Hello - okay do NOT get use to this frequency of posting... 3 weeks... IN A ROW??? ... unheard of!!! But I thought I'd stop by and show you my 2nd start (of 7) for my 70th Birthday Extravaganza... and I have a bit of Fall decorating to share too...
First, the sampler....
this is Prairie Schooler No. 45 Garden Samplers... I'm doing the one on the right side of the chart...
I painted the linen with Rit dye Apple Green and Lemon Yellow... using almost all the called for DMC flosses. Sooooo, I've been stitching Praire Schooler for years and years and years, and I've never come across what I would call an error, but I'm having an issue with this chart. My goal was to get that saying stitched in the 4 day window I gave myself... okay to be truthful I hope to get everything above the saying done too but that wasn't happening. Anyway I got myself down to the phrase and pulled out the called for flosses 3787 for most of the saying and 935 for the highlighted words ... garden, plant, flower... now I'm stitching from a more recently re-released chart, not a cardstock orginial. The picture on the chart I have shows a definite difference in the color of the floss for the majority of the saying and the highlighted words... the saying appears to be a gold-y color and the highlighted words are definitely green... however, 3787 is a green-y taupe... dark... and the same value as 935... huh?? I stitched a couple of words in 3787 and did NOT like it... so I frogged them and from my stassh, chose 3045 for the words... it is a gold-y color... I'm happy with this but puzzled over the discrepancy... I searched to see if there was a correction for this chart but didn't find any.... oh well, I think it looks good so far. I think when I wrap up this Extravaganza it will be the first WIP I come back too. I know this is a sampler I'll display a lot during Spring/Summer.
As for the saying... oh I'd loved to have a walled garden... but since my garden is in my front yard that isn't going to happen... pesky city ordinances regarding fencing and walls... instead I have this living wall...
those cannas are about 6-7 ft tall ... I started with 2 plants a couple of years ago... I think I've added in maybe 2 more... and they have spread like crazy... haven't dug them up for years and they get all this growth in just a couple of months. I LOVE the stripey yellow leaves... the variety is called Pretoria... those flashy orange blooms are icing on the cake... and it does give my garden a kinda walled vibe... wonder if I could add another flower bed in the front yard next to my neighbor....ooooohhh... more plants, less grass... sounds like a great idea, right? I'm obviously delusional here as all I've done the last couple of weeks is moan and groan about all the watering I'm having to do. We haven't had a good rain in over 2 weeks and none is in the forecast....I love my garden but it is the time of year when I'm tired of watering... and yet I have dreams of more flower beds... yes... I'm crazy...LOL
Weather wise it has cooled down just a tad... I think the 90's are over ... forecast for next week has some days with highs only in the low 70s... my kinda weather!! So I got up the energy to put away the Summer decor and my son graciously hauled the Fall decor from the basement and the quilts from the second floor and deposited all in the living room... I COULD NOT DO THIS without him.... I have a LOVE LOVE LOVE my Fall decor... I think it is the influence of the 70's ... burnt orange, harvest gold, avocado green and coppertone brown... my Mom LOVED those colors and painted our home with all of them. I remember her getting a new stove and refrigerator in the coppertone brown color... so groovy... anyway here's my display out on the sunroom porch... I started here because I'm spending a lot of time out there crossstitching and admiring my flowers... and when the weather is cool enough I can open the window and the breeze is so nice...
Up top I have a Barbara Ana Design called Autumn Tree. I stitched this one by mistake... there are a couple of Barbara Ana Designs with trees and houses on the branches and stuff hanging from the branches. I personalized this one by making the squirrel albino as we use to have one in the neighborhood. I was about 3 branches into this piece when I realized it wasn't the pattern I had searched for... the one I wanted was called just Autumn... and after I finished this one I stitched it ... a very happy mistake as I do love this one... and it pairs nicely with one of my few new Fall decor purchases, that large green glass gourd... now this piece was a real bargain... I got it at my local Meijers... it was originally priced at $29.99... and it hung around for quite a while... in fact I think it was after the first of the year that I saw it had been marked down... 75%... wow that would make it $7.50... so I put it my cart and got the groceries I had come for... when I got to the check out I was stunned when it turned out to be 85% off... I paid $4.50 ... you can't beat that!!
Below I have the adorable squirrels all decked out in their Sunday best from With Thy Needle & Thread... the pattern is called Autumn's Acorn Gathering. I love the tie and the striped pants!! And on the bottom shelf is an oldie but goodie from Ewe & Eye & Friends that is called Simply 855... I think that was a reference to the called for Anchor floss for this piece... I stitched it in some overdyed copper-y brown... love the squirrel in the middle and that over one alphabet... boy my eyes were better back then.
Since yesterday was a bit cooler I did some clean up in the yard... filled 2 of those giant paper lawn waste bags.... soooooo much more to tidy up before its all over for the season. I cleaned out the window boxes and went looking for pumpkins... WOW are they expensive this year... I wanted some small white ones... the ones the size of a grapefruit... first place wanted...hold onto your hat... $3 each for them!! Second place was only slightly better at $2.50 each... waaaaaay more than I want to pay... gonna keep looking... of course after I go to 4 or 5 places I will have talked myself into that $2.50 each and probably would have saved myself about $20 in gas and hours of time.. sheesh... how I long for the prices of just 2 years ago...
So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... planning on a quiet Sunday... rest of the week has something going on every day... getting the AC checked out... watching Elliott... lunch with a friend... and on Friday, to celebrate my birthday, my older son is taking me to my favorite BBQ joint Sonny's... the location is about a 90 minute drive each way... I fell in love with Sonny's when I lived in Albany GA... I swear we ate there at least twice a week... and every time I went to Florida we would eat at Sonny's... I'm really looking forward to that.
Hope you have a great week ahead!
happy stitching-
carol fun
So enjoyed reading your post this morning! I have found some discrepancies in floss colors too. I’m wondering if older charts using newer colors is to blame. I had an incident several years ago, when I started a single color embroidery. I have a stash of DMC floss from “eons” ago. I was away from home, vacationing in AZ, and ran out of the blue. No problem, right. Off to JoAnns to buy more. The color was vastly different than the color I had been using. Luckily, my DIL had some of that same color number and it matched. She graciously gave it to me and I finished the project. I’ve experienced dye lot variations many times since. Mostly it doesn’t matter, I can make it work by blending strands. I say, use the color that speaks to you. I think your words are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, I'm sure you will enjoy a wonderful lunch out with your son at your favourite restaurant.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing your stitching projects. Back when I had the eyesight for it I loved the Prairie Schooler designs.
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