A Gentleman's Samplings

As promised in my previous post, here is a brief update on some other stitching progress. During April and the first part of May I worked on finishing up my Anniversaries of the Heart by Blackbird Designs. This has been a work in progress for a long time so I was glad to get it finished. Anniversaries of the Heart by Blackbird Designs Worked on 40-ct Lakeside Reindeer using Gentle Arts, Weeks Dye, and Crescent Colours Started in April 2010 and finished in May 2013 The hardest part was deciding on the personalized blocks for the family members that I want to include on the sampler.  They include by father-in-law, grandparents, great grandparents, my mother, father, wife, son and daughter. I inserted a saying that is special to me and my family in the the alphabet block at the top of the sampler.  "As for me and my house will serve the Lord" - Joshua 24:15 And changed the bottom of the November block by adding a bird from another Blackbird chart.

I would like to thank all of you for your kind comments, thoughts and prayers regarding my health issue. A brief update is provided at the end of the post. In my last post I had not yet decided whether to start something new or to finish something in my WIP pile.   It has been very hot here in North Texas so doing a couple of holiday pieces seemed to be in order. Jane Pattison 1806 by Shakespeare's Peddler I have had this chart in my stash since it first became available.   This piece really looks very looks and feels like a Christmas sampler with the border of green garland and candles.   I stitched this on 40-ct Lakeside linen using the recommended Gentle Arts Sampler Threads instead of the recommended wool threads. I did substitute the Harvest Basket with Gold Leaf since the Harvest Basket was very close in color to Cidermill Brown and I wanted to add a little bit of gold to the piece like in the picture on the pattern. I also stitch two bands using Algerian Eyelet (t

It seems that I have not been able to focus on a single project lately. There always seems to be something a little bit more intereseting to stitch than the current project I am wanting to finish. Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos - for some reason the pictures look more gold/yellow than they are in real life... In the past month I have worked on Scarlet Letter's Coraggio .  I have had this chart in my stash for a few years and thought about it when it was mentioned by someone on a board a vist every once in a while. I am working this on 40-count Lakesde Linen Pecan Butter using a combination of Au Ver a Soie (AVAS) and Hand-Dyed Fibers (HDF) silks. Coraggio by The Scarlet Letter 40-count Lakeside Linen Pecan Butter with AVAS and HDF I started work on the mermaid but I need to re-think the recommended process of outlining and then filling in with the stitches.  Doing it this way tends to lose some of the definition of the outline.  I guess I could go back ar