One Project Finished- A New One Started

I finished a little sampler Sunday night.

This is Tropical Garden Sampler, by one of my all time favorite designers, Thea Dueck, of The Victoria Sampler. Although I adore her designs (and I have stitched a lot of them) I have to say I am so happy to be finished with this one. It was tedious.
It's a very small design- only 2" by 8". It's stitched in silk fibers on 28ct linen. The pattern calls for Miracle Mint Cashel, but I substituted a different fabric. I don't know the brand or the color name, but it's a pale aqua with green hand dyed marbling. I enjoy band samplers, but I find very small areas of cross stitch with lots of color changes and just few stitches of each color here and there to be quite annoying. I did not particularly enjoy the section with the fountain or the bottom section with the sunbathers. I probably will not stitch any of the other Garden Samplers, even though I think the designs are beautiful.

I'm sorry the photo is rather dark and the sampler itself looks rumpled. I have not stretched it yet. I plan to get some supplies this weekend and stretch several pieces for framing, so I'll have to remember to share better photos later.

I also started a new project: Pumpkin Harvest from The Trilogy. (This photo is from the pattern- my piece is just barely started! And I'm finding the actual colors to be somewhat darker than the photo.)

What's that you say? Aren't I supposed to be working on the birth sampler? Yes, I am. But this is a very small piece (aproximately 6.8" by 2.8") and it should be a quick stitch. As I've said before, I have a thing for pumpkins, and with the kids going back to school last week, I had a yearning to work on something "autumny." This one is stitched on 32ct Natural Belfast Linen using threads from The Gentle Art and features a little polymer clay bird button.

Still no garment sewing right now, but maybe this weekend. I'm waiting for sewing inspiration to strike!