Sunday, October 2, 2016

Trying to get back on track...

Long time, no post... sorry about that. Nothing monumental happened I just got swept away  in a stream of everyday things that have to be done and the blog got washed away.  And until yesterday I didn't have anything finished that was blogworthy...but today I do!

This is my Sampler Hill by With Thy Needle and Thread...




It is stitched on a unknown 32 count linen from my stash and I did change quite a few of the threads starting with that big house... it is Crescent Colors Queen Bee... LOVE that golden yellow. All the turquoise bits are DMC 860. I substituted Gentle Arts Pomegranate and Faded Rose and Crescent Colors Jakey Brown for the tulips and other flowers.  And I may have stitched the lady's hair in a color similar to my own (thanks to lovely girl who keeps my gray at bay...LOL!)



I thought I would add some chickens to this sampler, in the spaces above the robins where little dogs had been graphed, but I changed my mine. I didn't think they really added anything to the piece and instead I stitched some little geometric motifs in  Crescent Colors Eggshell for tone on tone effect. Kinda hard to see, but it's in there!



I started this in July so it took about 3 months to stitch. Now I didn't stitch every night... there was lots of downtime on this one, but that isn't too bad for a piece that was 197 X 150 stitches... mine finished about 12" wide and 9" high.

Now what to start next???  Guilt says I need to start a Christmas project that is going to be a gift, and I will get to it... but maybe not today. I still want to stitch this....


The ABC Sampler by Jeanette Douglas and I have EVERYTHING I need to stitch this one ...

And I want to start the Blackbird Design Garden Club series...


This is the first picture I've seen of ALL of them completed and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  Now I had planned on doing all 12 of them on one piece of linen, but seeing them all stitched on different colors of linen patchworked together is really AWESOME!!!! And if I stitched each one individually they would be easier to deal with...no wrestling with a large hunk of linen... I think I've talked myself into doing them one at a time ...   hmmm... I wonder what linen I have in my stash that would work for one of these. I have 11 of the 12 charts... should be getting the last one in the mail this week.

Decisions... decisions.... I do have a afternoon pretty free... not doing dinner with my son and DIL today... my handyman is putting up the last pair of new shutters on my house (I'll take some pictures and show you soon.)  My gardening is pretty caught up... I re-did my window boxes with mums and pumpkins...and the weather is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!!  Fall has finally arrived... cooler temps...no humidity...and glorious sunshine today... Fall is my favorite time to year!!!

Oh, I did get my Fall decorating done... that might be a good post.  Most of what I put out is the same as last year but there are a few new additions.

I hope to get back on track with  posting on this blog... so stay tuned. I will link up today with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday and on Monday I'll link to Super Mom - No Cape. Both of these are great link up ... lots of cool stuff to see!

happy stitching!

carol fun

15 comments:

  1. Love all your projects, both finished and future. What a great idea to stitch small blocks and then patchwork them together. Arthritis makes handling a big piece much more difficult.

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  2. The patchwork effect of the Garden Club piece is what first caught my attention so I hope you go in that direction. Regardless, working with smaller pieces has got to be a lot easier.

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  3. Beautiful cross stitch! They take a long time to do but are very worth the effort!

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  4. very nice stitching on your sampler!! Love the new project you will be starting, too!! Can't go wrong with a Blackbird design. Oh boy, now I want this....

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  5. Your work is gorgeous! What a lovely number of sweet stitching time you have planned. We got some cooler weather too, I actually turned off one of the fans last night!

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  6. Congrats on a terrific finish! And you have some wonderful projects on the horizon to work on! The sampler would probably stitch up fairly quickly!

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  7. Congratulations on your Sampler Hill finish! Love the color of the house. It's a wonderful choice! I've never stitched on different fabrics and then sewn them into one project. The look is very striking!

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  8. Good to hear from you again. Sampler Hill is fantastic!

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  9. Your Sampler Hill finish is awesome! Love the pic of the Garden Series all together.... I have the first two completed, but all 12 patterns. The place I ordered this as an auto-ship from was supposed to send me the linens with the patterns... they sent some without linens because they did not want hold anybody up from stitching on it? Ummmm... I can't stitch them without the linen? Sooooo... I've got to order a couple pieces of linen when I get to it... Happy stitching! :-)

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  10. Ta da! So gorgeous. The garden club series is so pretty.

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  11. Love the sampler very creative changes. Those other project will keep you stitching for a bit.

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  12. Beautiful work, I don't know how you see on linen!

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  13. Love your golden coloured house. How do you do such neat little stitches on 32 count linen. The Blackbird design is very nice...what a piece that would make.

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  14. Awesome! Great finish and I love your ideas for your new starts.

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