It's Starting to Come Together

So I've been a little anxious about how all these fabulous colors would come together and now I'm starting to get a picture. For such traditionally styled motifs I thought these bright colors might be a little contemporary. And I suppose if I wasn't aware of the Moroccan connection it might not be as attractive to me as it is. But, I love it!  It's not going to take nearly as long as I thought it would, if I keep going at this rate. I just can't stop.

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Can I See a Show of Hands?

Anyone who has ever become so caught up in a piece of needlework that they fell prey to the dreaded "just one more stitch" syndrome will know exactly what I'm going through right now. I am loving this Moroccan sampler. I'm so excited about seeing the colors bring the motifs alive and can't wait to get to the next one!

The assymetrical second motif bothers me a little right now, but as soon as I fill in around it I'll be okay. I keep leaning to the side when I look at it like it's going to expand out to the right and become more balanced.

The sad thing is that at some point I'll have to put it down and work on some birthday presents and other obligatory stitching. It's 22 inches long, so you know I'm not going to finish it without taking a break...or am I? hmmm?

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This is Gonna be FUN!

 Well, after some research and great advice from a reader, I have chosen my colors for the Moroccan sampler and started stitching. It's very slow going, but quite easy. The wine color doesn't show up very well, in the photo, but it's a beautiful deep color that I hope will balance the piece nicely.

Because the sampler is so large and I'm a control freak, I printed out this black and white picture and tried to map out which colors I'll use where. It's a little hard to visualize, but hey, after decades of following the directions, it's time I stepped outside the box...maybe even off the cliff! LOL 

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Ready to Move On!

I just love it when a sampler seems to almost stitch itself! "Hetty Child 1842" by Brenda Keyes is DONE!

Hetty Child went so quickly, I'm ready to indulge myself in a BIG project now. So I've chosen a Moroccan sampler by Ute Scheer-Studio for Historical Samplers,  inspired by a photo from a Victoria & Albert Museum catalog. The model was stitched on 35 count natural linen in a cream floss (finished size 11" x 24"). I'll probably do something similar although when I think of Morocco, I think brilliant color. So I think I'll do a little research and see if I can come up with something culturally representative.

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Just Keep on Stitching

Hetty Childs is moving right along, as you can see. Only minor frogging required so far. (Can you feel the happy dance?) Of course, now that I'm in the middle and doing the random motifs, we'll just have to see how long it takes befoe the swearing starts.

It's probably a good thing that this piece isn't very complicated because my focus has been a little lacking this week. Still trying to find my mojo after that bout with the flu, but at least I'm making progress.

I've slowly been adding new scissor fobs and counting pins to my Etsy shop too. If you have trouble with borders or those 'confetti' stitching designs, (you know the ones I'm talking about...here a stitch, there a stitch, always changing colors) try using counting pins. They can be very helpful in making sure you put the right stitch in the right place or get the right number of stitches in that long band.

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