Spring - Prairie Schooler

Design: From Spring Samplers (out of print)
Designer: Prairie Schooler
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count jobelan, antique white

I stitched this for the Year Round Prairie Schooler Exchange. My recipient was a very special blogger, and I wanted to make a special piece for her. I'm glad to say Barbara seems to have liked it!

The piece is from an old out of print chart, and I stitched a section of one of the samplers. I really enjoyed it, and I can't wait to stitch it for myself - the colours blend beautifully, and the motto reminds us all that in every life, pleasure always comes - even if we have to go through bad stuff first!

I did alter it very slightly - I changed the quilt block section for another from the chart, and I added my initials in the alphabet section. Barbara's were already there :o)

I used the country style fabric you can see here to back the piece and I made it into quite a large pinkeep.

I'm sitting out of the current round of exchanges, but I'm looking forward to joining in again when I get a little more time.

Spring Needleroll - Heart In Hand

Design: Spring Needleroll (from the Spring Fobs leaflet)
Designer: Heart in Hand
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 32 count linen, cream

Another finish for the Monthly Finishing Challenge! I'm so competitive, one needleroll just won't do, I have to make up two! :o)

Again, this was hand sewn, with a hemstitch end, ribbon carriers and French seamed. This is not how the designer directed - apparently, you are just seam the roll, thread the ribbon and there you go - despite the cover model obviously being hemmed in some manner to get rid of excess fabric. Pretty poor instructions, if you ask me...

Plum Berry Sampler - Bent Creek

I think I said pretty much what I wanted to in the last post :o)

I did wonder if the purple was a bit too bright, and thought about frogging all the specialty stitches and re-stitching in a more mulberry sort of colour, but then reality and common sense took over!

Design Details

Fabric: 28 count linen from Silkweaver - Lichen Moss
Threads: DMC stranded cotton
Designer: Bent Creek (Marsha Worley & Elizabeth Newlin)
Chart Details: The Plum Berry Sampler BC418 - Bent Creek (c) 2000
Stitch Count: 40H x 101V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Rhodes Stitch, Smyrna Cross Stitch, Algerian Eyelet Stitch
Threads Used: DMC 3835, 3023, 3787, 3021, 311, 869. Cross stitch in two strands.
Embellishments: Seven assorted buttons.
Modifications Made: Used DMC conversion, substituted recommended buttons

Easter Holiday Cracker Kit - Bent Creek

I love Bent Creek kits - the materials included are top quality, and there's plenty of them - lots of spare fabric round the design, so there's so many options for finishing ... that said, this will probably be framed, as it will be on show for at least three months of the year!

I made a couple of modifications - the bottom left corner became yellow and not raspberry, to make it symmetrical, and one of the raspberry blocks was stitched in cross stitch and not Rhodes stitch - why do all that extra work and then hide it behind a button? LOL The chick's beak, eye and legs didn't show up very well in the charted colour, so I made them black instead...

Design Details

Fabric: 32 linen, natural
Threads: DMC, Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Arts Sampler Threads stranded cottons.
Designers: Marsha Worley and Elizabeth Newlin
Kit Details: Easter Cracker Bent Creek (c) 2001
Stitch Count: 65H x 65V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Straight Stitch, Satin Stitch, Colonial Knot
Threads Used: GAST Summer Meadow, Peacock, Mulberry, Evergreen, Raspberry Parfait, Maple Syrup, WDW Whitewash, Cocoa, DMC 775, 612, 310. Two strands used throughout for cross stitch.
Embellishments: Four hand dyed green buttons.
Modifications Made: DMC 310 substituted for 938. Bottom left corner stitched in Summer Meadow. One Raspberry Parfait block was stitched in cross stitch and not Rhodes stitch.