Sampler box

If you'd like to see the box I painted to keep my current stitching project in, go here. Thanks and happy stitching!

Courting...

Here is a little sample of Wednesday's progress. The lawn area, willow tree, and courting couple are complete. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the lady's dress is really bright fuchsia. Not a color that I'm used to working with, as many samplers favor such drab colors. I have to say that I like it though, it's a nice contrast to all of the green. I've started the bottom border, which we all know I hate doing borders. It's the repetition of repeating the same design that bores me. I love the way borders frame the design though, and I always feel such satisfaction when I'm finished.

Red House Sampler

Okay, Glenna, since you've asked to see it, this post is for you. It seemed like the house took forever to finish, but it is the main focus of the design. Now I'm on to my favorite part of adding the plants, wee folk, and critters. As with all The Sampler Company's designs, this one is pure joy to stitch. I like everything designed by Brenda Keyes. I wonder if she has a fan club? Maybe I'll start one and nominate myself for president. I'm using a combination of NPI silks and HDF's. The fabric I've chosen is 40ct. vintage Meadow Rue by Lakeside Linens

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.