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Monday, January 28, 2019

Slow stitching - embroidery and a red mini art quilt

There is a lot of slow stitching happening these days - in my home and around quilting blogland. It's so exciting to see everyone re-discovering slow stitching with embroidery, English Paper Piecing, hand quilting and even hand piecing.

More embroidery

I've been following TAST - Take A Stitch Tuesday with Sharon of Pintangle. Here are the stitches to date: Chain stitch, Fly stitch, Buttonhole stitch, and Stem stitch.

Green Buttonhole and green & yellow Chain stitches
In my excitement, I started with the Stem stitch. However, last week I added the Chain stitch to my piece, as well as the Buttonhole stitch. It was so much fun working on this fabric - it's like it was made to practice these embroidery stitches!
Working Fly stitches in the wider areas
I want to go through Sharon's stitch dictionary to try out these stitches in the many options she illustrates.
Lots of Chain and Stem stitches happening
Red Mini Art Quilt

My red mini art quilt, aka “Peek-a-boo Red”, is now completed.

This one is totally hand-stitched with embroidery and beading. Peeking out from behind the curtain, you can see the batik hexies. I wanted to incorporate some traditional quilting in this piece – and although English paper piecing is new to me, it’s actually an old quilting tradition.
“Peek-a-boo Red”

I love the curtain that’s made of banana fibres. I just happened to have the perfect colours. It just goes to prove that when you find cool supplies, if you can afford it….pick them up! You never know when you’ll be needing them.
Can you see the hexies peeking though?
The background is a red grunge and the embroidery floss that I used is the one that matched the paint chip that went with bright red. I practiced my fly stitch and of course used more stem stitch for the top. Finally I beaded the red banana fibre with red seed beads.

Here are my three mini art quilts so far.

Three Mini Art Quilts so far
What I learned

  • My son helped me with the colour. I had some white fibre in the curtain but he said that it was taking away from the red – so off they came!
  • It’s interesting that the white was too much but the green and blue-grey were fine. I guess it was a matter of value.
  • I didn't finish the green mini art quilt for the deadline. Luckily I wasn't the only one. We now have a couple more weeks to get these done - so stay tuned for my green mini art quilt!

Related links

Take a Stitch Tuesday

Linking parties
This post will be linking up to some cool linky parties. Let's see what's happening in quilting blogland 😊 Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Linky Tuesday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Midweek Makers, Silly Mama Quilts WIPs, Needle & Thread Thursday, Wondering Camera, Off The Wall Friday, TGIFF

Project details

Peek-a-boo Red mini art quilt
5" x 7"
Materials: cotton, batik, embroidery floss, banana fibres, seed beads, Kimono silk thread
Techniques: English Paper Piecing, embroidery, hand sewing, beading

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30 comments:

  1. Tami Von Zalez28 January 2019 at 17:06

    Your mini art quilts are intriguing. Visiting from Oh Scrap.

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:36

      Hi Tami, thanks for dropping by. Isn't it amazing what you can do with scraps? I think that I like them more than yardage :-)

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  2. Lisa J.28 January 2019 at 19:30

    The embroidery looks so wonderful on that patterned fabric and the red mini is really cool. I like the curtain very much.

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:39

      Thanks Lisa. I am so loving the embroidery on the fabric. I'm definitely going to explore more of that! I had fun making all of my minis so far, but I am so stumped on my last one. I'm sure that I'll figure it out - I think that I'm trying to hard :-0

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  3. piecefulwendy28 January 2019 at 22:46

    Oh my, this is just so fun to see. I love the embroidery on the fabric and the curtain is amazing! So fun!

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:40

      Thanks so much for your encouraging words Wendy. I really appreciate it!

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  4. Susie H29 January 2019 at 10:16

    What a fun way to practice, learn, and perfect your embroidery stitches. Is that a Kaffe fabric? I think I may look for a fun fabric to do the same. Looks like fun!

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:42

      Hi Susie, I'm pretty sure that it's a Kaffe fabric. I don't have many and I did look on the internet so see if I could find this one, but I didn't. It sure has the look of it - and it's been great fun embroidering.

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  5. Lori30 January 2019 at 01:27

    I've enjoyed reading back through your blog. I need an "artsy fartsy" quilt in a few months, and learned a lot from your posts.

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:52

      Hi Lori, I didn't see too many artsy fartsy quilts on your blog :-) They can be a lot of fun to make. I just love not having to worry about measuring and making my seams match. Good luck!

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  6. Becca // Pretty Piney Quilts30 January 2019 at 09:30

    I don't think you could have picked a better fabric to practice those embroidery stitches on. Fabulous! Thanks for linking up to What I Made Monday.

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:53

      Hi Becca, I'm really glad that I came upon that fabric. It's a lot more fun than the Kona solids that I usually use :-)

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  7. Janine @ Rainbow Hare31 January 2019 at 13:38

    I love your embroidery. I was waiting for TAST to get back to the beginning. I should join in again! Your red art quilt is looking great too :)

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:55

      Hi Janine, I hope you'll consider joining. I signed up for the Facebook group but I'm not a fan of Facebook and so I forget to check to see what's happening. What can I say, I'm just a blog loving girl :-)

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  8. Kim31 January 2019 at 18:13

    I love your embroidery on the patterned fabric. It really adds beautiful dimension to it. Your red Peek-a-Boo quilt is fabulous. Love all that gorgeous texture.

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    1. Andree G. Faubert31 January 2019 at 20:58

      Thanks Kim for your comment! I'm having a great time practicing on that fabric - it's so much more fun than Kona solids! I love the texture of the red mini and so I'm going to try adding texture in other ways on my green mini...I'm really struggling with that one!

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  9. Susan1 February 2019 at 12:00

    That's a perfect piece to add embroidery to!

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  10. Gwyned2 February 2019 at 08:06

    That paisley is perfect for practicing your stitching - some open ground to embellish, and lots of lines to follow.

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  11. Leanne Parsons2 February 2019 at 15:29

    I love the hexies peeking through the curtain! It's a lovely little mini quilt and it's always fun to find a way to use some interesting supplies you've been saving :) Thanks for linking to TGIFF this week :)

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    1. Andree G. Faubert10 February 2019 at 20:50

      Thanks Leanne. I'm really having fun trying to integrate traditional quilting in art quilts. Thanks for dropping by!

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  12. Madalene Axford Murphy3 February 2019 at 09:40

    I love your combination of traditional and experimental art quilt. Color choices are great. And as a confirmed hand-stitcher, I love seeing your experimenting with stitches.

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    1. Andree G. Faubert10 February 2019 at 20:53

      Hi Madalene, Thanks for your comment. I'm really enjoying trying to put the traditional with the art since it's so much of where we come from. And I'm having a great time playing with hand stitching - there are so many possibilities!

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  13. Dione Gardner-Stephen4 February 2019 at 18:31

    Love your minis. Even more taken with your hand stitching, as I think I want to add some to an upcoming project. Love it when info lands in my lap, thanks :)

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    1. Andree G. Faubert10 February 2019 at 22:04

      Thanks Dione, I am really having a great time with the hand-stitching. I finally finished my green mini - just as I had decided that this was the last attempt :-) Nothing like a threat to make it happen.

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  14. Soma @ inkTorrents.com5 February 2019 at 22:55

    I am loving this slow stitching wave in contrast to how fast paced life has become. Love that you are embellishing the fabric with embroidery. The red mini art quilt is fascinating. Banana fibres! How interesting! I am so glad your son talked you into taking the white fibres out, I whole heartedly agree with him.

    Thank you so much for linking up on Wandering Camera!
    -Soma

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    1. Andree G. Faubert10 February 2019 at 22:06

      Thanks Soma. I've really enjoyed doing the slow stitching. It's generally restful. I had so much fun with the red mini. I didn't grow up in the 60's but would have made a great hippie - I love cool curtains and what a find the banana fibres were!

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  15. Angie8 February 2019 at 00:33

    You're the second person to mention TAST - I might have to get involved, even though it would be a late start! Beautiful work in this post!

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    1. Andree G. Faubert10 February 2019 at 22:08

      Hi Angie, I hope you decide to get involved. It really is at our own pace. I've been doing a lot more embroidery lately and it's so fun to decide to use a stitch and not have to look it up to see how to start it! That's really my objective, since I never remember :-)

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  16. betty-NZ10 February 2019 at 20:53

    Such wonderful creativity!!

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  17. Andree G. Faubert10 February 2019 at 22:09

    Thank you so much Betty for the lovely comment and for dropping by.

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Hi! I would love to hear from you and I will try to answer you. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a message. :-)