I have had this UFO lying around for several years now. The quilt itself was made by one of the members of our surface design group 2-3 years ago. She was teaching us a new hand stitch each session and we were supposed to decorate the crazy quilt with that stitch. However, she quit our group and I never did anything further with it.
So I decided I needed to finish it and then I can make it into a pillow.
The light blue on this section is stem stitch. I don’t really need any more practice on this stitch as I use it frequently.
This is Pekinese stitch around this triangle. Essentially a back stitch with further wrapping with another thread.
This is Palestrina stitch on the blue triangle. It helps if you draw a line to keep it straight. I got a little wobbly in the middle section. I keep forgetting how to do this stitch and have to look it up each time to make sure I get it right. It’s not that hard but…
This one is Cretan stitch along the dark green.
And this is the one I started with and it looks the most like crazy quilting is supposed to look like. Somehow, I can’t seem to keep up the fanciness of it all. This is a combination of Blanket/Buttonhole stitch, combined with Detached Chain and French Knots. But I am slowly making progress. I think I will try some other stitches that I don’t normally do so I can get a bit more practice. The thread I am using is all wool which I dyed naturally with indigo and a few other natural dyes which I have completely forgotten what they are. So hopefully, I will finish this soon and start on a hand stitch project that I like to do. Hope you have a nice weekend and thanks for dropping by.
Ruth Lane Art 
Very cool Ruth. I’ve been practicing hand embroidery stitching myself, but just practice. I really like that Cretan stitch.
Thanks Marilyn – it is relaxing to do hand stitch and I do like to learn new stitches. The Cretan stitch is a fairly easy stitch, have you tried it?
I very much like the final stitches (like a border of flowers) – it’s very in keeping with the quilt.
Thanks Lyn! Yes, the flowers look very “crazy quilt”. I’ll have to see if I can do something else that is more in keeping with that style of hand stitching.
Kudos to you for going back and finishing it after so long in the ufo box! The little blue flowers are my favourites but the Pekingese stitch looks interesting too, I might have to go look that one up 🙂
Thanks Teri – I kept finding it lurking around in my studio room so I had to get it done. The Pekingese stitch is easy, you should try it.
I like them all and although the stem stitch is a basic one you’ve used it to great effect on this piece. It will make a lovely pillow. 🙂
Thanks Judith – I actually really like the stem stitch. As I said, I use it all the time.