Love Never Fails - Barbara Ana Designs

Hello readers!  Back at it again!  Truth to be told, I would have updated my blog yesterday, but I spent the whole day, trying to back up my photos from my iPhone.  Something according to YouTube videos and also articles on the internet are supposed to be so easy to do.  The reason being, as I refuse to spend more money on storage, especially when it's a monthly fee, not a one time purchase.

I'm sure if anyone of my three children were here, that are a lot my technically experts than I am, it would have been completed in a nano second.  For me, I had to just keep plugging along, until I found something that actually worked, or rather I could get it to work.   You're probably asking yourself why I did this!  It's because I kept getting these pesky reminders that I was running out of Icloud space.  Believe me, I was.   Filled up with text messages and photos, my icloud, and soon my phone would have been overflowing!

After much research, I finally downloaded Google Photos to my phone, which is a free app., backed up all my photos, videos, etc., to it, then when in and deleted all the pictures on my phone.  I now have more than half of my available storage back! Plus a picture I took this morning was already showing up in the Google Photos place, which means the transfer is immediate.  Plus it's unlimited storage of those photos for free.  Course the proof will be in the pudding, in whether I will be able to post pictures to the blog.

Not that it previously hasn't been a real chore as it is!  Blogger decided not to update it's application for mobile devices, so, the only way I can post to blogger is through my lap top.  If I tried to make an entry to my blog through my phone, it would freeze, erase everything, do some crazy stuff.  I live my life through the belief that there is more than one way to "skin a cat!"  (sorry animal lovers, I would never actually skin a cat, but it a familiar saying!) So to fix that little bleep, I would type my post through my lap top, then use my phone to edit the post, just to add pictures.  Now it seems I may be able to do all that, from the laptop.  HOPE HOPE.

As my previous post states, I lost my stitching MOJO for Ann Hill.  It still is on my floor stand, but I decided to pull out a random sampler, that looked easy, had the fabric for, and just work on that for the time being!  Love Never Fails by Barbara Ana Designs.  Copy right 2014.  I found that I had the right count of fabric in my stash, probably a lighter in the color, than recommended, but hey, got to use up the stash when you can!  As I catch up on every episode of "Persons of Interest," I stitch away!
I finally know where, and when the two women characters came to be, and where the dog came from.
Something I had no idea about. 

Cute little reproduction style sampler, done in I think they call it Frankur style.  With my German, Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, I just sort of speaks to me. 

Other than that, nothing much is going on.  Waiting for some 27 ct., unbleached/raw linen to come.  Good price, and I have several charts which call for it.  Hoping to get several of out the piece I bought.

With that, I will end!  Guess I figured out the whole upload thing!  Happiest of Stitching!

Ann Hill Sampler continues

My Some samplers are quick stitches, some are not!  Ann Hill falls into the Not category.  Maybe if I spent more time stitching, I'd be further along.  But, I've been busy!

I had a visitor from Daytona Beach, Fl.  My friend Lori, who I've known, since I was her supervisor when I was in my 20's.  I'm over 60 now, so for 40 years.  Truth be told, we haven't been continuous friends the whole time.  Not because we had a falling out, or a disagreement, but sometimes life just gets in the way, and you lose touch.  But, Lori is one of those friends you can pick up where you left off, no matter how much time is in between. 

With company arriving, I had to forgo stitching and clean my entire house.  All the bedrooms, all the bathrooms (4 1/2), make beds, vacuum, dust, on top of laundry.  I always do a deep clean before I have company! I don't want people to think I live like a pig or a hoarder.  It's never really that bad, but I do tend to let it go, sometimes.

While Lori was here, we made a trip to In Stitches, in Alexandria, Va.  I found 3 charts within the first 5 minutes, I was in the place.  Thankfully, they were having a sale and I had a $60.00 gift card.
Took Lori a bit longer to find some charts.  Only because I think she was overwhelmed by the sheer volume they have.  Plus she bought some fabric, since evidently Daytona has no cross stitch stores.
We spent the evening watching old episodes of Person of Interests, since both of us liked the show and had managed to miss quite a few episodes.  I always wondered where the two women came from that became a part of the crew, and where the dog came from.  I now know where the dog, and one female character came to be.

In addition, I took her to my favorite used book store in Manassas.  McKay's!  She walked out with 6 books for less than $10.  Two of the books were .06 each.  Plus, we made a trip to the Wegmans grocery store, bought some horseradish cheddar cheese, which we gulped down.  Plus some olives from their olive bar.  We passed on the desserts, but they certainly looked delicious!  On her last day, we walked one neighborhood of Potomac Mills, which is our outlet mall.  Lori splurged and bought a few pair of shoes.  I bought a few things from the Vera Bradley outlet (always trying to organize my purse!) and a shirt on sale from the Ann Taylor store.  Course, we couldn't leave the mall without splitting a designer caramel apple.  It was to die for!  Had caramel, chocolate, nuts, and pieces of heath bar.   Yummy.  Plus, a visit to T.J. Maxx, where I stocked up on puppy things.

In addition, my son and his girlfriend asked me to come to Norfolk for a visit, to meet my new grandson.  Andersen is lovely.  I spent 3 days, and 2 nights there.  Mostly just holding the baby!  I did give them a few recommendations.  But.....I'm just the grandmother, and even though I birthed 3 babies myself and raised them, what could I possibly know about children?  Makes me laugh, that they will find out on their own, just like I did, since babies don't come with a book!

With updating my blog tonight, I have been doing laundry most of the day, stripped my guest bed, and did manage a trip to the grocery store.  Also stitching on Ann. 

With that, I will sign off, I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!  As always.....Happy Stitching!

Ann Hill Sampler

Still plodding along on stitching this sampler.  Truth to be told, I took a week off of working on her, as we had a family vacation in the Outer Banks.  I didn't even work on a take along project.  I spend most of the week, sitting by the pool, and reading romance novels.  In fact, I read the 3 books, I had brought with me, and had to make a quick trip to Walmarts to purchase a few more.

I made the conscience decision, not to post about the vacation on any type of public media, as in today's world, you don't know who is paying attention, and you come home to find your house has been broken into, robbed, or even a family of squatters have moved in!   It's a crazy world!

The day we left the OBX, my husband drove to Eastern Shore of Md., and picked up his new fur baby.  Meet General Beauregard of Bull Run.  Beau for short.  Sweet boy, has puppy breath, and is a typical puppy full of energy.  Dixie and Holly accepted him into the house, but what could they do?  They didn't get a vote.  Right now Beau isn't quite a tall as Dixie, so he doesn't yet have the upper hand, but it won't be long, before those wobbly long legs, that seem to go in every direction, will have him towering over him.  Poor Holly being the littlest one, takes the brunt of Beau's attentions.  She is totally unappreciative, as he is not very careful with his size in trying to play with her.  Holly spends a lot of time crawling under furniture, to keep her distance.

I will be honest, that I thought I would go down to one dog, after something happened to Holly and Dixie.  But after bringing a new puppy into the house, I even rescinded that idea.  I just truly don't want to be bothered anymore with the housebreaking, training, chewing stage that all puppies go through.  My husband is totally "into" Beau, including sleeping on the floor with him the first night he brought him home.  Good for him.  I still take over when he has to go someplace for whatever reason.  The other day, I spent the whole day, watching him, meaning I got nothing else done, to make sure he was been fed, walked, taken out.  Don't get me wrong, I love dogs.  But I was glad when the hubby came back from spending a night on the Eastern Shore of Md., so he could resume his daddy duties.

On even better news.  I am officially a member of the grandparent's club.  My son and his girlfriend delivered a beautiful baby boy, Andersen James, born 6/15.  7 lbs, 5 ozs., 20" long.  I celebrate his arrival and look forward to meeting him in person.  They asked us not to come down, as their living arrangements are tight, and they want the time to bond with their baby. Course, we assured them, we'd come running if they wanted/asked us to.

They may come up here for the 4th of July.  I also will be having a friend from Daytona Beach visiting me.  So.....I have been trying to clean my house and get everything ready for company. 
In cleaning my upstairs, I decided it was time to hang my framed samplers.  I hung a group on one day, and located a bunch more that I had forgotten about.  Hubby came up to the landing when he heard the hammering and just started laughing at me.  Hubby is perfectionist when it comes to hanging stuff.  He gets out the level, and measuring tape, and starts doing mental math, to make sure they are all perfectly aligned and evenly space.  Would I like that to happen? Yes!  But he just doesn't have the time, and sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.  Which I did. 
Not perfect, but they're on the wall!

Well, got to run, as I still have lots of things to do, the list gets longer, and the time gets shorter!  I wish all the Father's out there to have a absolutely, positively wonderful Father's Day.  For all you stitchers!   Happy Stitching!

Ann Hill Sampler - Plodding Along

The stitching on Ann Hill continues!  Like I said in previous posts, because I elected to stitch the border in a manner that works for me, it's just a lot of extra steps and just takes more time.  It is, what it is!  Stitching is much like life!  It's a marathon and not a sprint, so you just have to resolve yourself, that you finish when you finish, and what happens between the start and finish, you have little control over.

By the way, I don't know what it is that I manage to locate errors in charts, but I found one in Ann Hill.  Area 7 on the chart says you are supposed to stitch this band in 822/5830/268, except the chart does not call for any of these colors!   By looking at the photo, I am doing it in color DMC 613, as it looks like the beige to me!

My mother left for Illinois today, to visit my sister for several months.  I got my sewing machine chair back, at least for the next several months.  My mom takes up residence in my "task chair/office chair" to watch TV.  I know it's so she can hear the TV better, am so hoping the purchase of hearing aids, which were obtained under duress by her, will help!  Because having the decibel level so high on the TV so that she can hear it, really results in the rest of the family having raging headaches by 10 p.m.

Because their is now an vacancy in my sewing machine chair, I was able to finish off 2 sides of a tent flap, that I have been sewing for my hubbie, on his own design, after the flap to our tent just up and disappeared.  I completed two sides this morning, and have a few other sewing machine tasks, I really need to finish!  But...I felt sort of mean asking my mom to vacate my chair, so I just put those tasks off until she was on her visit to my sister.  

Speaking of sewing, I bought a serger, or two.  Actually I bought a Kenmore Serger when we first moved here.  I was so intimidated, I never used it!  So it sat collecting dust.  I then went out on the internet and searched for a serger that could be operated by idiots!  Brother 1034/D, so I bought that too.  I must admit, I still have to use the aid of a YouTube video to thread it, but it has come in so very handy. Meanwhile I tried to sell the first serger, with no takers.  People just don't do that type of sewing these days, in addition, the ones that do, many are intimidated by using a serger too!  This week I was talking to one of my good friends in the area, and she was saying how she almost called me up to see if I could serge something for her.  I told her I would have gladly done that for her.  But, she used an overlock stitch from her sewing machine.  The next day, I remembered I still had the Kenmore serger, gathering dust.  I called her up and offered to it for free, no strings attached, just wanted it to go to someone who would use it.

My serger has been used in sewing slip covers, I serge all the edges of my needlework so it doesn't fray.  It even works on Aida!  I have managed to serge seams on T-shirts that came undone.  I used it to serge several layers of fabrics together, so that they won't slide, when I go to do the final sewing.  All in all, it's been a good investment, and now one, I don't regret. 

In my last post, I neglected to post pictures I the new charts, I purchased to add to my stash.  So much for my resolve to not add to my stash, until I made a huge dent in my stash.  Oh the temptation!

Well, that's all for the week. Got a busy week ahead, and hope that I will be able to get some house cleaning in as well.  My mom comes looking for me if I'm gone too long.  So, until the next post,
HAPPY Stitching!

Menagerie

Yes, I'm calling this post a menagerie, because it's appropriate.  It is a collection of things that I forgot to share in previous posts.  Mostly because I wasn't being very good at posting on a weekly basis, as I had done in the past.

When that happens, you forget to share the things that you would have included in the weekly post.  So bear with me, my readers, and enjoy, the things I have also been doing, when I fell off the blogger wagon!

First, I picked up 5 more samplers from Michaels.  Other than the two I have previously finished, I'm pretty caught up on my stash requiring framing.  Previous posts, show my work on these, but I always like to share the completed framed one.

Karoline Berlinger - Summer House Stitch Workes

Ann Pegg 1977- The Scarlett House
  

Isabella Gray - Samplers Revisited

Mexican Schoolgirl Sampler - Samplers Remembered

Antiques Sampler - BH & G cross Stitch And Country Crafts Magazine Mar/April 1992

Speaking of framing, I decided to make a go of another smaller project, and laced another souvenir piece, I found after rooting around in my supplies.  Finding frames for your own projects can be quite the challenge.  I was lucky enough to find a frame at Michael's but to say that it didn't have issue, would be so untrue.  First of all the rabbit which holds the glass and your art work, wasn't very deep, so I was unable to use the back provided with the frame, once I added my needlework.  Once again, I had to have my hubby add some sort of hanger, since the one on this pre-made frame, was attached to the back that was provided.

If possible, I try to pick up a little project, of places we visit.  This one obviously is from a vacation in Ocean City, Md. many years ago.  If you ever visit Ocean City, you must check out the needlework shop Salty Yarns on the boardwalk!  Each year, the introduce a new little souvenir cross stitch chart.
I have bought another one on another vacation, and it remains unfinished.  Need to throw it in my take along bag! 

In addition, I have started working a Christmas gift for a relative.  Nowhere near completion, but I have made a decent stab at putting the items together, and am fairly confident, they will be done, in time for Christmas!  I just wanted to share a picture of the lovely fabrics.

In addition to all that, I still continue to perfect my answer for the Ann Hill Sampler border.  I have discovered using hand quilting thread works better for outlining. Doesn't fray, and pulls out easier.  It's a process!

I also managed to squeeze in a bath, brush, and nail cutting for Holly!  Pretty ding dang proud of myself! 

With that, I'm quite certain I am all caught up, with all the news fit to print.  Happy Stitching!

Ann Hill Sampler

My final dirty little secret.  Yes, that's correct, a sampler I started back and 2013 and has been languishing in my stash.  Why you might wonder?  Because the freehand border just totally intimidated me!  I can read a chart like no one's business, but ask me to just freehand stitch a design on linen, and I become the village idiot! 

Especially when the chart graph lines are huge in relation to the 36 ct. dirty linen, I'm supposed to be stitching on.  I thought and I thought and I thought, just how I might make this happen.  Obviously it took me 4 years of thinking.  That,  and it's one of the two samplers charts I have left from the 90's that I just want to get finished, and move on to a new decade of sampler charts.

After much thought, I admit it, there was no way I could do the freehand.  There was no way I was going to try free hand drawing on my fabric.  I can barely draw stick figures.  Plus I have seen way to many stitch projects posted on FB, where the stitcher used one of those pens that is supposed to wash out or fade away, and didn't!  So....my solution involved the use of my personal copy machine. Best Christmas present ever!  Well except for the year when my oldest was working at Home Depot and he bought me a new dishwasher. 

After much, fooling around with the settings, I finally came up with - if I could reduce the original chart by 63% than it ended up being almost the exact count per square inch as 36 Ct. dirty linen.
I then placed the copy over my linen, by lining it up with the inside and outside border, plus I had run a graph line horizontally between the borders, that would line up with the graph line on my copy.

I then used a very sharp needle, one strand of regular sewing thread, and ran a running stitch along all the lines for the flowers, vines and leaves.  Stitching through the paper and linen.  After that, I used a cuticle scissors and cut out all the paper, so that all that was left was the stitching lines.  Be especially careful, a cuticle scissors have points and could easily put a hole in your linen.

Once those steps were taken, I could fill in the out lines of the flowers and petals with the satin stitch and use the outline stitch for the vines.  I would then snip out and pull out any random threads of my outline.  Tweezers come in handy for this step!

Okay, it's slow going, and a lot of extra steps!  But....I am happy with the result and although it is taking me longer to do all the additional steps, at the end I will have a finished sampler! Maybe it's cheating a bit, but sometimes you have to do whatever works for you!

And with that, I'll end my post for the day!  Happy Stitching!

Dunvegan Sampler - Sampler Workes

I take pride in the fact, that once I start a project, that I finish it whatever may come.  Well, that's not entirely true!  I had two samplers, that I had started, and just never finished.  The Dunvegan Sampler was one of the two. 

I had it completely finished, except for the head of the thistle stitched in Queen Stitches.  For someone reason, I totally had a meltdown, when it came to this one part of the sampler.  I looked through stitching books, I went on YouTube and watched videos.  I even went to a stitching group and asked for help.

Oh, I knew the basics of the stitch.  Knew where to come up, and go down, knew where I should tack the stitch and what direction.  I could do this stitch in theory, but putting it in practice was a completely different matter.  Every time, I tried to stitch the thistle, it looked like a tangled, hot mess.

I practiced on the edges of my fabric, the stitches looked good, but put them on top of each other and next to each other and it looked liked chaos!  I ripped them out so many times I felt, I was gonna leave a hole in my linen.  Then I'd be really up a creek without a paddle!

So after the completion of the Needle's Work Sampler, I pulled out my dirty little secret and just was gonna finish my lowly thistle!  Bite the bullet, put my head down, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other! 

Picture prior to the completion!

Close up of the thistle head.    The trick was to use one thread of DMC rather than two!

Picture of completion

So I have another completion for my framing pile!  Yea! 

Needle's Work Sampler - Needle's Work - Dawn Lewis - Finish

Yes, another finish! I ended up finishing this several weeks ago, and it now has gone into my framing stash!   Probably will be quite awhile, before I have 11 samplers that need to be framed.  I'm sure my husband will be forever grateful!

A great little sampler, for someone who wants to advance their stitching skills and learn some new stitches.  Even though it's a band sampler, it is a BIG piece!

Sorry for the short posts, but have a lot to catch up on!

Back from Framing

I sincerely apologize to my few but faithful followers for my lack of posting to my blog, in the last month!  No particular reason why, other than procrastination.  I kept saying to myself ....."tomorrow!"  Unfortunately it's been over a month worth of tomorrows, and for that I truly apologize. 

At some point, I'm sure I mentioned, I dropped off 6 samplers for framing at Michaels.  I finally picked those up, and wanted to share the framed samplers.

Ann Rayner 1839 - Threads Thru Time

Ann Wellington 1809 - T & N Designs

Hannah Lancaster - Porcupine Collection

Lucy Redd - Homespun Elegance

Jane Woodward - Canterbury Designs

Loara Standish - Examplarery

Since then, I have taken in 5 more samplers for framing, and those are finished and ready to be shared.  Pictures of those to follow!

Needle's Work Sampler - Weeks 5 & 6

Once again, I have been particularly lax about updating my blog.  I think as the weather has gotten nicer, I have been stricken with Spring Disease, and have had so many things that I still need to get done.

I will admit, that week 5 of this sampler, I didn't work on it at all.  I sort of lost my stitching "mojo!" I actually made a comment to my 95 year old mother about my lack of "mojo" and her response was hysterical.  Evidently, she is not familiar with the term "mojo" and her response was "well maybe it fell off, and it's under your chair!"  If it was only so easy to lose and find again!  If any of my readers are interested in getting your own copy of the Needle's Work Sampler chart of your own, please leave your email address in the comments section, and I will send you the information.  This chart is no longer available in stores, and can only be obtained directly through the designer.

I finally got my samplers back from Michael's and will post the pictures.  Left Loara Standish there for them to redo, as I didn't care for the buckling along the edges of the sampler.  I have already figured out where to put them.  Ann Rayner will go directly above my grandfather clock in the front hallway and the rest will be grouped together on a wall between my son's room and the guest bedroom.

I also tried framing one of my smaller projects myself.  After wondering for a long time, I finally found a frame, I thought was about the right size.  I had my hubbie remove the wall hanger from the short side of the frame, and put it on the long side.  I then, watched several You Tube videos on framing needlework, including lacing the back.  I also received some hints from a FB friend in Oregon, who frames a lot of her own needlework, that was very useful in keeping the fabric lined up and even on the foam board.  I may try to do some other projects myself, as far as the lacing, and perhaps save some amount of the mounting costs.  Especially since the framing costs, with coupons is still outrageous.  There are a few things I did learn from this project, that I need to make a mental note, if I decide to do my own in the future.

Interesting topic on one of the FB stitching groups this weekend.  It was a show and tell weekend of stitcher's  WIP (works in progress) or UFO's (unfinished objects.)  OMG!  I have to tell you, I'm a one at a time sampler stitcher.  I used to have at least 3 projects going, one a take along, one lap stand up on the first floor, and one in the basement on my floor stand.  Since I rarely go anyways, no need to have a take along project.  Once the hubbie started working out of the house, I no longer spent so much time on the first floor, and therefore, stopped putting one on my lap stand.  Now - it's floor stand only.  I'm not saying that towards the end of any project, I'm not sick of it, or I can't wait till it's finished.  But.....finished is the end result.  Stitching should be something you do because you love it and enjoy it, but having all these just started, half finished projects, sitting around would drive me crazy.  I have found that many of the multiple project stitchers, have some sort of rotation of their various projects.  I can tell you I'm a voracious stitcher!  Stitching usually many a hours a day, because I don't work outside the house.  Even then, some of my samplers have taken anywhere from
5-6 weeks if not months to finish.  That's working on it, every single day.  I guess I don't understand the math, if you have 10-15 projects in some stage, and work on it a day, a week, when can one anticipate a finish?

To be quite honest, I guess it also boils down to that I'm lazy and cheap!  I don't want to break my floor stand down every single time to switch out one project to the next.  I have a multitude of scroll rods, but I don't want to have a bunch of extra scroll rods that I don't need, and threads.  I pull threads for the project I am working on, then once completed, file them back, and pull threads for the next project.  Works for me.

I am happy to share, that I did manage to finish the two Christmas ornaments I volunteered to donate to a family that their stitcher passed away.  Took me for ever to find an appropriate chart, since I didn't know the lady personally, other than through FB.  I thought the sampler style ornaments were the answer.

With that, I will end my rambling and wish you all a wonderful week and Happy Stitching!

Needle's Work Sampler - Week 3 & 4

It's amazing to me sometimes, the way the days and weeks go by.  All of a sudden, I realize I have neglected to post and update to my blog, and I feel sorta bad about that.

It's been a particularly busy week at the Casa de Tanner!  We got new windows in our kitchen.  Totally replaced the jalousie windows, with the screens on the inside to regular double hung windows.  Course, to install the windows, the blinds had to come down.  Once the installation was done, hubbie says "it's ok to put the blinds back up!"  They were totally disgusting.  Dirty, dusty, and so I decided to give all four of them baths, before I hung them back up.  Why does it always seems, you go to do one project, and it creates several more?    Takes time to wipe down all those slats!

In addition, my mother wanted some pants hemmed. - Like a good daughter, I volunteered!  Except my Babylock sewing machine decided to go all loosey-goosey on me, and wouldn't stitch correctly.  After pulling out the instructions, rethreading it, redoing the bobbin, replacing the needle, it still didn't stitch!  Time to take her into the experts and get a tune-up!   Thankfully, I was never did dispose of my Sears Kenmore sewing machine.  I pulled that one out, and it worked like a champ!
Still more stitching projects that need to be done, a tent flap, pillow covers.......

Somewhere, I need to work in stitching a Christmas ornament, for someone, who passed away.  Finally found a chart that I thought was appropriate for the family, in remembrance of their loved one.

I took in 6 of my samplers to be framed this week.  I won't go into gory details, but even with a 70% off coupon, it was almost as much as people in Michigan spend on a beater car for winter!  Luckily I also had some gift cards too, so that brought the out of pocket expense down too.  Pictures to follow, when they are back from the framers!

Have you ever used to the video chat on FB?  I accidently butt dialed, a lady in Oregon this week, she was kind enough to return the call, even though I apologized and told her it was a mistake.  We spent the next hour and a half, talking about samplers, and framing, and silk threads vs. DMC. It was a wonderful talk and experience!

And before I end today, I want to further opine about the internet!  Having access to the internet is a wonderful thing, you can buy things, research things, reconnect with family and friends without ever leaving the four walls of your home.  But, the downside is, that there are people that think it's perfectly okay to say anything they want, or however they want to, from the safety of their own keyboard.  I don't post or share political posts!  Why!?   Because everyone doesn't share my beliefs or my opinions.  Just like I may not share theirs!  It's not my job in life to sway anyone's beliefs or opinions.  People need to ask themselves a few questions before they hit the send or share button!
1.  If I was in front of a person, would I bring this up in a conversation?  To someone who may be an acquaintances and not one of your BFF's?  Would you say something snarky or mean if you were standing face to face with someone?  Probably not!  If the answers are no, then save yourself some hassle by not hitting send or share.

And with that, I wish you all a great week and happy stitching!

Needle's Work Sampler - Week Two

Wanted to share this week's progress on my little reproduction style sampler.  

Haven't worked on this particular sampler as much as I have previous samplers. Only because I have had other things that must be done.  But, I did want to show this part of the sampler, which I'm going to refer to as "death by a 100 curly cues!"  Luckily the band right beneath is a single row of Italian cross stitch and also more letters of the quotes.  Will definitely be skipping around, so that I won't be bored by stitching one curly cue after another.

I did manage to get Dixie cut.  Took her outside today it, on a particularly nice day in No. Va.  picked up all the dog hair, and once I tossed it, I realized I should have left it for the birds for their spring nests.  Still needed to brush out her legs and chest area and do some scissor cutting.  But, like previously stated, a bit at a time with Dixie, since her tolerance to being fooled with is minimal.

I was invited back to the FB group I left last week,  over a kerfuffle about my post, by the administrator.  Really appreciate the invite back, but am debating whether to or not! 

Not much else going on this week to report!  So, to my readers - Happy Stitching!

The Needle's Work Sampler

The Needle's Work Sampler

The Needle's Work - Dawn Lewis
27 ct. Tea stained linen
DMC

Wanted to share my progress on the next in line to stitch from my stash.  As previously posted, I am trying to stick to my plan, of stitching my stash by copyright date.  This beauty is from 1991, and is a reproduction style sampler.  After finishing Ann Rayner, I was oh so glad, that this is really a simple little sampler, with lots of pretty colors, and a variety of stitches.

Great starter sampler, for someone, who is knew to sampler stitching, and would like to try some other stitches other than "X."  So far I have done the Rice Stitch, Herringbone Stitch, Double Running Stitch, an Long Arm Cross Stitch.  The band I'm working on right now, also calls for Satin Stitch.  Other bands, will use the Montenegrin Stitch, and Italian Cross Stitch, Algerian Eye Stich, Two-Sided Italian Cross Stitch.

Great illustrations in this little pamphlet of the different stitches, and so far, I haven't had a problem following the steps to complete the stitch.  And...I haven't had to pull out any of my 3 "go to" books when I don't understand, the concept of a stitch a chart is requiring.

Yesterday, so very proud of myself, when I changed the beater bars on both my upright vacuum cleaners, that I just didn't like they were picking up anymore.  Dixie still requires a haircut, and I still haven't completed my living room accent pillows.  Still working out the concept since I'm not using a pattern, and just winging it.  But can't afford to just really be wild about winging it, since the fabric was $30 a yard, and I only purchased 1 yard. 

I wanted a share a bit, or even vent a bit, on an experience I had on a stitching FB group recently.  I belong to several, and am not going to specify which group it was.  However, some readers may be able to figure it out.  One of the groups, has a Stash Dive Thursday, where members go into their stash, and share a sampler that they haven't quite gotten to yet. 

I like to be an active participant of the groups I belong to, and so in my excitement to share and participate, I posted a picture of the sampler I am currently stitching.  I posted in the description, that it was a Reproduction Style sampler, and that it was a great one, for someone who wanted to try some new stitches. 

Since, I belong to many groups, to be quite honest, I don't always remember the specific rules for each group.   Evidently, this group is ONLY for reproduction samplers, and no other samplers are supposed to be posted there.  (By the way, I was not the only person, who shared a Reproduction Style Sampler.  One particular member, who was not the administrator, decided to take it on her own, and call me out for the post.  I ignored it.  Just like I scroll through/past many posts I receive on FB. However, when other members pointed out to this particular member, that she was not the administrator, and people shouldn't criticize other stitchers, the discussion went downhill from there.

I finally responded, and explained that I inadvertently shared my post, and apologized, but I thought her comments would have been better received with a friendly PM instead of calling someone out publicly.  To me, it's like being called out by the teacher in front of the whole class.  This women's defense to me was she didn't feel like it was in her ability to send me a PM just as a informative member, or since she wasn't the administrator,  but....it was perfectly acceptable to call me out publicly.  I finally decided, to delete the post, since it obviously upset her so much.  But evidently the administrator beat me to it.  I will tell you that because of this women, I decided to leave the Group.  At 62 years old, I don't need someone else policing my activity, and have better things to do with my time, and efforts, than openly tell this individual her comments are/were offensive to me.  And she really took the shine off belonging to this group and I don't need her negativity in my life.  As a stitcher, I love to share, love to participate, love to be helpful to others, so to borrow a line, I decided to take my bat and ball home, and I'll participate elsewhere, where my contributions will be received positively and without conflict!

Ann Rayner 1839 - Hints and Pitfalls

Evidently a lot of stitchers have Ann in their stash, and after I shared my updates and final finish, have expressed an interest of the things I discovered, in stitching Ann.  So, I decided to share these hints and discoveries, and then you can decide whether to ignore them, use them, or wing it on your own.

First of all supplies!
These are the colors I recommend that you should have 3-4 skeins of DMC of each color.  These colors are used over and over again, and are the predominate colors in the sampler.  If you have these on hand prior to starting, you aren't going to have to work about lot color changes.

DMC 347    3-4 skeins
DMC522     2-skeins
DMC760     3-4 skeins
DMC 3012  3-4 skeins
DMC 3363  3-4 skeins

Outside border

If you look at the border, prior to stitching, you'll note that there are squares that are left blank,

or have "\", or "/".  If you are like me, and especially since this chart is printed on large paper, you may want to make a working copy, to stitch from.  Note the blanks, \, /, and decide for yourself, whether you want to stitch in these areas with DMC 3363.  There is no DMC color associated on the symbols list for either the "/" or "\".  These same symbols appear randomly throughout the sampler, so you will need to decide how you want to stitch them or not stitch them!

Long Stems and Short Stems for Outside Border

These are stitched quite regularly, except for 2 places.  The pattern goes as follows, long stem, 11 stitches, short stem, 4 stitches.  The only exception, is on the top right side of the chart, there is a "5" on the chart, where there are 5 stitches instead of the four, like the rest of the chart.  Also, on the bottom left, there is one section that has 10 stitches before the short stem, instead of the 11stitches before the short stem.  It is clearly noted on the chart.  Also, the short stem on the top right side (3 one down) has an irregular stitch pattern.

Band after the first alphabet

Everyone stitches differently, I decided to tackle this band in 3 parts.  I stitched the top line, 3 stitches, 1 down stitch, space, stitch, up, then 3 stitches.  Repeat.  This was the quickest for me.

Please note after the 17 section of 3 stitches, the border takes a shift down one stitch for the rest of the border.  If you look at the chart this shift happens right about where the N and O are.  This band follows a pretty specific stitch pattern, EXCEPT for the part around the letter X.  There are four stitches there and only there.  The second part of the band, I stitched, 3 stitches, space, stitch, space, 3 stitches, and just followed the pattern from the top line of this band.  Bottom stitches of the band where stitched 3 stitches, up 1, stitch, space, stitch, down one, 3 stitches.

2 small alphabets and band in between

If you read the directions, it suggests to use 2 thread over 1.  I didn't.  Didn't like how it looked, I decided to use 1 thread over 1 (in fact that all areas that called for 2 over 1. Like the people and the lambs).  But that is up to you.  According to the separate sheet of this chart, it shows you the detail for stitching the small alphabet and where to line up with the letter Z.  I didn't care for the suggestion, and adjusted my stitching, so that the alphabets end would line up on the far right, creating more space between the beginning of both small alphabets and the Z.

I stitched the smallest letters first, since it was the longest line.  I lined it up using the stitches from band above.  If you look at the band above, I counted over 4 circles from the only area on that band that has 4 stitches.  This sits slightly left to the letter U above it.  My little letter "a" starts in the middle stitch of the 3 stitches on the bottom part of the circle.  Both alphabets, and the line, end at a the middle stitch of the circle on the farthest left. (Last circle)

Stitching the Lady

If you look at the main chart for stitching the lady, she has 9 stitches of "Z" in a single line.  This is a mistake!  You won't find it until you look at the detail part of stitching the lady. It should be,

from bottom to top, 1 stitch of Z, then 4 rows of 2 stitches of Z , then 4 single stitches, of  Z.

Stitching the Pasture

Pretty much like it shows.  Although once again, it will show some blanks, or random symbols, that you will need to figure out to include or not.  The only thing, is the 3 sheep from the left's back hoofs go into the actual border of the pasture.  I missed that, and so my 3rd sheep's back hoofs, begin 1 stitch up where they supposed to be.