Threaded Sheep!

Wing makes things with thread and science. Twitter / Web / Patterns Available on Etsy

[threadedsheep]

Sashiko-inspired gung fu tea tray (cha pan) I made last week for a friend’s Christmas present. Not what I usually post, but it’s sort of like embroidery, right?

The top and front/back of the tea tray have a traditional sashiko embroidery pattern scored over them, with a proper 3:2 stitch to fabric ratio of course! Holes are cut out off the top for drainage, and a poem I wrote for her scored on to the top left and right edges.

The entire thing (almost) is made of 1/8 inch cherry plywood with a furniture-grade finish. The cut edges and the entire top were treated with cutting board oil so the scored pattern and the edges of the drainage holes don’t absorb water that’s poured on to it.

Steeping in the gaiwan is some Teabook Green Tip (Mao Jian) I got at the last Northwest Tea Festival. For more details on how this is made, you can see my post on the Glowforge forums.

--

Sashiko Tea Tray

laser cut cherry plywood 8x12x1.5in

[threadedsheep]

CLUCK CLUCK CLUCKITY CLUCK?!?!

Wherein I saw a tweet from Seanan McGuire last summer and decided that of course I had to cross stitch the thing. Three months later a friend who raises chickens moved and this (plus a new custom laser cut frame) was destined to become the perfect housewarming gift.

(Yep it’s been a while since I updated this blog and the Etsy store. Going to be dropping posts of things I’ve made this last year and uploading new patterns in the next week or so. Cluck.)

---

Cluck Cluck Cluckity Cluck 31 by 43 stitches 2.25" by 3" on 14 count Aida laser cut maple veneer on plywood

[threadedsheep]

Made this after a Vixy and Tony concert last summer where Vixy described one of her songs as her “my geek pride will be intersectional or it will be bullshit” anthem. By which I mean I was so inspired I filed it away in my head, finished another project, then started this thing while at a Marian Call concert. I actually finished it a few months ago but completely forgot to post it until now, after seeing the band in concert again. Like, six months after the one I got the idea of this piece from... 

The entire thing is just backstitch and a few French knots. I made it with the variegated pink/white perle cotton I bought a long time ago from a magical little shop in Eugene, Oregon but you can use whatever color / thread / floss you want, really. I thought about adding in some blue to match the trans*pride flag but then decided against it because I don’t like blue. :3

It’s a pretty easy project to bang out, and is pretty good for angry stitch therapy and wow do we need that now! The pattern is available for FREE* on Gumroad (I am giving it a shot and moving all the free patterns there so I won’t have to worry about hosting) if you want some stress therapy too.

* FREE is actually pay what you want, including $0, because I can’t have it just be FREE, so if you want to toss money at me the option is there I guess?

—

My Pride Will Be intersectional...

backstitch embroidery 51 by 49 stitches 3.5" by 3.5" on 14 count Aida

Free / pay what you want pattern available here: https://gumroad.com/threadedsheep

[threadedsheep]

Cascadian Star was a quilt star pattern that I came up with while sitting in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, waiting for a flight that was delayed by three hours, and having a song named Cascadia stuck in my head. It’s a combination of the Washington and Oregon state quilt blocks, which I guess makes it the Cascadia quilt block? (Sorry BC, but your quilt block is a mess and impossible to work with!)

Since I still adamantly refuse to start quilting, this became the basis of a blackwork pattern instead. The filling stitches come mostly from natural inspirations, and while there are only four filling stitches thanks to the magic of variations and symmetry there are actually seven different patterns in the piece. Without even a drop of intention, the four filling stitches ended up having four different symmetry groups and the outside leaves form the complete elements of D_4. It’s fun how many just creeps in.

Given that the entire idea behind the piece is a celebration of the Pacific Northwest (and I had a ball of green perle cotton lying around) it had to be done in green. So, if blackwork done in red is scarletwork, then should this be called emeraldwork? Veridescentwork?

---

Cascadian Star

blackwork (in green) 80 by 80 stitches 5" by 5" on 16 count Aida

Pattern available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/459311810/cascadian-star-embroidery-pattern

[threadedsheep]

Last year I picked up a book on patchwork quilt design at my favorite cross stitch store, and at some point I opened it up and I ended up designing a bunch of blackwork quilt blocks. This is the first of four I’ve designed, and the only one I’ve stitched so far. I’m not 100% sure that I’ll end up stitching the other three individually even though they’re relatively quick to stitch. I am planning on making a bigger piece that incorporates all four of them though.

Anyway, this one’s a variation on the Windblown Square block. In the traditional block the center four triangles form one rectangle and the coloring is usually done in a radial pattern, but I decided to split the middle up to break up the white space and to color it using one of the weirder variations from the book. Since I have black and white owl pillows I thought I’d take a picture of the piece on top of the owls. It worked out better than expected?

—

Blackwork Quilt Blocks #1: Windblown Square

cross stitch 32 by 32 stitches 2" by 2" on 16 count Aida

Pattern available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/274451554/blackwork-quilt-blocks-1-windblown

[threadedsheep]

Here’s a bright, tiny little crossed stitch “quilt block” to break up all the monochromatic blackwork and the deeply saturated fall colors in the last few things on this blog. In fact, I chose these floss colors specifically in order to break myself away from the more “serious” colors I always end up using.with my bigger projects.

This was originally designed and stitched back in October for a cross stitch workshop that I was running at a local makerspace. The design needed to be easy to stitch and appealing to everyone that may attend, which threw a lot of subversive and fandom ideas out. In the end I decided on something somewhat traditional but with bolder colors. It’s a good first project since it’s simple to stitch, small enough to finish in an afternoon or two, and not designed for young children like most intro kits are.

If you’d like the pattern, I went and updated the one I used for the workshop and uploaded it on to the internet (this crazy thing with all the bits!). Just check the bottom of this post for the link!

---

Sunburst Star (Mini Cross Stitch Quilt Block)

cross stitch 19 by 19 stitches 1.3″ by 1.3″ on 14 count Aida

Free / pay what you want pattern available here: https://gumroad.com/threadedsheep

[threadedsheep]

I really like magpies, and in 2014 after I heard William Pint & Felicia Dale cover a song using the words of that magpie counting rhyme I thought I’d stitch a magpie once I finished the project I was working on. A whole year later, I did a quick stitch of the magpie seen here, posted it on Reddit, and since people seemed to like it I decided to expand it into a full sampler. I actually finished this a few months ago and the pattern has been on Etsy, but I kind of forgot to post it here until now...

This was the first time I designed/made a traditional-looking thing! I actually spent a lot of time looking at photos of historical and reproductions of historical samplers to get the feel right. I will probably at some point go and make more of these traditional samplers after the few backlog projects I have are done. So that means maybe in a few more months?

Oh, and if you like the magpie counting rhyme (One for Sorrow, etc.) you should listen to Vixy and Tony’s Thirteen. I may have listened to it a lot while stitching this...

---

One for Sorrow (Magpie Rhyme)

cross stitch 64 by 64 stitches 4" by 4" on 16 count Aida

Pattern available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/261681855/one-for-sorrow-magpie-rhyme-cross-stitch

[threadedsheep]

Tangrams! Blackwork! Finally together! This came about when I decided to take a break and do something easy after the last blackwork project. Yes, this is my definition of simple. It’s actually done on a 6″ by 6″ Aida canvas block I found at a craft store.

This is definitely a very modern design, with the use of (seven different) colors in addition to the black outline. Fun fact: all the filling patterns were speficially designed for this and have symmetry group p4mm because I got really tired of designing and stitching patterns with smaller symmetry groups after the last blackwork project.

---

Update: And it’s finally framed! The canvas blocks are prone to dirt and are effectively impossible to clean; it took a good washing after dismounting it in order to get all the stains from the edge off.

---

Black/Colorwork Tangram

blackwork embroidery 56 by 56 stitches 4" by 4" on 14 count Aida

Pattern available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/261783837/blackwork-tangram-embroidery-pattern

[threadedsheep]

This blackwork sampler is pretty much the most intricate and deeply mathematical thing I’ve stitched. It showcases all the possible symmetries that can be stitched on Aida/evenweave fabric.

The outline is the smallest simple perfect squared square, which is 112 stitches on each side and divided into 21 smaller squares. The largest square is filled by patterns representing the 7 frieze groups. The 2 smallest squares contain the empty set and a point (a French knot). The last 18 squares contain the 12 wallpaper groups and 6 rosette groups without 3-fold symmetry (because 3-fold symmetry can’t be accomplished on a square lattice). Some of the patterns are traditional but most were original. It turns out that historically people don’t tend to stitch things with very little symmetry.

This piece was originally conceived after reading Susan Goldstine’s chapter on simple perfect squared blankets in Crafting by Concepts (which is a must-own if you like fiber arts and math). It’s done on 18 count Aida using both perle cotton and embroidery floss, and the frame is a hand painted 8″ Mill Hill square frame. Before you ask: it took about 150 hours to design, chart, and stitch the whole thing...

---

Update: It was exhibited in the 2016 Joint Mathematics Meetings Art Gallery! Here’s the exhibit profile/gallery page. Writing the artist statement took longer than it should have taken.

---

Simply Symmetric Square Sampler

blackwork embroidery 112 by 112 stitches 6.25" by 6.25" on 18 count Aida

Pattern available soon!

[threadedsheep]

First Fundamental Theorem of Calculus in cross stitch! The time dependent Schrödinger equation cross stitch I did was actually practice for this, which is a traditional sampler except with the fundamental relationship between differential and integral calculus as the text. The colors came from an old Craftysheep color challenge and the fabric is 18 count Aida. The piece was framed, but I took it out for the photos. It was my first mat cutting experience and you can tell I wasn't very good at it if you look at the upper left corner.

I actually finished this in August 2014 but didn't have a chance to take photos until now. For a couple months it was on display at the Evergreen State Fair, where it actually got a red ribbon. And then I forgot about photos until this week when I got a new camera. (Final note: Pilot Metropolitan EF and Pelikan 4001 Violet; yes the bottle was not empty I lived too dangerously.)

Some day I will probably finish designing and stitch the companion piece...

---

First Fundamental Theorem of Calculus

cross stitch 80 by 121 stitches 4.5″ by 6.75″ on 18 count Aida

Pattern available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/261802748/first-fundamental-theorem-of-calculus

[threadedsheep]

Once, an enterprising human decided to create commemorative, decorative, trinkets based upon wombat war stories. Said human promptly went bankrupt as the wombats deemed the idea stupid, impractical, and pointless.

Anyway, this Digger bookmark (sitting inside a hardcover copy of the Digger omnibus) was made for the auction for Foolscap 2015, at which Ursula Vernon was the guest of honor. The gems were made using variegate floss, and the fabric was a random 14 count bookmark.

---

Remember Tunnel 17!

cross stitch 110 by 18 stitches ~8″ by 2″ on 14 count Aida bookmark

[threadedsheep]

Quick prototype light up necklace made with an LED in a bottle hung from conductive thread attached to a watch battery. As of right now it's pretty cool, but it's not perfect (for example: you're literally wearing exposed live wires while wearing it) and there can be so many improvements like the addition of glitter. Working with conductive thread it definitely a lot of fun, though it is a little weird when it heats up in your hands because you accidentally shorted the battery when the threads got tangled...

[threadedsheep]

Mixed-media e-textile interactive sculpture juxtaposing vintage and modern rapid prototyping technologies with retro-classic needlework aka LEDs stitched on to a laser cut wooden blank and then shoved into a breadboard to make a weird demon cat pendant thing that incorporates as many of the maker buzzwords as possible. Because it was pointed out to me that I never stitched a cat and that somebody at the feminist makerspace has to make some e-textiles (or whatever it is that females like to make).

Most important lesson from this exercise: breadboards make amazing pincushions.

---

Cat Brooch... Thing? Possibly Demonic?

cross stitch + electronics 9 by 10 stitches 2″ diameter on wood and breadboard

[threadedsheep]

Time dependent Schrödinger equation for a single non-relativistic particle on 22 count white Aida. (Wikipedia link for physics.) I actually finished this back in February but wasn't able to post it until now since it was a wedding gift for a couple (of super nerdy scientists) who got married yesterday. It's my first (and probably last, considering how expensive it was) professionally framed piece. It's a little hard to tell in the photos but there is a slight singe in the fabric from ironing and also a small thread that extended a little too far on the back that I didn't notice until it was framed. Lessons learned!

---

Update: I got a lot of people asking about a pattern. Since this was a gift I won’t be posting this specific pattern online, but I’ll post an improved version online at some point. Watch this blog!

---

Time Dependent Schrödinger Equation

cross-stitch ~150 by 25 stitches ~7″ by 1.5″ on 22 count Aida

[threadedsheep]

Cookie Clicker cross stitch, made from combining one of the cookie upgrade sprites and the cursor sprite. Because when you’ve got automation going on and have hundreds of cursors clicking for you, you need to make sure you do something with those hands so the grandmas don’t yell at you for having your hands idle something about the devil which is made of grandmas?

Here it is adorning some of the bookshelves in The Seattle Attic, where I worked on most of the project. The cookie is about 3 inches in diameter and it's framed in a (really super cheap) 5 inch square frame.

---

Update: The second note on this post says “orteil42 likes this”.

---

Cookie Clicker!

cross stitch 38 by 42 stitches ~3″ diameter on 14 count Aida

[threadedsheep]

Some experimental stitched-on-canvas things! The tree is from Dipper's hat in Gravity Falls and is all backstitched. The cross stitched space invader was done on a painted canvas. They are both 6 strands of embroidery floss on canvas.