbed".  His world was "quixotic" too.  Must be all that Terry Pratchett we read!

29 comments:

Margie said...

I see the Ink Circles ghosts in the bath time stitching.

Needles Everywhere said...

I adore the border. I have a piece I would love to do a celtic border on and thiso ne looks perfect! Your stitching is really beautiful. I appreciate the tip on backstitching. I am terrible at backstitching and need all the help I can get.

Linda said...

Great progress on everything Jo. Congrats to your son.

Linda

Vickie said...

Good for you Jo! I am glad you are so close to the finish! :)

Kerryp77 said...

The border looks gorgeous. The blue is a lovely shade and looks amazing with the gold.

My last guess of Halloween for the bathtime project looks right. I've no idea of the designer or design though.

Have a great weekend

EvalinaMaria said...

Bathtime project? Really??? Do you stitch while taking a bath?!? You are amazing! All your stitching looks very lovely.
I'm getting ready for the Jane Austen festival and tomorrow is our big day so my stitching is on the back burner til Sunday...

Beth in IL said...

Thanks for the backstitching tip. And would we crash your niece's wedding?!? Probably if we thought we could get away with it!

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Lovely stitching on your TW project.

Bea said...

Thank you for the backstitching tip - makes perfect sense now that I've seen it! and the bath one is definitely Halloween, but who or what I don't know. But hey, I'm knew to the dark side! Loving the colours in Hatched, especially seeing them up close.

CathieJ said...

You have a wide variety of projects going on. All of them are quite pretty. I like how you vary your back-stitching. I never thought of that but it is really a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

Justine said...

I love the blended blues in your TW piece! One of my first finishes was a TW castle which had lots of turquoise/burgundy blended. It's still one of my favourites.
Is that an Ink Circles Halloween design? It looks fab in white on that dark fabric.

KimM said...

Love your projects and thank you for the back stitching tip!
xxx

Mini said...

Thanks for the tip on back stitching. Lovely colors appearing on Hatched now.
I can see ghosts on the bath time project so I guess its a Halloween piece.

Katie said...

Oh I just love the blues in your TW. I've done one and refused to ever do another haha. Her blends are just too much work. Beautiful tip on the backstitching.

Barb said...

Thanks for the back stitching tip. I love the blue in that border. I have no idea about the Halloween design.

Tiffstitch said...

Lovely work on everything and thank you for the tip about pointy things and backstitch, I will definitely use it. Ink Circles for the bath time project? The ghost mandala?

jocondine said...

Is this Ghostly Mandala usually stitched in black on white linen and you stitch it in white (B5200?) on colored linen? Love the close-up pics too, that gives us useful informations. xxx

Margaret said...

Lovely stitching as always. I like the idea for points-thank you. Congratulations to the Large Boy. He did very well to get such praise. Maybe next time he will win as he's obviously on the right track for success.

Sarah in Stitches said...

Awesome stitching! Very curious to see your near-finish. That's a great tip for the backstitching, thanks! :D

Heather said...

Awesome job Jo! Is it a ghostly mandala? Everything looks great!

Desiree Ehleiter said...

Wonderful stitching and a great tip for the backstitching, thanks!

Christine said...

Great tip for pointy backstitch!
Do I see bats in the bathtime project? (Obviously there is always a 'bat' in bathtime but you know what I mean)

Kaisievic said...

Thanks for the pointy tips pointer - very clever. Please congratulate the large boy for me - so clever, he is.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Those are all great projects! Nice to see more work on that TW!!!

gominam said...

Great backstitching and 3/4 stitches too. So neat... So many too, I would have fainted, LOL. Excited to see the whole finish. Congrats to Large Boy, keep it up!

Brigitte said...

These projects are all very lovely. And I'm looking forward to seeing Just Hatched finished.
A great backstitching tip.

Leonore Winterer said...

Great progress - I love the close ups on the little dragon, and that tip for...well, tips, too! Good luck with your JOJ :)

Stitching Noni said...

Congrats on winning a Monster Bash prize :o)
Great tip for the back stitch.. it really does make a difference to the look having the sharp finish on the wings etc
Hugs xx

The Crafty Princess said...

Coolio, thank you for the tip on finishing pointy things. It looks fantastic. I love the blended blues too, has such a great effect. And yes I can see the Terry Prachett influence. Well done young man.
xo Alicia