So Much FUN!

The last couple of weeks have been a perfect illustration of how I use stitching as therapy. My husband's bike had a structural failure and tossed him over the handle bars. Fortunately, he didn't land on his head. Unfortunately, he suffered a pretty serious foot injury. In my haste to pick him up and high tail it over to the ER, I neglected to grab my stitching bag. I never go anywhere that might involve waiting without my stitching bag! Apparently, I am not very clearheaded during an emergency. But on this particular Sunday morning our small town hospital ER was not very busy and we were only there about four hours. But since that little lapse in thinking, I've taken every opportunity to get some stitching done...when I'm not doing all the little things around the house that he usually does. Not gonna take him for granted ever again!

One of the nurses casually mentioned that she'd broken her arm once and she thought she'd rather have a broken foot. Obviously, she's never been on crutches before. Hellooooo, broken arm --> one hand out of commission; broken foot --> one leg and two hands out of commission unless you're sitting down. So carrying anything is pretty tough unless it fits in your pocket.

While my sweet husband was in surgery (this is NOT the fun part I'm referring to) having his horribly broken and dislocated foot repaired, I was stitching away on the Star Sampler SAL. I'm all caught up and waiting for Part 5! Actually, if I really wanted to I could continue working the border since I memorized it about fifty repeats ago!

But I decided to start "Cotillion" by Papillon instead. This is the fun part! I absolutely love the linen from Picture This Plus. The color is "Phantom" and it is a dark navy with a lot of plum splashed around. There's also a tad of a blue-green in there too. It's fabulous with the Dinky Dyes silk used in the pattern. I haven't gotten far, but it's beautiful and I probably won't be able to put it down until it's done.

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Sometimes You Just Have to Stitch Out of the Box

You may or may not know that I favor cool colors like blues, pinks, purples, emerald greens, etc.  I work part time at Angelwing Needlearts, my local needlework shop.  Donna, the owner, and I have totally different tastes in colors. She loves gold and brown and olive and lime, etc. It's become somewhat of a shop adjective when talking to the regular customers...'Oh, this yarn is a Donna color' or 'don't you love these Tommye colors?'.

So my choice of colors for the Star Sampler SAL by Periphaeria Designs is waaaaaay out of the box for me.  And I love they way they work together. I can't remember the name of the hand dyed linen (36 count), but it's such a rich gold color. I chosed Kelp Waterlilies from the Caron Collection as the main color. My initial choice for a contrasting color turned out to be too close to one of the browns in the Kelp, so I changed it to a orangy-brown Splendor that I never would have considered until I started stitching the piece. Just proves that you cannot accurately predict how overdyed floss is going to work out. But as soon as I filled in that one little spot, I new it was the right choice!

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I Could Stare at This One All Day!

You might remember that I was a little apprehensive about choosing and mapping out the colors on this piece since it was charted as a monochromatic one. Well, after a few minor adjustments as I went along, it is finished and I love it! Don't have any idea when I'll get around to framing it but when I do I'll have to rearrange the 35-40 samplers in my living room/dining room to find just the right place to hang it.

It is an original design by Ute Scheer, Studio of Historical Samplers,  inspired by photos of Moroccan samplers in a book of samplers from the V&A museum. I stitched mine on 40 count cream linen using Splendor silk floss. The finished design is 11" x 23.5" (17.9cm x 59.7cm)

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Almost Ready for Something New!

The end is near! No, not Armageddon, the end of the Moroccan sampler.

And of course, the closer it gets to completion the more excited I get about my next project. I finally picked my colors for the Star Sampler SAL from Periphaeria.

I found this hand dyed gold fabric in my stash which, unfortunately, I cannot identify other than the stitch count - 40 cnt. I chose Kelp Waterlilies from The Caron Collection and a deep brown Splendor from Rainbow Galleries. 

I've also decided to start "Cotillion" by Papillon. Since the fabric called for is not available I had to go on a search. I chose "Phantom"  (36 count) by PictureThisPlus and I also got the Dinky Dyes overdyed silk floss (as called for in the design) from PTP. Fantastic service, by the way!

I'm also in the midst of working on version three of "Catrina's Christmas" by Keslyn. My stitch group finally started the class and I decided to stitch the piece along with them, just so I wouldn't forget anything pertinent about the process.  I wrote up about three pages of notes to go along with it. Surely I won't lead them astray with all that guidance. But you never know! I'll have some pics soon.

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