Next years challenge
I have been wondering about next years challenge. Since people had dropped me the odd email about next year I posted a few weeks ago here and here fishing for ideas. I am looking for a challenge that was a adaptable to various textile mediums and flexible for those who are busy. Something that if people are in to crazy quilting you can adapt it to that, if you are into fabric postcards, ATC’s, beading, regular quilting, sewing, hand embroidery what ever is your cup of tea you can adapt the challenge to the medium you work in. I would also like the challenge to run over a year (it is easier than thinking up something new ever couple of months). When I put out some ideas some people responded positively while others were not so keen. I have don a head count based on the comments left and floating a few ideas to see how people respond. I will do a head count again and I will go with the majority. So leave a comment and have a vote.

There has to be a certain number of active people in any challenge to develop and maintain a group dynamic. With any challenge there are always people who mean to do it and then life gets in the way. It is really necessary to get a lot of people involved at the start so that by the end there are enough of a group left to still be stimulating. So it is really important that people like the idea of what ever is proposed. Do post your ideas as I will be listening.

Looking at the responses in my comments over those two posts there were two types of challenges people liked.

A Design Challenge
The idea is a challenge that involved a call and response a bit like TAST but this time suggesting a design element to use each week or month. For instance Vero suggested a monthly challenge which consisted of me suggesting 4-6 stitches that could be combined in a piece. Virginia suggested a theme or colour scheme and Mady suggested that a challenge could involve broad types of needlework incorporated into projects such as couching, blackwork, beading, pulled stitches. Kate suggested a colour or combination of colors, a shape, a seasonal theme, a mood. Tenar suggested announcing several related stitches and one design topic. These ideas have legs as people could use them in any project and if I did not have to write a tutorial I could point to resources online each week or month. I have tallied up the previous comments and 13 people liked this idea. One question with this would people want it weekly or monthly?

Getting projects stitched
The other type of challenge with 24 people saying they liked the idea was the decluttering/UFO/destashing/working on projects and getting it stitched challenge. People liked the idea but hated the idea of a weigh in so I have ditched that (although for a laugh I might amuse you all with my own personal weigh in). So thinking this through perhaps we can turn it into a decluttering and “use your stash creatively” challenge. Kathy suggested to list of twelve items to work on throughout the year to complete. Items could be one CQ block so that by the end of the year you have a quilt top. This is a good idea as working a set number of projects could be adapted to all textile mediums and the only requirement could be that people would need to declare what they wanted to make and regularly post an image, leave a comment here to be part of it. A declared projects challenge would enable us to watch developments right across the spectrum of textile practice. Decluttering could be defined as using stash creatively, finishing projects of any sort including current ones because finishes keeps clutter at bay which turns decluttering into a “getting things stitched” year. The only thing I would suggest is a weekly progress report rather than a monthly report as a weekly report would mean people keep their goals in mind.

A “call and response” in a challenge plays an important role in keeping people thinking. Both TAST and 100 details for 100 days had a good activity level because a call and response situation allows people to respond regularly, post an image and join in. Call and response part of this challenge is a bit more of a challenge! Helen Ann suggested that I post images of a piece of work a wisp or stash finish or new project and people respond with theirs. Most did not like the idea of a fiber diet I initially suggested because the weigh in at the start and end of the year sounded like too much work so I ditched the idea. I thought it would be a a good measure of progress, some accountability in order to get outstanding projects completed other than simply posting to blogs has anyone got any ideas as to how a challenge might be measured? Number of projects is not really an option because there is a great difference between completing a quilt and a postcard. I am looking for ways people can see their own progress and realise they are achieving what they want to achieve. All ideas on this are welcome.

OK which challenge do you prefer? I will be counting comments as votes for or against so tell me what you are interested in and how you would like to see the challenge shaped.

This weeks TAST stitch

With Christmas just around the corner lots of green and red thread is being dusted off and used. I thought this week we could do a stitch that creates really easy Trees. It is called thorn stitch. There is another thorn stitch used in mountmellick embroidery but this is not it. They both just happen to have the same names.
After last week I thought people would appreciate a simple stitch as well.

How to work thorn stitch

First create a long single straight stitch.

Working from top to bottom bring your needle out on the left hand side of the straight stitch a little to one side.
Take the thread diagonally across the straight stitch and insert it to the right of the straight stitch and bring the needle out on the left. Take the thread across and insert it to the right as illustrated in the photograph. The stitch is a bit like half a herringbone stitch.
Work down the straight stitch making the stitches larger as you go.

These stitches can be arranged like a tree as in the photograph or you can couch long threads to a piece of work working these either evenly across the couching thread or graduating the size from small to large. Or you can make one side of the stitch larger than the other. This is very effective if you swing the stitch in a circle. It is a simple stitch but extremely versatile and the more you experiment with it the more you realise what can be done.

That’s it for this week. Remember to swing by and leave a comment preferably on this page, so that people can follow the link and see what you have done. There is a Take a stitch Tuesday flickr group which you can browse