Plymouth Sampler finished!

Hello stitchers one and all - I'm excited to report I finished up Plymouth Sampler a few days ago. I'm doing the happy dance to be sure! I finally had time today during lunch to press it and get a decent photo. It was a lot of stitching as it's fairly "solid" but lots of fun especially once you get the houses done This was designed after the 9-11 terrorist attack by Brenda Keyes of The Sampler Company as a tribute to America. It is stitched on Vintage Meadow Rue 40-count linen by Lakeside - I purchased this lovely mottled piece of linen some years ago and glad I did. The linen the Lakeside ladies are dying these days is not nearly as mottled as it used to be - maybe because they are dying in bigger lots of linen? I don't know but even my LNS owner was commenting on the changes she's noticed (not that we don't still love Lakeside Linens!). It's charted for DMC floss but I stitched the conversion to Needlepoint Silks that my LNS provided some years back.

If anyone in the domestic U.S. would like the chart please mention it in a comment to this post and I will draw a name in a week or so and pass it on to someone else. It's "gently used" but still totally usable - I wrote the conversion on the chart and it does have a piece of scotch tape along the center where the chart (it's big) was folded in half - I was afraid it would get too worn there so I taped over the crease. It comes with all the accompanying extras included in the original pattern - a chart of alphabets, some history of samplers, etc.

I also finished a little self-framing project (patting myself on the back). This was another piece I pulled out of my "waiting to be framed" pile and decided I could do myself. Once I realized the piece was not as big as I remembered it, I had a brainstorm that it might fit into one of those pre-made frames for panoramic photos. I found this frame at a framing shop on sale for $8.99 - it was pretty ugly when I bought it (see before and after below) but I spray-painted it white, added a little Martha Stewart fine glitter, and it worked out great. This is a Shepherd's Bush piece that was stitched a few years ago in a round robin. Total cost of framing was $13 as I used my 50% off coupon at JoAnn's for the spray paint. :)

"Snowpatch" by Shepherd's Bush

Stitched on pale green linen with silks

Now I'm concentrating on working on With My Needle by The Goode Huswife and Quakers & Quilts by Rosewood Manor. I was sort of stalled on both of them for a bit but now getting going again. It's hot here this week so I'll be taking a dip in the pool this evening and I want to catch that new show called "Boston Med" which looks interesting. Here's a photo of our dog Abby - we call her "Princess Bea" and you can see why. She's got a wonderful life let me tell you!