My Mary Wigham is DONE!

It's party time! I finished Mary Wigham last night. This morning I checked it for missing parts since multiple page charts seem to promote omissions for me. I only had to add one stitch and I only found one "personalization" (doesn't mean there aren't more). But I decided to leave it. I spent so much effort to not fix the errors in the original, I decided to leave my own for others to find.

I hope everyone else has as much fun stitching this as I did. And so far, everyone in my family whose seen it wants it. Not gonna happen. They can fight over it after I die!

Now I just have to put together the next project. In the meantime, I'm going to work on a UFO for a few days.

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Ready for Part 9 of Mary Wigham

I told you I get obsessed when I get close to the end! I really need to get to work on some beading, but I can't stop stitching. (Sorry about the color. I was in the shade and forgot to change the settings on the camera.)

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Mary Wigham update

Where does time go? I just noticed that I haven't posted here since last Thursday and I can't figure out what I've been doing. I certainly wasn't stitching all that time, as you can tell from my minsicule progress.

Oh, now I remember. I worked Friday afternoon and Sat. (not my normal days) at my local needlework shop, Angelwing Needlearts. And it's embarassing to admit that being on my feet all day one whole day requires at least another whole day of recuperation. I'm pitiful. But I worked hard to get to this sad state!

Anyway, I've also been pinning needlework for a friend. She does her Christmas stitching all year long. So now I have nine pieces on my work table ready to be framed. She's the most active, productive 70+ yr. old I've ever met and I'm proud to be able to do this for her. Her stitching is impeccable and she loves stitching on 32 count linen. So don't fall for that "I'm too old to see that linen stuff". That's why God invented magnifiers!

Time to get off my soapbox. Gonna go pin, then stitch. Maybe I'll make better progress this week.

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Mary Wigham weekend

Well, this was the weekend for the July SAL on one of my Facebook groups, so I worked on Mary Wigham all weekend. Unfortunately, there were several unstitching incidents so I didn't get as far as I wanted to. But I am almost caught up with the downloads. Maybe I should slow down so I don't get ahead...NOT.

For those who haven't seen it before, I'm working on 36 count Flax linen with Splendor 833 (dark green). I may have to go into a third skein...not sure yet.

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Mary Wigham Coming Right Along

As I mentioned previously, while visiting my mom, I stitched while my husband played carpenter. So this is where I am on Mary Wigham. I'm still a couple of weeks behind the downloads, but that doesn't bother me. I'm really enjoying myself. I seem to have remembered how to count and therefore gotten over the unstitching binge.

And my husband, the engineer, has turn out to be a pretty good, if slow carpenter! Now the back stoop at my mom's house is large enough to allow you to open the door without stepping down one step. And the steps are wide enough that the old, blind-in-one-dog can go up and down them sideways. Unfortunately, I was enjoying the finished product so much that I forgot to take a picture. Oops. But you get the drift.

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More Mary Wigham

I've been stitching diligently and feel pretty good about how much I've gotten done. Actually, I'm finding it hard to do anything else. There is dog hair everywhere and several loads of laundry to do and scissor fobs to photograph...well, you get the picture. And those of you who are stitching addicts know exactly how I feel. I didn't have the right light setting when I took this picture so the color is not very good, but you can see how it's coming along.

Being left-brained, the geometry and symmetry of Quaker samplers really appeals to me and even though a lot of the motifs are repeated from sampler to sampler I enjoy seeing them progress on fabric. And apparently I am not alone.

The latest post on the Needleprint blog http://needleprint.blogspot.com/ indicates that the news of this SAL is spreading like wildfire. I would like to think I helped a little bit. When it started about 4 weeks ago it was rumored to be the biggest world-wide SAL ever. And this week the downloads doubled! Way to go. And it's not too late to participate. There are nine pieces of the chart, one of which will be downloaded each Monday. You can join anytime. It's free, but feel free to donate to the Acworth School via the Paypal button on the download page. HOWEVER, you may have to wait a few days if you haven't started yet. The dramatic increase in downloads has caused an bandwidth overload and it's unavailable right now. However, you can bookmark the page and keep checking. It's well worth it.

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Mary Wigham Progress Report

I downloaded Part 4 this morning and plan to spend some time stitching this afternoon. But be not mislead, I am not even close to Part 4! I'm about 20% done despite my apparent affinity for unstitching. Here's where I finished up yesterday afternoon. Haven't taken pics of last night progress, but never fear I'll be sure to keep you posted.

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I hate it when that happens.

Well, I am making progress, but not at the rate at which I'd like. Of course, if I followed my own instructions and used two reference points when I count to a new stitching place I might not have to do so much negative stitching. That entire flower on the lower right had to come out last night at midnight.And why does that always happen about three minutes before bedtime? Seriously, I can't sleep knowing I have to unstitch tomorrow, so I stay up until I am at least back to the error and ready to move forward again. Even Lester was snoring in his crate by the time I went to bed! Oh wait, he's always snoring.

BTW, that's the scissor fob my idiot sister caught in the car door and broke. I repaired it, but I won't sell it...especially since it looks so good on my black Dovo scissors.

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Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, here's my first picture of my version of the Needleprint Mary Wigham Acworth School sampler. I'm using 36 count flax linen and Splendor 833. Actually, I took this picture yesterday and I'm farther along now, but you get the drift.

I have a Quaker sampler, "M. Quertier", from Scarlet Letter, done in deep purple. "Mary Wigham" would make a great companion to it. I have another idea for what I might do with it when I 'm done, but I'm keeping that secret for now. That's in case I change my mind. Who knows how long it's going to take to finish. I usually don't start a project until I have all the pieces. In this case, it's the pattern itself, of course. But I just couldn't wait.

Actually, I've been very busy on Etsy. I showed you the blue and bronze scissor fob a couple of posts ago and now I've added counting pins for cross stitch and needlepoint. They make a beautiful set. I've been busy taking pictures for more sets like this one. I'll be adding them to the shop frequently.

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Unstitching...not my favorite activity

Even though I unstitched more than I stitched last night, I decided to post a update on Grace Mason. Over one stitching is not fun, especially on 40 count, and I did a lot of it last night. My brain still hurts. But I'm getting closer. There are a lot of family initials over one in that largely empy band below the verse box. Then I have to do the verse. Then I think I'm done.

And because all that's left is over one, I kitted my Mary Wigham SAL materials. I'm using 36 count Flax linen and Splendor 833, a very dark green. I might even get to start it tonight at stitch group, since I can't do 40 count over one without my Dazor. Actually, I can, but I shouldn't. It really cuts down on the unstitching, if you know what I mean.

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Quickie Update on Grace Mason

Okay, I am now officially down to double running and over one stitching. This blog may be the only thing that keeps me from putting it on hold and starting the Mary Wigham SAL! I am motivated by guilt, so keep commenting (read "nagging") me to finish Grace. I really love it.

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