Sampler stretching

Underneath the sampler I have a piece of checkered cloth that I'm lining up the outside edges of the pattern to.  I spritzed it with water, lined up all the edges and pinned it.  Thankfully it wasn't too out of whack as I stitched it on a frame.  I'll spritz it again this evening, repin and stretch it out and it should be nice and straight.

Friends are the stitches...

Here's an up-date on my Mystery Sampler started back in October 2011 which one of the members of our local stitchery guild designed for our program for the year.  The last 2 blocks are partially done and hopefully this evening I can get either the rest of quote finished or the hemstitching done.  I also need to start making some bullion stitches for this weeks TAST challenge but I really need to work in the yard this evening and dig out some horrible crab grass that has made inroads into my flower bed.  I also have a lily clump that needs dividing and also some other perennials that need some attention.  Ahhh - seriously wish I could take the day off work to do the fun stuff I'd like to do. Have a wonderful day everyone!!

Mystery Sampler - 2 blocks left to go :)

 The Regina Stitchery Guild's program this past year was to stitch a mystery sampler which one of our talented members designed and wrote excellent instructions for.  I began this in October of 2011 and this is my progress so far with only 2 more spaces left to fill!

 On the far left are 3 small Squared Herringbone stitches, the flower section is comprised of straight stitches, whipped back stitch and a few chain stitch leaves as well as flower clusters with 5 beads.  On the right are 4 Rhodes Triangles.

 Drawn Thread Hemstitching was completely new to me and I struggled with it a bit but thankfully it turned out okay and I didn't cut any wrong threads.  The middle is worked with the Norwich Stitch.

 The vines were back stitched using 2 strands of embroidery floss, the bottom left is the Rhodes Square, the 4 hearts are satin stitched and the green star motif is also done with satin stitches.

My owl was done using woven picot stitches.  This square was to do whatever we wished in.  I was originally going to stitch a snail but it didn't work out at all but I'm pleased with how my owl turned out.  To the right are 4 eyelets with 4 Rhodes Triangle Variations.  The small heart worked with metallic thread is a Rhodes heart.

And finally, this is our 4 year old cat named Momo fast asleep on one of her favourite spots after a hard day of doing nothing ;)

Mystery Sampler: Beaded Flowers

With the straight stitch and beaded flowers square done, I am caught up now on our mystery sampler and have to wait until next week to get our next set of instructions.  This has been such a fun project to work on!

Rhodes Triangle

I should have been working on my feather stitch band sampler for TAST last night but I really wanted to try the Rhodes Triangle stitch on my mystery sampler instead. It turned out really well and I'm very pleased with the neat design of it.  I didn't keep my tension quite loose enough on one of the triangles so it's pulled a bit.  Not enough though for me to redo it though thankfully.  Definitely have to start on the feather stitch today though or before I know it, it will be next Tuesday already and time to learn another stitch!

Mystery Sampler Progress

At our last stitchery guild meeting we received the next installment for this great mystery sampler that one of our wonderful and talented members has designed. The section with the 3 small designs are stitched using the Squared Herringbone Stitch.  I stitched the hearts with a metallic thread using a Satin Stitch with 2 rows of wheat sheaves. The 2 toned green design is a Star Motif with satin stitches. I'm really enjoying this years guild program and especially seeing everyone else's progress and choices of colours.

Owlie

 For this block of our mystery sampler we were given free reign to stitch whatever we wanted to.  At first I was going to do a snail and even started one on a scrap piece of fabric.  It wasn't turning out very well so then I thought an owl would be better.  All of his feathers were done using the woven picot stitch around a needle.  I added some claws around the stem after I took this picture.

Mystery sampler progress:  5 squares completed, 10 left to go.  I'll be putting it aside until after Christmas now :(

Hem Stitching & the Norwich Stitch

Two more new stitches accomplished on my mystery sampler.  I remember seeing my grandmother hem stitching but this was a first for me.  The instructions were easy and straight forward so I quickly caught on to how to do it.  After the hem stitching I worked on the middle portion counted thread stitch known as either the Norwich or Waffle stitch and I think it has quite a nice look to it.  The next section is for us to design on our own which will be a lot of fun.  I have a few ideas floating around my head and hope to get it done by our next stitchery guild meeting on Tuesday.

Mystery Sampler: Herringbone Stitch

Another square finished & new stitches learnt.  The next square involves some cutting & hem stitching which I haven't done before either. 

Mystery Sampler: Feather Stitch

Only managed to get one small row of feather stitching in this weekend but at least I finished the 2nd row of the the bargello border. One more bargello row to do & I think I'm going to use the green silk thread.  I'll try it & see how it looks first.

Mystery Sampler: Blackwork

It didn't take as long as I thought it would to deal with all the carrots last night so I had time to do a bit of stitching after all!! I did a bit more on the bargello edging & did the vine in blackwork using two threads of green silk. The next square to work on is done in feather and herringbone stitches. Hope to be able to work on it some more this weekend of course.

Mystery Sampler: Rhodes Square

I haven't done all the 3 outside bargello rows yet but I wanted to see how the Rhodes Square would look first.  It's super easy peasy to do & I like how it turned out using the Wildflowers #62 Burnt Toast thread. Not sure if I'll get a chance this evening to stitch, crochet or do anything fun as we have oodles of carrots to do. We layer them in peat moss and store in 5 gallon pails in the cold room.

Mystery Sampler

 Carol Storie, the program co-ordinator of the Regina Stitchery Guild, has developed a mystery sampler for our program this year.  Each month a new section will be revealed & at the end of the year we'll have a beautiful sampler surprise! 

I chose to stitch my sampler on 28 count Bone Lugana using #62 Burnt Wildflower for the inside Bargello stitches.  Have to check to see what the #8 I'm using for the inside border is.  Looking forward to Tuesday's meeting to find out how we're going to stitch the first design & to see all the variations of threads & fabric members have chosen.