I haven't done this much grass since.....

     Apparently 12 days is the magic number because the right side of the grass took another 12 days.  I have three more sections the same size to do so 24 x 3 = 72.  This sampler will be done in 72 days which is December 1st.  That is my goal. 

     My aunt passed away this past week and it was sad news because she was only 56 years old.  She had a hard, undeserving life, losing her husband to brain cancer when he was in his early 40's, leaving her to raise their son alone.  She then developed crippling rheumatoid arthritis and a couple years ago she had to be placed in a nursing home because of it.  Through all of this she remained bubbly and optimistic.  She will be missed.  My dad and step-mom came for the funeral all the way from Texas so it was nice to see them, the silver lining of a dark cloud.  No stitching was done while they were here so I have some catching up to do.

     My family thinks I am crazy when I say, "I'm going to go do some grass."  My husband said, "So am I" and got the lawn mower out.  He thought I was going to help him but when I disappeared into the house he just chuckled.  Till next time happy stitching!

     

     

Watching grass grow....

     This took 12 days to stitch.  There's sooo much grass!  A part of me regrets stitching the grass as I've seen others who haven't and their samplers are beautiful.  I just felt like after my conversation with Vilma, I had to stitch it as she intended it.  She told me on the phone that the grass is supposed to be a pasture.  Anyway, enough babbling, here she is.

     The right side should take a week more to stitch.  This would be 40 rows stitched and there are 160 total which means the finish line is 10 weeks away.  No, I'm not excited at all!  Ha ha.  Maybe I will kick it into high gear and get her done in six.  The grass stitching is mindless and I don't really have to pay attention too much to what I am doing.

     The list is long for what will be started after this is finished.  Ann Grant is at the top, for sure.  My dear Facebook friend Adana gifted me the Frances Eden sampler which I have been hunting for for nearly a year so that is going to be started as long as I can figure out a silk conversion.  WIPs are calling my name too.  There is Red Snowman, Quaker Diamonds, and another sampler that I don't recall the name of that isn't as fun to stitch as I thought it would be. 

     Check back in a few weeks my fabulous followers and until then, happy stitching.

This feels like a finish...but it's not!

I've been busy stitching what appears to be The Garden of Eden.  Here it is.

I changed the color of the lion to a lighter shade so his mane would stand out more.  There are supposed to be 10 rows of grass under him but I think five is enough.  (Thank you Claudia for the idea.)  Here is the whole sampler so far, pardon the wrinkles.  Gosh, I hope they iron out later!

The big green bottom is next and will take me at least two months to do.  I fell off the wagon last weekend and badly wanted to stitch something else so I kitted up Mother's Honor Due by Blackbird Designs.  I'm not stitching the verse, just the floral.  Here she is.

After stitching on it for two days I missed ATS and picked it back up again.  Sometimes we just need to see different colors and feel different fibers.  My silk petting is over and I am happy.  It sort of felt like I was cheating on Adam and Eve and I felt very sinful.  It was fun!  Till next time, happy stitching ladies!

Ann Skey's final resting place

     Does anyone remember my Ann Skey antique sampler eBay find?  Here's a before and after.

She was grossly framed and had strands of her fibers collecting at the sides of her.  Here she is properly framed and ready to hang.

This turned out so beautiful.  No, her final resting place isn't going to be on my couch though.  It's difficult to take pictures of framed pieces because no matter where or how I take the picture I get glare.  Here is a close up of the frame and some closer pictures of the sampler.

Of course no sampler is complete without Adam and Eve, and Ann must have felt the same way. 
     It took nine weeks for me to get this back from the framers.  When they opened her up they found what they thought was small specks of mold on the back of her.  So they sent her to Chicago to have a professional curator look at it.  It just ended up being specks of dust.  You'd be dusty too if you were almost 200 years old!  He wanted to clean it for $250 but I decided to pass on that.  I was told to get this baby insured because she is worth about 15 times what I paid for her.  That's a pretty good investment. 
     There is a perfect spot in my family room above the couch for her but right now I have two large pictures of my boys there.  I hope they don't mind getting "bumped." 
     And They Sinned is coming along and I am almost finished with the motifs above the green pasture.  My next post should have photos of that.  Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and also for leaving me comments.  I love reading them.  Till next time, happy stitching!

Silkapallooza!

     In an effort to get my hands on as much silk as possible, I have been bargain hunting.  Here's my haul from JJ's Collectibles 20% off sale.

     My intention is to get a whole set of Belle Soie but I goofed and bought Gloriana.  Isn't that a shame that now I have to collect both? 
     Below is my haul from The Attic who was having a sale on limited edition silk sets.  It was a buy more save more sale and I saved $80 on all of these.  My husband just hates it when I save money.  Hee hee.  These are all Silk n' Colors from The Thread Gatherer.

Some of these appear to be duplicate but that's OK.  I see a Halloween project in my future with all these purple and oranges.
     For my birthday I received a $50 eBay gift card from my employees and have my eye on some more Belle Soie, as soon as I figure out how to use that darn card, that is.  Until next time, happy stitching :)

The Long Awaited Verse

     Those of you who have been following my blog and stitching adventures know that I was stressed over what to do with the verse on And They Sinned.  Here is the original version.  The photo isn't very good but you can see that the words are scrunched together, the flowers are too close to the words, and it just seems sloppy.  Remember, this was charted to make it look like a little girl stitched it.  Apologies to whoever I copied this from off the Internet.  It took me a while to find a picture with this stitched because when I Googled images of "And They Sinned", a lot of them were mine.  That's funny.

     And here is my version.

     I really had a good time stitching this part.  The words were stitched first and I used Peacock to stitch "Paradise."  After all, paradise is blue skies and blue ocean, at least to me.  The dots were stitched with Gold Leaf, and "AND THEY SINNED" was stitched with that wonderful coral color (Copper) from the rows of flowers above.  I really wanted "AND THEY SINNED" to stand out and originally thought to use a bright red color but it too closely resembled the brown in the rest of the letters. The "m" in "them" was placed next to the e and that meant that the top flowers wouldn't fit so I stitched butterflies in place of them.  I also moved the bottom flower motifs closer to the vine by 2 stitches on each side so that it wouldn't run into the "e" in "offered." 
     As you can see in the original picture, there is fun ahead!  Oh boy, I hope to be able to stitch at least one motif a day.  Oh ya, another milestone.  That damn vine border is done!  Happy dance number two.  Until next time, happy stitching ladies.

Bewildered and bemused

     When my quilting mentor tried to teach me how to quilt last year she emphasized how important a 1/4 seam allowance was but she didn't tell me why.  So my first quilting project was called Beacon Hill and had lots of triangles in it and a pieced border.  It was difficult but if I kept to that 1/4 inch seam allowance I believed I could not fail.  SOMEWHERE along the way (probably way in the beginning), my 1/4 inch became a scant 1/4 inch and when I was finished the quilt blocks were nearly a half an inch off.  I carried my quilt top to the quilt shop with my head hanging low and showed it to Jeannette.  She then told me that being off by just a tad bit would multiply throughout the quilt.  She quilted it for me anyway, taking apart the border and fixing it so that it looked reasonably presentable.  Well whose gonna help me now that I have made a mess of ATS?
     Yes, you read it right.  Somehow I am two stitches off in my sampler.  Here is the proof in the pudding.

On the right side of the tree there are only supposed to be five up and down rows of the fence and there are six.  Taking it out is not even a question.  The mistake could have been made weeks ago.  I have studied my stitching and the chart and I cannot find it for the life of me.  EVERYTHING else lines up.  Even the vine border on both sides so there fore I am bewildered and bemused.  It's not a devastating mistake but it's going to bug me to no end.  Also, my Facebook friend Lori told me now I won't be able to win any contests with it.  AND I am afraid of where to go from here.  If I start the next row in the middle, will it be off too and go berserk like my quilt?  Oh what to do!  Here's the progress for the week.

The verse is coming next which reads, " And God made two in His image and placed them in the Paradise of Eden.  Evil tempted Eve with the apple ... She then offered it to Adam ........ AND THEY SINNED.."

I'm about 90 % certain that I will stitch the words without the whimsicalness of the letters being all over the place.  I'm going to stitch the verse first and then place various motif around it as I see fit. Unless I screw that up too!  Until next time, happy stitching ladies!