Fargo Flowers on the Stocking

I've added Fargo flowers to the wave chain. I must have done these before, but I really like them. I get quite a lot of interesting detail from a bit of silk ribbon and an easy stitch. This ribbon is one that I dyed myself. The Fargo flowers make great use of the color variations in the ribbon.

Stocking Detail 37

The left seam is a buttonhole stitch laced with silk ribbon. Each end of the buttonhole stitch has a silk ribbon French knot. The right seam is a chain stitch sewn with Caron wildflowers silk floss. I have this urge to lace it with something in the style of the Pekinese stitch.
The lace motif is hand dyed. I received it in a swap years ago and it fits this stocking nicely.

Stocking Detail 34

The top seam here is cretan stitch, whipped along the inner zigzag. Along the top are silk ribbon knots and loops.
The filler motif is lazy daisies sewn with Caron wildflowers silk floss.
Along the bottom seam is a ruched silk ribbon.

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The lower diagonal seam is herringbone sewn with silk/cashmere knitting yarn. Along one side is silk ribbon chain stitches.
The upper diagonal seam is palestrina stitch sewn with silk ribbon. Along the top are pistil stitches and straight stitches in silk ribbon.
The motif is a braid trim couched down in a spiral.

Stocking Detail 30

This motif was an early attempt at silk ribbon embroidery. I don't recall the name of the rose stitch, but it is made with straight ribbon stitches in a circular petal formation.
The pink seam is a zigzag chain stitch sewn with a hand dyed silk blend fiber. Along the side are detached chains tied down with pistil stitches.

Stocking Detail 29

The details on the black stocking were very challenging to photograph. I took the pictures on a nice sunny day without the flash and I still got quite a bit of glare. I have tried to adjust the brightness the best I could. This detail is the toe area. There are silk ribbon flowers started.
The large seam is a meandering feather stitch variation. It is sewn with a few different fibers added in layers. A seed bead was added to the end of each stitch.
There are tiny peach colored roses on the next patch sewn with rayon floss. They were an early attempt at bullion stitches.

Stocking Detail 23

Progress on the pink stocking is slow going, but I am enjoying it. I have found that when I am tired it takes longer to decide on a fiber and stitch for a particular spot. I was adding a piece of trim across the toe area last night. I tried three different fibers , all with different stitches, before I found something I was happy with. This is very unlike me as I usually avoid the frog stitch. I'm also whipping and lacing stitches more than usual. When I was taking this picture, I noticed how linear all the stitching is. I've since started adding the extra bits and straying off the seams. There is much still to be done, but it is coming along. At this point, I am thinking these will be done for next year. There are a few charms and such that I want to use on this stocking that I don't have in my stash, and a motif or two to create that will take more time than I have before Christmas. When I started the first four stockings, I started early in the year and planned to finish them that season. That was several years ago. I've since enjoyed pulling them out each autumn and adding to them throughout the season. My current goal is to keep working on them when the season is over and finish them before next advent. If all goes well, next year will be our first in a house of our own. The home inspection was this morning. I was really looking forward to it, but I had to miss it. My little angel has had a fever for the last three days and may have an ear infection. So, I stayed home and my husband went alone. He took notes for me, but I am more obsessive about details. It would have been easier to ask the inspector questions directly. There aren't many major concerns, but there are some things to address. Hopefully, they can be resolved.

Anyway, on to the photos. First is the full shot for a snapshot of current progress.

Here is my 'princess of the cows' seam. I wanted dimension and fluff to balance out the other seam along the cuff. These silk ribbon loops filled that requirement nicely. I dyed these myself. The ribbon came from RibbonSmyth. It has a wonderful feel to it and is very nice to work with. Several of the other fibers used on this stocking, including the thread in the seam here, I also dyed at the same time. I was experimenting with starter packs of Setacolor and Dye-na-Flow fabric paints. It was lots of fun and produced some nicely colored fibers to play with.
Zigzag chain over herringbone:
Knotted cable chain with added lacing:
I'm not sure if I like this yet. I had something darker in mind for the lacing, but this fiber jumped out at me.
Pekinese stitch, lacing done with feather boa yarn:
Crested chain stitch, with last week's TAST, pistil stitches added:
Pistil stitches are one of my favorites for accenting a seam or motif. They have all sorts of uses. Many sources for inspiration can be found among the blogs of my fellow TAST participants. I particularly liked the way Elizabeth and Maureen used this stitch.
This is the 'feathered' up and down buttonhole, which is now hidden under the added stitches. I've done this week's TAST stitch, berry stitch, in the little V spaces, with a different thread for each of the detached chains. I've also laced the seam with a knitting yarn, a ladder type. The lacing goes up the seam and back the other way to fill it out.

Progress on the Blue CQ Block

I've added another TAST stitch to my blue CQ block. It is the drizzle stitch, which I've admired but never attempted. I was put off by the whole idea of having to rethread the needle so much. However, it is a stitch with great character. So for the challenge, I went ahead with it.
A needle threader might have been useful, but it really wasn't so bad. Finicky threads aren't so fun, though. The first two photos show different angles of the drizzle stitch done with a silk blend knitting thread with very little twist. I cast on twelve times for each of these stitches.
The next two photos show the drizzle stitch as more of an accent to another area of stitching. I used a number 8 pearl cotton for these. At the bottom of each silk ribbon flower, I did one drizzle stitch with eight cast ons and one with four cast ons. The photo to the left also shows a larger drizzle stitch cluster from the earlier photos for comparison. That thread is a little larger, somewhere between the sizes of a 5 and 8 pearl cotton.

This next photo is a close up of just the area with the smaller drizzle stitches.





The last photo shows the whole block as it is now. The embroidery is mostly done and I will be moving on to other embellishments. On to the beads, buttons, motifs, and such.

Crazy Quilt Project Detail 7

The motif in this detail started with a fluffy, slubby yarn that was couched down in the shape of a heart. Flowers were added with silk ribbon stitches in the darker pink and French knots with #5 cotton perl in the lighter pink. Chain stitch leaves were sprinkled throughout with pale green rayon floss that was also used for the couching.

Other details include a beaded seam, a purchased trim seam accented with straight stitches, and a feather stitch seam accented with detached chain, straight, and pistil stitches.