An autumn stitch

The calendar says that autumn is here, but our weather says otherwise. Here in the desert it is still really hot and anything but "fall" like. Nonetheless, my house is decorated for the season. Here is one of my favorite little samplers. I stitched it a couple of years ago, and I don't think I posted it over on RTWR before. But, If I did, oh well...here it is again. It's stitched on 28 or 30ct linen over one with Gentle Art Sampler Threads. I can't remember the name of it, but I'm pretty sure it was a Black Star Design.

The Governor's Palace

One of my many projects today was to frame this piece. I'm very happy with the way the frame looks with it. It's a dark charcoal grey, almost the exact color as the alphabet. The fabric has more gold in it than the photo shows. If you remember from a few posts ago, the linen was an off white color originally. Halfway through stitching it, I just wasn't "feeling" it, so I dyed it to give it more of a vintage look. I also changed it a bit from the way it was charted. It was supposed to have window panes and much lighter windows. I did one window, didn't like it, so in my version, it's night time and every one's asleep in the palace.

I tried to resist

starting the Red House Sampler, the wonderful new design from Brenda Keyes, I really did. I wanted to make it my winter project. I even started Meeting House Hill and maybe stitched a quarter of it. It just kept calling me, so I started with the planting of the row of trees. I'm now moving down to the building of the house.
I knew I would love stitching this design. I'm using 40ct vintage Meadow Rue linen and a combination of Needlepoint, Inc. and Hand Dyed Fiber silk. I converted the colors from the way it's charted for DMC for the most part, with the exception of the red. It was a little too bright for my taste, so I went with a different hue.

Look what I found

Yesterday, I was digging through some linen and came across this piece. It is from The Goode Huswife and it's called "Our House". I stitched it last year and totally forgot about it. It is done over one thread with silk on 30ct linen. I even had an unfinished frame set aside for it. Today I painted the frame and now it's ready to hang. I'm so glad I found it. Fall is my favorite season.
I've been decorating a bit with bittersweet, gourds, and pumpkins. It's still pretty hot here in AZ., but the mornings are getting cooler. Autumn can't be too far away.

The Governor's Palace and new stash

I've been stitching like a mad woman. I am so anxious to finish this sampler. The birds need their beaks, panes need to be added to the windows, the alphabet done in Algerian eyelet needs completed, and of course, the border does, too. This sampler gets better with each stitch. The reason for wanting this piece finished is because I recently added two new charts to my stash. I have not decided which one to start next, but here they are: The first one is the newest design by my very favorite, Brenda Keyes, of The Sampler Company. It is called Red House Sampler. It is one of the most beautiful samplers that I have ever seen. It arrived from across the pond the other day. I almost tackled our mailman as he made his way up our walkway, so excited was I. This one will be pure joy to stitch. It has all of my favorite design elements.

Although not a new design, Meeting House Hill by Carriage House Samplers, will also be a great design to stitch. It combines over two and over one stitching, and I love that. Isn't it funny how you can look at something over and over and then one day it grabs you? You know you just have to have it. That is what happened with this one. I love the colors, and I'm thinking a nice vintage piece of linen will be perfect.