Got the new TAST stitch Monday night and started working on it last night. I didn't finish, so I won't show it yet, but I learned something. Closed Cretan stitch is exactly the same thing as my dense feather stitch that I used to make the palm tree trunk (here).  I already knew that feather stitch was a variation, or in the family, of buttonhole. The background of the large heart I did kept wanting to turn into buttonhole, which it is, if you keep going to the same side rather than alternating. I didn't realize that Cretan stitch was related. I expected to learn new stitches and/or new ways to do stitches, but I was happily surprised to learn the relationships between these stitches. It seems to me that as I learn these relationships, I will understand the stitches better.

This also makes me realize that I need to finish the Stitch Files that I have. I can also reference them to the TAST sampler.

My TAST sampler is not 100% TAST. The very first thing on the first piece is some Brazilian embroidery experimenting. The last thing on the first piece is cute pattern I got free somewhere. (I can't think of where, at the moment. I'll reference it properly when I show it.) Now, I've started a second piece. I don't think I will call it my TAST sampler. It's more like my Relaxation Sampler.  I really enjoy working on it, with either the TV or some music playing. It actually is very relaxing... even doing teeny, tiny woven petals or teeny, tiny French knots on a sunflower. Or maybe I'll just call it my Sampler. I want to make it a long one, like SharonB's sampler. Don't know that I can get it quite that long, since she has a 25 year head start, but I plan to live to a very ripe old age, so maybe... 

...

Here is my Cretan stitch for TAST 2012 week 4:

Most of this is perle 8, although I think the top row and perhaps the red and gold in the flower are perle 5. (I don't have it handy at the moment.) The yellow squarish shape is what I got trying to do a circle without drawing it first. After doing the round flower, I think I will also draw inner circles next time, as well. All my years of cross stitch make it particularly hard not to follow the squares of the fabric. The aida also made it difficult for me to fill in the leaves solidly. The joy of aida is the back stitch. LOL This is the neatest I've done so far.

After looking around a bit, I have decided I really need to see what others are doing and then do more myself. Of course, the palm tree (here) can also qualify for this weeks stitch (as noted above). But I need to learn more and the only way I'll really learn is to do what I see. I had thought to do a different sampler, but after mulling it over, I may use different pieces of fabric (or not), but it will all be going into the same band sampler.

Next is the Brazilian embroidery practice. I have been remiss at following along with the group. I did the rose for the group. I thought I had done another flower, too, but perhaps it's elsewhere. Then I did the sunflower on my own. I just love dimensional embroidery. In fact, it was looking for how to do it on the embroidery machine that led me to find all the hand embroidery on the web. Oddly, unless someone else designs the pattern for the machine, dimensional embroidery is much easier to do by hand, even if it takes longer. Besides, although I will still be doing machine embroidery for some things, I have fallen in love with hand embroidery... Anyway, here's the pic:

(Sorry about the cat hair--or maybe it's my hair!) It took a while to do. All those petals, three rows, are woven, but I absolutely love the pink sunflower. Everything here is a single strand machine enbroidery thread. It shines when the light hits it right. It's unlabeled, but I think it's polyester.

I do need to figure out how not to have the pins distort the weaving when it's this small. I was working on some leaves recently that are also distorted where the pins held it.

These flowers are no larger than an average straight pin. Heres an in-progress photo to show size:

That's not a large pin at all! This is more accurate color, too. This is a medium muslin fabric.

(It's amazing what I don't see until I look at the photos!)

Anyway, go look and see what everyone else has done: here and here.