Watery waves: TAST 39-52

At last I have some time, so I am trying to catch up with all the TAST stitches within the year!! I am hoping to just creep in under the wire. This sampler is inspired by the coast and waves and is on a postcard sized piece of monoprinted paper that I made a while ago.
The stitches left to right are:
Reversed buttonhole bar, Berry, Spanish Zigzag Knotted, Pekinese, Thorn, French Knots, Pistil, Drizzle, Twisted Satin, Linked Double Chain, Spanish Feather, Knotted Cable Chain and Scroll stitches.
Again all were new to me, so I just tried to learn how to do the basic stitch. Maybe next year I can explore what else can be done with them and to push the boundaries a bit. I may do it as part of the Take it Further Challenge with Sharon B of In a Minute Ago.


This one shows a close up of pistil and drizzle stitches - they are great fun and for texture, so I will definately be using them again somewhere.

Below are a couple more close ups. This challenge has been so much fun and I am looking forward to next year too. I still have a few stitches I have skipped and will try to catch up with them before the year is up! 46 down: 6 to go!!

As usual, life is in the time of pre-Christmas holiday madness. I am really looking forward to time off and starting the new year with a new challenge.

Long ago I realised that new year's resolutions were not for me - I usually last until the 3rd week in January! But this year I am looking forward to replacing Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) with Take It Further , Sharon B's new challenge. This time it is a monthly themed design challenge with weekly reports of progress.

I've a few TAST stitches yet to post and it is week 50 (already?!). But I will finish them at some point soon!

The photo is of tree bark from Darwin Botanical Garden earlier this year. Just an amazing texture...

I'm still here...but look where I've been

Desert Oaks near Alice Springs.

Uluru (Ayr's Rock)

Red Centre landscape near Uluru.

View from the rim walk at Ormiston Gorge.

Wow! Is it really that long since I last wrote in this blog.

Life has taken over...a new job, a trip away and my Mum came to stay for 3 weeks - all ended up with me getting very distracted by life.


I was all set to photograph my recent TAST stitches at the weekend - only to find that my camera has died - I need to get it to the camera shop to find out if they can fix it. E18 apparently and some horrible clunking noises - the shutter won't open. Sigh....I feel as if I have lost a limb.


So I thought I'd pick something from my last trip away - to the Red Centre in October (Alice Springs and its surrounding area). What a beautiful, spectacular, spiritual place. I feel honoured to be able to visit. Obviously I took hundreds of photos ;-) , and this is just a taster. I'll include a few more in my next post and hopefully some TAST stitches too.

For the record I have now a sampler that includes: reversed buttonhole band, linked double chain, twisted satin stitch, zigzag spanish knotted stitch and pekinese. So I am there with you all, hanging on by the coat-tails as we come into the final few weeks!

knotted buttonhole chain

I'm not sure why but this stitch makes me think of ancient jewellery and archaeological digs - maybe Celtic bands. So the sample had to be in rich opulent colours and the "chain" had to be gold. I feel I want to add more stitching to this. I'm just not sure how or what yet...but it will come to me.
I had a great day at my art class yesterday. We did assemblage and I'm really pleased with what I did...a little treasure chest. I'll take some photos and post soon.
I started a new job today and we are off on holiday to Alice Springs and Ayr's Rock (Uluru) at the weekend - so life I'm definitely living life to the full. We have booked a 4WD campervan - I'm so looking forward to experiencing desert and wilderness. The skies are supposed to be amazing...
Then my Mum is coming to visit from the UK for 3 weeks, which will be wonderful. I'll do my best to keep up with TAST - it is a way of life at the moment!!

Cross Rice Boss

Just a quick post today. I enjoyed doing this week's TAST stitches - but it was very time consuming!

It's hard to believe that we are in week 38 this week...and I'm still going. I'm really enjoying the weekly challenge and almost keeping up. I've skipped a few stitches and still plan to catch up with them sometime soon. Those I have skipped are: cretan, crossed buttonhole, crested chain, shisha (to get the hang of it!) and this week's stitch, which is knotted buttonhole band.

Rockpool swirls

This is the picture of the amazing rockpool I saw near Port Stephens in New South Wales - north of Sydney.

Don't the colours and shapes sing! I love the way the seaweed floats to the surface and the shapes of the seaweed echo the sea-snail trails on the orange sandstone. You can feel the movement of the wind and water just by looking at it.

Wouldn't it make an amazing embroidery?!

Cable Chain Seaweed

As soon as Sharon B suggested this cable chain for this week's TAST challenge, I thought of seaweed. You know, that one that bursts when you stand on it on the beach. As a kid it was a regular beach activity, along with rock-pooling and building sandcastles. I like to think of it as an old fashioned version of the bubble wrap! In England there is one called bladder wrack (great name isn't it?). There seem to be lots of different types - the ones when I was growing up were muted green and browns.

I found a fantastic set of rock pools last year near Port Stephens in New South Wales, just up the coast from Sydney that would make an intriguing embroidery. I'll put the picture in the next post to do it justice!

I have always loved rock pools and still they are my favourite thing at the beach - only now I take my camera. I can spend hours looking into them to see what is caught by the tide and hiding in a corner. A whole world in a pool of water...