Ring, Ring.... It's Your Framer Calling

      It's always a pleasure when my phone rings and the Caller ID lets me know my framer is on the line. I had brought three samplers to be framed and they were ready to be picked up.
I love the moulding  I chose for all three samplers and couldn't be happier with the results.
First up is Dorothy Walpole:

Not Forgotten Sampler

 

      I rearranged a portion of my Sampler Wall in the dinning room to include the two newly framed samplers. I have a direct view of the Wall when I'm sitting in my stitching nook.

 

The Rising Harvest Sampler

I haven't selected a spot for this one yet.

      I also finished Ann Grant last night. Annie G. was such a joy to stitch. I loved the colors in this sampler and the lovely eyelet stitch alphabet. For some reason the tree in the bottom left hand corner of the sampler gave me fits. I kept loosing my place on the chart which added to the difficulty of getting all those branches stitched correctly. It's a dreary, cloudy day today and the linen color did not come out true to color on my photos.
      Here she is in all her glory:

 Ann Grant 1829

Shakespeare's Peddler

40 ct. Lakeside Sand Dune

Silks as Charted

 We've been experiencing very mild, summer like, temps for the past couple of weeks. It was wonderful seeing the first blooms of the season in my garden.

I am grateful for a mild Iowa winter and summer-like temps in March.

Where's My Mate???

       The final stitches were placed in Frederick and here he is in all his glory. Isn't he a handsome boy?  Of course he won't be content until his mate, Fredericka, is completed. Be patient my dear boy, be patient.

 Frederick

Carriage House Samplings

40 ct Lakeside Pearled Barley

Needlepoint Inc silks

        An old friend was calling my name and I spent several hours working on Ann Grant. I find the colors so appealing on these long, dreary winter days. 

 Ann Grant 1829

Shakespeare's Peddler

40 ct. Lakeside Sand Dune

Silks as Charted 

I completed the top row of eyelet stitched alphabet. I had to resist completing the second row... I want to savor those eyelet stitched letters. I spent the majority of my time working on those border flowers. As my friend Margaret says, once you have the stitch count down the repetitive border flowers stitch up quickly.

      When I received my latest issue of Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly I fell in love with the 1823 RHV Sampler reproduced by Christy Schmitz and Vickie Jennett. I thought it would be the perfect sampler to be stitched on 45 ct. linen.

 1823 RHV Sampler

SANQ - Spring 2012

45 ct. Lakeside Vintage Sand Dune

Variety of Silks

 I love the way the silk stitches stand up on the 45 ct. linen. The gold stitches beneath the second alphabet are horizontal queen stitches. Lots of fun to stitch and I think they look amazing.

      Emma and Owen reminded me that I failed to include any photos of them in my last post. I tried to capture them in action during one of their nightly wrestling matches, followed by a shared grooming session. Owen also found the perfect spot to rest his weary head... the carpeted doggie steps.

      My thoughts are with all of you who have been affected by the tornadoes and high winds.  

I am grateful for the roof over my head.

Country Life, Turkey Love and More

     Finally... Country Life is finished... or I should say finished as far as I'm concerned. CL was started way back in July 2010. It got put away at the end of the summer only to be freed from the WIP closet and finished this November.
The original sampler had a horse in two corners and a pig in the other two corners, outside of the vine border. I never cared for the look of the animals and chose to leave them off my sampler as well as the two line border.
I'm happy with the way my sampler turned out.

 Country Life Sampler

The Scarlet Letter

40 ct. Lakeside Vintage Lentil

Belle Soie, Gloriana, NPI, DMC

 

The moment I saw Plum Street Samplers Turkey Love I knew I had to stitch this little gem. I plan to finish this off as a small decorative pillow and tossing it in a bowl or basket to display. I'll post another snap when I've completed the finishing work... and hopefully that snap will turn out better than this one.

Turkey Love

Plum Street Samplers

40 ct. R&R Abecedarian

NPI and Belle Soie

I was all over the place with my stitching this past month. I couldn't seem to focus on any one project... so I continued working on two old favorites and started two new projects.

 Hannah Lancaster Sampler

The Porcupine Collection

Silkweaver - 40 ct. Days Gone By

Belle Soie silks

Poor Hannah has fallen out of favor. I can't seem to stick with her for any length of time to make much progress. I think it's a combination of the handdrawn chart and the Belle Soie.  Too many of the symbols used are similiar, which makes reading the chart difficult for me. Handdyed silks are also lossing their appeal, especially the ones with major shade changes per floss length. The striped look isn't cutting it with me anymore. Oh well, I've put Hannah away for now... who knows, I may have a change of heart the next time she's released from the WIP closet.

Ann Grant 1829

Shakespeare's Peddler

40 ct. Lakeside Sand Dune

Silks as Charted 

I was thrilled when Ann's border matched up and rewarded myself with working on the house and lawn. But, Ann too lost favor with me and was cast aside for a new start. 

      I've had my eye on Brown Egg Farm for a long time and thought it would be a perfect autumnal stitch. 

 Brown Egg Farm

Notforgotten Farm

32 ct. Lakeside Vintage Meadow Rue

DMC and overdyed cottons

I've really enjoyed stitching on the lower count linen as it gave my eyes a needed break from the 40 ct... but I got bogged down when filling in the huge BEF sign and it was time to move on to another project.

      I've had this Amy Mitten kit in my stash for a couple of years and thought the time was right to start it.

 Such An Undertaking

Amy Mitten Designs

R&R 36 ct. Iced Cappachino

Fibers to Dye For

It's been a fun design to stitch and it's going to look good hanging with all my other tombie designs. This is the first time I've stitched with Fibers to Dye For and they are a wonderful handdyed silk with muted tones. Beautiful!

      So... as you can see by all the different snaps... my stitching has been all over the place since I've last posted. I started a new project in honor of Thanksgiving Day... CHS - Garden Glade. I spent most of the afternoon stitching the trunk of the tree on the left side of the sampler... I will be spending the rest of the evening unstitching that tree trunk. I'm using a Belle Soie and I don't like the look of the zebra stripped effect I've achieved on my tree trunk. I've pulled out a nice NPI silk that I think will be much more to my liking.

     

       Can you tell that Emma loves her peanut butter!

Take some time to chill out and relax this holiday weekend. Until next time... happy stitching.

Mary's Village Square

      I've put the final stitches into Mary Allen... and enjoyed stitching the village square portion of the sampler the most.

  Mary Allen - 1818

Samplers Remembered

34 ct. Legacy Oaten Scone

NPI silks

I also spent a little time with Ann Grant...

 Ann Grant 1829

Shakespeare's Peddler

40 ct. Lakeside Sand Dune

Silks as Charted 

But the falling leaves outside of Corgi Cottage turned my thoughts to seasonal stitching.

 I finally narrowed my choice down to one of the latest  Pineberry Lane designs.

 

 Autumn on Marigold Lane

Pineberry Lane

30 ct R&R Old Town Blend

Overdyed Cottons

Why, even though we have at least one hundred skeins of overdyed cotton floss in our stash, do we never have all the necessary colors for the design we've chosen to stitch? That was the dilemma I faced when kitting up Marigold Lane. I even went as far as to search through already kitted up designs in the hopes of finding what I needed. I ended up subbing a few of the colors with what I already had in my stash.

But... the search for missing floss colors ended up in the discovery of Phebe's Forest. I started it who knows how long ago, but didn't get very far. It was stuffed into a bag with the chart and DMC... all wrinkled and unloved. Not for long though... here's this sweet design all stitched and pressed.

Phebe's Forest

The City Stitcher

40 ct Lakeside Examplar

DMC 

I haven't decided what to stitch next. Another seasonal design? Return to one of my many WIPs? I'm sure something will catch my interest before the day is done. 

Emma and Owen had a visit from one of their favorite people. Izzy, my brother's granddaughter, stopped by earlier this month. 

Can you tell the camera is not Owen's best friend?

I'll close out this post today with a snap of Emma and Owen's friend Tildy, a very sweet Labradoodle that lives next door.

A Finish, An Old Friend, A New Start

     A couple of weeks ago I put the final stitches into Dorothy Walpole. I can't remember when I enjoyed stitching a sampler as much as I've enjoyed stitching Dottie. Without further ado... here she is in all her glory.

 Dorothy Walpole

The Scarlet Letter

Lakeside 36 ct Vintage Pecan Butter

AVAS Silk

 

 

      It wasn't hard to decide what to work on next. Once I saw Robert's, A Gentleman's Samplings, recent finish, I knew I had to unearth my Mary Allen from the bottom of the WIP pile. It took me some time to find poor Mary. I had started her way back in 2008. I have no idea why she got banished to the closet for three years... but her time had come once again.

  Mary Allen - 1818

Samplers Remembered

34 ct. Legacy Oaten Scone

NPI silks

 

      I've mainly been stitching my samplers  on 36 or 40 count linens the past few years, so it felt strange to be working with a 34 count linen. Now that the days are getting shorter I'll save Mary for nighttime stitching and give my poor eyes a break.

     Unfortunately I had to put poor Mary aside once again. I ran out of four of the colors needed. Fortunately my not-so-local needlework shop had all the colors I needed and I'm good to go once again. I hope I'll be celebrating another finish soon.

     Of course I couldn't remain idle while waiting on the silks. What's a gal to do??? Why, start a new project, of course. I've had the silks pulled and a nice piece of linen set aside for Ann Grant. It was time to get her started.

 

 Ann Grant 1829

Shakespeare's Peddler

40 ct. Lakeside Sand Dune

Silks as Charted 

 

     While I've been busy stitching Emma discovered the perfect headrest for watching the world go by.

       

      Thanks for stopping by and taking the time out of your busy schedules to leave a comment. I enjoy reading each and every one and value the friendships I've made since starting this blog two years ago.