New Starts: Sampler Sunday

I spotted this chart on Homespun Samplar's website and bought it. I liked the composition, which strikes me as a bit mysterious. What kind of procession, exactly? Maybe wedding? If so, the guy with the staff might be the minister, but where's the groom, unless he's the guy bringing up the rear, holding back? And the first woman in the procession has on a white dress in this iteration, but not in the second iteration (picture below). And what's with the sheep? Who invited them, anyway?

The picture below does nothing to clear up the mystery. Note that the stitches are entirely different, and the colors have changed (so much for the theory of the wedding dress). What's interesting about this picture is that the description in the chart, which is by the Workbasket, says that the second version was "stitched using more complicated stitches. This is available by special order as our 'Fancy Stitch Guide.'" Now, that annoys me. Why not include the fancy stitch guide and charge a little more? I can't decide whether it's a tad greedy or condescending (as if we mere mortals couldn't manage a bullion knot) to withhold the more interesting stitching chart. I don't normally carp about cost in this hobby, but some of the charts I've been buying lately, at more and more astronomical prices, make me wonder about common sense things like value for our money. That said, however, I love the design and am glad I purchased it! I tried to kit it up at my LNS, but she only had three of the Soie Cristale skeins (out of 10) required, and didn't stock a good subsitute for the called-for linen (R&R Apple Brown Bindy, which actually I find too dark), so I'll order the thread online somewhere and wait until I have it all gathered together to choose a lighter fabric.

This is a second chart I received from Homespun Samplars: By the Bay Needleart's "Meadow Hills," to be stitched with DMC on "blue sapphire" R&R 32 ct linen, which my LNS did have, so I kitted it up and started it. It's a fun stitch--very New England-y.

Here's my little start (it's hard to tell in my photos that the linen is a pale blue which I just love):

I also started Blessed are the Needleworkers, but Blogger didn't want me to show it to you today! I've actually gotten fairly far along in it, as it's a quick stitch. I'll try to post pictures of that a little later this week, along with pictures of the house we have finally purchased, and which we will close on next month. Yay! So many walls, so little time! Between packing up our old house and getting it ready to sell and stitching busily so there's something to hang on all those walls, I'm a busy girl!