The Peacock's Feather

Ready for Part Three!

I've finished part two of Blackbird Design's Mystery Sampler.  I'm pleased as I think I've got everything stitched correctly after a few problems along the way.  I have yet to stitch my initials due to general laziness on my part.  They will be over one and I'll need to center them, so I will add them later. 

Here is what they look like together, to give you a sense of what the sampler is starting to look like.  Unfortunately the fabric colors are not showing well in the photo, but there is a slight difference in the colors and tone.  Having gone so far, I am really excited to get on with part three now!

I had to get a few more colors to add to the palette and here is my fabric, so you can see I am ready to go.  Actually I measured and cut my fabric and put in the first few stitches this morning.  As there really isn't much to see so far, I didn't bother taking a new photo.  If I am lucky I can add to it later on and will share a photo soon.  This section has eyelets in the roof--for the grape vine and smrynas in the grass.  I'm not very excited about the eyelets, but I'm sure they'll look good when I get them stitched.  I will stitch all the little details of the house and roof and then fill in the colors last.  It's nice to have something a little different to work on this time around.

By the way--many thanks for the comments on my last post!  They are, as always much appreciated.

Just a Few More Stitches!

I've not posted lately as the next photo I wanted to share was to be part two of my Mystery Sampler all finished.  I'm still a few stitches short of that goal, however, but I am getting there.  It's very true--a few stitches every day adds up quickly--or at least quicker than trying to find a chunk of time for uninterrupted stitching, which I don't seem to have time for lately.  So, a little update and I'm almost there.  I did order the few floss colors I need to start part three--yay, what a nice thought--starting part three!  I do want to jump right in, but I might work a little on a few other designs first to make some progress elsewhere, but very soon I'll have photos of something New to share--what a lovely thought.

Progress Reports!

Happy October!  The year is really flying by, isn't it?!  I'm really a little late to be starting this, as I will not be able to finish it by Halloween, but it will be fun to stitch on during the month in any case.  I've discovered that I have a really, really difficult time working with 40 count linen these days.  I even use magnifying glasses, but I was still having problems.  The weave is so tight there are no holes that I can see and it makes for trouble counting.  I had to buy a stronger set of magnifying glasses to see what I was stitching on the linen!  A bit depressing, but oh well.  I've never had to wear glasses--but I just can't see well enough on such a small area. 

So, you can probably already see--I am working on "Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler" by Shakespeare's Peddler.  I love the Jenny Bean samplers and would love to buy the others, but I will wait until I finish this one (an incentive for staying on track).  The other problem I had with this--the floss is limited edition and wasn't labeled.  I had no idea until I pulled everything from the plastic bag and sifted through it all.  The bag lists the colors and has a brief description, so I essentially guessed!  Hopefully I am at least close.

Halloween project number two is the little ornament on the back of Prairie Schooler's "Boo to You".  Now this is easy to see and should be easy to finish.  I plan on making him into a fob for my scissors and hopefully finish him well before the holiday.

I'm making slow progress on my "Mystery Sampler" by Blackbird Designs, but progress nonetheless. 

And I like seeing how they are going to look together.  This always urges me on to finish this part so I can start section three!

And my poor "Band Sampler"--hardly no progress at all.  I hate eyelets and the alphabet is slowing me down.  I do want to finish the letters at least before moving on to the next part.  I need to work out some sort of rotation, but my stitching has been erratic of late.  So I will just keep working away at whatever I decide to pick up.  I was hoping this would be a better stitching year, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.  Better a little than nothing at all, right?!