All is Well in My Little Corner of Iowa

      Please excuse me for being such a poor blogger of late. All is well here at Corgi Cottage. Emma, Owen and I have been enjoying the Spring/Summer by spending more time outdoors, taking long walks in the prairie (when it's not too hot) and taking care of the gardens. 

      I have been stitching too. Without further ado... here is my progress on Jane Atkinson.

 

Jane Atkinson

The Scarlet Letter

Silkweaver - 36 ct. Sandcastle

AVAS

      Jane has been a joy to stitch. But... after having just finished stitching the endless green leaves on the tree I'm ready to take a break from Jane. I haven't decided which sampler to start next, but Dorothy Walpole, Ann Grant and Mary Ann Gollins are all under consideration.

      I know I'm going to regret not having stuck to my plans of stitching at least one length of thread, each stitching session, on the over one verse. Allergies, resulting in itchy, watery eyes,  and lack of sunshine were part of the reason for avoiding the over one verse. I know I will pay for being a such a slacker.

      Several samplers have been framed which I'd like to share with you all.

First up is Ann A. Tarbox.

 Here's Frances Eden:

and Dorothy Ians...

   and Emma's favorite, Hannah Pepper:  

A special thank you goes out to Kim. I was the winner of her recent giveaway.

 Check out her blog post and the lovely quilt she made for her granddaughter with this fabric. Avery's Quilt I hope I can create something as beautiful as Avery's Quilt with my fabric win.

      I can't end this posting without a snap of Emma and Owen relaxing during the hazy, lazy, crazy days of Summer. Owen's favorite place to perch is on the back of the sofa.

Emma was totally exhausted after going on a long romp in the prairie.

It's a Finish

      Woo hoo, I put the last stitches in Ann Hall last night. The sun made a brief appearance this morning and I was able to take a few snaps of the finished sampler. I usually underestimate the time I will need to finish a sampler and thought I wouldn't complete Ann until the end of the week. It's nice to overestimate the time needed for a change.

 Ann Hall 

The Scarlet Letter

40 ct Lakeside Luna

NPI Silks

           It's always tempting to start a brand new project right after finishing a sampler, but I decided to get Jane Atkinson back out and put a few more stitches in this beautiful sampler. Here's a snap of where I left off on Jane way back in January 2011. Wow... I didn't realize how much time had passed since stitching on Jane.

  Jane Atkinson

The Scarlet Letter

Silkweaver - 36 ct. Sandcastle

AVAS

A few readers of this blog have been wondering when I was going to post some snaps of my quilting projects. Well.... the reason there haven't been any is because I've lost my quilting mojo. I haven't put the pedal to the metal on my Bernina since the end of 2010. Hopefully, one day soon, I'll get my mojo back and you'll be seeing more quilt related snaps.

       Owen wanted me to remind all my stitching/quilting friends to make sure you set aside some time for napping in your favorite chair this Spring.

       Thanks for stopping by to visit.

Saving the Best for Last

      It always surprises me how much time passes between my postings. My apologies to those who wish I would update more often. I guess I'd rather be stitching. I receive so much encouragement from my readers though and thought it was time to let you know how I'm progressing on Ann Hall and Elizabeth Sheffield.
      Ann is a relaxing stitch... not many thread changes and you can get a lot accomplished in a relatively short period of time. I decided to save Adam & Eve for last, hence the title of my post.

Ann Hall 

The Scarlet Letter

40 ct Lakeside Luna

NPI Silks

I love the 'big bird' Ann chose to include in her sampler.

      I finally completed the over one bird on Elizabeth Sheffield. It represents hours of stitching, but the look of the over one is well worth the effort.

 Elizabeth Sheffield

The Scarlet Letter

36 ct. Lakeside Vintage Examplar

Belle Soie and Dinky Dyes silks

2011 is becoming the Year of the Bird for me. It began with Ann Tarbox and continues with my current two samplers.

      I was thrilled to have won Carmen's, Cardan Antiques and Needlework, giveaway. A lovely painted pinwheel box, the CHS chart to stitch my own pinwheel, and the Middle Tennessee Samplers brochure. Thank you Carmen for such a generous giveaway.

I leave you today with a snap of the pups, sitting on the ottoman, watching the world go by. The ottoman is a perfect height for unobstructed views out of the front and side windows.

A Couple of New Starts for Spring

     I hope you all had a very blessed Easter and the Easter Bunny brought you lots of sweet treats to celebrate the day.
      My needle has not be idle. After completing Helen Vertue I didn't waste any time in starting another Adam & Eve Sampler. Here's my start on Ann Hall.

Ann Hall 

The Scarlet Letter

40 ct Lakeside Luna

NPI Silks

I'm in love with the way Ann chose to stitch her alphabet... it gives it a bit of a lacy look. I also enjoyed stitching the cherub and am looking forward to stitching the other one on the right side of the sampler.

       Here's a snap of the chart cover, from The Scarlet Letter's website, for those of you who aren't familiar with Ann Hall's sampler.

The reason I chose to stitch Ann is because she will fit in this lovely frame that I bought at The Scarlet Letter's Open House last summer.

 I've been following Alma's (Blackbird Designs) progress on her Elizabeth Sheffield sampler. I instantly fell in love with the over-one bird in the upper left hand corner of the sampler. I wanted to stitch that bird right away. So... I caved in to my longing and started Elizabeth Sheffield this past week. That over one tweety is very stitch intensive... but I've really enjoyed stitching every one of those stitches. This represents about four hours of stitching. I'm very S L O W at stitching over one.  I've chosen to do a full cross rather than just the tent stitch.

 Elizabeth Sheffield

The Scarlet Letter

36 ct. Lakeside Vintage Examplar

Belle Soie and Dinky Dyes silks

The weather has been awful in what seems like forever and Emma and Owen have been spending much of their time doing what dogs do best..... sleep.

 You really didn't think they slept on the floor did you?  Emma and Owen will be celebrating their third birthday on Tuesday, April 26th. Time has just flown by since they came to live with me on July 4, 2008.

      Hopefully everyone who requested the Helen Vertue conversion has received it by now. I was unable to send the conversion to Dawn and Sue R. because no e-mail address was included with your requests. If you're still interested please leave a request with your e-mail address in the Comments.

        Until next time... happy stitching.

Helen V is a Wrap

     Helen Vertue was a delight to stitch. The border is what drew me to the sampler. I converted the silks, as charted, to variety of hand-dyed silks.

 Helen Vertue 1812

The Scarlet Letter

36 ct. Lakeside Vintage Pearled Barley

Hand-Dyed Silks

     I did make some minor changes. The diamond motif  was supposed to be done in satin stitch with an eyelet stitch border. I chose to stitch the motif in rice stitch. After stitching all of the windows in satin stitch I was ready to move on to a different stitch.

     The flower blossoms in the upper and lower verse borders were stitched in queen stitch. It's been a long time since I've done any queen stitches and I thoroughly enjoyed stitching those blossoms. 

      Some readers requested my conversion for Helen. I think I've sent the conversion to everyone who requested it... but if I've missed anyone, please just leave a request in the Comments and make sure to include your e-mail address.

      Spring has finally arrived in northeast Iowa. My crocus have bloomed and a few daffodils are starting to appear. The arrival of Spring also means that Emma and Owen can resume their romps in the community prairie. Nothing puts a smile on those sweet Corgi faces than a good ol' romp...

 Until next time.... happy stitching.

A Big Bird Finish

      I am thrilled to report that I have another finish for 2011. Here she is in all her glory.

 Ann A. Tarbox Sampler

Hillside Samplings

40 ct. R&R Abecedarian 

 NPI and AVAS 

I really enjoyed stitching the 'big bird' which is what drew me to this sampler.

But, fair warning, the bird is very stitch intensive and the chart has hand drawn symbols, which makes for a bit of strain on the eyes. It was well worth the effort though.

       Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave your much appreciated comments. It makes me sad when I'm unable to answer a question because the commenter is on no-reply and an e-mail address is not included with the comment. Please know that I would love to answer your questions, but sometimes I have no way of contacting you.

       I told Emma that I had a few of the readers ask if she and Owen were ok because there were no snaps of them in the last post. They are both doing fine, but are suffering from the 'winter blues' and are longing for Spring. We've had a few springlike days, but winter returns and I'm sure they'll be more snow before the end of March.

 Is it Spring yet???

      I'll be getting back to Helen Vertue now that Ann has been completed. Some of you asked if I would be willing to share my conversion for Helen. I'd be happy to share the conversion and am flattered that you've asked. I'll include the conversion in my next blog post.

     

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.