WIP 3: Catharine McNeal 1843

Hi, all! Welcome back to my embarassingly large catalogue of unfinished samplers. Goal for the new year: start some more! (I'll be showing those interspersed with the WIPs, just so you all can shake your heads over my tragic lack of self-control.) What has made it all so much worse, of course, is that I work part-time at In Stitches in Alexandria, VA, and when not actively waiting on customers or cutting fabric (the scariest part of the job), I'm roaming around, exclaiming enthusiastically over the new merchandise or discovering old classics on some below-eye-level shelves. It's enough to make a girl giddy. And since we sell needlepoint and knitting yarn/supplies as well, I'm getting sucked into those worlds, slowly but surely.

You may remember Catharine McNeal 1843 by Samplers Revisited. I love it to pieces, and wouldn't have stopped stitching it except that I ordered WIP #1 (The Essamplaire's Elizabeth Easdon) and when it arrived, so many of the colors were similar that it didn't feel "fresh" to stitch both, so I temporarily shelved Catharine. Something else: I mislaid the symbol key. Whoops. It's around here somewhere and as I straighten up the various rooms I use to store my charts, fabric and fibers, I'm sure to come across it. In its present state, this sampler is about half done. Maybe a little less than half--there's considerable over-one stitching to be done yet.



I'm stitching her on 40 count Picture This Plus in Legacy, using the called-for NPI fibers. Although there is a fair amount of satin stitching in this sampler, particularly in the border thistles, I elected to use cross stitches instead. While I love the look, I don't enjoy doing the long satins.


Marly asked if Elvis is always ready to rumble, and the answer is "yes." He's the most intense and emotional bunny I've ever seen. He's also the only rabbit I've ever had who makes noise: he grunts fiercely when he's unhappy, and he buzzes when he runs. He's unbearably sweet, but a lot of trouble; if he were a human adolescent, he'd be the guy happy to pick up grandma and her friends and drive them to church in his souped up car--and he'd get a ticket along the way for running a red light. Elvis is a lionhead rabbit (I suspect mixed with something else--maybe jersey wooley), and they are known to be stubborn and difficult. Here he is snoozing in Pink's box while Pink (not seen in this photo) is looking unhappily along. First he threw all of Pink's hay in the air, then peed in the box, then settled in for his nap.


See you tomorrow!