One Finish and Two New Starts

     I finished the sweet Elizabeth Savilles sampler a week ago. She was a joy to stitch. I wanted to wait for a nice sunny day to take some snaps of Elizabeth, but our weather has been so dreary. Excuse the poor photography.

 Elizabeth Savilles 1841

 Finger Work

Lakeside 36 ct. Patina

Olde Willow Stitchery Threads

       In my last post I mentioned that I had picked out a new project to start as a reward for finishing three WIP samplers. Ann has been in my stash awhile. I fell in love with the bird.

 Ann A. Tarbox Sampler

Hillside Samplings

40 ct. R&R Abecedarian 

NPI and AVAS

      As you can see, I didn't get very far on Ann before I became distracted. I will lay the blame for this distraction on my stitching friend, Katrina. She reminded me of a beautiful Scottish sampler by The Scarlet Letter, Helen Vertue. As hard as I tried to ignore Helen and concentrate on Ann... it was futile. I succumbed and ordered the chart, which arrived in record time, from the Homespun Sampler.

 Helen Vertue 1812

The Scarlet Letter

36 ct. Lakeside Vintage Pearled Barley

Hand-Dyed Silks

I decided to convert the charted for AVAS/DMC to hand-dyed silks. I'm using a combination of Belle Soie, Dinky Dyes, Gloriana and Thread Gatherer silks for Helen. I couldn't be happier with the results.
     Here's a snap of Helen taken from The Scarlet Letter website.

 

      I was thrilled when I found out I won a giveaway from Alma of Blackbird Designs. I won a layer cake of their latest fabric line, Antique Fair. Thank you for your generosity Alma.

Hallelujah... Hannah P is Done

      I thought I would be able to finish all the over one stitching on Hannah P. in a week. I was overly optimistic. It took me a little over two weeks to finish Ms. Hannah. I am so very thrilled to have finally completed this sampler. It's been in the works for several years.

Hannah Pepper

Historic Needlework Guild

Lakeside 40 ct. Vintage Light Exampler

AVAS

       I hope I've learned my lesson now and will not put off stitching the over one sections of a sampler until the very end. Thanks to all of you who left comments encouraging me to get Hannah done. It helped enormously to keep me focused and keep at it until the sampler was completed.

      Over one stitching seems to tire my eyes more quickly. I did limit the stitching of Hannah P. to the daytime. In the evenings I put a few more stitches in Hannah Lancaster. 

 Hannah Lancaster Sampler

The Porcupine Collection

Silkweaver - 40 ct. Days Gone By

Belle Soie silks

      While I enjoy stitching on Hannah L. very much, her colors are subdued. During our dreary winter days I feel like stitching on something lighter, brighter and more springlike. Anything to chase those winter blues away. I dug around in the WIP closet and found Elizabeth S.

 Elizabeth Savilles 1841

 Finger Work

Lakeside 36 ct. Patina

Olde Willow Stitchery Threads

I started Elizabeth in March 2009 and no longer remember why I abandoned her to the WIP closet. Her soft springlike colors are very appealing. I hope to continue working on Elizabeth until I have her completed. Hopefully that will happen before the end of the month. It will be fabulous to have completed the stitching on three WIP samplers in the first two months of 2011.

      We've been having bitterly cold temps this week. Emma and Owen have spent a lot of time napping while I've been busy stitching. 

      Emma enjoys napping under her Corgi sized quilt!

Thank you for stopping by Corgi Cottage and taking the time to leave a comment. I enjoy reading what you have to say and I especially enjoy your encouraging comments to get some of my WIPs completed. I think I may have to reward myself with a new start upon the completion of Elizabeth S. I have something in mind... but you'll have to wait until my next blog post to find out what that is!

Happy stitching!