Butterfly Chain

Boy and Girl in Progress

I am continuing to work on my Gingerbread Boy and Girl using TAST stitches.  I added Bullion Knot (Week 20) to the spaces between the half chevron.  It was done with one strand of the mystery floss.  It might have gone better with a slightly thicker thread, but it was a small space.  Her buttons are done with French Knots (Week 16) also with one strand of green mystery floss.  Her sleeves are done with two strands DMC 321 floss using Week 21 Butterfly stitch. 

The gingerbread parts on both are done with DMC 436 one strand.  His head is is discussed here. It is done in a pulled backstitch.  Her head is just a double running with no tension.  Any opinions?  Feel free to leave a comment if you like one better than the other. 

Girl top closeup

TAST update

I have not been stitching much.  But here is a quick update on what I have done on my gingerbread house.  I am still working on my boy and girl. I already had Week 14 (Satin Stitch) and Week 15 (Stem Stitch) on the boy and girl. 

Gingerbread boy and girl

 As you can see in the closeup, I couched (Week 9) down a gold beading wire to outline the girl's collar. It was couched with hand quilting thread.  I decorated the collar with detached chain(Week 7) in the metallic sewing thread I used on the boy.  I added the belt in Barred Chain (Week 12) using one strand of DMC 321.  I used Half Chevron (Week 19) for the main front of the top. 

Girl top closeup

Not much stitching time

I have not made a post in over two weeks.  I really have not been stitching much at all.  I have worked a tiny bit  on my Gingerbread boy.  I added whipped chain on his shirt.  The green is the same mystery floss used in the belt.  It is whipped with one strand of white floss.  The belt was outlined with one strand of DMC floss 321 to make a buckle.

Whipped chain added to boy's shirt

 And I had to add at least one picture of spring in my yard.  All blogs need at least one flower picture.  I also clearly need to clean out the old leaves from last fall.

TAST week 7

TAST week 7 is detached chain or lazy daisy stitch. This will eventually make it into my gingerbread house, but I need to put more background in first. So I played with detached chain on my doodle cloth. I usually think of this stitch as working out from a center, so I decided to play with it backwards. All stitches are done with 2 strands DMC floss.

 First I simply worked a square with the detached chain tack stitches all going into the center hole.

Detached chain 1

Then I did a shorter tack stitch with a little pull to make a center eyelet.

Detached chain eyelet

Finally I did the 4 chains across the top of the picture and wove the side ones in to make a basket effect.

Detached chain woven