Lily Pond

Here is a little sampler that I stitched way back in 2001. This is Lily Pond by Just Nan.

I fell in love with this little sampler design the minute I saw it. It was the little backstitched frogs that did it for me.

The sampler is stitched in shades of pale pink and green and uses silk threads and tiny pink and green sead beads. The fabric is white linen- 28 count, I believe. The design area measures 3.75" by 7.5" including my "signature."

I always "sign and date" my needlework pieces. My hope is that they will be passed down in my family or in the families of the folks I give them to and that future generations will know where they came from, or at least wonder who STF was and what was going on in the world when the sampler was stitched. Even if they end up in a garage sale, perhaps someone will find and rescue them and wonder as well.

Here's another peek at the birth sampler.

It's quite large- approximately 6.5" by 22". As you can see I have removed all the threads in the hardanger border. (Sorry about the fuzzy photo, but you get the idea.) The tangled mess in the photo below is the removed threads on the arm of my chair.

I finally feel like I'm on the homestretch with this piece. I still need to finish the hardanger- wrapping the remaining threads, and I still need to stitch the silk ribbon portion at the top of the sampler and add beads all over. I always save that for last. Silk ribbon embroidery (and beads, too) can catch on things and get snagged and ruined very easily, so I always wait until last to do it.

Fortunately, today is the first day of a three day weekend, so hopefully I will get plenty done on this! (And a couple of other things, too!)