Diverted by the Aztec Stitch

Last Christmas during an ornament exchange I recieved one made in a technique I did not recognize. I've been stitching a long time now and this doesn't happen too often. I tracked down the lady who made it and discovered it was the Aztec Stitch. Some quick googling revealed information and a free project from Piecework Magazine that I quickly printed out. I didn't have the supplies on hand so it was put aside, but not forgotten.

My EGA (Embroiderers' Guild of America) Chapter was looking for program ideas so I suggested the Aztec Stitch. Patience paid off and the program was a few weekends ago but I had to miss it. I picked up the canvas and instructions last weekend and dropped everything to get started. This bookmark is stitched using 18 count canvas and #8 pearl cotton.

Canvas threads are removed and the design area is outlined with nun's stitches. Then the fun begins. Alternating stripes of wrapped bars create a beautiful effect.

This thread was dyed in a class many years ago. The colors are uneven and mottled. Some are not colors I would normally use or combine with each other. I just alternated the colors I had to see how they would look together. Sometimes the best color combinations are accidents like this. I would never have chosen these colors to go together, but they do.

I also don't deal with yellow well and rarely use it. I don't know why. I am cool color girl - I love greens and blues. It was a great achievement to actually use yellow (and yellow-orange) for a change. Maybe I'll have to make an effort to include yellow more often.

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It's about time - the big reveal

My bright quilt was finished in June but I wanted to wait until both were done before sharing the pictures. Quilting the blue quilt didn't take long but finishing the binding sure did. I did procrastinate a bit as it was too warm to have a huge quilt on my lap for most of the summer. After this, I'll probably do all the binding on my sewing machine (and stick to smaller quilts). Notice the cut-out corners? That was a challenge. I found instructions here and it looked easy enough but I wished I had practiced some. After a lot of finessing I finally got good miters but I could have done much better. The cut-out corners allow the quilt to hang nicely over the edges of the mattress and it's a perfect match for a full sized mattress. But, the top edge isn't even close to the pillows. I wonder how the quilt fit on the bed it was made for. Here, at last, is the original quilt that I was copying. I just noticed - all of the baskets are

More Wildflowers of America

Since I have framed the stitched Bleeding Heart from Curtis Boehringer's Wildflowers of America I decided to track down the other 3 wildflowers that had I stiched earlier. I chose these flowers because they reminded me of the forests of Ohio where I grew up - Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Wake Robin and Bloodroot. The Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Wake Robin where both finished with fabric frames. This was a favorite finishing technique of mine for a long time. On the back they are dated 1999 - that was a while ago. I remember the quilt store where I purchased the fabric, but not its name. It's gone now but it was in an old Victorian house in Old Colorado City. The turrets where lined with bolts of fabric and hey had a great selection of plaids. I had never heard name Wake Robin before and it means nothing to me, but the flower is definitely a Trillium. Back then, I dutifully followed the pattern. Now I would have used the name Trillium or omitted the letters altogether. I do miss

Diverted by Dorset Buttons

I learned how to make Dorset Buttons yesterday at our monthly EGA meeting . These little buttons are so much fun to make! We only got three rings so that's how many I made. If I would have gotten more I'd probably be still making them. One nice thing is that they are very forgiving. I made countless mistakes on my first one and you can't tell. A quick google revealed lots of websites with historical information and tutorials on how to make them so I'm not even going to try to describe the process. Some people made their buttons with yarn, others used perle cotton. One of the examples had beads on it, so once I got home I had to find some beads to sew on. That's it for now. I'm going to be keeping my eye's open rings to use. I'm also going to have to go through my yarn stash. Using yarn gives a totally different result and I want to try some yarn ones too.

Erica's Stitches

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