COMPLETING THE QUILTS. aka Carry On Quilting.

     I finished a few sashiko projects and ran out of the real thread so decided to experiment with some Perle #8 thread.      I made a  totally hand stitched tote bag featuring the Perle thread experiment.  I'll wait till the thread I've ordered comes before I continue my sashiko stitching journey. Perle really doesnt work very well, especially on the bigger stitch designs.      The star stencil is repeated four times. It is a remarkably longer stitch than any of the pre-printed designs in the kits I've recently finished.      I intend to turn all the previous sashiko projects into bags of some sort.      I'm waiting on some medium weight fusible stiffening to iron on over the back of the stitching to stop the possibility of items in the bag getting tangled up in the thread.  I've ordered some more of the varigated thread because I ran out before I'd finished th...

Finished !     It was a challenge. Front side doesn't look too bad if you don't look to close. The stitches could be more even. I tried, I really did. I thought getting stitches even size would be a riddle because I'm hand stitching  patchwork all the time, but those stitches aren't the focus  are they.  The back side is not as messy as I thought it was going to be.     I should have chosen something simpler for my first big project. But it's done now and I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do with it. It's described as a tote bag, but the fabrics is far to fine for that.      Now starting on a sampler that is printed on much heavier fabric. The stitches are bigger too. They are all dark blue. 

   I'm back doing some sashiko while I let a few February days slip by for the Temperature Quilt, which will henceforth be referred to as TQ22. I'll catch up with that again in a few days.     So, the first big sashiko project I have chosen to do is a tote bag featuring the rounded 'Bishamon' pattern. Holy cow!!! Did I pick a complicated one to start with? No obvious continuous path to easily stitch along and then wander on back the other way with little or no skipping across gaps behind the scenes. And the instructions that came with the kit are not much help. I've had to figure out some sort of continuity myself, and with no 'practice' stitching leading up to it, this Bishamon pattern has nearly done my head in. Oh well, anything after this will be easy, eh?     Skipping across, with a long stitch on the back, from the end of one lot of stitches to start another line of stitches increases the risk of tightening the stitches up.  Being a beg...

A plastic sashiko template I have been awaiting arrived this morning via Amazon and AustPost.  Broken. Badly packaged. A simple sleeve of heavy duty corregated cardboard would have done the job. I have lodged a complaint and expressed my disappointment. I did not use any swear words.  Awaiting a reply.

This morning, bright and early aka stupid o'clock, the postie arrived with the Sashiko coasters kit. Having extra time on my hands, due to waking up so early, something I am not a fan of, I decided to get stared on my first Sashiko project. There's not a lot of instructions with the kit. I'm going to have to check out some instructional videos. Thank you KaiteYarnGarden for sending a very good one.  As soon as I started using it, I didn't like the needle sent with the kit. It seemed to be blunt to me but I thought maybe it was because I was so used to hand sewing with smaller  very thin very sharp needles. So I persevered until I had finished the center stitching. My middle finger, the pusher, suffered. I switched to a similar but much sharper big needle for the border lines and it was much easier going.  I'll add more photos as I finish the sashiko stitching on the other three coast...

The sashiko supplies I ordered have started arriving. It's all very exciting.  But I'm going to finish the project I'm currently stitching and then get into the sashiko. I think I'm going to enjoy it.  I've also planned a Temerature year quilt that I have ordered fabric for and will have to put in a big effort to catch up the past days so far.  It is a quilt as you go Lozenge shape, (elongated hexagon) 17 plain colours in the center and 7 aboriginal themed fabrics for the backing.  More about this later when I get along in it a bit so I have something to show you.  Both these projects probably won't start until February.

I've decided to explore Sashiko.          " Sashiko (刺し子, lit. " little stabs ") is a type of traditional Japanese embroidery or stitching used for the decorative and/or functional reinforcement of cloth and clothing". I will be doing a few samples like in the photos, but I've also got it in mind to include it in some form when hand quilting some chosen projects.  I have long had an interest in this Japanese traditional embroidery technique but this is the first time I have investigated supplies and shops and committed with $$$. I was tipped over the edge of curiosity into participation by one of the members of KiwiQuilters.  More about this after supplies arrive.