Z is for ............

Zip! of course 

a fitting ending tag for my alphabet of stitch tags

in 'Zig Zag' chain stitch

and that zips it up for me!

 I have had so much going on over the last week that I haven't had any time to decide on how I'm going to display my stitch tags, I did lay them out on a canvas

It's not a good day here for taking photographs, a bit dull and rainy, but this is just to give an idea of how they might look, the background fabric is a pale  mint green. I think I might need a bigger one, I think they look a bit too close together, I may still go for the book idea, my thoughts on this being that I could carry it in my project bag and use it as reference and a reminder of all those other lovely stitches that I should use more often in my projects.
I have really enjoyed working on the A-Z theme with stitches, some more difficult and time consuming than others but it's been fun. I'm really not sure right now if I'm going to continue with Tag Tuesday it's really so difficult to decide, I enjoy joining in but it is a commitment and I don't want to say yes and then find it difficult to keep up with so many other projects on the go. On the other hand I know there is a waiting list and I feel perhaps it's time to let someone else take part.

Y is for ....

Yvonne of course!

meaning 'Yew Wood '

the tree branches are worked in 'Y' stitch then I added little glass beads for berries
****

I had a fun doing a search of the name and the meaning of it.

There has always been differing opinions on the origin of the name 'Yvonne'

My French teacher insisted it was French, my Mother has always said it is an Irish name but on searching the Internet is seems that it is an Old German name the female version of 'Yvon' or 'Ivon'

meaning in German 'Yew wood' or 'Archer' Yew wood was used in England and Wales to make an early weapon called a Longbow.  

X is for .....

X - Stitch

as there are no stitches that begin with the letter X I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to display this little miniature cross stitch that I worked while doing a lot of miniature embroideries.

Worked on 28 count Brittney even weave fabric (14 stitches per inch)

As you have probably read before its not my favourite form of embroidery, 

I can't seem to get my head around how it's worked and I'm not good at following the patterns :/
I really did wing my way through this one.

Still its nice that I get to use it on one of my tags :)
Almost at the end of these now,
just as well as I have a feeling my new project is going to keep my busy !

W is for ...

What other than 

Web!

The web is worked in 'Whipped Stem' 

There are many stitches that can be 'Whipped' it simply means wrapped with another thread in this case the web was worked in a simple black stem stitch then whipped with silver thread.

Little 'Webster' the spider was created from two different stitches

 a 'Woven Spiders Wheel' for the body 

and a 'Wheatear' stitch for the head.

*******

V is for

Vase

in Vandyke stitch

A simple tag decoration this week as there was only one stitch but such a beautiful stitch to do, 

The vase shape was cut from pink silk and the stitch then worked over the top.

 I like the raised effect it creates, its very tactile.
I have been thinking a bit about what I might do with all my stitched tags. Kevin has suggested that I put them on a canvas and hang them in the dining room. When I started out on the little project it was my intention to make them into little book I'm still undecided, perhaps once they are complete and I see them all together it will all become clearer.
 ****
We are having some beautiful weather here in Fife it's so nice to see the sun out all day, looking forward to sunny days in our caravan :)

Tag Tuesday after a busy weekend!

Umbrella

in 

'Up & Down Buttonhole Stitch

The thread is 'Spring Garden' by Chameleon threads

Not a lot of stitches beginning with 'U' so only one stitch to note here and I got a little pen mark on the fabric which is unfortunate, silly me!

Now to start thinking about my 'V' tag now, another difficult one!

Not many letters left.

*************

We left at 5am on Friday morning with our little Monza feeling a little bit sad.

Having met with her new owner at a Service station halfway to make the changeover in Darlington, she headed off down south to Cambridgeshire. The weather was a bit rough over the Pennines especially, it was so windy and our poor little Monza was put through her paces.

On the way back we stopped off at Alnwick as the weather brightened up browsed round the Antique and charity shops. We also visited the the fabulous 'Barter Books' store housed in the old Alnwick train station, what an amazing place! with freshly brewed coffee on offer all the time next to the blazing log fire, the children's book section was a most welcome place for Charlotte and we sat and drank our coffee while she buzzed around on a Wheelie Bug :)

***

Sunday was my Birthday I began the day with a trip along to the local car boot sale with David there were lots of little bargains to be had and I was tempted by a few well it was my birthday!

 I will take some pics and post tomorrow. 

 I was fortunate to be able to spend the rest of the day with quite a few members of my family who decided to visit, it was a lovely sunny day if a little breezy, everyone enjoyed seeing our new caravan and the boys got together for a game of football in the park next to our house.

Chinese take-away for dinner,  it was delicious and I got some lovely presents and flowers and birthday cake! all a real treat thanks to everyone for making it special :)

Y xx

T is for Tag Tuesday

and Tree (and yes I'm a day late!)

 In Trellis stitch (trunk)

and Threaded Back stitch (branches)

For Tag Tuesday < bit late I know but I have been quite busy this week, with our little caravan that we have been renovating and restyling for the past two years getting her ready to sell and then it all went so fast when we put her up for auction!
So I've been a bit pre-occupied all week adding finishing touches and a bit sad today too sniff ;(
We never intended selling it when we bought it, if you have read my blog regularly you will know this but I guess we cant keep two. She leaves on Friday to go to her new home. Her new family are so excited, I know they will look after her and have lots of nice holidays in her and that's the happy thought I'm keeping in my head :)

S is for ....

Sunflower

 in Satin stitch (petals and leaf)

Stem stitch (stem)

and Shisha stitch (holding the mirror in place)

 a little Straight stitch all around the edge to finish.

I used two of my little brass stencils to mark the flower head and leaf shapes onto the fabric.

R is for

Ring !

..... in Raised Chain Band (band)

Ribbed Wheel Filling (stone)

 and

Rope stitch (setting)

Q is for ............

Quilt 

in Queen stitch

another counted thread stitch, more stitching and picking out then stitching again!
Stitched in a quilt like pattern, using three different variegated threads plus white.

There are two or three variations on this lovely little stitch, which can be worked in a vertical or diagonal direction, also some examples I have seen have had a central stitch but I prefer this one which has two vertical stitches each side with the horizontal pining stitches meeting in the middle.

P is for .........

Pineapple

 in

Pulled Thread Work

&

Pattern Darning
working one these two slightly different forms of counted thread work is very slow and not to be done when tired! this little piece is far from perfect, I had to pick out and redo bits I had to remind myself that this is just a little sample piece or it would never had got finished! and there are still more than a few mistakes in there!
It was nice to work the pineapple in the variegated thread, I think the colours worked out well.
Now on to the letter Q ! ......hmmmm

and ........ Progress it's  been a very busy time here with changes taking place in the garden and at the side Kevin has extended the fence to meet up with the conifers on the side of the drive, it used to stop in line with the house.

 we had a few instances of children from the park running through them and throwing things at our little caravan :( it looks much better now :)

The dividing fence and gate are removed for now and will be put up again further back to give us a longer bit of drive out front again, that is sitting on the decking joists outback for now, weather has slowed things up with the decking but it is getting there!

O is for ...........

'Ocean'

in Open Cretan and Open Chain 

Outline, Oyster & Overcast stitches.

Miniature Needlepoint Nest

I have been stitching away at my little needlepoint nest

hoping to get it finished for today, 

I did manage it ......

......thankfully!
 as there is not a lot of stitches out there beginning with the letter N
and my little challenge was for Tag this week

Click here to read my original post about it > Painting on needlepoint canvas in miniature 

It's ok for a first attempt I think, Stitched in single strand embroidery threads,

I would have liked to have got more detail into it, but that's difficult when restricted to canvas,
 I suppose that was the challenge!
It was nice to venture back into miniature work again too.

M is for ........

That other little Mountmellick piece I was working on.....
For my A~Z 'M' tag
There are very few stitches in embroidery that begin with the letter 'M'
so I decided to dedicate my tag this week to a particular type of embroidery,
Originating from the town of Mountmellick in Ireland, which is traditionally worked in white.
I designed my own little piece
 Mung Moth

The stitches are worked using 4 different thicknesses of mat cotton threads on a soft sheen fabric called 'Jean' which is as it suggests like jeans, a close woven twill fabric.

Stitches used include satin, stem, whipped back and stem, french knots, overcast, and split stitch but there is also a specific Mountmellick stitch

shown here along the top wing sections
I was introduced to Mountmellick through one of Embroiders Guild groups that I attend
 and have recently completed the piece that I worked on at meetings there.
if you missed my post about it you can see it  here

If you want to read more about the origins of Mountmellick embroidery then there is more here

L is for ....

Lawn Daisy

stitched in 'Lazy Daisy' ~ petals

'Laced back stitch' ~ for grass and in thicker thread for flower stem.

 and of course

'Leaf stitch' ~ for the leaf.

My tag for Tag Tuesday  'L'

Flying high!

The letter K is for ............

Kite

Anytime we have taken out a kite to fly

 it always ends up at some stage with a little collection of knots to unravel!

But this little kit is flying high

the only knots are decorative ones

'French Knots' ~ as the centre cross 

Bullion Knots ~ on the Kensington stitch tail

Kensington stitch is also known split stitch 

&

Klosterstitch a form of single thread couching ~ outlining the kite
Klosterstitch is also known as Bokhara or Roumanian couching. It was widely used in Germany the 14th Century, especially in works associated with convents, hence the name "Kloster" or convent stitch.
Four 'K' stitches in all and two new names for me!

J is for .......

 A difficult one this week,

 but I eventually managed to find a stitch which began with the letter 'J'

It's from the Canvas-work family of stitches and its called 

the 'Jacquard' stitch 

and with it I stitched a 

Jelly 

 I embroidered the pattern which is done diagonally onto canvas,

 then cut it out and stitched it onto the background tag

... a closer view of the stitch
which is worked using a variegated peach thread in alternating rows of long and short stitches.

I is for.......

Ice Cream

 Silk applique cone stitched in ice cream colours  

Indian herringbone stitches on the sugar cone, 

(the Indian herringbone is herringbone stitched one over the other )

 Interlace running stitch ~ down the side of the tag

and Isolated back stitch sugar strands in sweet pastel shades

can you tell I'm looking forward to the summer :)
Charlotte keeps talking about the holidays now, shes keen to get away in our little caravan.
I did a bit of work on the flower quilt but a had little setback with the original side when I tried to match it up with the new side, the measurements were a bit off, I expected a little bit of a difference but on closer inspection there was quite a bit, which involved unpicking the bottom row of the printed squares and shaving about an inch almost all the way across the bottom two batik squares, unfortunately it also meant I had to remove the original hand stitched signature.

however this re-alignment was needed for it to sit right.

H is for .....

This is my Tag for this week the letter 'H'

is for .......HAT

a Hogwarts sort of hat

 In Herringbone on the hat, Heavy Chain down the side

and Half Chevron around the brim

Gosh is it g already!

.......still having fun with my letters over on Tag Tuesday.
Can you believe we have arrived at G already!

and G is for 'Gingham'

 I know it's not a thing but hey, it is when its a dress

 
in Guillioche stitch, down the front of the dress and the side of the tag 

and Ghiordes knot as fringing on the dress

and that little petal shaped stitch just right of the G is Granitos which is Spanish for 'little grains'

I thought I was going to miss out on things for a while when my laptop decided that I wasn't allowed to connect to the internet anymore on Thursday evening :o( it took most of Friday to get it fixed thanks to my two trusty IT guys and a whole re install, saving and moving of large numbers of  picture files because I like to take a picture or two :)....all fixed and running smoothly again!

Today I did more hand stitching on a little gift for a special lady
more about that tomorrow perhaps ......