Friday, October 2, 2015

Welcome Autumn!!!!

Hello everyone,
          It is a soggy day here in Middletown, Delaware, but I am sitting here in my favorite stitching chair surrounded with my most current design and stitching away.  I've been very busy stitching the accompanying smalls to my Fraktur Huswif design.  I will be teaching it, along with my Mary Sophia's Pennsylvania German Sewing Set and Cottage by the Sea Sewing Set in January 2016 at the Attic in Mesa, Arizona.
          Because of the vibrant, earthy colors used to create these wonderful works of art, Fraktur always puts me in an autumn frame of mind.  I actually started designing the huswif portion of my design in the fall of 2006, but never finished it (the design) in its entirety until this year.  Earlier that year, I had attended a seminar sponsored by the Berks County Historical Society where I saw many examples of Fraktur as well as samplers stitched by young ladies of the Pennsylvania German community and was so taken with the naive style and bright colors of the art.  In 2006, being a needlework designer, was just a distant dream that I never thought would happen.  Who knew?!  Fast forward to 2015, and I'm not only designing, but teaching as well.  I love it!  Here is a sneak peek at the top of the mattress style pincushion that will go inside of the huswif.  The head and eye of the bird are done in the spiral trellis stitch, as are the cherries in the tree.  You can see pictures of this, as well as the other projects, in the Attic's Newsletter 9/15/15.
          Okay, now to the task at hand.  Oh, that word "task" makes it seem arduous -- I think I'll just say, "And now, on to Part 2 of our stitching pleasure for A Time Forever Gone."  I hope you've enjoyed stitching the flowers on the left side of the sampler because we are going to do the flowers on the right side for this part of the SAL.  In addition, we will also be doing the center basket motif. Here are some close up pictures of the basket and the spiral trellis centers on the flowers.  You might find them helpful in seeing them up close and personal.



These closeups clearly show how the addition of long stitches to the flowers make them look more detailed.  The basket is done using the diamond eyelet stitch, broken down in fractions to create the shape.  Here are some closeups of the basket portion of the design you will be working on for this part of the SAL.



Note that there is backstitching around the base of the basket, as well as the rim.  I used Belle Soie "Mud Pie" for the backstitching and "Pecan Pie" for the basket itself.  Refer to the stitch diagrams included with your chart for more information on the diamond eyelet stitch.
          Here is a combined diagram of Parts 1 and 2 of the SAL.  This is what your sampler will look like (positive thinking, lol) by the time I post Part 3 of the SAL.
          As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to assist you.  For your convenience, there is a link to a printable PDF file of Part 2 in the side bar of the blog.  Happy stitching and happy fall, y'all!
Yours in friendship and stitches,
P.S.  I will be heading to Cincinnati, Ohio in November to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Queen City Sampler Guild.  I was honored to be asked to design a sampler commemorating this event and have led a year long, 5-Part Mystery SAL for the members of the Guild.  Here is a picture of the sampler framed and a detail of the portion of the sampler that was charted specifically for the Guild's 20th anniversary.  Sorry for the poor quality of the photo of the actual sampler.  Clearly, photography is not one of my talents.