TAST week five's herringbone stitch

this week i've been practicing the herringbone stitch. it's one i like and yet don't often use. that may change as i've found it to be quite versatile and interesting both while i practiced with it and in looking at other's work within the TAST group. there are a lot of extremely talented stitchers involved with the project~!!~ if you have a moment and are interested in embroidery take a minute to see some of the other work. there are many links within the comment section of the herringbone stitch post~!

in the top example i used a heavy hand dyed variegated thread and worked a simple herringbone stitch. that seemed pretty boring and so i continued to experiment by adding an additional herringbone right over the top of the first using three strands of regular cotton floss in a contrasting light turquoise/aqua color. i think this would have looked nicer had i woven the top aqua herringbone into the bottom variegated one . . .  anyway i was still bored with it so i decided to try adding a stitch previously presented (an additional challenge raised by sharon for this week) to the sample: a fly stitch worked in two strands of  regular cotton floss in yet another contrasting color (orange). the fly stitch was placed so that it's open area sat directly over/under the open area of the larger herringbone stitch. finally i was becoming a little less bored with this sample . . .  but felt that there could be more so the straight stitch (worked in a single strand of the same orange floss used for the fly stitch) was placed directly over the crossed parts of the aqua herringbone. 
had i woven the herringbones rather than laying one on top of the other i think it would have been very nice. so this sample definitely taught me something.

in the lower example of the first photo i used a heavier hand dyed thread and worked the elements of the stitch quite closely together to create a tiny 'braid'. loved this and see some possibilities.

i also tried working the herringbone stitch around in a 'circle' using a regular grey cotton floss (two strands). i think this has some possibilities but didn't pursue it.

and the last bit of sample shown on the lower right of the second photo was done in a red twisted silk perle thread. once again i worked the stitch smaller but didn't work it as tightly as the second 'braided' sample shown in the first photo.
i really liked working with this thread . . .

and so i continued using it when i added the stitch to the stocking that i'm working on.  i added the small(ish) herringbone to the top of a fly stitched area that was previously worked onto the stocking. i used the fly stitch as a sort of guide in stitch spacing on the herringbone and this resulted in yet another combination of the herringbone and fly stitch.

last but not least i managed to work two tiny different herringbones onto one of the fabric covered buttons that i've been making. this created a sort of striped effect. the stitch was worked in a pale pink size 12 perle cotton which incidentally is the same thread that i'm using to quilt my pink lemonade quilt.

and completely off of the herringbone stitch subject of this post i've included a recent shot of River having a lovely nap in the afternoon sun on the leather sofa. this dog is not spoiled in the least~! LOL

recent gifts include:

• the sensation of drifting off to sleep within flannel sheets that have been warmed by the heated mattress pad. de. lish.ous.
• stitching in the sunshine while in the same sofa that you see River in. yes, i enjoyed a warm nap afterwards too. (-:
• the interesting and thoughtful mood that the act of sketching puts me into