Melitastitches4fun's Blog

Serendipty Days 21-25 of 25

This exploration of 25 stitches was fun. I discovered a couple of new ones.

Day 21. Downward Diamond Ray Stitch

If you don’t work this from the top down, forget about it. This Weeks Dye Works, 2141 Lagoon, has a nice variation for leaves on a tree.

Day 22. Framed Cashmere Stitch

This is a pretty stitch using Impressions 181 Ocean Breeze and Kreink #8 Braid 1432 making it sparkle. I especially like it in an offset variation.

Day 23. Patterned Three Stitches

I see a basket would look great in this stitch with Watercolours 234 Celestial Blue. But even more so in two colors of DMC Pearl #5. Alternating both colors while moving left to right allowed me to work up from clean holes, so that was easier. But compensation on the rectangle was tough. I’m quite sure the bottom edge is correct and more sure that the top edge is wrong. But, this is just practice. So, I am not worried about it. If I add a little green stem, I would have a flower in a basket. Thanks to one of the ladies in the Serendipity community who called it a hydrangea.

Day 24. Skip Tent Stitch

I do like this stitch on a painted canvas for a background. I used a couple of Copic markers to color the canvas.

The tent stitch is small, and so it recedes for a good background stitch. And the paint shows through. I used Watercolours 234 Celestial Blue, which has some color change but not a whole lot.

Day 25. Velvet Stitch

Another Turkeywork-like stitch. I don’t do much that uses Turkeywork, but it’s been educational to try these three methods over the last 25 days. Top left is Jump Through the Loop Turkey Work Stitch. The bottom left is Surrey Stitch. The bottom right is the Velvet Stitch.

There was a Zoom call today with some of the participants (77) who shared their progress. Lots of great color combinations. A couple of people did full squares of each stitch. More did partial samples. Some are taking longer to complete the process. There were a few that were so organized that they created a notebook to store diagrams, samples, and notes. My samples are mostly partial ones and stored in a zip lock bag, but that’s why I detail them on my blog.

The coolest one was from Deborah M, who used a geometric painted canvas with the different stitches in different areas. Very nicely color coordinated. Later, she shared a photo in the Serendipity community. I was able to get a better view of it and could see just enough to see it was an Eye Candy canvas, Juicy Fruit Puzzle. Doing 5 five rows of 5 stitches in a 1″ square was not where I wanted to spend my time, but I might have stitched the canvas she showed. I think I will be visiting this page for a future project when Ellen teaches different stitches.

Serendipty Days 16-20 of 25

Day 16. Needlepoint Stem Stitch

DMC Pearl #5 for the outer portions and DMC Pearl #8 down the center.

Day 17. Simple Bargello Line Pattern

Here’s a bargello pattern (over 3 canvas threads not the usual 4) using Watercolours 197 Monsoon for a murky water.

Day 18. 5 x 3 Darning Stitch

Also Watercolours 197 Monsoon for another murky water. It would be better if the canvas had been painted.

Day 19. Milanese Stitch

It probably has less movement when done in all one color but still would seem too busy for most backgrounds.

Day 20. Surrey Stitch

You can’t be loopy and try this stitch! It feels more secure than Turkey work. Except for that one strand, it stands up nicely.

Serendipty Days 11-15 of 25

Day 11. Old Florentine Stitch

DMC Pearl #3 for full coverage.

Day 12. Oriental Stitch

Here is Impressions 181 Ocean Breeze with Kreinik #8 Braid 1432 for water with movement and a little sparkle in the sunlight.

Day 13. Rice Stitch

Here’s a Giant Rice with Petite Very Velvet and Waterlilies framed by small Rice stitches using Waterlilies and Kreink #8 Braid.

Day 14. Tiny Diagonal Leaf

What a cute, delicate composite pattern. Here is Impressions 181 Ocean Breeze again, but with Kreinik #8 Braid 9732.

Day 15. Medallion Stitch

Another composite stitch pattern. All Watercolours Mediterranean with Kreinik #8 Braid 1432 and then a variation with Petite Very Velvet in the center surrounded by the same Watercolours and Kreinik.

Serendipty Days 6-10 of 25

There’s been lots of participation among the members of the group that makes it more interesting. We see lots of variety without all the stitching.

Day 6. Horizontal Twill Stitch

Playing with an old skein of Watercolours Mediterranean (hand written label and lot number but no item number) for today’s Horizontal Twill Stitch. I see an ocean and my husband sees a sky.

Day 7. Greek Stitch

Good texture to the stitch. I think this would be a tough stitch to compensate.

Day 8. Daisy Stitch

I like how they can nestle up next to each other.

Someone posted a variation that nestles them even more closely. Randomly placed and different sizes would be good too.

Day 9. Eyelet Rows Stitch

You could make a single or double fence around the garden of Daisys.

Day 10. Irish Stitch

Looks like a large brick stitch.

Serendipty Days 1-5 of 25

Ellen Johnson of Serendipity is encouraging members to participate in exploring 25 stitches over 25 days. I’ve got plenty of scraps of canvas for this challenge!

Day 1. Parisian Stitch

Here’s a variety of DMC perle threads on 18 count. If it was a colored canvas, #8 would allow some canvas to show which might be desirable, #5 allows very little to show, and #3 covers. Changing colors on rows is an option. Easy to compensate, especially good for backgrounds.

Day 2. Kalem Stitch

For the Kalem stitch, I used 1 strand of The Gentle Art Simply Wool with 2 strands of Soie d’Alger first 2 columns, 2 strands of Simply Wool in the 3rd column, and 3 strands of Soie d’Alger in the last 2 columns. You can clearly see the wool in the center as duller.

Day3. Checkerboard Mosaic Stitch

Here’s what 1 strand of Impressions 181 Ocean Breeze looks like. I worked the Mosaic stitches first and then filled in the tent stitches. It’s more striped than Checkerboard. Two different colors are needed to obtain the checkerboard appearance.

Day 4. Brick Stitch

One stand DMC #5 in 2 different paths. The top sample was stitched every other thread on each row. The bottom sample was stitched every thread on two rows. Coverage looks better on the bottom.

Day 5. Jump Through the Loop Turkey Work Stitch

I used a 12 stranded Soie d’Alger without stranding it in this small sample. It feels more secure than the way I’ve stitched it previously. I only did a small sample. It’s not one of my favorites but useful when you need something fluffy.