Monday, January 30, 2012

Miss Jane

I've snuck in a few stitches on this beautiful sampler, "Jane Atkinson" by Scarlet Letter.  I'm loving her.......she has my first name and she has Adam and Eve.  Lately, I'm obsessed with A&E Samplers.  I'm beginning to get quite a selection of these in my stash.  That said, I was planning to start "An All Was For An Appil" by Scarlet Letter, but Jane won out.


                                                                     Jane Atkinson

                                                                     Scarlet Letter

                                                 40 count Golden Harvest Linen by Silweaver


Here's a close up of my work so far.  Now, compare this picture to the photo on the booklet............I have a tiny bit left to stitch, don't you think???? 


Hmmmm, the color on this is a bit screwy.  It's actually a bit more rusty looking rather than pink.  Oh well, you get the idea.  I'd be interested in how many of you are stitching on this sampler too.

And, if you have a special A&E Sampler that you think I should add to my stash, please let me know.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

My Obligation Stitching

Do you ever have something you HAVE to stitch on?  That's me at the moment.  I'm working on a cross stitch piece that I started several years ago and never finished.  I decided to finish it and contribute it to my local EGA chapter as one of the items for the drawing at their annual needlework show.  I've even convinced a few friends to put in a few stitches on this piece.

What's the problem, you ask?  Well, I discovered that I made a big counting mistake on this piece........of course, I hadn't put a note in the bag with the project, so I didn't remember that!  Uff da!  I spent 3 1/2 hours cutting out all the mistakes.   After two hours, I decided to have a glass of wine while cutting.  Now usually, that spells disaster.  (I think I was secretly hoping to "accidentally" cut the fabric, so it would have to be thrown away.)  No such luck, I've successfully removed all the "bad" stitching.  Here's a photo of how it looks right now:


                                                                    A Walk in the Woods
                                                                       Cricket Collection
                                                                  30 count Busy Bee linen

Just so you can relate, I had all but two letters stitched into the piece.  Not even close now!

Of course, I have something that I really want to stitch on...........it's a "Jane" sampler.  I'll show that to you in the next post.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

AOH Update

Here is a photo of my completed piece.  I absolutely love all the Blackbird designs.  They seem to have a timeless appeal. 


I'm showing a close up of the last block.  I changed the saying to "Families are like samplers, Stitched together with smiles, tears and love".  You probably noticed that it is dated 2011, when in fact I actually finished it very early in 2012.  After putting most of the work in on this piece in 2011, I wanted to indicate when all that work took place.



Anniversaries of the Heart

After working off an on all last year, I finished this project earlier this month.  Although I love the finished piece, I have to admit I didn't love working on this 30 count linen.  It was too loose and floppy!  I customized each block with members of my family and changed the verse in the last block.  I also listed all the cities that I have lived in along the bottom edge. 

I'm patiently waiting for the frame that I ordered.  When it's all finished, it will be hanging at Lynn's of Madison for a while.  I'll post some photos soon.