Monday, April 6, 2015

Family Name Sampler


This was a sweet little sampler!  Lovely colors done by Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  Designed by Nancy Turner. 

I elected to use antique ivory 28 ct. Linen and used DMC.  It isn't a difficult chart, no specialty stitches, no outlining.  Just straight cross stitch.  I am however proof positive the easier the chart, the more ways I can find to mess it up.

I did more ripping out and re stitching on this chart, that even I am surprised there are no holes in the linen.

To add insult to injury I get to the bottom border and it won't meet up correctly with the right side border.  I start quickly stitching graph lines and realize I made a mistake on the very top border which now has me three stitches off.

Thoughts of throwing it across the room or just trashing it did temporarily cross my mind.  Walk away and let calmness take over.  I must be able to fix it.

Thank god for the handy dandy tiny squared graph paper. I managed to pencil iny border and figure out how to correct it, without ripping it totally out, or trashing it.

Originally samplers had all sorts of mistakes!  Our foremother stitchers were practicing their skills.  Making mistakes, perfecting their stitching.  Do I want my piece to be perfect?  Yes of course!  But it's time like these, rather than cry over missed stitches that I rememberthat there   isn't really any perfect.  There's close enough, and nearly. 

And so I finish, and I will hang my nearly perfect piece on my wall.  Eventually I won't see my mistake or remember where it was.  And no one knows but me anyways.  Well except my sister Cuz I tell her everything!

And she won't tell anyone because she's not on FB and is a lurker on my blog because to be a member you have to have a google account and she doesn't have one of those either.

Well and for those that read my blog.  You now know too.  Remember "mums" the word!

4 comments:

  1. Often the smaller projects cause me the greatest problems. I have been tearing out stitches this week too and it was only a bookmark.Your post made me smile :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear that it made you smile! One can drive themselves crazy trying for perfection! Not just in stitching but every where in our lives. We all can learn not just from our successes but also from our mistakes!

      Delete
  2. It is such a cute sampler and I can't see the mistake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then I must have done a good job of hiding it! I figured out that over the course of the border that some of the "x" had to be over 3 threads six times to make up for the 3 stitches I was off. Easiest and less noticeable place was the middle stitch where there was 3 stitches in a row.

      Delete