Darlene O'Steen's little "Honeysuckle Sampler," which I couldn't resist starting. I suspect, judging from the thoroughness of her book as well as knowing that she taught numerous seminars in North America and the UK, that she would be delighted that I am learning new things with this first sampler, including that this is properly called "counted stitch" since not all of them are "crossed," that is Xs. There are a number of stitches that I have not worked before -- Irish stitch, queen, rice, and double herringbone certainly.
The Irish stitch is fun, and makes a lovely touchably-satin-like surface, as well as these rather dramatic "flames". Queen stitch is my least-favorite, as it is not a simple thing to get the diamond to be consistently flat, or the little couching stitches across its middle to line up neatly, and more vexingly, it's an utter pain to pick out when it goes wrong. Unfortunately, there is quite a lot of queen stitch in this sampler -- all of the blue flowers in the border, and as a filler for the box across from the Irish stitch one! And I discovered that I must pick out that errant gold diamond in the upper corner ...
Oh well -- I'm still very happy with it, and with the color palette, which manages to be both rather brilliant and gently-faded at the same time.
The calm blues and whites of the "Quaker Virtues" sampler. I have turned the second corner of the border, and am filling in and up to meet the already-worked area. I'm pretty sure there are indeed variations in dye lots between the dozen or so skeins of DMC 931 that I've used so far, but as I'm alternating between three or four skeins at a time as I go, I find that, when you notice it at all, it has a pleasing overdyed mottling to it rather than a jarring "edge".
Some beautifully-cut pieces of poplar picture-frame molding, for "Froth and Bubble," "Peace to My Friend," and "Anna Ohman" -- the last is already stained and coated with beeswax and linseed oil.
And five pieces of home-dyed linen, waiting to become Ellen Chester's little "Quaker Samplings" series ...!
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