Pat's Cross-Stitch Corner

We Live in Hope was one of the projects at the Blackbird Designs Retreat held in Virginia Beach at Dyeing to Stitch. The chart itself was based on an antique sampler shared by Barb and Alma.

The kit we received included the chart, fabric 36ct Vintage Honey by R & R Reproductions and the recommended floss.

• WDW Beige
• WDW Blue Jay
• WDW Bright Leaf
• WDW Caper
• WDW Cocoa
• WDW Deep Sea
• WDW Garrison Green
• WDW Kris’ Bon Bon
• WDW Red Pear
• WDW Williamsburg

I chose to stitch mine on 16ct Toasted Almond from Fabrics from Stephanie using the recommended floss. If you choose to stitch this one and use two threads rather than one, you will need additional skeins of some of the colors Caper, Cocoa, Garrison Green and Red Pear.

Started Stitching: 5/7/2019
Finished Stitching: 6/2/2019 (with the exception of the bullion stitch which is the door knocker. Need to watch some videos and practice on this one.

The Bells on Christmas Day is one of three new samplers released by Blackbird Designs. The other two are Merrily, Merrily We Welcome Spring and Our Lasting Friendship. The Bells was designed exclusively for Attic Needlework in Mesa Arizona and available only through that shop (888-94-ATTIC or 480-898-1838). We are hoping the chart will be available to all shops at the Nashville Needlework Market the first of March 2019.

The recommended fabric is 36ct Oaken by Picture This Plus. I can’t see to stitch on that count and the color is darker than I like, so I chose a 16ct Ecru by Kimberley Smith of To Dye For Fabrics.

The recommended floss is a combination of Weeks Dye Works, Crescent Colors, and Gentle Arts. I will be using an assortment of threads from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe’s two Victorian Christmas Collections.

• WDW Baked Apple  (DMC 221)/Victorian Cranberry
• WDW Cocoa (DMC 839)/Black Eyed Susan
• WDW Dirt Road (DMC 831)/Antique Bronze
• WDW Havana (DMC 869)/ Variegated Pine
• CC Onion Skin (DMC 3864)/Primitive Tan
• WDW Palomino  (DMC 3012 & 3011)/Holly Leaves
• GA Piney Woods (DMC 3011)/Black Forest
• WDW Red Pear (DMC 3722)/Cherry Bush
• WDW Sage (DMC 370)/Sagebrush
• GA Tarnished Gold (DMC 434)/Victoriana Gold

I forgot to note when I started this one but finished stitching it on February 28, 2019.

 

Barb Adams and Alma Allen introduced Tiny Tree tops, Rose or Thyme at the Shepherd’s Retreat 2016.  While I did not attend the retreat, I was lucky enough to be able to borrow the pattern and stitch it. I used the called for threads (week Dye Works) but chose to stitch it on 16ct Doubloon Aida from Picture This Plus rather than the called for 32ct.

Started Stitching: January 22, 2017
Finished Stitching: February 22, 2017

Robert Louis Stevenson’s “A Child’s Garden of Verses” contains many poems which describe the world through the eyes of the younger generation. Here is one in which conveys the magic of a flower garden.

The Flowers

All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener’s garters, Shepherd’s purse,
Bachelor’s buttons, Lady’s smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames –
These must all be fairy names!

Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny tree-tops, roses or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!

Fair are grown-up people’s trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where if I were not so tall,
I should live for good and all.

UPDATE: June 2019

Rather than frame this one, I decided to have it finished as a drum. Beautifully finished by The Twisted Stitcher.