CQJP January and TAST Week 4

The stitch for week 4 was the Cretan stitch which is related to the Buttonhole stitch.  It was used on the Island of Crete for centuries to decorate their clothing.  I still prefer the plain Buttonhole stitch.  I liked the way the stitches put together made a chicken wire design.  I do admire what others are doing with their stitches!

 

                                                                                          

                                                                                                           Cretan Stitch

 

 

I used the Cretan Stitch on the 4th quarter of my January Crazy Quilt Project.  I added silver rickrack and some plain Buttonhole Stitch as well.

 

                                                                                           

 

 

My JANUARY CRAZY QUILT square is finished!  I am making one 12 inch square a month so I am off to a good start.

 

                                                                                              

CQJP January and TAST Week 2

The TAST stitch for week  2 was Buttonhole stitch.  I tried several variations.

Sewing my own clothes as a teenager I made many buttonholes but didn’t know anything about variations.

 

                                 

                                            BUTTONHOLE STITCH

 

I used the buttonhole stitches on a quarter of  my January CQJP crazy quilt block.

                                 

                                         CQJP  JANUARY BLOCK

CQJP and TAST

I decided to participate in the Crazy Quilt Journal Project which means sewing one block a month for the year.

I will also be taking part in the Take A Stitch Tuesday,  which involves using a different embroidery stitch each week during the year. 

It made sense to combine the two challenges into one so I plan to use the stitches for the month in the block I will be making each month.  I plan to keep my

blocks and stitches fairly simple in order to fit my busy schedule.  Being retired and living in an RV full time really keeps me busy. 

 

January is here and I have been working on my first crazy quilt block which is a winter block with stars and snowflakes in blues.

The first stitch was a Fly stitch.  I had never used this stitch before.  I have only used two variations of the stitch in my sample.

                                                                                   

                                                                                                         FLY STITCH

 

I have done a fourth of my Crazy Quilt Block.    My blocks will be 12 inch blocks when completed.  I have included a white tatted snowflake in the first quarter of my block.

                                                                                    

                                                                                               CRAZY QUILT BLOCK

MY CRAZY QUILT JOURNAL PROJECT 2012

Not being very familiar with crazy quilting I looked at some books for ideas. In “The Magic of Crazy Quilting” by J. Marsha Michler she showed four methods.

  In “The Magic of Crazy Quilting” by  J. Marsha Michler  she showed four methods.    I decided to try each method  by making a potholder or hot pad from each method.

 

                                                                                                  

 

         

Since I am going to participate in the CQJP  (Crazy Quilt Journal Project) I thought doing the smaller pieces would be helpful.