Our Stitch-along project

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Gather your needles and thread and stitch a sampler with us! If you are like me, there is plenty of weeding and planting to do...but this easy piece is the perfect size to accomplish in a short time. I recently found the sampler pictured above on e-bay. It arrived in Kansas recently, along with 6 other pieces Barb and I purchased from a dealer in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. I must confess the colors attracted my attention! The pink, gold and gray combination is bright and sweet, and felt just right for a fresh summer look. Love the small row of flowers too!

This certainly was a great learning piece for some young schoolgirl. Not only did she learn to cross stitch over one and two linen threads, the four-sided stitch and the eyelet stitch had to be mastered too. I'm not too sure about the date....unless it's the date of her birth. This doesn't look like a sampler stitched in 1796 to me. I would have guessed it would be dated about 1810 - 1860. But, I'm certainly no expert when it comes to dating samplers. If you can date this piece more accurately please let me know! Unfortunately the name of the young girl who completed this piece was removed or damaged.

We have a couple examples of colorways to show you today. The one above is stitched on 28ct. Sand by Picture This Plus and silk floss from Classic Colorworks. I had a row of letters done, but noticed I used the wrong color. (Late night stitching made it hard for me to see the colors correctly. Still have to take out the first border before I can progress further.)

This one is being stitched on 36ct. Pecan Butter by Lakeside Linens. It's going to be petite and too cute for words. The floss is cotton by Gentle Arts Sampler Threads. (The picot border really shows up here.) I must admit the four-sided stitch isn't my favorite....but I'm determined to master it. It's the first time I've even tried it.

I'm going to experiment stitching another example of the sampler with wool floss and another linen. I will show those results too. (I've contacted Gentle Arts to see if they can send the wool colors I need. They should have the floss to me soon.)

Just like every button in the dish above is different, we would love for you to take the pattern we will provide and make it have meaning for you and your family. Barb plans to bridge the generations with hers. She wants her mom to stitch a row of letters and then pass it to her niece so she and her young daughter can stitch a row. Barb will finish the piece so it will have the stitching of four generations.

I'm not sure how I will change mine....I might do a reproduction and then another one with some other motifs added. I will be attending a family reunion the end of May. I'm thinking of asking my daughter and nieces to work on this project with me, using Barb's idea. I'm still in the brain storming process. Feel free to take motifs from some of our other patterns and add them to this project if you wish. You could even stitch a small portion or fragment of the piece and make it into a pincushion....
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We would love for you to send us pictures of your progress. I will set up an Instagram site and also post pictures here for those who don't do Instagram. We will post progress one day a week for 2 months .... more if needed. I will post a link for the pattern here on the blog site over the weekend. I have to finish up a couple more details. What do you think? Are you in?

Until later,
Alma