"A Home in the Woods" Sampler

[colliemommie]

Just realized I have this pictures from way back in March. This is another Jeannette Douglas band sampler. I used the thread pack from JD designs as well (got a very good deal on eBay). It uses Weeks Dye Works, Gentle Arts Sampler Threads, and some Caron Watercolors. This sampler was stitched for my dad, and it's now framed and hanging in his workshop.

Full sampler (click for bigger view):



Fabric is 28-count R&R Reproductions linen. Afraid I don't know what color; I bought it last January as part of a remnants sale bag at the Super Bowl Sale. It's a slightly yellow/creamy khaki.

Sampler top:

 I love the cross-stitch picture at the very top. The trees are actually only two colors of green, but they're both Weeks' Dye Works verigated flosses, and I think the variation of color is great. I also like the native stone chimney on the cabin.  The multi-colored band is a Caron Watercolors floss, so again, much simpler than it looks.

The legend is "A Home in the Woods", which I thought was perfectly suitable for my father. The pinecones are actually in the pattern with points up, but I think they looked a bit silly like that, so I flipped them. They have lazy daisy points and wheat stitch above, and might be my favorite part of this sampler.

 Another picture with pinecones, because they are awful cute! The "stick figure" trees I don't think are very successful, but they help break up all the little motif rows.

The row underneath is hard to see because of the color, but there tends to be a row like that in Douglas' band samplers (The East Coast Sampler I did last winter had two rows of shell stitch that matched the fabric. Subtle, but lovely.). One of the things that really doesn't translate well in photos is the gorgeous texture of her designs, and the extra interest that brings. The "mountain lakes" blue band in this picture also has a lot of dimension to it.

 Bottom of sampler. The text reads "NFK to JNF March '08". This was one of those happy mistakes. I was working this from the bottom up on a trip to Charlottesville. I counted single threads instead of over two threads, and ended up stitching the "lakes" band twice as far above the squirrell as it should have been. But that left the ideal amount of space for another row of the banded long-arm cross in the coral verigated (which I love) and a dedication line. Yay for serendipity!

Comments

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

That is absolutely lovely.

[colliemommie.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was one of those magic projects where everything just turned out great with what seemed like no effort.