Thursday, June 14, 2012

Happy Flag Day!

Good morning and thanks so much to all of you who take time to read this blog!! After looking at several blogs this morning, I decided to do a Flag Day post.  Over at The Sampler Girl's Blog, she has a wonderful history of Flag Day.  I just walked around the house to see where I saw the flag.  Now it helps that yesterday I did my 4th of July decorating!! Our house colors are predominately navy blue or cobalt blue, barn red, and gold, so patriotic colors fit right in! I hope you enjoy my little flag parade! 

 















This flag is special.  We bought it at an antique show.  It has 48 stars.  Our house in Louisville was built at a time when the flag had 48 stars.  We displayed it in our family room.  When we moved out here one of the movers handled it with such respect and care.  I will not ever forget that.



This was a Christmas gift from the SBA.  That man really knows me!





Another antique show find.

Have a Happy Flag Day!!!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Samplers and Flowers

Well, I'm typing with my right hand and the big old bandage is gone!! Yea! The stitches won't come out for another week but I'm doing more everyday. I tried a bit of stitching yesterday but it wasn't too easy so I think I'll wait for a few days, then try again.  I decided to show my favorite non-Quaker sampler.  It is called Mary Livcey 1832.  It is by Of Female Worth( good title for a designer!!) Anyway, it was the second sampler chart I bought in Victoria,BC. A stitched one was in the window at Christmas time and I  loved the reds and greens.  The description says Mary was only 13 when she stitched this sampler. The chart says," The colors and design are very Scottish in appearance however the turkey in the lower left corner assures us that this is an American work."  I found that very interesting. I have added a few pictures from my garden.  The peonies are finally blooming.  It is still cool and cloudy with an occasional sunny day.  I'm not complaining-I moved here partly for the cool weather!

 Mary is large, 15x15 3/4 on 32ct.  I think I did it on 28 ct.  That was before I found magnifiers!!!!


 The verse is all over 1-not my favorite!


 I worked all the connecting green line first.  I wanted to be sure that border met before I added all the flowers!!

There's the turkey they were talking about.


 This is a very beautiful bush/tree.  It is call Sambucus nigra "Eva" better known as black lace elderberry.  This one is about 12 feet high and in June it is covered with beautiful clumps of flowers.




Next are 3 different peonies. I don't know the name of this one.  It was a clump given to me.

 Peony, "Morning Lilac"

Peony "Primevere"

Thanks for taking a look. I appreciate it very much!!! Hope you are having a very good week!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

The Quakers

I hope this has been a good week-end for all of you.  I'm happy because this big annoying bandage comes off tomorrow.  It will be one more week of the SBA doing the dishes because I can't submerge the hand in water for another week.  But at least this bandage will be gone. I might even try cross stitch to see if it hurts.  The plan is do it (that is anything) unless it hurts! Today I thought it might be fun to show the big Quakers that I have done.  I love to stitch Quaker designs and have several done for the holidays as well as the ones I'll show here.  I'm not sure of thread or linen color but if anyone really wants to know ,e-mail me and I'll try to figure it out.



 This is how my love affair with Quaker designs started, the original Beatrix Potter's Quaker Sampler by Needleprint.  I saw  this on line and just had to have it.  I do know it is stitched with Needlepoint Silk,Inc.


 This one is called Sampler 4 Seasons by Monasterium Design.  Again I used Needlepoint Silks for thread.

 As usual, the colors are much prettier than this shows.
 








 This is a wonderful Ellen Chester "With MY Needle" design called "An Emblem of Love". I put in family initials.  I did this for our 32nd anniversary.The blues are all from the Atlantic Blue Range of needlepoint silks.(Color in photo is off)
 
 This is a Handwork Sampler called"The 1830 Judith Townsend".  The original is in the DAR museum in Washington DC.  I am a member of DAR so I wanted to stitch one from that museum.


This has nothing to do with Quaker Samplers, but I love spiders and we have a great batch of babies on our deck!
Thanks for taking a look and have a great Sunday!