Take a Stitch Tuesday 2012

Starting on January 3rd, and on each subsequent Tuesday during 2012, there's a challenge stitch posted at Pintangle's website for Take a Stitch Tuesday. The idea is that participants work a sample and experiment a bit.

This is an example of a band sampler.

I had never heard of one before TAST.

This one can be rolled up and stored; and

unrolled and used as a stitching reference.

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According to the Pintangle website, the samples can be on small "scraps of fabric or doodle cloths. Some people are going to make a band sampler, others are making fabric books, others working the challenge stitches on a crazy quilt block or project, while others are going to use fabric postcards, and ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). The challenge is to work the stitch. The format or project is totally up to" each participant.

This is one of many embroidery panels

that were sewn together to form a quilt.

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After the sample is done for the week, participants photograph it; and put it on the web so visitors can share. Then participants return to Pintangle to leave a comment to tell everyone where they can see their sample.

So, after taking a look at what others have done with samplers, I am tending to lean towards the side of practicality again. I could make another quilt - alternating 12 samplers (perhaps one sampler per month which would reflect 4-5 stitches depending on the number of weeks in that month) with fabric squares. However, I am doing another quilt as part of the Embroidery Journal Project in 2012.

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I do like the idea of a table runner like the one in the photo above. Although I don't use table runners often, perhaps having something to decorate the table with for at least one meal each month (or one meal each week), might make meal time more special and pretty.

A participant in TAST 2010 did the stitches on scraps of lace.

She put them in an altered book with the names of the stitches.

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The altered book, as pictured above, is the idea I keep returning to, however. Rather than altering a book (which I don't have any experience doing), perhaps using a blank book as the foundation would be more appropriate.

Each week, I could add different components:
- the tactile stitch with its name;
- a short journal hand-written journal entry; 
- a list of a few things for which I'm grateful; and
- any natural element that I find during the course of a week (e.g., feather, pressed flower or leaf).

Given my father's declining health, perhaps this combination of written words, nature, and art/embroidery might be meaningful and help in the grieving/healing process.

Hopefully by next week I'll have made my decision about what to do.