TAST & the 15 minute challenge

today i was thinking about things that i liked to do as a child. my favorite summer 'activity' was climbing the nearest large tree and getting comfortable within it's branches. i generally took a book but did a lot of daydreaming too. i loved the feeling of being hidden in all of that leafy cool dappled light.
in general i wasn't terribly interested in dolls. now as a middle aged woman i find myself occasionally captivated by the softer and more primitive dolls. the doll in this shot is one of my favorites. she has simple twig arms and legs, stands about six or seven inches high and has charming facial 'expression'. i purchased her at a craft fair several years ago for very little money and normally she hangs on a wall near one of my primitive doll quilts.
today when i seen her i imagined that look of hers to be an appeal for a change in scenery so i took her down off of the wall and lifted her up into the aspen tree. it turns out that those twiggy arms and legs are not great for climbing trees so she needed my help for this.
so there she is way up in the tree having her very own daydreams.
what did you like to do as a child? what made you feel safe and happy and able to dream a little? were you a fan of dolls? are you now? 

i hope that the summer season brings you some leafy cool dappled light of your own to get comfortable in.

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last week i had four stitches that had previously been presented during the TAST challenge worked into a seam treatment.

the "mini challenge" for week 23 was to use as many as eight to "create an interesting piece." 

i finished this seam by:

• adding a detached chain stitch using two strands of a reddish orange cotton floss and placing one on each side of the tiny autumn colored bullion stitches.
• adding single fly stitch in a single stranded light weight green cotton thread at regular intervals.
• creating playful arcs with a stem stitch that emerged from the open end of the fly stitches using a single strand of green cotton floss 
• and finally i loosely braided three separate threads (a light green, a dark green and a purple) and then wove that braid into the knotted cretan stitch allowing it to act as couching.

hopefully i haven't made it too confusing by changing the direction of the photo from horizontal (in my last post) to diagonal.


this week (24) on PinTangle the stitch is the buttonhole wheel stitch. another new stitch for me and i felt that it was a clumsy looking and inelegant stitch to work with at first.

finally i realized that by bringing my stitch size down and using a fine perle cotton (sz 12) in white i could create a lacier effect with the stitch which i liked much better.

by adding this to the bottom of a piece of lace that was previously placed onto my wonderful daughter's stocking i managed to create another visual layer of 'lace'.
this also served well to anchor down that lower edge.

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my 'report' for the 15 minute challenge (hosted by Kate at Life in Pieces) was all good this week with work being done on every day: the TAST challenge (stockings and postcard) as well as a few random stitches placed into 'this n that' while playing with some ideas that were scampering through my head.

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recent gifts include:

• the sweet taste of a rosy colored apricot
• a few cool evenings spent sitting and watching the hummingbirds
• taking the time to enjoy the feeling of my own breathing. slow inhalations and exhalations. effortless and often unappreciated.
• being told that seeing my 'recent gifts' is having the effect of other's seeing their own gifts 

:-D