A Bluestocking Knits

Ukraine Solidarity

As a peaceful protest and as a sign of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, Antony of At the Point Studio has generously made this chart free to share as a stitch-along project.  For details on the symbolism of the motifs and colors, inspired by traditional Ukrainian embroidery designs, and a PDF of the chart, please visit his post here.

Patience, Indeed ...

This is the "Patience" sampler by Homespun Samplar, which I saw one day not long ago on a Pinterest list called something like "100 Best Samplers of All Time" -- a rather sweeping claim, to be sure! -- and I fell for it instantly.  The blackwork, certainly, and something about the over-the-top-ness of the letters just spoke to me!  The original shade of linen is still available (a Zweigart standard, happily for me), so I managed to get a piece, marked the center, put it in my frame, and dove in.  It wasn't until I was well along the next line of the alphabet that I realized what I had done ...

That Was Fast!

The "Color Wheel" sampler from Dropcloth Samplers, done!  I have just a couple of quibbles: I wish that the fabric was a bit bigger -- the "margins" are a bit skimpy, and especially for novices like me I would have felt safer with a bit more room for error and/or a bit more scope for mounting -- and although I completely understand about artists wanting to identify a design as their own, having "DROPCLOTH SAMPLERS" smack in the middle like this keeps the stitcher from putting initials and date there, and there's really nothing you can do about it as it's printed on the fabric, much more centrally than on other designs from Dropcloth.  On the bright side, I love the piece's cheerful exuberance and vivid colors!

I can see now that the original uses four strands of floss (in some sections at least), not three as I chose because it's the equivalent of the perle no.8 recommended for beginners.  Mine therefore looks to my eye at least a bit more spare than the original, though this isn't a problem per se.  Four strands does also give you more scope for blending colors, which I definitely wanted to do.

I shamelessly pinched the idea of a running stitch edging around the binding that uses the "main" colors of each section!  I even learned how to tie off the quilter's-knot.

Here again are the colors I used --

though as it turned out, in the case of the French knots and the coral knots, I decided on the fly which of the possibles to go with.

With just the caveat that the supplied fabric shows noticeable needle holes if you have to pick anything out (yes, I learned this from experience ...), these samplers would be excellent projects for Scouts or 4-H groups, this "Color Wheel" or maybe the "Stripe" for beginners, and the "Original" and others for either kids with some embroidery already under their belt, or for those with more focus, though simply because the latter samplers are bigger.  It would be great fun to see the variety in a group's choices and work!