I've not bought any new needlework charts or even supplies in ages (literally years!), but this Rose Quaker Sampler by Stickideen von der Wiehenburg has long been something I've wanted to purchase. I finally caved in and ordered the chart and supplies and have made a very small start. Quaker samplers have a long history and examples of them go back as far as the mid-1700s. I've finished only a few small Quaker designs, but I have never stitched anything quite as large as this. This is not a reproduction of an older sampler but an orginal by a contemporary designer.
To give you an idea of just how large this project is, here is the linen laid out flat. The design dimensions are approximately 17" x 22". It calls for sixteen different colors--all brown and red tones. I'm not sure how many total motifs there are, but there are five running across the top and bottom and six along the sides. There is also a complete alphabet. My linen is 30 count and it is a soft white (I've already deleted the email where the actual color was listed as I asked for help from a needlework shop in California).
Here is my tiny start. Two motifs stitched and a third started. I realize it doesn't look like much but this is already a few hours of work, as I am a pretty slow stitcher. I am hoping not to make mistakes so it calls for careful (and tedious) counting of threads and stitches. So far, so good. I'm not setting any sort of goal for this as I know it is going to take a lot of work and I get precious little stitching time, so this is truly going to be a work in progress!
By the way: I was very disheartened to hear this news. Amazon is buying the Book Depository? One less independent online bookstore means less choice I feel. It explains why I've had such bad luck in the last few months trying to get new UK book releases from TBD. I've already had to change online vendors for a lot of books I order. This must have been in the works for a while. It'll be interesting to see how things work out. I hope it was worth it for the folks at TBD as I see it as a let down for consumers (and for previously loyal BD customers).