Happy 2012!

Wow, we are already four days into the new year, and I am way behind on blog posts!  Today I want to remind you about the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) challenge on www.pintangle.com  Sharon Boggon is an Australian artist extraordinaire, and her blog always has lots of lovely eye candy!  Every Tuesday, Sharon will post an embroidery stitch, and those participating learn that stitch if it is new to them, while more experienced stitchers are encouraged to use the stitch in new combinations, shapes, directions, etc.  It's free to register, or you can just follow along on your own.  You can even have an email sent to your inbox each Tuesday as a reminder.

You can either make a sampler or try the stitch on CQ blocks.  I decided to make a type of stitch journal, what Sharon would call a "library of personal stitches".  I'll be using a different fabric each week, and put one or more stitch varieties on each page.  The pages will each be finished with a large grommet in the top corner and then stored on one or more metal rings.  I have a place picked out in my studio to hang the book/s, so it will be a decoration and reference manual all in one!  It's so easy for me to get into a rut, using the same 5 or 6 stitches over and over, so having a brightly coloured visual aid will help my work to have more variety.

Here is the first stitch - Fly Stitch.  

As I was stitching last night, I realized that the yellow and pink examples in the photo below are actually fern stitch, also called thorn stitch.  I didn't feel like unpicking them, but now I know the difference between the two stitches.  The variation in blue is fly stitch with a chain stitch at the base instead of a straight stitch.

The multicoloured variation in the next photo is herringbone (in yellow), and then 2 layers of fly stitch on top.  Click on any of the photos to see a larger size.

The bottom row of stitching is simple detached fly stitch in varying sizes.

I hope you'll join the TAST challenge and expand your embroidery repertoire this year with stitchers from around the world.