Ode to November

November... my very favorite month, for sometimes inexplicable reasons. I do love the light and the colors and the cozyness of fires in the woodstove. The settling in of the clouds and mists and rain. But I think I love it most for its transitional, fleeting nature. I love the feeling that each and every day the world around me is changing. And I dearly love Thanksgiving, the least commercial holiday, despite its somewhat questionable roots, because it is a family gathering time, and I am blessed to have wonderfully interesting and inspirational family members that I look forward to spending time with.

I'm going to show the entire month in my selected favorite photos in this one blog post. Because I don't have words enough to capture its essence.

Summer Break: Week Eleven

It was hot. There were LEGOs and multiple canners full of green beans. There were dry flower beds to water and a final concert in the park. There was zucchini bread, migrating Goldfinch families, and happy Sunflowers.

It was perhaps the most stereo-typical Summer week ever. It was good.

Saturday Stitches

Sarah Boothman (a Faithfully Reproduced Antique Sampler)

*Updated* *NEW* Sarah Boothman (a Faithfully Reproduced Antique Sampler)

*YIKES!* I was just reminded by my model stitcher that she wasn't able to finish the flowers in the lower right bouquet because she ran out of the Country Redwood. I managed to note on the chart that you will need 2 skeins, but I completely forgot to stitch those darn flowers before framing and photographing... and RELEASING IT to the public!!! The flowers are there on the chart, the threads called for are correct; it is just the cover photo that is wrong. I'll add a picture of the antique to the bottom of this post for reference, but it might be a few days before I have time to add the stitches and re-shoot the cover photo.

**A few of you have asked... the large motif at the bottom center of the sampler is a BUTTERFLY (or perhaps a large moth)!

When I found this charming and naïve sampler in an online auction I didn’t pay much attention to the dimensions of the framed piece. When it arrived from across the pond (England), I was shocked at the size of the box. It was only upon pulling it out of its packaging that I realized that it was stitched on coarse homespun linen. The nearest I could find on the market is a lovely soft 20 count linen put out (thankfully) by Weeks Dye Works.

Finished size when stitched on this count is a generous 20 by 23, and stitched with just one thread over two as was done on the original. This might test all of your sensibilities as a stitcher, but I promise you won’t be disappointed! The finished reproduction is almost mistakable as the original.

As was done on the antique sampler, some of the called for threads are wool, while the bulk of the stitches are with cotton. If you don’t want the experience of cross-stitching with wool, feel free to convert to the same color name in cotton by The Gentle Art. The look will be slightly different, but overall effect will be the same.

Stitch Count: 182 x 224
Model stitched with 1 thread over 2 (yes!) on Weeks Dye Works’ 20ct. Straw

Using flosses from Classic Colorworks: Wilderness

And from The Gentle Arts’ Wool Collection: Midnight, Black Crow, Barn Grey, Cidermill Brown, Apple Cider, Roasted Marshmallow, Endive, Ruby Slipper

And from The Gentle Arts’ Cotton Collection: Country Redwood (2 skeins), Brandy, Antique Rose, Pomegranate, Lexington Green, Mountain Mist, Old Hickory, Caramel Corn, Endive

And from Weeks Dye Works: Fathom, Kudzu, Sweet Potato

Conversion to DMC available on request.

The frame was found at a thrift store and refinished by me.

This design is now available in my etsy shop, and will be going out to my distributors and the shops on my automatic shipments list soon. If you prefer to bypass etsy and order directly through me, you can send me an email: beth@heartstringsamplery.com

A photo of the antique (They are so large that I just couldn't make a good photo for the cover that included them both)...

Lately

The daylight hours are so much longer, and I still haven't figured out how to sync with the time change. The afternoons feel lazy and long, but dinner is perpetually late now, and bedtime rushed. Why do we do this to ourselves twice a year? I for one would cast my vote immediately to let time and daylight follow a natural course.

Spring Break is here, and I have all kinds of plans for cleaning and organizing and relaxing. Even the Farmboy gets to take most of the week off. We don't plan to go anywhere or do anything amazingly exciting. Just being together every day sounds wonderful.

I've been stitching away like crazy on a couple of new designs, added a very charming antique sampler to my collection, to be charted for you in the near future, and I've joined Instagram. I don't know why really, it just seemed like the thing to do. You can click the button on my sidebar if you want to follow my posts.

Shadow Play :: Frosty and Sweet :: Skeleton :: Warm :: When Your 7 Year Old Draws a Picture of You :: 1st Grade Needlework Presentation :: Forsythia :: Apple Oatmeal, Coming Right Up :: Zebra Cat :: Fun-Home-Play-Fort! :: New Old Treasure :: Fixin' the Truck :: Honks Like a Goose :: Swing :: Nature's Remedy :: Work in Progress :: George of the Crocus Patch :: Chestnut-Backed Chickadee :: Abbie in Stitches :: Sundown :: Gardening Season is Here :: The Girls are Laying Again