Completed samplers : Elizabeth Harborne & Ann Scutt + Continuing on with Margret Gatis

Here are the details and pictures of the completed samplers.  I had intended to post the fully framed Elizabeth Harborne but doubt I will get the time to do this right now,  so for now I just stuck it into the frame intended for it.  If I get the time to lace it and frame it in time I will post it.  I still have to choose and order the frame for Ann Scutt.  Now that it seems that there is a lull in snow storms for the latter part of the week we will be busy playing catch up in the office so cannot be sure if I will feel like lacing and framing this up in the evenings...    
   

Elizabeth Harborne 1647 - an adaptation :                            
Threads : AVAS silks
Fabric : Zweigart Belfast (32ct.) linen - Cream 
Started on :  Wednesday evening, May 15,2013
Completed on : Saturday morning, January 25,2014
# of days of stitching (averaging 3 hours/day): 30
Framed up on :

Elizabeth Harborne - frame check

 



Ann Scutt 1675 - an adaptation :
Threads : AVAS silks - added a darker gold tone in addition to the one recommended
Fabric : 35ct. Ivory linen
Started on :  Tuesday evening, December 24,2013
Completed on : Tuesday evening,  February 11,2014
# of days of stitching (averaging 3 hours/day): 12
Framed up on :

Ann Scutt 1675 - an adaptation

Here is the progress on Margret Gatis since my last posting - Day7 & 8
 ... got a fair amount of the sampler marked for the next few bands thanks to the snow days.  However, did not get much stitching done because of some of movies we watched during the storms.

Margret Gatis - Day 8

Margret Gatis - Day 8

                                                        

 All of these samplers have been a lot of fun to stitch - all of them were reproduced by The Scarlet Letter.
Thanks Marsha for choosing to reproduce them!

Ann Scutt, Elizabeth Harborne & Margret Gatis

Hi again!
Took some quick photographs of the 3 SL samplers that I have been actively working on these past months.  Will write in more detail but I know some of you wanted to see them... Ann Scutt and Elizabeth Harborne are 'finished' - Margret Gatis is not.

At the moment I am still contemplating if I should extend some of the bands of Ann Scutt so that they all start and end with more or less the same width.  Normally when I stitch a reproduction sampler, I do not change things... this time on both Ann and Elizabeth I changed things so at this point neither of them are 'true reproductions'.  I had left the decision about the width to the very end to get a feel for the sampler... you'll note in the picture the margins marked from the widest bands ... the narrower bands on the top have bothered me right from the start and I had extended the satin stitched motif on the right at the beginning to make it more symmetric.
I feel that the narrower top part makes the whole thing look a bit off kilter - in some samplers this is quite a charming effect but Ann is quite a balanced sampler.... so I am thinking of extending the narrower bands on top. 
The other area that I feel was 'odd' was the solitary leaf in space on the right side in the band with the two flowers and coiled connectors further down (3rd band above the alphabet area).  I am thinking about stitching another coiled area and anchoring the solitary leaf.  Ann Scutt reminds me a bit of Mary Hollingworth in color and symmetry so that is why I am still considering this...

I would love to get your thoughts on this too...

By the way, you'll notice in the picture of the entire sampler (Ann Scutt) how restrained the use of the color red is - it almost seems like it was put in to be 'auditioned' but then it was decided not to use it at all and work the sampler in 3 colors only : blue, green, light gold.  I decided to use a darker gold (same color family) because I felt that the lighter gold would not show up from a distance and the viewer may see an absence of color/stitching in some areas.  I like the overall effect of working in both of the gold colors - this way the entire sampler is visible to the viewer... samplers are now displayed on walls whereas in the 17th century they were rolled up and kept in a drawer as a pattern record. 

So, here are the pictures of the 3 samplers as they are at present....

All 3 samplers - 2 finished, 1 WIP
The Song of my Needle

All 3 samplers - 2 finished, 1 WIP
The Song of my Needle



Ann Scutt 1675
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne 1647
The Song of my Needle

This adventure back into stitching samplers again after a long time has been a lot of fun.
Please do let me know what you think... I will revisit this 'width problem' in the next few days.
At this point because they are not 'true' reproductions because I added stitches etc. I want to 'finish' this sampler in a way that will make me happy to see it on my wall.

Thank you all for your kind comments and emails - I have enjoyed sharing my progress with you all "out there" and am humbled by your comments of my work inspiring  some of you to try your hand at some of these samplers that are considered 'advanced'.  Band samplers are a lot of fun, you can set smaller goals and achieve them one band at a time, learn new stitches etc. etc....they teach us a lot, not just in the needlework arena but also about the history, design and symbolism.  I am glad that this blog has enticed some of you to try ... it is a great adventure - one that we can fully control with just a needle and thread!

Another thing - many of you commented on the 'speed' of my stitching... I don't think that speed is an important thing.... I am a deliberate, disciplined, focused stitcher - I am not necessarily a fast stitcher - technique and quality of my stitching  is more important to me than anything else.  The only other thing that has equal importance for me is to spend my 'free' time doing something I enjoy and needlework fits the bill beautifully at present...
this is the first time I kept track of my days - most days I stitch for about 3-4 hours while 'watching' TV with breaks for meals etc.- on the snow days I averaged about 5hours during the day and the normal evening 2-4 hours...  so, I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't focus on the time it takes to complete a piece, I prefer to focus on each stitch and 'stay in the moment' of this great adventure.  I truly feel privileged to be able to spend some time each week doing some type of needlework...

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

Samplers & Margret Gatis 1711 - Day 2

As the New Year approaches I am currently focusing on what and which needlework areas and  projects I want to concentrate on.
Samplers are always 'fun' to have in the works - they provide a good break from other complicated projects and I do have a good collection of reproduction samplers in my stash that I have always wanted to stitch/finish.
I have decided that both Ann Scutt and Margret Gatis will be two of the 'new' Scarlet Letter samplers I will be working on besides finishing Elizabeth Harborne and two other samplers (still have to decide which ones) in 2014.

Still have to decide which projects will be on my list in other areas... good things to keep my brain occupied while I stitch on these samplers.
To make things more accessible to me and to decrease the pile of frames in my needlework area downstairs I decided to frame both Ann Scutt and Margaret Gatis together - this will give me a chance to work on both of them at the same time.  This is what they look like together :

Ann Scutt (left side) and Margret Gatis (right side)
- Framed together - hope this will work
The Song of my Needle

I was most intrigued by Band 5 of Margaret Gatis  and skipped over to that band and work on that yesterday - spent a glorious afternoon stitching after a very long time!  It felt really good to take some time out...
Here are some of the pictures of my progress so far - I decided to change the gold colored silk from the lighter color specified for the blackwork area to one of the others - I felt that the lighter color was hardly visible from afar.  So even though I thought I would work this exactly as charted I've made a change right from the start.  The stitch direction of the central flower is not specified nor is it very clear on the photograph provided with the chart so this is my interpretation of it... it was an interesting and time consuming area but fun.  I would have loved to have seen close ups of the original sampler though - it may have given me more insights into what the thought processes of stitchers in those times were.  I stitched this flower from the outside in but if stitched differently there would be a different profile/dimension... in this interpretation the central area is foreground and the outermost red petal satin stitch area is receding/background.  While I was stitching it I was tempted to use other stitches (fly stitch for example) but decided to stick with just satin stitch as specified and not make it too complicated.

Progress on Marget Gatis so far :

Margret Gatis - Day 2/Band 5
The Song of my Needle

Margret Gatis - Day 2/Band 5
The Song of my Needle

Margret Gatis - Day 2/Band 5
The Song of my Needle

Margret Gatis - Day 2/Band 5
The Song of my Needle

mj - if this is the band/flower you were referring to let me know - perhaps this closeup above will help you figure it out (if you like my interpretation that is) ... these are just some of the pictures and I would be glad to send you others if you feel it helps.

Elizabeth Harborne - Stitch direction and texture

I was quite surprised at all the interest my last posts on texture and stitch direction generated.
I am a bit short on time at the moment - too many other deadlines closing in again on me - most of these are this time self imposed ones - and it feels good to be back on track again.  I will try and take more pictures of my work and expand on this topic more in the next few months and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the topic too.

For now, I took a few quick pictures of some of the things I have stitched that happened to be close by.... stitch direction is important...and I know I am way too particular and critical of my own work... I know that that makes some of you who know me chuckle!  I enjoy thinking about these things and studying my stitching, books and photographs etc ... and I love to challenge myself ... critiquing my own work is a way for me to learn more on a topic.  Please do not get me wrong though,  I love to see other people's work and enjoy seeing their progress, hearing about their accomplishments and problems while they work through a project and I do not look at their work critically but rather supportively.  We all learn from sharing and I have learned a lot from others who have shared their feelings with me about a teacher, a project, a stitch or technique. 
Anyway, here are just a few examples of stitch direction and how it affects the piece... stitch direction lends movement (see free form petals in my last post), it can influence the flow of a piece (look at the Eliz. Harborne band below with the base petals stitched horizontally or vertically), it can emphasize a shape (see the acorns in the second picture below from another sampler) and it is all important in working realistic technique (last picture below of my pansies)

Elizabeth Harborne - stitch direction discussion - white petals
The Song of my Needle 

My Pansies - Japanese Embroidery - realistic technique
The Song of my Needle

THE main thing in all of this is that we enjoy this great journey and our hobby... so thanks to all of you for your interest and/or tolerance of my quirkiness! 

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28

Continuing on with finishing the bands I had not fully completed yet...
Thanks to all of you who scrutinized my stitching and assessed the bullions... as  I was stitching them in hand they seemed a bit looser and more raised to me.  After seeing your comments and polling family I decided to hold off with a decision on this and just move to another area... I am so glad I did because after looking at them today I have decided that I will not take them all out and stitch them again in hand  etc. - I will just get all the other areas finished and then do the bullions last.

Now on to other areas that had given me reasons to pause - there were no notes on stitch direction so I wanted to revisit this issue after getting a feel for the whole sampler.  Notice how the stitch direction affects the reflections of the silk (this will also happen with cotton floss)... added different diagonals in the petals to lend the rather free form flower some whimsy in this band and I am not so sure about the smaller flower (charted in Double running all in white which barely shows up) - blue and white version on the right and just white with chain outline on left:

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28
The Song of my Needle

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28
The Song of my Needle

More on the topic of stitch direction in this band also... will continue with this later... too tired tonight to add all the pictures and details

Elizabeth Harborne - Day 28
The Song of my Needle