Although I haven’t had time to stitch much more on my model of “A Time Forever Gone,” I am happy to say that one conscientious stitcher was working diligently on her sampler and has completed it! Julie Harvey has not only been kind enough to send me pictures of her finished sampler in its entirety, but has included close ups of the live oak tree with the Spanish moss, as well as the grassy area with the blooming peach trees and the azaleas done in French Knots. Julie has also let me know if there were any areas in the sampler that needed special attention. Here is what she wrote:
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“Hi Theresa,
So I checked my pattern notes & the only things that I found were missing were the colors on the stamens of the magnolia flowers (Her Crown & Rose of Sharon) & the spiral trellis peaches in the cartouche (Poison Apple) The hints/tips I would offer for stitching are as follows:
1. For the Spanish moss on the live oak tree I turned my piece 180 degrees & worked the chains (I know it as the broad chain stitch) from the bottom to the top along the branches; also worked from the bottom of the tree to the top (hope this makes sense!)
2. For the peach tree french knots, I tried to work the green leaves approximately as depicted on the chart, then I worked the pink flowers by eyeballing where they looked best.
3. For the azalea shrubs on the lawn, I used the chart as a guideline for the green/pink color placement, but pretty much just eyeballed where I thought it looked best.
I hope this all makes sense & might be helpful for anyone else stitching it. As I said before, I love it & can't wait to get it framed!”
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I hope this will help those of you who’ve continued on with your stitching past my last posted schedule. I’d also like to add that I will be using two strands of silk for the Florentine stitch band instead of one, as I like heavier coverage.
Here are the pictures of Julie’s completed sampler and the close ups:
Oh, I am so proud of Julie! Isn’t it beautiful?!
Now, for our next suggested stitching schedule, I think we should get started with the Smyrna Cross alphabet and the butterfly motifs. Then we will move down and stitch the magnolia flowers on either side of the verse and also the cotton plants. After that I’d like you to move on to the cartouche and house. I found it helpful to stitch a basting line across the center from top to bottom and left to right for accurate placement of the cartouche and house. Please save all backstitching for last. These are the areas we will be working on until the next post:
Well, I think you’ll have enough to keep you busy for a while. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me through the blog or my email at HeartseaseEW@gmail.com. Also, I have provided a printable PDF version of this stitching schedule, which can be found in the upper right margin of the blog.
Yours in friendship & stitches,
