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colliemommieFinally got my pictures uploaded! Yay! Take that AT&T...you tried to thwart me, but I perservered!
This is a picture of the whole sampler. I stitched it on 28-count Autumn Blush Cashel linen, which is a gorgeous mottled sort of fabric, shading from warm cream to a rosy pale brown-pink. Threads were mostly cottons by Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art Sampler Threads, with verigated silks by Gloriana.
I honestly think this is the nicest thing I've ever stitched. Quite proud of myself. This was intented to be a New England sampler, Connecticut specifically I think, but with very few changes it works nicely for Virginia.
Top portion of sampler:
I love the oak tree at the top. It has leaves in four different colors, and cashmere stitched stone walls on either side. The third row down is a niftly stitch called Mariners' Wheel, done in the Gloriana. I've never used silk before, but it is so smooth and easy to work. "Beside the Long Tidal River" describes where we are next to the James and Lynnhaven Rivers. The sails of the two big ships are blackworked in a ziggyzaggy pattern that didn't photograph too well.
Under the boats is a neat sheaf stitch row...the color matches the fabric pretty exactly, but it adds a nice texture looking at the real piece. Cross stitched grapes and satin stitched autumn leaves, pretty self-explanatory. The row with the school house and the church was a bitch. The buildings are cross stitched over one, and then the hills are Hungarian stitched in two different verigated greens. I ended up doing the hill outlines first and then filling in--it was the only way I could do it without going blind. Another row in the verigated silks; jerusalem crosses with four-sided stitches in the corners. It both looks and sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Bee skeps! Yay! With little bee charms!
The next row is where I changed the most. It was supposed to have fishies, whales and (don't ask me why) robins. Now, aside from the scale issues I had with the whales being the same size as the little fishies, what the hell were the robins doing there too? Aqua-robins apparently. So I scrapped them and put in my and hubbykins' initials, along with 2008. I made this sampler for him and wanted to label it somehow. Plus I love the alphabet I adapted for the monograms...very flowy.
Next was a really neat row that reminds me of crown vech or clover, but I couldn't get a good close-up pic. sigh.
More boats, with a harbor and a lighthouse charm. Pretty boring I think. Then more wheat stitch for texture. Followed by apples, pumpkins, and a really neat basket that I'm trying to get a detail of. The horizontal bands were done 1 long stitch a row, and then the verticals were woven in on top of the fabric. Pretty neat. My other favorite thing are the black-eyed Susans in the next row. The petals are all Lazy Daisy stitches, and they have the perfect amount of 3D to them. Tricky to lay right, but worth it. The house was supposed to be blue with a red door, but Bruce didn't like it, so it's red with a gray-blue door. The roof is satin stitched to look like slate, and there is a two-tone brickwork path in front and stone walls on each side. I love the willow tree on the left!
Next up is "A Home in the Woods" band sampler by the same company for Dad. I'm hoping to have it finished before I leave for Pittsburgh on the 19th.
I love the oak tree at the top. It has leaves in four different colors, and cashmere stitched stone walls on either side. The third row down is a niftly stitch called Mariners' Wheel, done in the Gloriana. I've never used silk before, but it is so smooth and easy to work. "Beside the Long Tidal River" describes where we are next to the James and Lynnhaven Rivers. The sails of the two big ships are blackworked in a ziggyzaggy pattern that didn't photograph too well.
Under the boats is a neat sheaf stitch row...the color matches the fabric pretty exactly, but it adds a nice texture looking at the real piece. Cross stitched grapes and satin stitched autumn leaves, pretty self-explanatory. The row with the school house and the church was a bitch. The buildings are cross stitched over one, and then the hills are Hungarian stitched in two different verigated greens. I ended up doing the hill outlines first and then filling in--it was the only way I could do it without going blind. Another row in the verigated silks; jerusalem crosses with four-sided stitches in the corners. It both looks and sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Bee skeps! Yay! With little bee charms!
The next row is where I changed the most. It was supposed to have fishies, whales and (don't ask me why) robins. Now, aside from the scale issues I had with the whales being the same size as the little fishies, what the hell were the robins doing there too? Aqua-robins apparently. So I scrapped them and put in my and hubbykins' initials, along with 2008. I made this sampler for him and wanted to label it somehow. Plus I love the alphabet I adapted for the monograms...very flowy.
Next was a really neat row that reminds me of crown vech or clover, but I couldn't get a good close-up pic. sigh.
More boats, with a harbor and a lighthouse charm. Pretty boring I think. Then more wheat stitch for texture. Followed by apples, pumpkins, and a really neat basket that I'm trying to get a detail of. The horizontal bands were done 1 long stitch a row, and then the verticals were woven in on top of the fabric. Pretty neat. My other favorite thing are the black-eyed Susans in the next row. The petals are all Lazy Daisy stitches, and they have the perfect amount of 3D to them. Tricky to lay right, but worth it. The house was supposed to be blue with a red door, but Bruce didn't like it, so it's red with a gray-blue door. The roof is satin stitched to look like slate, and there is a two-tone brickwork path in front and stone walls on each side. I love the willow tree on the left!
Next up is "A Home in the Woods" band sampler by the same company for Dad. I'm hoping to have it finished before I leave for Pittsburgh on the 19th.
