Sunday, June 07, 2009

Sarsaparilla Stitches

I worked a little with my camera yesterday and took some photos of my "Sarsaparilla" Crazy Quilt.

I tried to make up stitch combinations that were nature inspired. Of course, here are some birds. On the left side is a cast on stitch flower. These were done using one strand of embroidery floss.

Here are some fish in sea weed and the stitch combination at the bottom was taken from a photo of an antique CQ that I saw on Ebay.

Of course, there must be a spider and web. I used a couple of very tiny crystal seed beads on the web to make it look like dew drops.

Got to have some butterflies. These were inspired by the old patchwork quilts from the 30's.



The purple ribbon at the top of this photo was the ribbon that I talked about in an earlier post that snagged all the time and I had to keep clipping the threads.



Hale-Bop comet was visiting during the time I was working on this so I put it in the quilt. I remember, the day that it was the closest to the earth, and at it's brightest, was on my birthday, and my Husband and I went out and watched it.
For a little whimsy, I played Tic-Tac-toe.
There is that ribbon again. It looks good there but I wouldn't use it again.


Flower pots with daisies.


Bird houses on fence posts.


Houses and trees.


I love these little fans stitches. I believe I got them from Carole Samples, Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches book.

14 comments:

Cathy said...

Kerry, this is really a stitching Masterpiece. It has a sort of "folksy" feel to it. Can't you just see our great granddaughters in another hundred years studying this quilt's stitches?? Exquisite! Hugs, Cathy

Karen said...

I love your stitching. Do you just freehand the birds?? I am going through a "bird" stage right now and would love to include birds in my CQ.
penguingranny55@yahoo.com

Kerri Murphy said...

Thank you. Please feel free to use any of these stitches. I thank you for your kind words.

kerri

Betty said...

Kerri, you rock!! I love your work. I'm really impressed.

gocrazywithme said...

Kerri,
I love the seams you've done here. They are all so intricate and colorful. That little fence with the bird houses on it is so clever! Each seam is like a small scene! I think your Ebay hunts are giving you great inspiration.

Mary-Frances said...

Wow! Your stitching is inspiring! I passed it on to the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters (we're in Denver) so they could gain inspiration!
Thanks a ton!

allie aller said...

OMGoodness, Kerri, this is just incredible!!!!
It makes me want to try everything you've done....and I have to say, that line of spiders is one of the coolest things I've ever seen on a CQ!

Jane Hallstrom said...

Wow! I love the work you've done here, it is wonderful! Could just look at it for hours. Jane

Kerri Murphy said...

Thanks everyone! Karen, the birds were just straight stitches, crossing each other.

Anonymous said...

I had wanted to study this CQ, and sketch stitches to copy - so thanks for posting these pictures.

Marci

Karen 's World said...

Kerri this is a beautiful quilt. Thanks for posting close ups of the stitches.

Rengin Yazitas said...

Hi Kerry,
I loved to see all those tiny mini details. You do great work, indeed.
I love to create seam treatments instead of using trims, your style is exactly my kind:))
Thanks so much for sharing,
Rengin

Unknown said...

Kerri, this is stunning! Your stitches are just amazing. I am inspired to do greater things after seeing your work. I am just blown away! Hugs, Donna

A Crazy Kindred Spirit said...

I love the colors in "Sarsaparilla Stitches". I see some butterflies that I would like to stitch. I am a brand new blogger. Your sight is one of my first "favorites". You can see me at:
http://crazykindredspirits.blogspot.com/

Kristi