Vintage Sampler, Embroidery and Doilies

This is a vintage looking sampler that I stitched recently using mostly Nancy Turner's Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe threads.  I have been in her Primitive Limited Edition Floss club for a while now and am thoroughly enjoying it!  The chart for the sampler is from an old Just Cross Stitch publication and I had been meaning to stitch it up ever since I first saw it. 

Here's a little embroidery from a vintage pattern made with a variety of threads.  I do like to use many different kinds of threads for embroideries, I think it makes them more interesting to look at and more fun to do.  The vintage doilies that you see surrounding these stitched pieces are ones that I found in a thrift store last summer for the incredible price of three for a dollar!  There was a very large tub of them so I ended up buying about 30 or 40 of them, lucky me!

This is me and my dear little grandson, Calvin, hasn't he grown?

Thanks for visiting, I hope you will come back next time!

More Berlinwork

This is the first of three of my Berlinwork finishes that I would like to show you.  I have loved this floral ever since I first saw it in this old Dutch magazine.

They show it stitched on black fabric which is a more striking contrast,  but I just wasn't brave enough to try it on black.  So I used this blue fabric which shows it off fairly nicely, too, I think.

Then there is this little landscape that was quick and fun to stitch.  I found the pattern for it on a wonderful website that has several beautiful Berlinwork patterns offered for free.  It's not anything illegal , everything she has comes from very old patterns that are in the public domain.  Be sure and check out the link if you like to do Berlinwork.  I cannot wait to stitch the one of a mother cat and her kitten!

The last one is part of a large sampler from an issue of Sampler and Antique Needlework Magazine which, sadly, is no longer being published.  I didn't feel up to doing the whole sampler at that time, so I just did one of my favorite parts of  it, this darling little rooster and hen scene.

 

I hope you're having a wonderful summer.  It's been a good one here so far, we have been watching all of the hay around our house being cut and bailed and our flower gardens are doing nicely.  Thank you so much for visiting!

Beidermeier Sampler Redo Finished

I started working on this sampler several months ago, but as you may or may not remember, I really wasn't very fond of a lot of the dull colors it has.  I thought it might look nicer, at least to me, if some of the browns and beiges were replaced with some brighter colors.  Now it is finished and here is the result.

I left all of the greens and a few browns and grays as they were, but changed most of the other colors.  I love pink and blue so I used a lot of those and also some very light peach here and there, especially in the lower and the right border.

I love these motifs, don't you?

I first stitched the cherries in a medium pink, then changed them to this dark red just to have all of the red in the sampler more balanced, but I'm not sure it was the right choice, they did look nice when they were pink.  Sorry about the turquoise fuzz on one of the leaves, I don't know how that ended up there.

This wreath motif is my favorite one. 

Thanks for looking!  I also want to say sorry I have not been visiting or commenting very much on your blogs these past few months.  In July, my husband started having to do dialysis and it was very rough for a couple of months.  I've always been a terrible worrier and it was difficult for me to think about very much of anything else during that time.

But I'm happy to say, he is doing so much better now, it just took some time for him to get adjusted and he is feeling quite well.

Thank you so much for visiting!

Berlinwork

I thought I would show you some of my stitched pieces of Berlinwork designs.  I love these beautiful designs from the Victorian age so much and hope you will enjoy looking at a few of them.

This is one of my very favorites, it comes from one of Raffaella Serena's wonderful books called Animal Embroideries and Patterns.  She has three books on this subject and I'm lucky enough to have all three of them.

A detail.  Can you imagine using such a fancy bowl outside to feed the pigeons?

Some of the roses.  I stitched this on 32 count Lugana with one strand of DMC over two threads of the fabric.  This is my preference for stitching detailed designs like this one, I think it has a nicer, neater look to it than it would have if stitching it over only one thread.   Here are some more designs from Raffaella's books.

A rosy cheeked girl holding a cat and a dog.

A beautiful swan with her little cygnet swimming beside her.  I love this one so much that I stitched it twice, I hardly ever do that!

A contented sheep among the flowers.

I love Victorian cat pictures.  I put this one on a large stitching bag and on the other side of the bag I put this kitty.

I'm currently stitching this kitty again, probably to put on another purse.

I'm pretty sure this one, called Floral Symphony can be found on Ellen Maurer-Stroh's website.  

This came from Victorian Cross Stitch a great source of Berlinwork patterns.  And speaking of Victorian cats, I want to show you my newest tattoo.

 Just a bad bathroom mirror arm selfie, sorry!  This was done by Erik who is always kind enough to tattoo whatever pictures I bring in to him.  He made this look precisely like the Victorian image that I had found online.  Now, I will end with a few pictures of some real kitties.

Cricket, posing on the stairs.

Sarah, helping me fold the sheets.

And Harley, as usual, up to no good!  Click on the picture if you want to see the toilet paper hanging from his guilty little kitty lips.  Isn't that expression the epitome of naughtiness caught in the act?  It's a good thing we love him so much!  

Thank you for visiting, I appreciate it so much!

Beidermeier Sampler Redo

I've always admired the design and motifs of this sampler, but never cared for the mostly dull colors that were charted for it.  I don't know if these were the original colors or if it was charted using the faded over time colors but I thought it could use a little brightening up.  So I decided to change not all, but a lot of the colors to ones that I think are a lot nicer. DMC threads were used.

It won't be done for a while, but I've gotten a good start on it.  

I left the bunny motif alone, but changed the flowers below it to a nice violet color.

How do you like my color changes?  Have you ever done this with an old sampler?  I will show you my progress as I continue to work on it.  

This is the old Burda magazine that the chart came from, I've collected many of these over the years from Ebay and I love them.  I think Permin may have sold this as a chart, also.

A lot has happened since I last posted, we were very sad last February to lose our sweet Maggie.

We had found her living in our shed several years ago, she had given birth to a littler of kittens which we found homes for and then had her spayed.  Eventually she came to live inside with us and the other kitties and she would always show her appreciation with lots of love.  She was such a joy to have with us and we miss her terribly.

On a happier note, here's a picture of Sarah and Tigger locked in a tight cuddle.

Thanks for visiting, I always appreciate it!

Some Embroideries and a Small Sampler

I've been finding some really nice vintage transfers on Ebay and Etsy and have been enjoying turning them into embroideries like this one.  I used traditional DMC vareigated colors on this embroidery and the next one, trying to keep with a vintage look.

But for the next one I decided to use a more modern color scheme and I used newer brands of threads;  Cosmos Seasons and DMC Color Variations.

Even though I love the vintage look, I do love the colors on this embroidery, too.  

I got what was supposed to be a kit for a stamped cross stitch sampler, but it looked like it was going to stamp onto the fabric in a wonky way.  So I decided to do it in a counted way, which was kind of a challenge because the chart that was included was meant just as a guide to the colors and was a bit wonky itself.  I also changed most of the colors to vareigated  DMC ones, I felt that they made it look more interesting and it was definitely more fun to stitch.

I will leave you with a picture of three of the kitties, Pepper, Tigger and Sarah relaxing on the couch.  Thank you so much for visiting!

Antique Embroidery and Cross Stitch

This antique embroidery was sent to me by a lovely lady named Nancy who you may know from her former blog "Lovely in Chocolate."  She doesn't have her blog anymore but we are Facebook friends and one day she just announced that she had found a nice antique embroidery and was going to send it to me!  I was flabbergasted but couldn't say no since I love old embroideries.  

I carefully attached it to some fabric that I think goes well with it and made it into a wall hanging.

There are lots of pretty details to look at, such as the bunny at the base of the tree and the little bluebirds in a nest up in a branch of the tree.

I don't know who stitched it or when it was done but I love it!

Just beautiful!  Thank you, Nancy!

I stitched this from an old stamped cross stitch kit that I found on Ebay.  I had seen a finished one on Pinterest and loved it so much that I knew I had to try and find one to make.  I love the colors and the vintage look of it.  I have not yet made it into a hanging, but it's sitting on the fabric that I will be using, I think it will look nice with it.

It may seem strange to you, that someone would want to stitch an old thing like this, with its unruly X's and a lack of precision compared to a counted cross stitch piece.  I would not have liked this either, years ago, but for some reason, I just love things like this now.  I hope you have enjoyed looking at these and I'm so glad you came to my blog for another visit!

Katrina's Cottage and An Embroidery

This is Katrina's Cottage by Vintage Designs and the first good sized cross stitch project I've done in a while.  It's also the first time I've used an aida fabric in years but it's a nice soft one and very pleasant to stitch on.  I used the called for DMC threads and it was a nice relaxing stitch!   If anyone would enjoy having the chart for this design, I will be happy to give it away.  Just let me know in a comment and if there is more than one person that would like it, I will do a drawing. I will even send a piece of the aida, too, since I have some extra.  It is a nice brown flecked natural color that I think goes well with the design.  Let's say that you have until noon next Monday, Sept. 2 to let me know.

I know, this embroidery is completely off season, but I finished it in the middle of the summer and didn't get around to posting it until now, almost fall.  But I thought you might like to see it anyway.  I adapted it a little from the Spring part of a four seasons set of designs that I got from The Pattern Bee.  They have the most wonderful selection of embroidery patterns there!

I love this pink variegated thread, it reminds me of cotton candy!

Some colorful flowers in a variety of stitches.

That's it for this time, I'm glad you took the time to see what I've been up to, thanks for visiting!

French Sampler and Farewell to Sweetpea

This wonderful sampler was a UFO that's been in my sewing room closet for a few years.  I've pulled it out more than once to work on it but for some reason I always got tired of it.  I think maybe because of the intricate border, it was a bit tedious!

Then, a few weeks ago, I made up my mind to get it done, and I'm glad I did!  The chart came from this great magazine that I bought several years ago, I don't know if it can still be found, but if you can find a copy it would be so worthwhile, it's full of lovely French sampler charts.

I bought it at Nordic Needle, but I'm pretty sure it isn't available there anymore.  Here's a few more pictures of the sampler.

The sampler was done on 25 count Lugana over two threads with the recommended DMC threads.

I started a Christmas break off from work on the 20th and I have to say that the way this vacation started out, it can only get better.  The first two days we had a power outage from the winter storm Draco, and when did they start naming winter storms?  We had never had an outage that lasted that long before and since we don't have a fireplace or a wood stove it got very cold!  

Harley and Tigger keeping warm during the power outage.

Then, after enjoying about half of a day with heat, lights and water, my husband, Tom, starting feeling very badly and I had to take him to the ER.  It turned out that he had a peptic ulcer, so he had to stay in the hospital for two days.  He was able to come home on Christmas day which was the best present I could have asked for!  His ulcer will be treated with medicine and he's feeling fine now.

Now, the sad part of this post.  Our Sweetpea, who was 19 years old, had not been enjoying her life very much for a while now,  so we decided it was time to send her on.  She was actually born here on our property in a shed when a sweet gray barn kitty from one of the local farms decided to have her litter here.  The mother, who we named Alice, eventually went back to her farm and we took most of the kittens to the farm, too.  But our daughter, Jessie, decided that she wanted the little tortoiseshell kitten, so we kept her and named her Sweetpea.  

Jessie, eventually got married and moved away and by then Sweetpea was really more my cat.  I was her favorite person and the only one who could hold her without getting a dose of her tortie attitude!

But we have 7 other cats to hold and hug and that helps enormously.  She had a long life and was very loved!

This was the last picture taken of her.

Sweetpea

April 7, 1993--November 16, 2012

Thank you for visiting once again!