Butterflies in Chains

I have previously written about a pillow case project I had started. The pattern contained  butterflies and flowers. The pattern was stamped on the pillow case as cross stitch. I love cross stitch but not as a surface embroidery stitch, so I had the wonderful idea that I was going to do the entire project in chain stitch or some derivative of chain stitch.  You can see the beginning post  and an update.

Well they are done!

Butterflies in Chains

There is a little glare on this picture, but it works.

I owe a debt of thanks to Mary Corbet of Needle N Thread. I have written about her and her blog before. No doubt, it is one of my most favorite blogs. She does not know me, but I am still proud of her contributions to the needle arts!

I could not have stayed true to my original intention without her blog. First, she speaks about using chain stitch as a filler stitch which I had never heard of.  Not too long after I had started the pillow cases, she wrote an article about the Hungarian Braid Stitch. I decided that would be my first derivative and the outside scalloped borders were done using that stitch. Next I worked the pink flowers in Detached Chain Stitch. I was thinking about using her tip about Daisy Flowers in Two Colors but decided to try out the Oyster Stitch instead.

You can't see it now, but my next step was to outline the end butterflies in Cable Chain Stitch. I took it out, however, because I had used a dark blue color that just didn't work with the other colors. The project languished as other priorities too place, but I had not forgotten it. I might take a while, but I am proud that I usually finish the projects I start. 

The project came to the forefront again after I purchased Mary's e-book Stitch Sampler Alphabet: Decorative Initials in a Variety of Stitches!. That is how the outer butterflies came to be laced and the next outer butterflies were whipped. I had forgotten about her article on Lacing and Whipping Embroidery Stitches! I also utilized her idea about putting a straight stitch in the middle of my detached chain stitch flowers. It really plumped them and added a lot of definition.

There is still a lot of other information about the chain stitch on her blog. Starting a new thread and Chain Stitch Tip:Circles are just a couple. I will say it again, I could not have stayed true to my original intention without her blog!

CQJP 2012 May Block

I have finished the work on my May CQJP 2012 project.  I am pretty happy with it.  I think that filling it up more and making bigger stitches has made a difference.

May CQJP 2012 Block

I tried to do a version of a crinoline lady.  I tried to fill in the background with some flower stalks made of buttonhole wheels. There are flower bushes made of French Knots and French knots were also used to embellish the Fly stitch seam treatment on the left. You can also see a closeup of one of the butterflies that I have mentioned in previous posts.  The butterfly pattern can be found here. You can find other butterfly patterns on my Crochet page. Here is a close up of that section:

Close up of CQJP2012 May Block 

I get so much inspiration from the web.  In the picture below you can see the bottom lace piece was embellished with a Cable Chain stitch.  This was the stitch for week 25 of the TAST on Pin Tangle  The pink flowers running vertical along the right side of the crinoline lady were inspired by an article about Granitos on NeedlenThread.  You may like to know, that Mary Corbett has created an alphabetical listing of her stitch videos which she talks about in this post.

2nd View of CQJP 2012 May block

I have really enjoyed this block. Now I am going to get my June block started.

Theresa E