A Gentleman's Samplings

Sorry for the long delay between posts.  Seems that life (and health) always gets in the way of good intentions. I would like to thank everyone for their kind words of encouragement, thoughts and prayers over the past couple of months.  I am truly blessed to have so many supportive firends and family. The results of the the bronchoscopy that I had in August were inconclusive. So I meet with a cardio and thoracic surgeon who removed some lyumph nodes from my chest region. Those results came back as negative for cancer. So with those results back we could get started with the chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer.  I had my first chemotherapy treatment on 2 October and so far so good.  I have only experienced a little bit of nausea and some lightheadiness.  But that was only the first treatment - so 1 down and 11 to go.  I have a treatment every two weeks so I should be completed with treatments in about 6 months. ...

In honor of the 2012 Olympics, I decided a new start was in order.  So beginning with the Opening Ceremonies on Friday evening I started Christinia Cathcart c. 1831 by Samplar Workes (Page Dorsey).  This is a Scottish sampler that I have wanted to stitch for a long time. I started the sampler in the lower right hand corner because I wanted to start the forest and deer portion as soon as possible.  It is taking me a while to get that house completed even though it is only a roof and windows (the house itself is not filled in - only outlined). This is being worked on 40-ct Lakeside Magnolia using Hand Dyed Fibers silks converted from the recommended DMC colors. Really enjoying this but that strawberry border is going to take some time. I do not think I can finish it in the 17 days of the Olympics but at least I can say I have started it. Health Update I had a bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy performed on Thursday, 26 July to see if an enlarge...

I would like to thank all of you for your kind comments, thoughts and prayers regarding my health issue. A brief update is provided at the end of the post. In my last post I had not yet decided whether to start something new or to finish something in my WIP pile.   It has been very hot here in North Texas so doing a couple of holiday pieces seemed to be in order. Jane Pattison 1806 by Shakespeare's Peddler I have had this chart in my stash since it first became available.   This piece really looks very looks and feels like a Christmas sampler with the border of green garland and candles.   I stitched this on 40-ct Lakeside linen using the recommended Gentle Arts Sampler Threads instead of the recommended wool threads. I did substitute the Harvest Basket with Gold Leaf since the Harvest Basket was very close in color to Cidermill Brown and I wanted to add a little bit of gold to the piece like in the picture on the pattern. I also stitch two bands...

Hello to all my fellow stitchers/bloggers and thank you for stopping by! I cannot believe that it has been over 2 months since my last post. Where does the time go? I have been away from the blogging world due to some unforeseen health issues. I have posted a brief summary and update at the end of this blog if you are interested. As stated in my last post, I lost a little bit of my mojo in the stitching realm. I could not focus on any of my projects. I decided to focus on the Mexican Schoolgirl Practice Sampler c1830 by Samplers Remembered . This one had some bright colors and different motifs which at least made me feel like I was making some progress. Worked on 40-ct Porcelain Lakeside Linen using DMC and the recommended Waterlilies. After this was completed I decided to start Sarah Elizabeth Brooke’s 1842 by The Scarlet House . This was a very fun stitch and kept me occupied during my recovery from surgery. I stitched the grassy area at the bottom of the sampler us...

It seems that I have not been able to focus on a single project lately. There always seems to be something a little bit more intereseting to stitch than the current project I am wanting to finish. Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos - for some reason the pictures look more gold/yellow than they are in real life... In the past month I have worked on Scarlet Letter's Coraggio .  I have had this chart in my stash for a few years and thought about it when it was mentioned by someone on a board a vist every once in a while. I am working this on 40-count Lakesde Linen Pecan Butter using a combination of Au Ver a Soie (AVAS) and Hand-Dyed Fibers (HDF) silks. Coraggio by The Scarlet Letter 40-count Lakeside Linen Pecan Butter with AVAS and HDF I started work on the mermaid but I need to re-think the recommended process of outlining and then filling in with the stitches.  Doing it this way tends to lose some of the definitio...

I have been a big fan of Amy Mitten and her designs since I took one of her classes a few years ago. The project was one of her mystery classes " Not For Us Alone ". I still have not finished the piece but hope to this year. She had some other mystery pieces available for sale during the class and I purchased " Tour Van Holland " -- a Friesland style sampler based on her travels in the Netherlands and Germany. I finished this sampler a couple of years ago and it is one of my favorites. When Amy announced her on-line tutorial this year, I could not resist signing up for Friesland Winder's Keeper . Once the kit came in at the end of last month all other projects were tossed aside to work on this wonderful piece. I have completed all of the stitching but need to work on the back stitching around the pieces for finishing the keeper. The second part of the class will be at the end of March so I do have a little bit of time to get the back stitching completed....

A very Happy New Year to all of my friendly followers and fellow stitchers. It is hard to believe that another year has come to an end.  This past year seemed to go by way to fast. And at looking at the date of my last post it seems that once again I have not kept to my goal of at least updating my blog once a month.  I would really like to be like some of my fellow bloggers who post at least once a week. I think a gola this year will be to at least post once a month and gradually build into it.  It would be great if I could at least post a couple of snapshots of current WIPS without having to think of something to say. I had a total of twelve finishes in 2011 which I am really proud of since a few of them were fairly large samplers. The complete list can be found at the bootom of my blog under Completed 2011. I did manage to get two projects completed before the end of the year - B.B 1699 by The Essamplaire and Side By Side Band Samplers by The Scarlet Letter . ...