Last of the "Sarsaparilla" quilt stitches

Here are the last of the stitches from my "Sarsaparilla" crazy Quilt.

I used seed beads in many of the stitch combinations. Mostly size # 11 and #14.

Here are some more comet stitches and another variation of the wheat sheaves.

Many of the stitches are taken from antique CQ's that I have seen on Ebay over the years.

This is one of my pieces of hand-dyed Indian silk dupioni.

The images were antique advertising trade cards that I bought from Ebay and I scanned them and printed them to silk fabric.

Here is some of my hand-dyed silk/rayon velvet.

This is a cast on flower arrangement that I embroidered in the corners and sides of the border. I used Caron Wildflowers thread. I love variegated thread.

The judges for the Houston Quilt Show thought it needed quilting in the border, too.

I have been asked if I used templates to do the stitches. No.

What I did with this quilt is I carried a notepad with me and when I had free time, I sketched out seam treatments. For example, I would start with a basic stitch like a herringbone, add some detached chain stitches, some straight stitches, maybe a french knot or a seed bead and then I had my design.

When stitching, I used a small ruler (6") and a chalk pencil, not a wax pencil! This is very important. The chalk will rub off. The wax may not. With the ruler and pencil, I would draw little even lines and I would use this as my guide to stitch and keep them even. My Friend Marci likes Tiger Tape to do her precise stitches. It works well too.

Other times, I would draw a little picture and try to figure out how to convert it into stitches. For example, with the little birds, it is mostly just a series of straight stitches and a french knot for the eye.

The little spider is also mostly a series of straight stitches. The body could be made with beads or detached chain stitches.