September 09, 2012

Three Years

Greetings, all! Today is the last day of my one-week vacation, but I spent it well and satisfyingly: a trip to the Cape with my sister and Gilbert to see my dad (and spent some quality time with a plate of seafood at the Flying Bridge); and lots and lots (and lots) of stitching. In fact, I have a finish!

Sarah Hatton McPhail, reproduced by The Essamplaire. I started it in August 2009 on 32 count fabric and after a few months restarted it 40 count Lakeside Linen in maritime white using the AVAS that came in the kit. So three years, more or less. I stitched most of it as charted, except for whatever mistakes I might have made and changing the verses. A verse floating in the trees on the left, was to have said: "Regret succeeds folly" which I thought was too busy with everything else going on in this design. The right verse was to have said "Yourself respect," which struck me as a bit too Aretha Franklin-ish. I really did not want to mentally spell out "R-E-S-P-E-CEE-T!" every time I looked at it. In the end, because the last couple of years have been no walk in the park, I chose the marathoners' motto: "Endure" and my initials and year of completion.




I had expected to start a big new project when I completed Sarah (and I do have a major re-start in the wings), but now I'm addicted to finishing, so I've chosen one of my next closest-to-being-finished and favorite large projects, Catharine McNeal 1843, reproduced by Patty Yergey of Samplers Revisited. I love the colors in it, and I'm rocketing along, in spite of there being lots of over-one. I elected not to do the called-for satin stitches (every other thistle in the border, the roof of the house and the large tree on the lower right--see the photo of the project) and am a little sorry. All the same, I love this sampler for its quirky design and gorgeous, unique colors (NPI silks on the recommended Picture This Plus linen). Patty is both a fabulous designer/reproductionist and fun person; when I told her somewhat apologetically that I wasn't stitching it completely as charted, she got a little twinkle in her eye and said it was a shame I wasn't stitching the satin stitches, since those sections would have gone faster than cross-stitching them.




Because I flew to the Cape, I only took two projects with me--Sarah McPhail and my restart of Charlotte. Here's the cat I worked on quite a bit.


And a photo of the whole thing to date:


Also worked on this week: Esther Rondel 1822 by Queenstown Sampler Designs (NPI on 40 count Lakeside).



And Christinia Cathcart (AVAS on 32 count something)


Pink sends his greetings from his summer-camp willow teepee.


I miss posting more often, but I've had to choose between spending my scarce free time blogging or stitching, unfortunately.

Happy week ahead!

25 comments:

Erica said...

Congrats on such a huge finish! Sarah is truly beautiful!
I love all the blues in Catherine! She is coming along nicely too.

Unknown said...

Fantastic stitching! Congratulations on your finish and good luck on the other ones.

Anna van Schurman said...

What a fabulous finish! Congratulations on a job well done! I love Catherine McNeal, as I say every time you show it. I'm glad she's back out.

Catherine said...

Your stitches are always so beautiful!!
Aawww....Pink is adorable!

Laurie in Iowa said...

Congratulations on finishing Sarah... she's gorgeous. I like the changes you made to the verse. So much more personal and memorable for you.
I always love seeing all the samplers you're currently stitching. Of course that always leads me to adding more samplers to my 'must stitch' list.

Margaret said...

Sarah is gorgeous!!! Glad you got to go to the Cape to visit your father and have a week's vacation. Love your WIPs -- they're all wonderful. I so want to kit up Esther Rondel -- gorgeous! I think you are wise to enjoy your free time stitching. We will be happy to see a post from you whenever you have the time.

Jan said...

Yay! You finished Sarah. Beautiful stitching. We missed you Wednesday night. Hope to see you soon.

Deb said...

A huge congratulations on your finish!! She is gorgeous. Love your other projects too. I'm working on Elizabeth also and love it.

BTW, I tried to email you to tell you that my computer detects a virus on your blog associated with Deep Inside Missy blog. You may want to delete that one from your blog list. I skirted the Malware warning and seem to be okay, but just wanted to let you know.

marly said...

Congratulations. She is magnificent and OMG a lot of stitches!! The others are all beautiful as well and you seem to be determined to complete them in quick time. Great to see your photos!!

Gabi said...

Congrats on finishing Sarah. Such a beauty. I like your changes too.
All your wip's are gorgeous as well. Love them all.

Stitch By Stitch said...

Congrats on the big finish! What a great accomplishment:)

RG said...

That is a great one to finsh, too!

Blog or Stitch. Duoooo ...

Cari said...

OMG...beautiful finish !! I love YOUR personalization..perfect...just perfect. All of your stitching project are simply to die for. They are huge and beautiful. I love watching your progress. Pink is pretty darn cute in her teepee. Have a great week !!

Daffycat said...

Beautiful finish, Glenna! Well done!

Chris said...

Congratulations on finishing Sarah! She is fabulous.
I love Catherine too and your other samplers.

Giovanna said...

Congratulations on the great finish! And nice going on the other samplers.

Carol said...

Congratulations on a fabulous finish, Glenna!! Sounds like you had a great vacation--I'm so jealous of your trip to the Cape! Haven't been there in 30 years...

Lovely WIPs--especially Catherine McNeal!

Brigitte said...

And again I'm in awe seeing all the great samplers you are stitching. And congratulations on a wonderful finish! I know the feeling after finishing such a great piece when you want to finish the next and so on. Happens to me a lot with my Crazy Challenge pieces.

Nicole said...

Congrats on your finish, Glenna!! It's beautiful!!

The Inspired Stitcher said...

Congrats on your finish! What an accomplishment indeed! I love your other progress pieces too. Good stuff!

Tazura Seiple said...

Congratulations on your finish! It looks wonderful!

Karen said...

Wow, Sarah is absolutely stunning! And it looks like you're really not too far from finishing Catharine. You go, girl!

We ate at the Flying Bridge when we went to Cape Cod last year; I had stuffed quahog and Greg had a HUGE seafood platter -- YUMMM!!!

Kellie said...

What a beautiful finish! I have enjoyed watching your progress on this. I love your other works in progress as well.

Michelle said...

Your Sarah is stunning! Congrats on a beautiful finish. And I love that you chose to stitch your own "motto" on there. Very nice!

woolwoman said...

congratulations on your finish of Sarah - it is a stunning sampler. Your next focus piece is beautiful also and very interesting colors for a Scottish sampler. Can't wait to see more on Charlotte Clayton - that is one of my favorite samplers and dang - not in my collection (not yet anyway)- Enjoy fallish days ahead - melody