Stitching procrastination

I've been in the mood to stitch! 😊 I started in the car and just kept going.

Chain stitch 

I went away for a couple of days to Toronto with my hubby to see a concert. He had booked it before lockdown, so two years later we saw Airborne Toxic Event with Mondo cozmo opening for them. It was a really great concert. The artists were so obviously happy to be back out there doing their thing!

I wasn't going to bring any stitching but at the last minute threw a few threads and this fabric that I had started stitching on in a bag for the journey. I'm very lucky that I can stitch in the car.  This was the picture in my Instagram post on the way. Turns out it's easier to embroider in the car than it is to take a photo of it or actually post!

Stitching in the car - all chain stitch variations

I kept stitching during the week. I used a variation of chain stitches. As you can see, I love adding hexies to the mix. They add colour and are fun to stitch around.

The fabric that I was using was larger than my previous 8" blocks, so I cut off this side that had half-chain stitches. The openings can be large or small. It's good to see what a stitch can do. I also used rows of them above - they are very interesting together (the pink rows under the ladder stitch.

Half-chain stitches

This is what the sampler block looks like today. Over the open chain stitch (or ladder stitch), I added some long tail chain stitches because they look like flowers behind the fence! I also love the single chain stitch (or detached or lazy daisy) in a cluster in different threads and colours. It's a little more elaborate (and fun) than just using seed stitch.

Many variations of the chain stitch

It always takes me a few stitches to figure out the correct angles of the feathered chain stitch (at the bottom of the piece and under the top hexie). These are very popular in Crazy Quilting and can be part of quite elaborate combinations. 

I learned a new variation while reading Textile Stories #12, by Mirjam Gielen of Mirjam textiles. Mirjam does some great organic embroidery, mostly on her eco-printed fabrics. The heavy rows on the right are made with heavy chain stitch. I really love their weight and tried them out in a few thread weights. The orange is 6 strands of embroidery floss, the blue is #5 perle cotton; the fuchsia is #12 perle cotton. The final row is Honest Yarn's hand-dyed indigo lace linen.

Heavy chain stitch

Embroidering on eco-printed fabric

This is a piece of eco-printed linen that I started stitching on a while back. I added a few open chain stitch rows (ladder), some detached chain stitch as well as quite a few French knots. 

Adding more stitches on eco-printed fabric

In the image below, in the bottom left corner, you can see Mirjam's variation of the blanket stitch to make lace like or what she calls cell like structures. That was my first try and I will be practicing this - it's quite beautiful.

Stitching on eco-printed fabric

Biodiversity piece

I love procrastinating and I'm quite good at it! However, sometimes I have to talk myself into getting things done. I promised myself that after stitching and preparing this post, that I could go back to my biodiversity piece. Since I've been working with the chain stitch, I started with the lazy daisy in the blue flowers below. 

Biodiversity - getting back to it.

This piece was started based on another workshop with TextileArtists.org's stitch club. In March 2021, Kate Tume's workshop was about exploring narrative potential with embellishment. See Related links for details.

Making detached daisies within 
detached daisies

What I learned

• I've had a good time playing with thread - it seems that I really needed some slow stitching time!
• It's been a while since I worked on a new embroidery sampler. I've added links below to the other ones I've worked on.
• Embroidering in the car is a great way to pass the time, especially since I can't sleep in the car anymore.
• The best thing about a live concert was seeing how happy the musicians were being on stage and doing what they love. It was very inspiring.
• I was also reminded how much I love my quiet little suburb!
• Now that I've started stitching the biodiversity piece, I'm going to put away the other embroidery until I finish this one.

Related links

• Posts on Embroidery samplers
• Slow stitching Update, April 13, 2019
• Relaxing and Playing,  July 01, 2019
• Posts on embroidering on eco-printed fabrics
• Updates on Slow Stitching projects, October 11, 2021
• Mirjam Gielen of Mirjam Textiles
• Basic Stitches - an e-book on organic embroidery available on Etsy
• Instagram
• Post on Biodiversity
• Embroidery & Beads for Slow Sunday Stitching, March 07, 2021
• Kate Tume
• Kate Tume: Activism and embellishment, article on TextileArtist.org
• Airborne Toxic Event with Mondo cozmo

Linking parties

Remember to link up any FMQ with Muv this week! I'll be posting on Thursday for Free Motion Mavericks. I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching as well as many other fun link ups. Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2022,