Quaker Garden SAL

Here are my supplies to start the Quaker Garden SAL this weekend. Karen from the U.K. is leading us. I love this pattern - can't wait to start. I am using 36-ct Vintage Pear by Lakeside Linens and Gloriana Luminescence threads. I had a piece of the 40-ct in this color but it was very brown with very little green in it so I bought this piece the other night to use instead. This will be my first time using the Luminescence silks - they feel wonderful so will see how they stitch. They are expensive though! About twice as much as regular silk skeins. At least this is a small project so I only needed 5 of them.

I also finished my biscornu for the Legacy exchange last night. I really like it and plan to make a duplicate of it for myself. I don't want to post a picture of it until after my exchange partner receives it in a couple of weeks. This was my first biscornu and the finishing went better than I thought it would.

We had a major wind storm here in Phoenix tonite but sadly, no rain! The east coast is getting too much and we need it so badly. It's supposed to be 109 tomorrow - another hot one. A good day to spend in the pool! We aren't going away for the holiday weekend, plan to just relax around home and I hope to get a lot of stitching in.

A few works-in-progress

Here are a few of my WIP's - the first one is my House & Garden Sampler which I am doing myself, not as a round robin. It's going to take awhile and I haven't worked on it lately.


This is "Wild Roses" by Carriage House Samplings. I was supposed to finish this in June but didn't get there.



Here's my French Alphabet Sampler, page 1. I am on page 3 now.

Starting out!

Well I have given in to the blogging bug. I should be spending more time stitching and less time on the computer and I would get more done, but part of the fun of stitching is sharing it with others. I really enjoy connecting with other stitchers via the web.

I love primitive style designs but I don’t limit myself to them. Some of my favorite cross-stitch designers are Carriage House Samplings, Chessie & Me, Bent Creek, Prairie Schooler, Little House Needleworks, The Drawn Thread, Shepherd’s Bush, Birds of a Feather, Sheepish Designs, and Homespun Elegance. I love Blackbird Designs – not only the stitching designs but the quilting and rug-hooking books too – can’t get enough! Then there’s all the wonderful French designers that I also am collecting - Rouge au Rhin, Bleu de Chine, and Long Dog to name a few. The past few years I started getting into samplers and Quaker designs (who can resist??) and a few of my favorites are Brenda Keyes (The Sampler Company), Darlene O’Steen (The Needle’s Prayse), and Moira Blackburn. I tend to like modern sampler interpretations rather than strict historical reproductions but of course there are exceptions. I also have about 10 Gail Wilson primitive doll kits stored in a box – I really need to get started on these, I love them all but they do take a considerable amount of time to complete. Maybe someday I will have a wall full of samplers, and my quilts and completed dolls on display!