Tied up in knots

As I'm a 'highly strung' person (or so I've been told!), it's fairly easy for me to get tied up in knots! It doesn't take a lot for me to get upset about something and then I feel as if my stomach is literally tying itself up in knots. Thankfully, as I've got older, those instances are fewer and further between.

Lately I've been tying lots of things, other than myself, in knots!  Threads!  I've fallen in love with Palestrina Knot stitch.

Palestrina Knot has a few other names, such as Double Knot and Old English Knot stitch. I love using it on felt with Perle threads. I outlined these daisy petals with the stitch, then filled in the centre with lots of French Knots. This one became a pincushion:

Here's a closeup of the stitch on another design. It gives a great texture:

Changing the distance between the knots and the width of the scooped fabric gives a different effect. I find it really useful for outlining the edge of a felt applique.

 I've found also that it works beautifully on curves and makes a great border stitch:

I'm not going to give you a tutorial as there are dozens of good ones already on the internet. Like many of these more uncommon stitches, it had its origin in Italy. I think I'm on a mission to popularise it! 

Meanwhile I'm happily enjoying the warmer weather that Spring has ushered in. My husband and I had a lovely day yesterday. We stayed in bed much longer than normal, had a leisurely breakfast then went for a pleasant drive to the beach half an hour north of us. We did a spot of bird-watching for a couple of hours where we saw some delightful birds like the golden whistler:

By then it was lunchtime so we did something that we rarely do, we bought ourselves hamburgers. That proved to be a great choice and ticked all the boxes. There was nothing left to do but to finish it off with an icecream, so we tried the new to us Connoisseur Murray River salted caramel with Macadamia (Hubby) and the Belgian Chocolate fudge with roasted Hazelnut - totally recommended!

On the sewing front I've done some finishing off of two projects. The next job on the list is to put some appliques on hand towels. I keep looking with pleasure at the fabrics I have chosen, so I'm eager to get started on them.

I fell in love with these little hoops when I attended a Craft Fair last year. The pattern for these three in the "Jumping Through Hoops" design is now available in my Craftsy Store.

Next week I plan to give you the last pattern with finishing instructions for the free Block of the Month 

You Are Blessed quilt,

 so keep an eye out for Pattern 9.

Happy stitching!

Val