Take a Stitch Tuesday Week 1

Here I sit in my twirly office chair,  twirling around in all directions waving to everyone with a big silly grin on my face. Thought I might tie balloons to the chair but thought that might be going a bit far. 

I know why you are here, so without any more silliness and rambling or even any fuss …

Drumroll…

The first Take a stitch Tuesday challenge hand embroidery stitch is ….

Fly stitch! You will find directions on how to work Fly stitch in my stitch dictionary. Just follow the link.

The challenge is to either learn the stitch if you are a beginner 

Or

If you are an experienced stitcher take the stitch a little further. Push the stitch in a creative manner. Experiment with it, such as arranging it in patterns,  try working it different threads, try working it on different fabrics, or fabrics that have been hand dyed, space it closely together, or work it far apart, work it in a line of stitches that changes height, try working stitches in a circle, add beads,  lace it with other threads,  overlap them, over lap them with other stitches, use it to couch down another thread or ribbon. The list of what is possible goes on and on. No matter what you do with it explore the stitch. 

The first image (above) is worked nearly entirely in Fly stitch. It is layers of fly stitch worked over layers of net to produce a watery effect.

The second you can see fly stitch stacked closely together and being used as leaves in a flower spray on crazy quilting.

 This is fly stitch overlapping herringbone. 

Here fly stitch is used to represent the leaves of a rose bud. The bud itself is made up of 2 bullion knots.

Here I have done the same to decorate a piece of lace on crazy quilting.

Here the ties of the fly stitch are not straight stitches but detached chain stitches.

Once again fly stitch has been used as twiggy bits in a flower spray in some crazy quilting. 

I hope you have enjoyed the eye candy! 

Extra spice for TAST 2012

This year I am going to add some extra spice to this challenge. At times I will feature highlights that participants have stitched as part of the challenge. These feature spots are to draw attention to particularly creative and interesting work. I think a series of TAST highlights throughout the year will be an inspirational series that hopefully will stimulate readers to experiment further with surface stitches.  

This will mean some people’s work will be published here. Obviously if I feature a persons work I will  credit them and link to their website.  If you do not want your work to be featured in the highlights series please state this in the comment you leave.  I am going to assume that if you dont say anything, I have your permission to feature your work here. You will have to say this each time you leave a link here as with over 500 people taking the challenge I have no chance of remembering something said at the start of the year, 6 months later.  So if you dont want your work featured just say so in the comment you leave. 

How to join in

Stitch a sample,  photograph it, put in on your blog, flickr site or on stitchin fingers page, swing by here and leave a comment with your full web address so people can check out your stitching. 

When you leave a comment 

When you leave a comment leave it on this post. There is a practical reason. People will not find your comment if you dot them all over the blog and this means you will get less visitors! That is a bit sad after going to the effort of stitching a sample then photographing it and getting it online. 

How do you know what this post is? Click on the title and you will be taken to an individual page. You can favourite it or copy and paste the URL as a note to yourself so you can return to this page again.

Don’t forget to leave your full web address including the http:// bit as this will then become a live link that people can follow. 

Visit a few sites of people who have already left a comment. See what they have done. I am sure everyone will enjoy following the links left in the comments. If you have time, let other people know that you have seen their work on their site.

Where is the comments link?

Look under the title you will see comments. Click there to be taken to a comment box.

Any special rules?
There are no rules but I do have a request, please link back here. 

Other groups and networks

Every week the challenge is announced here. This blog is the main hub so do remember to swing back here to leave a comment. 

You can also share your explorations with other members on the social network site of your choice. There is a Facebook TAST 2012 page,   stitchin fingers group and the flickr TAST site. All these sub groups are set up at request of members. 

Although I do watch these groups my main focus is here and if you want to contact me do so here as with so much activity I might miss you on the other sites. 

Guidelines to the challenge are to be found here and all posts relating to TAST are in the Take a Stitch Tuesday category

In my side bar I have a feature where you can have PinTangle delivered daily to your email inbox. If you find this a more convenient way to track what is going on please sign up. 

Have fun! Hopefully there will not be too many tangles! 

Comments

[Anneliese]

Hi Sharon, waving back from Germany and thanking you for this immense job that you are doing for your fans. Happy New Year and good luck to you and your family.
Anneliese

[emmy]

hi sharon here from the netherlands I say hi there
here we go
warm regards Emmy

[Miriam Klaassen]

Hi everyone,

This is a stitch I have done before (in TAST 2008) so here is my first example: http://borduurblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/fly-stitch.html . I liked this one, even made a scheme of it http://borduurblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/motief-in-vliegsteek.html .

[Joy]

Waving back to you from Queensland, Australia, Long time since I did hand embroidery but think I will give it a go this year. Have some beautiful seed beads that I can add along the way. Look forward to this new challenge.

[Mosaic Magpie]

Waving back from Kentucky! I am glad to see the first stitch! Thanks for all you have done to make this possible.
Deb

[Nancy Gardner]

Thanks so much for all the examples of how to do the fly stitch - tomorrow is Tuesday for us in California. I have my fabric cut and thread ready. I have so many ideas and as a beginner my brain is on overload. I will learn much from all of you.

[JoWynn]

Gosh, Sharon, earlier today I had decided to use fly stitch on my current WIP--but in a very pedestrian way. Back when done.

[chitra gangadharan]

thanks sharon for the challenge
.this was one of the stitches which I completed during the previous round, still I can explore some more.
Chitra
http://jizee6687.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/fly-stitch-2/

[Claudia]

I live near Vienna, Austria, but now I'm waving back from Mauritius. Thanks so much for running this challenge! I wish you a Happy New Year 2012! Sitting at the sea under a palm tree I will start with the Fly Stitch! :-) Warm regards Claudia

[Theresa/OctoberLace]

I'm a novice at specialty stitches, so my plan is to do a sample on some odd pieces of linen each week, then later in the year take what I've learned and do something more creative. This is the first time I've worked with the Fly Stitch, and my sample can be found on my blog at OctoberLace.blogspot.com, specifically on my Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) page found at:
http://octoberlace.blogspot.com/p/pin-tangle-take-stitch-tuesday-tast.html.

Thank you for offering this challenge!
Theresa/OctoberLace

[Theresa/OctoberLace]

Somehow a period at the end of the link I had posted was picked up as part of the url link, so it didn't work. This corrects my previous comment:

I'm a novice at specialty stitches, so my plan is to do a sample on some odd pieces of linen each week, then later in the year take what I've learned and do something more creative. This is the first time I've worked with the Fly Stitch, and my sample can be found on my blog at http://OctoberLace.blogspot.com specifically on my Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) page found at:
http://octoberlace.blogspot.com/p/pin-tangle-take-stitch-tuesday-tast.html

Thank you for offering this challenge!
Theresa/OctoberLace

[yvette]

jippie from the netherlands!
starting to flystitch today....
thanks for all Sharon!

[FlowerLady]

I meant to have my fabric cut out yesterday, but other things happened, so I will do it today. I am really excited about this and want to thank you Sharon for all of your hard work, for your love of needleworking and willingness and joy in teaching us these stitches.

Have a wonderful 2012.

FlowerLady

[Pam Kellogg]

Hi Sharon! You seem to be so excited about this! I have a twirly chair too!!!

I'm not a joiner here but I'll be following along and maybe I'll still learn something new. There's always room for that!

Happy New Year!

Pam

[KarenK]

Thanks Sharon for getting me to pick up a needle again! I have not stitched since my mom passed in Sept. I enjoyed it and plan to stitch ever day!
www.sadiessilkenthreads.blogspot.com

[Chena Losa]

Desde Valladolid en España gracias por este desafío. Soy novata en esto del bordado y espero aprender mucho a lo largo de este año

[Jorin]

Hello everyone,
I've done a fly stitch exploration a few months ago, too. Here it is: http://verdurette-blog.rundwelt.de/index.php?/archives/12-Stichexploration-Fliegenstich.html
Thanks for the challenge, Sharon!
Jorin

[Lori Kinney]

thank you Sharon for this opportunity to learn from the leaders! waving from Connecticut!
since I have a few blocks made already to work on, is there a special theme I should be using or should it be a sampler? thank you for answering.

[Lis]

Hello fellow TASTers. Excited to be getting started, thanks Sharon for all you are doing for us. Love the first stitch but have yet to decide whether I want to create a reference piece or a creative piece........will report on my blog when I get started. Waving to you from wild and windy England.

[Jessica Grimm]

Hi Sharon,
Many thanks for the first challenge! I've completed my beaded fly stitch variation and uploaded pictures and a description on: http://stitchinfingers.ning.com/profile/JessicaGrimm. I've decided to work a south american mandala design. I will now take a two-week break as I will be taking another intensive at the Royal School of Needlework!
Best wishes, Jessica

[Maneki]

Love all those different variations on fly stitch -- very inspirational! Can't wait to start on my first TAST embroidery. Thanks for making this creative challenge happen!

/Kristina from Sweden

[Ati]

Thank you Sharon for you effort to do the tast again!
Hope we have the same fun as in 2007.
Happy new year to you!
Here is my fly stitch from today.
http://malinaplass.blogspot.com/2012/01/tast-week-1.html

[Paula]

Vamos lá! Estou desejosa de começar...

Paula

[Cheryl Razmus]

Sharon. I am following the lead of the ladies making a book of twelve monthly pages. I want to leave room for all the stitcnes we will be given this month, but I wasn't sure if there would be four or five since there are five Tuesdays (and I was thinking in terms of weeks per month, not weeks per year.) Will there be 52 stitches total given out? I know this sounds kind of obvious, but I'm just checking.

[Catherine Robertson]

Hi, I`m Cathy. My blog is Cate`s Linens at http://cateslinens@blogspot.com.

The next link goes to my Challenge Page on the blog, http://cateslinens.blogspot.com/2012/01/tast-challenge-jan-2012-fly-stitch.html

Thank you,
Cathy Robertson

[Cyndi L]

I've decided to use a small quilt that I've been working on as the background for the TAST stitches. They may not all work out, but that's ok too :-)

Fly stitch turned out to be perfect for the style of the quilt:
http://www.beading-arts.com/2012/01/tast-week-1-fly-stitch.html
I'm already looking forward to next week!

xoxo Cyndi L

[Angela]

I love the fly stitch and have used it often in my crazy quilts. Today I used it on my bead journal project. For the project this year I will be stitching on photos I took at a car wreckers. You can check out the stitches here
http://princessbubblescreates.blogspot.com/2012/01/take-stitch-tuesday.html
As I mention the blog post this is far from a complete journal page. The beads still need to be stitched but I think it is a good start.
warm regards
Angela

[Sorcha]

Hi, i'm a beginner and here's my first attempt!

http://sorchaogle.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/pintangle-week-1-fly-stitch/

[Myfanwy]

I've made a start. I'll be documenting my progress and that is linked from this post

http://chittlechattle.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/on-the-fly/

I've also linked to this page.

[Rosemary]

I have completed this week's stitch. It's a stitch I'm familiar with so it didn't take long as I decided to make a band sampler of all the different stitches as they come along. I used perle cotton but the colours don't stand out very well in the photo. it looked clearer as I was stitching, The photo is at http://stitchingquiltingandotherthings.blogspot.com/2012/01/tast-2012.html

[Sorcha]

For Theresa/OctoberLace - your link doesnt work, it gives a "page not found". would love to look at your work

[Anneliese]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stitchinwoman/
Sorry, I gave the pool address and this does not work. This is the right one where to see my fly stitches.

[Sharon B]

Cheryl - yes there will be 52 stitches given out in the year- 1 per week

[Andrea]

Here's my Week 1 post:
http://tactileartsplaygroup.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/take-a-stitch-tuesday-2012-week-one/

[Rose Mary Muller]

Hi Sharon

Wishing you a Happy New Year, and today the new TAST starts, thanks for this first challenge. Love it.

[Linda]

Hello everyone - lovely to see so many up and running so quickly in the New Year. Fly stitch is an old favourite for me. I did do a small counted sample for my TAST2012 folder, and in the past I worked a design in fly stitch for the front of a needlecase. You can see it on my page on SF here:

http://stitchinfingers.ning.com/photo/needlecaseflystitch-1?context=user

I am looking forward to an exciting year in stitch. Cheers to all,
Linda.

[Arlene]

Spent the morning playing with the fly stitch. I was able to put it to use in a current project. I like the way it added texture to a section of the block I'm embellishing.

http://arlene-thefoodoflove.blogspot.com/2012/01/tast-take-stitch-tuesday.html

Arlene

[libbyquilter]

today i found the time to 'take a stitch'. hopefully i will continue to be able to be a part of this wonderful fun.
i decided to bead the 'tail' part of my stitch.

http://simpletosublimepapernapkinpoetry.blogspot.com/2012/01/take-stitch-tuesday.html

:-)
libbyQ

[Penny]

Hi Sharon, what a lovely way to start the New Year. fly Stitch was just the stitch to add to my Father Christmas slow stitch I am doing so here it is being used for the bag full of toys, and lovely texture.
Cheers Penny in South Australia
here on my blog
http://backvalleyseasons.blogspot.com

[Sue Utterback]

I just posted a photo of several fly stitched leaves I did as background to a large silk ribbon flower I made (see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sue_u/6632518499/in/photostream). I'm still a newbie to CQ and had never done this stitch. It's beautiful and very easy to do. I am definitely looking forward to taking this stitch further creatively. Thank you Sharon for hosting these weekly stitch challenges!

Sue U in KY

[Measi]

I've started mine - I'm working mine as a reference sampler since I'm in the beginner to intermediate level with specialty stitches.

Here's my first tinkering with fan stitch. I'll likely play a bit more before next week's stitch is announced, but I'm happy with my start: http://measi.net/measiblog/2012/01/04/tast-week-one/

[Diane]

http://yarngoddess.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/finally-2/

Love stitch-a-longs! Thanks, Sharon.

[Rose Mary Muller]

Hello everyone, Come to my blog http://rosemarysneedlework.blogspot.com have posted a picture of my first stitch on TAST. How exciting, still do not know exactly what I am going to do, but I think a book of pages featuring all 52 weeks.

[Susan]

I'm very happy to be new to TAST this year, and to be learning some embroidery. My first, feeble attempt is here http://so-susan.blogspot.com/2012/01/fly-stitch-block-1-tast-has-started-our.html. Tomorrow I will likely redo the pink embroidery, as I think it's too large for the block.

[Mary Johnson]

Looking forward to developing my embroidery skills this year. I'm a quilter so I decided to use Dresden Plate blocks and the occasional fabric postcard so we'll see how it goes.

http://blog.maryquilts.com/2012/01/03/tast-week-1/

[Gail]

I had fun making a feather, a snowflake, and a horizontal motif...
http://2createsg.blogspot.com/2012/01/wordless-wednesday-tast-2012-week-1-fly.html

[Masha (Ashenka)]

hello everyone! here is my first TAST stitch! http://alovchany.blogspot.com/
i'm a beginner, so I'm only learn to deal with embroidering! wellcome and look what I have.
thank you, Sharon, for your ideas!

Masha
http://alovchany.blogspot.com/

[Sophie]

Bonjour Sharon et merci encore, voici mon article avec mes points de mouches, merci aussi à Miriam pour son free http://monparadismestresors.over-blog.com/article-tast-1-point-de-mouche-96065822.html amitié

[Nathalie L]

My Fly Stitch, thank you for you work ... thank you for all.
http://labastidane.fr/journal/?p=1578

[zed]

Thanks for doing this, I've been wanting to learn stitches for a while :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedster01/6634696789/in/photostream