Le Chat - Part Three

I have a couple of finishes to show. You may remember back when I started these.  Now that the stitching is done on both, I wanted to share the colors and stitches I used. 

First up is this cat in a bicycle basket.  I used both Stem Stitch and Back Stitch for all the outlining. French Knots for the flower centers, Straight Stitch on the basket and the flowers.  I used Satin Stitch on the kitty's eyes, nose and the bicycle hand grips. 

Here are the floss colors and numbers I used:

Now for the kitten.  He was done in Stem Stitch and his eyes and nose in Satin Stitch.  His pink bow was also Stem Stitch. For the settee and cushions, I used Back Stitch, Stem Stitch and Straight Stitches.

Here are the floss colors and numbers in this palette:

Both of these were very enjoyable to stitch!  I especially liked making the eyes of both cats. To emphasize their eyes and make them sparkly, I first used a base color {green for the cat and blue for the kitten} and added some metallic blending filament.  I used Kreinik Blending Filament.  I love using it because it is easy to work with, it blends beautifully with any color I have tried and really adds sparkle:

Ship's Ladder Stitch

The next stitch on my 100 Stitches Plus list is a very simple combination stitch.  Named the Ship's Ladder Stitch, it is made up of vertical and diagonal Straight Stitches.

I stitched this using perle cotton floss.  This is DMC Color Variations - number 3840.

The Ship's Ladder Stitch is worked from the bottom to the top.  First is the vertical stitching line.
To begin, I came up through the fabric at the base of the stitching line.  

I pulled all the way through and then went back into the fabric above where the thread first emerged and along the stitching line.

Next, I pulled all the way through to make the first vertical straight stitch:

I made the second vertical Straight Stitch in the same fashion:

then I just continued all along the stitching line:

Once the vertical stitching line was finished, I secured my floss on the back and then started with the diagonal Straight Stitches.  
Again, this is worked from bottom to top.  I came up through the fabric alongside the first Straight Stitch. You can see from the picture that I came up even with the middle of that first stitch:

After pulling all the way through, I went back into the fabric on the other side of the vertical stitching line. Notice this is at a diagonal slant:  

I pulled all the way through to make the first diagonal Straight Stitch.

For the second diagonal, the steps are the same as for the first.  I came back up through the fabric on the left side of the vertical stitching line:

And went back into the fabric on the right hand side:

I continued making these diagonals all along the vertical stitching line:

This is a look at the underside of my stitching:

And here is a look at the finished stitch.  
I like this stitch and I think it would be a useful one wherever a decorative straight line is needed. It is not such a good stitch for curved lines. 

This stitch is from Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb.

Quilt Labels

Isn't this a beautiful quilt label?  I printed it on cotton fabric and then hand embroidered the border and the flowers.  

To print my label, I used printable fabric sheets. There are so many brands that sell printable fabric in 8-1/2 x 11" sized sheets.   You can buy these from most fabric stores, craft stores or Amazon.com 

The sheets feed easily through your printer. After printing, you remove the paper backing:

and you have a nice soft, flexible piece of cotton fabric with your text or graphics printed on it!  

After you remove the backing, you set the ink by using a dry iron on a high heat setting.  

I would check the fabric manufacturers instructions for insuring color-fastness and fade-resistance, there are a lot of differences in the various brands.  

After that, the label is easy to cut out and use:

I love designing these labels.  I designed a set to put in my Etsy shop.  There are 23 different labels that are all fully editable.  

You can open them in the free program Adobe Reader, type in your personalized information and print!  If you want to change the font, the font color or style, you can do that too: 

You could also print the label without text and add your own information in your own handwriting, using a permanent fabric pen:

There are 12 full color decorative labels.  I also included 8 black and white labels with embroidery motifs.  These are intended to be embroidered, but you could also use them as is.

There are two blank labels, and two care instructions labels, one that is not editable but includes all the laundry symbols: 

 

This is what the Quilt Labels set looks like:

I know how much I am enjoying using these, I wish I could finish a quilt as quickly and easily as these labels!