I have some catching up to do, clearly. But in the meantime --
There has been a bit of knitting going on, but it's just too hot at the moment, and frankly, I am so thoroughly fascinated with antique samplers and samplers-in-the-antique-style that that is what has been absorbing my imagination and attention for most of the summer. I have finished the "English Cottage" at last -- after thirty years! pictures to come -- and so may now go back to my earlier "to do" list with a clear conscience.
This is Darlene O'Steen's "Floral Sampler," published in the February 1996 issue of "Just Cross Stitch" magazine -- it is the second of my three O'Steen must-haves. (There are other O'Steen charmers, to be sure!) These colors are quite vivid in real life, it seems to me, more than in any photo of the finished sampler I've seen -- a bit startlingly so, but I am trusting O'Steen's judgement. (Though I will admit to already having tweaked the numbers line and switched out the long signature for a motto ...) The fabric is Zweigart's Belfast linen in "Winter Moon" -- nearly white, with just a hint of cream.
I usually start a piece in the center, but I'm pretty sure that the pre-cut piece of linen that I bought is too big length-wise, and just maybe there might be enough left at the bottom that I can trim it off and use it for something else -- and so for once I've started at the top of the chart. I was amused all over again, on the Holbein-stitch band, at the near-magical transformation that occurs after the first pass, when you have just a jumble of apparently-random stitches, that with the second pass turn into a motif! O'Steen's thoroughness is much in evidence here, as she not only incorporates the dividing band below the flowers into the Holbein motifs, but gives the specific sequence to follow throughout, so that this section is in fact entirely reversible! --
(Or would have been, if I had taken the trouble to hide that little blip from my thread changes!)
The dividing band below the first line of text is also reversible, thanks to O'Steen's numbering -- it's not necessary on a sampler, of course, but I must say it is a bit of a kick to get to the end of the line and turn it over and see that it looks just the same on the back as on the front!
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