Elizabeth Harborne - Day 30 : completed... or should I make changes?

Well, at this time I am happy to report that all the bands on this sampler are completed.
I made changes to some areas as outlined before... now, I would appreciate your input on the diamond band.
The cream areas within the diamond and the stems leading to the 'flowers' were charted for fishbone stitch... I looked at the amount of cream silk I had left and knew that I did not have enough to finish this area using that stitch... I had more in my stash but didn't necessarily want to start another skein... so I adapted this area with fly stitches.  The reason I had run out of cream silk was because I had chosen to do some pulled thread stitches in this band as well as others.
 Anyway, I did not take out one of the areas that I had stitched in fishbone before  for comparison... it does have a different effect... so after I had finished all the stitching, I evaluated both the fishbone areas (top of picture) and the fly stitch areas in the straight stems within the diamond... last night I thought I would remove all the straight stem fly stitches and replace them with fishbone (using a new skein)  but then this morning I was not so sure anymore.... what do you think looks better?

Here is the diamond band I am referring to :

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 30
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 30
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 30
The Song of my Needle

The entire sampler - please excuse the waviness - have not yet ironed or done my final check


Elizabeth Harborne - Day 30 Completed Sampler
The Song of my Needle



Elizabeth Harborne - Day 30 Top Portion
The Song of my Needle



Elizabeth Harborne - Day 30 Center Area
The Song of my Needle



Would appreciate your input ...some people report having trouble posting here on this blog - please feel free to email me directly... figuring out the technical glitsches takes away a lot of time from stitching sometimes.

This was a great sampler to work on after quite some time... enjoyed it .... will revisit this in the coming week and see if the diamond band issues are really 'issues'... have the frame already.... one of these days I'll take the time to frame up all the finished things hanging out in my 'finished projects' drawers.....





Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29

As I continue finishing up the raised stitches in the bands of this sampler I also realized the reasons I had skipped stitching other parts within some of the incomplete bands... endless repetition, boring selection of stitches and or color, strange design motifs... now I had to revisit them and make decisions.

One of the stitchers on Nicola's blog was trying to figure out the trellis stitch and was thinking of abandoning the stitch and using satin stich instead. With some emails & encouragement she is at present trying to tackle it.  I was at the same time dealing with this band that had not appealed to me from a design and color perspective.  I decided to change some of the colors and stitches and incorporate the trellis stitch and its variations within this band. 

Here are some of the detailed pictures:


This is the way I had left the band  - I started putting in the satin and bullion stitches in gold as charted.... 



Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

 and then decided to place a variation of the trellis stitch ( spiral trellis ) as the center of the flower. You can also see the cream colored flowers in various renditions in these pictures - they are barely visible from afar and that was another thing that I had to address.


Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

 This strange motif below which reminded me sometimes of fish or walrus, sometimes of monkeys or dogs,  was charted for bullions.  I decided to place trellis stich into this area and then decided to pad it (stuff it) just to see the effect.  I used a remnant of the blue thread and balled it up ( example of small amount on the right of the picture )



Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

 Trellis stitch steps - not a hard stitch - mostly a matter of controlling the location of the thread and tension at all times :


Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle



Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle



Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

 This is the way I chose to finish this band - still a strange one but at least it was more fun to stitch.
The area on the left is more like it was charted - the area on the right is my interpretation of all trellis stitch variations.


Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

 Trellis stitch - regular version - base of acorns; decided to stitch the white flowers in gold with a white and gold bullion center, added queen/rococo stitch instead of just a cross stitch in taupe in the monkey/dog/fish - strange motif :


Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

Spiral trellis - center of flower - see pinhead below
Padded trellis - top of acorn - see stiletto below


Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 29
The Song of my Needle

 I had finished this last Sunday but just did not get the chance to post until tonight...

Back to Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28

Last night I decided to go back and complete the remaining stitches on some of the bands of Elizabeth Harborne - not much more left to stitch.  I had left some of the areas in preceding bands unstitched - my thoughts of having certain types of stitches rolled up for a long time were correct.  Some of the bullion stitches I had put in before were flattened during the process of stitching the subsequent bands.  I could have fluffed them up and let them be but I did not like the way the silk's sheen had been altered. 

So here are two of the completed bands after last night's stitching :

Elizabeth Harborne 1647 - Day 28 - Bullions
acorns are still 'squished' - want to experiment with this area after I finish all the bands
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28
The Song of my Needle

Status report - after Day 6

I thought it would be good to work both Margret Gatis and Ann Scutt together on one frame.  And it sure is ... it is interesting to note how very similar color schemes, stitches and motifs are developed differently.  And then as I worked through both samplers my brain kept thinking of all the variations different needlework techniques could provide with the same design.... that is one of the things that  I find so fascinating about needlework!  There are endless possibilities that can provide me with endless hours of enjoyment...all with a humble needle and thread!

One of the emails concerned silks vs. cotton thread.... all the samplers I have 'blogged' about here have been done with Au Ver a Soie silks. I have done other reproduction samplers with cotton threads ... I will discuss this more at a later time after I take photographs... BUT for now I do want to address this here... there IS a sheen to cotton thread also and it is just as appealing in the end... depends on your stitching and technique.  For some types of samplers I do feel silk gives you an additional luster but in most colorful samplers I truly feel that if the budget doesn't allow the 'silk version'  don't be disheartened and deprive yourself of the enjoyment of stitching a sampler that appeals to you.  I will take pictures to illustrate this 'sometime' in the future but I hope this helps... stitching something that appeals to you is good for the soul... enjoy the journey and try to do the best you can at that moment in time - that is my motto anyway!  I feel lucky that in the times we live in we have so many possibilities, techniques and books available to us...

SO, without further ado - here is the status of both Ann Scutt and Margret Gatis after 6 days of stitching on both; both of them are a testament to enjoyable hours of stitching this past month.  I would have been further along if I had not had the trouble trying to post on blogs - hours spent trying to figure out computer issues and then just as the problems had cropped up they miraculously 'went away' (fingers crossed ;0 ) - wish life's problems would be that easily solved!

Day 6 does not mean however that the same amount of hours were spent on each sampler - Ann Scutt had less progress because of busier days and increased tiredness in the evenings....I rarely concentrate on speed of stitching, 'clocking' hours or progress - the blog has started me keeping track of 'days' and that is as far as I will go with it.... it is a hobby for me and I will continue to concentrate on the enjoyment factor not the speed factor... I think my needlework will always remain a testament to how I chose to spend some of my time "after work".     

Day 6 : Status Report on Ann Scutt (left) and Margret Gatis (right)
The Song of my Needle 

Day 6 : Ann Scutt
The Song of my Needle 

Day 6 - Margret Gatis
The Song of my Needle


Have a great weekend!

Ann Scutt - a bit further along - Day 6

I've spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why I am having difficult posting things.
Just spent about an hour this evening working on the blackwork band.  I chose to switch to a darker shade on the gold silk so that  all the stitching stands out a bit more.  The lighter gold color will be used still and can be seen  in the satin stitched areas. In this band I decided to just blend both colors
in an arbitrary fashion. 
It was really fun to stitch the strawberries and flower band also.

Ann Scutt - Day 6
The Song of my Needle 

Ann Scutt - Day 6
The Song of my Needle 

Ann Scutt - Day 6
The Song of my Needle 

Ann Scutt - Day 6
The Song of my Needle 

Ann Scutt - Day 5

Decided to continue working on Ann Scutt yesterday evening.  Since I am working both samplers on the same frame it makes it easier to finish the exposed linen on both before rolling up the stitched area to expose more linen.
I chose to change one area on this band by alternating the colors within the main stem.  Again, direction of the  the satin stitch area is my own interpretation.

Ann Scutt - Day 5
The Song of my Needle

Ann Scutt - Day 5
The Song of my Needle

Ann Scutt (on left) - Margret Gatis (on right)
The Song of my Needle

Margret Gatis - Day 6 One more try to post pictures

Margret Gatis - Day 6
The Song of my Needle

I cannot figure out why posting pictures has become a challenge suddenly... I figured I'll give it one more try:

Margret Gatis - Day 6