Treasure Chest

Photo used by permission of Button & Needlework Boutique.
If I were going to own a needlework shop, this is exactly how I would want it to look. This is the Button & Needlework Boutique in Victoria, British Columbia. Isn't this inviting? I wish I had known it was there the last time I was in Vancouver! But since a five-hour flight isn't in my vacation plans next week, I called up and ordered a kit instead. It arrived promptly, sent by the nice person I spoke with on the phone.

If the B&NB is the treasure chest, here is the treasure:


This chart was designed by a Canadian designer, Bunny Tales Embroidery. (B&NB highlights Canadian designers, including Victoria Sampler and Jeannette Douglas Designs, on a portion of their website.) This particular chart, called Afternoon in the Orchard, is a recreation of a decoration from a margin in a Book of Hours. Bunny Tales has other Book of Hours needlework projects, but they are all much larger. This will not be a quick or easy stitch either, as it's full of fractional stitches, beads, Kreinik metallics, backstitching and sections of over-one. On 32 count linen, this project will be something like 3" x 26" before the framing margins. Because it uses mostly DMC flosses (about 60 colors) it will even be a fairly reasonably priced project. The beautifully executed stitching directions and symbols on five large sheets of paper look to be precise and easy to follow and hint at the glories to come. I will be kitting this up and starting it on my vacation next week, since I have the week off and have tried to keep my other obligations to a minimum. Poor BF: "Glenna, do you want to go out to lunch? How about a drive in the country? Or we could see a movie. How about a dinner at that nice place on the river?" Glenna: "No. Shut up."

And here's some more progress on Whale Hunting. Now that the ground is stitched in this section, I'm free to do ocean stitching and the big red house that sits on the hill. I'll work on that next week too. Plus Birth of Jesus. As you can imagine, I'm looking forward to this vacation hugely.